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 THE 
 
 LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 IN ONE VOLUME. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER ; AND EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS 
 is nobody's BUSINESS. 
 
 
 OXFORD: 
 
 PRINTED BY D. A. TALBOYS, 
 
 FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. 
 
 1841. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 Mr. Duncan Campbell, 
 
 Gentleman, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, writes 
 down any Stranger's name at first Sight ; 
 with their future Contingencies of Fortune. 
 
 Now Living 
 
 In Exeter Court over-against the Savoy in the 
 
 Strand. 
 
 Gentem quidem nullam video neque tarn humanam atque doc- 
 tarn ; neque tarn immanem tamque barbaram, quce non signi- 
 ficari futura et a quibusdam intelligi prcedicique posse cen- 
 seat. Cicero de Divinatione, lib. x. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for E. Curll : And sold by W. Mears and 
 T. Jauncy, without Temple Bar, W. Meadows 
 in Cornhill, A. Bettesworth in Pater-Noster- 
 Row, W. Lewis in Covent Garden and W. 
 Graves in St. James's Street, m.dcc.xx. 
 
 (Price 5s.) 
 
a x 1k 
 
 
 
TO THE 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 
 
 OF 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 I AM not unacquainted, that, ever since this book 
 was first promised by way of advertisement to the 
 world, it was greedily coveted by a great many per- 
 sons of airy tempers, for the same reason that it has 
 been condemned by those of a more formal class, 
 who thought it was calculated partly to introduce a 
 great many new and diverting curiosities in the 
 way of superstition, and partly to divulge the 
 secret intrigues and amours of one part of the sex, 
 to give the other part room to make favourite 
 scandal the subject of their discourse ; and so to 
 make one half of the fair species very merry, over 
 the blushes and the mortifications of the other half. 
 
X EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 
 
 But when they come to read the following sheets, 
 they will find their expectations disappointed, but 
 I hope I may say too, very agreeably disappointed. 
 They will find a much more elegant entertain- 
 ment than they expected. Instead of making 
 them a bill of fare out of patchwork romances 
 of polluting scandal, the good old gentleman who 
 wrote the Adventures of my Life, has made it his 
 business to treat them with a great variety of enter- 
 taining passages, which always terminate in morals 
 that tend to the edification of all readers, of what- 
 soever sex, age, or profession. Instead of seducing 
 young, innocent, unwary minds into the vicious 
 delight which is too often taken in reading the 
 gay and bewitching chimeras of the caballists, and 
 in perusing the enticing fables of new-invented 
 tricks of superstition, my ancient friend, the writer, 
 strikes at the very root of these superstitions, and 
 shows them how they may be satisfied in their se- 
 veral curiosities, by having recourse to me, who 
 by the talent of the second-sight, which he so beau- 
 tifully represents, how nature is so kind frequently 
 to implant in the minds of men born in the same 
 climate with myself, can tell you those things natu- 
 rally, which when you try to learn yourselves, you 
 either run the hazard of being imposed upon in 
 your pockets by cheats, gipsies, and common for- 
 tune-tellers, or else of being imposed upon in a still 
 worse way, in your most lasting welfare, by having 
 recourse to conjurors or enchanters that deal in 
 
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XI 
 
 black arts, and involve all their consulters in one 
 general partnership of their execrable guilt ; or, 
 lastly, of imposing worst of all upon your own selves, 
 by getting into an itch of practising and trying the 
 little tricks of female superstition, which are often 
 more officiously handed down by the tradition of 
 credulous nurses and old women, from one genera- 
 tion to another, than the first principles of Christian 
 doctrine, which it is their duty to instil early into 
 little children. But I hope when this book comes 
 to be pretty generally read among you ladies, as 
 by your generous and numerous subscriptions I 
 have good reason to expect, that it will afford a 
 perfect remedy and a thorough cure to that distem- 
 per, which first took its rise from too great a 
 growth of curiosity, and too large a stock of credu- 
 lity nursed prejudicially up with you in your more 
 tender and infant years. 
 
 Whatever young maid hereafter has an innocent 
 but longing desire to know who shall be her hus- 
 band, and what time she shall be married, will, I 
 hope, when she has read the following sheets of a 
 man that can set her right in the knowledge of 
 those points, purely by possessing the gift of the 
 second-sight, sooner have recourse innocently to 
 such a man than use unlawful means to acquire it, 
 such as running to conjurors to have his figure 
 shown in their enchanted glasses, or using any of 
 those traditional superstitions, by which they 
 may dream of their husbands, or cause visionary 
 
Xll EPISTLE DEDICATORY, 
 
 shapes of them to appear on such and such festival 
 nights of the year ; all which practices are not or- 
 dinarily wicked and impious, but downright diabo- 
 lical. I hope that the next 29th of June, which is 
 St. John Baptist's day, I shall not see the several 
 pasture fields adjacent to this metropolis, especially 
 that behind Montague house, thronged, as they were 
 ' the last year, with well dressed young ladies crawling 
 busily up and down upon their knees, as if they 
 were a parcel of weeders, when all the business is 
 to hunt superstitiously after a coal under the root 
 of a plantain, to put under their headst hat night, 
 that they may dream who should be their husbands. 
 In order to shame them out of this silly but guilty 
 practice, I do intend to have some spies out on 
 that day, that shall discover who they are, and 
 what they have been about ; and I here give notice 
 to the public, that this ill-acted comedy, if it be 
 acted at all this year, must begin according to the 
 rule of their superstition, on that day precisely at 
 the hour of twelve. And so much for the pretty 
 weeders. But as you, ladies, have had several ma- 
 gical traditions delivered to you, which, if you put 
 in exercise and practice, will be greatly prejudicial 
 to your honour and your virtue, let me interpose 
 my counsels, which will conduct you innocuously 
 to the same end, which some ladies have laboured 
 to arrive at by these impieties. Give me leave first 
 to tell you, that though what you aim at may be 
 arrived to by these means, yet these means make 
 
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. Xlll 
 
 that a miserable fortune which would have been a 
 good one ; because in order to know human things 
 beforehand, you use preternatural mediums, which 
 destroy the goodness of the courses, which nature 
 herself was taking for you, and annexes to them 
 diabolical influences, which commonly carry along 
 with them fatalities in this world as well as the 
 next. You will therefore give me your pardon like- 
 wise, ladies, if I relate some other of these practices, 
 which bare relation of itself, after what I have said 
 before, seems to me sufficient to explode them. 
 
 Another of the nurse's prescriptions is this: 
 upon a St. Agnes's night, the 21st day of January, 
 take a row of pins and pull out every one, one after 
 another, saying a Pater Noster, or Our Father, 
 sticking a pin in your sleeve, and you will dream 
 of her you shall marry. Ben Johnson, in one of 
 his masks, makes some mention of this : 
 
 And on sweet Agnes' night 
 Please you with the promis'd sight, 
 Some of husbands, some of lovers, 
 Which an empty dream discovers. 
 
 Now what can be more infinitely profane than to use 
 the prayer our Lord instituted in such a way ? 
 
 There is another prescription, which is as follows : 
 You must lie in another county, and knit the left 
 garter about the right-legged stocking, let the other 
 garter and stocking alone, and as you rehearse these 
 following verses, at every v comma knit a knot : — 
 
XIV EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 
 
 This knot I knit, 
 
 To know the thing I know not yet, 
 
 That I may see 
 
 The man that shall my husband be : 
 
 How he goes, and what he wears, 
 
 And what he does all days and years. 
 
 Accordingly in your dream you will see him : if a 
 musician, with a lute or other instrument ; if a 
 scholar, with a book, &c. Now I appeal to you, ladies, 
 what a ridiculous prescription is this ? But yet as 
 slight a thing as it is, it may be of great importance 
 if it be brought about, because then it must be 
 construed to be done by preternatural means, and 
 and then those words are nothing less than an ap- 
 plication to the devil. 
 
 Mr. Aubrey, of the Royal Society, says, a gen- 
 tlewoman, that he knew, confessed in his hearing 
 that she used this method, and dreamt of her hus- 
 band whom she had never seen. About two or 
 three years after, as she was one Sunday at church, 
 up pops a young Oxonian in the pulpit ; she cries 
 out presently to her sister, this is the very face of 
 the man I saw in my dream. Sir William Somes's 
 lady did the like. 
 
 Another way is to charm the moon thus, as the 
 old nurses give out, at the first appearance of the 
 moon, after New-year's-day, some say any other 
 new moon is as good, go out in the evening, and 
 stand over the spars of a gate or stile, looking on 
 
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XV 
 
 the mooon (here remark that in Yorkshire they 
 kneel on a ground-fast stone) and say, 
 
 All hail to the moon, all hail to thee, 
 T prithee, good moon, reveal to me 
 This night who my husband shall be. 
 
 You must presently after go to bed. The aforesaid 
 Mr. Aubrey knew two gentlewomen that did thus 
 when they were young maids, and they had dreams 
 of those that married them. 
 
 But a great many of the wittiest part of your sex 
 laugh at these common superstitions ; but then they 
 are apt to run into worse : they give themselves up to 
 the reading of the cabalistical systems of sylphs, 
 and gnomes, and mandrakes, which are very wicked 
 and delusive imaginations. 
 
 I would not have you imagine, ladies, that I im- 
 pute these things as infirmities and frailties peculiar 
 to your sex. No; men, and great men too, and 
 scholars, and even statesmen and princes them- 
 selves have, been tainted with superstitions ; and 
 where they infect the minds of such great person- 
 ages, they make the deeper impression, according 
 to the stronger and more manly ideas they have of 
 them. Their greater degree of strength in the in- 
 tellect only subjects them to greater weaknesses ; 
 such was even the great Paracelsus, the wonder 
 and miracle of learning in the age wherein he lived, 
 and such were are all his followers, scholars, states- 
 men, divines, and princes, that are talismanists. 
 
XVI EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 
 
 These talismans that Paracelsus pretends to owe 
 to the excogitation and invention of honest art, 
 seem to me to be of a very diabolical nature, and to 
 owe their rise to being dedicated by the author to 
 the heathen gods. Thus the cabalists pretending to 
 a vast penetration into arts and sciences, though all 
 their thoughts are chimeras and extravagancies, un- 
 less they be helped by preternatural means, say 
 they have found out the several methods appropri- 
 ated to the several planets. They have appropriated 
 gold to the sun on the Sunday, silver to the moon 
 on the Monday, iron to Mars on the Tuesday, quick- 
 silver to Mercury on the Wednesday, tin to Jupi- 
 ter on the Thursday, copper or brass to Venus on 
 the Friday, and lead to Saturn on the Saturday. 
 The methods they take in forming these talismans 
 are too long to dwell upon here. But the proper- 
 ties which they pretend belong to them are, that 
 the first talisman or seal of the sun will make a 
 man beloved by all princes and potentates, and 
 and cause him to abound with all the riches his 
 heart can wish. The second preserves travellers 
 from danger, and is favourable to merchants, 
 tradesmen, and workmen. The third carries de- 
 struction to any place where it is put ; and it is 
 said that a certain great minister of state ordered 
 one of these to be carried into England in the times 
 of the revolution of government caused by Oliver 
 Cromwell. The fourth they pretend cures fevers 
 and other dieases ; and if it be put under the bol- 
 
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XV11 
 
 ster, it makes the proprietor have true dreams, in 
 which he sees all he desires to know. The fifth, 
 according to them, renders a man lucky and fortu.- 
 nate in all his businesses and undertakings. It 
 dissipates melancholy, drives away all importunate 
 cares, and banishes panic fears from the mind. 
 The sixth, by being put into the liquor which any 
 one drinks, reconciles mortal enemies, makes them 
 intimate friends; it gains the love of all women, 
 and renders the proprietor very dexterous in the 
 art of music. The seventh makes women be 
 easily brought to bed without pain ; and if a horse- 
 man carries it in his left boot, himself and his horse 
 become invulnerable. 
 
 This, Paracelsus and his learned followers say, is 
 owing to the influence of the stars ; but I cannot 
 help arguing these acts of diabolical impiety. But 
 as these arts are rarely known among the middling 
 part of mankind, I shall neither open their myste- 
 ries, nor inveigh againt them any further. 
 
 The persons who are most to be avoided are your 
 ordinary fortunetelling women and men about 
 this town, whose houses ought to be avoided as a 
 plague or a pestilence, either because they are 
 cheats and impostors, or because they deal with 
 black arts, none of them that I know having any 
 pretensions to the gift of a second-sight. Among 
 many, a few of the most notorious that I can call 
 to mind now, are as follow. The first and chiefest 
 of these mischievous fortunetellers is a woman 
 
 d. c. b 
 
XV1U EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 
 
 that does not live far from the Old Bailey. And 
 truly the justice hall in that place is the properest 
 place for her to appear at, where, if she was tried 
 for pretending to give charms written upon paper 
 with odd scrawls, which she calls figures, she would 
 be probably convicted, and very justly condemned, 
 and doomed to have her last journey from the Old 
 Bailey to Newgate, and from Newgate to Tyburn. 
 The other is a fellow that lives in Moorfields, in 
 which place those who go to consult him ought to 
 live all their lifetimes, at the famous palaces of the 
 senseless men : he is the successor of the famous 
 Dr. Trotter, whose widow he married ; and from 
 being a tailor and patching men's garments, he now 
 cuts flourishes with his shears upon parchment, 
 considers the heavens as a garment, and from the 
 spangles thereupon he calculates nativities, and 
 sets up for a very profound astrologer. The third 
 is an ignorant fellow that caws out strange predic- 
 tions in Crow-alley, of whose croaking noise I shall 
 here take no notice, he having been sufficiently 
 mauled in the most ingenious Spectators. These 
 and such counterfeits as these, I would desire all 
 gentlemen and ladies to avoid. The only two 
 really learned men that I ever knew in the art of 
 astrology, were my good friends Dr. Williams and 
 Mr. Gadbury ; and I thought it necessary to pay 
 this esteem to their manes, let the world judge of 
 them what it will. I will here say no more, nor 
 hinder you any longer, gentlemen and ladies, from 
 
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XIX 
 
 the diversion which my good old friend, who is now 
 departed this life, has prepared for you in his book, 
 which a young gentleman of my acquaintance re- 
 vised, and only subscribe myself, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 Duncan Campbell. 
 
 b2 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction -------i 
 
 Chap. I. Mr. Campbell's descent, family, birth, 
 &c, page 7. Also an account of Mr. 
 Archibald Campbell's Travels into Lap- 
 land, where he married a rich lady of that 
 country, who was daughter to the under 
 prefect, or deputy governor of the district 
 of Uma Lapmark ; with some letters from 
 him to his father in the isle of Shetland, in 
 Scotland, particularly one concerning the 
 birth of his son, our present Mr. Duncan 
 Campbell ------ 12 
 
 Chap. II. After the death of Mr. Duncan Camp- 
 bell's mother, in Lapland, his father, Mr. 
 Archibald Campbell, returned into Scotland 
 with his little son and family. His second 
 marriage ; and how his son, being born 
 deaf and dumb, was first learned to read 
 and write ------ 25 
 
 Chap. III. The method of teaching deaf and dumb 
 persons to write, read, and understand a 
 language 30 
 
XX11 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Chap. IV. Young Durcan Campbell returns with 
 his mother to Edinburgh. The earl of 
 Argyle's overthrow. The ruin of Mr. 
 Archibald Campbell, and his death. Young 
 Duncan's practice in prediction at Edin- 
 burgh, while yet a boy - - - - 43 
 
 Chap. V. An argument proving the perception 
 which men have had, and have, by all the 
 senses, as seeing, hearing, &c, of demons, 
 genii, or familiar spirits - - - - 61 
 
 Chap. VI. A narrative of Mr. Campbell's coming 
 to London, and taking upon him the pro- 
 fession of a predictor ; together with an 
 account of many strange things that came 
 to pass just as he foretold - - - 96 
 
 Chap. VII. A philosophical discourse concerning 
 
 the second-sight - - - - -134 
 
 Chap. VIII. A dissertation upon magic under all 
 its branches, with some remarkable par- 
 ticulars relating to Mr. Campbells private 
 life, p. 158. The first objection against 
 the existence of spirits, and the refutations 
 thereof, p. 199. The second objection 
 against the existence of witches - - 206 
 
 The Appendix 227 
 
 Verses addressed to Mr. Campbell - 247 
 
 A Remarkable Passage of an Apparition, 1665 - 257 
 
CONTENTS. XX111 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED : 
 
 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER : or, Great Britain's 
 Wonder. Containing : I. A faithful and very sur- 
 prising Account how Dickory Cronke, a Tinner's son, 
 in the county of Cornwall, was born Dumb, and con- 
 tinued so for Fifty-eight Years ; and how, some Days 
 before he died, he came to his Speech ; with Memoirs 
 of his Life, and the Manner of his death. II. A De- 
 claration of his Faith and Principles in Religion ; with 
 a Collection of Select Meditations, composed in his 
 Retirement. III. His Prophetical Observations upon 
 the Affairs of Europe, more particularly of Great 
 Britain, from 1720 to 1729. The whole extracted 
 from his Original Papers, and confirmed by unques- 
 tionable Authority. To which is annexed his Elegy, 
 written by a young Cornish Gentleman, of Exeter 
 College, in Oxford, with an Epitaph by another hand. 
 
 AND, 
 
 EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS IS NOBODY'S BU- 
 SINESS ; or, Private Abuses, Public Grievances : 
 exemplified in the Pride, Insolence, and exorbitant 
 Wages of our Women-Servants, Footmen, &c. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE LIFE 
 AND SURPRISING ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of all the writings delivered in an historical manner 
 to the world, none certainly were ever held in 
 greater esteem than those which give us the lives 
 of distinguished private men at full length ; and, as 
 I may say, to the life. Such curious fragments of 
 biography are the rarities which great men seek 
 after with eager industry, and when found prize 
 them as the chief jewels and ornaments that enrich 
 their libraries, and deservedly; for they are the 
 beauties of the greatest men's lives handed down 
 by way of example or instruction to posterity, and 
 commonly handed down likewise by the greatest 
 men. Since, therefore, persons distinguished for 
 merit in one kind or other are the constant subjects 
 of such discourses, and the most elegant writers of 
 each age have been usually the only authors who 
 choose upon such subjects to employ their pens, and 
 since persons of the highest rank and dignity, and 
 l. d. c. B 
 
Z THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 geniuses of the most refined and delicate relish, are 
 frequently curious enough to be the readers of them, 
 and to esteem them the most valuable pieces in a 
 whole collection of learned works ; it is a wonder 
 to me that when any man's life has something in it 
 peculiarly great and remarkable in its kind, it 
 should not move some more skilful writer than my- 
 self to give the public a taste of it, because it must 
 be at least vastly entertaining, if it be not, which is 
 next to impossible, immensely instructive and pro- 
 fitable withal. 
 
 If ever the life of any man under the sun was re- 
 markable, this Mr. Duncan Campbell's, which I am 
 going to treat upon, is so to a very eminent degree. 
 
 It affords such variety of incidents, and is accom- 
 panied with such diversity of circumstances that it 
 includes within it what must yield entire satisfaction 
 to the most learned, and admiration to persons of a 
 moderate understanding. The prince and the pea- 
 sant will have their several ends of worthy delight 
 in reading it ; and Mr. Campbell's life is of that 
 extent, that it concerns and collects, as 1 may say, 
 within itself, every station of life in the universe. 
 Besides, there is a demand in almost every page 
 that relates any new act of his, for the finest and 
 closest disquisitions that learning can make upon 
 human nature, to account how those acts could be 
 done by him. For he daily practised, and still 
 practises, those things naturally, which puts art to 
 the rack to find out how nature can so operate in 
 him ; and his fleshly body, by these operations, is a 
 living practical system, or body of new philosophy, 
 which exceeds even all those that have hitherto 
 been compounded by the labour and art of many 
 ages. 
 
 If one that had speculated deep into abstruse 
 matters, and made it his study not only to know 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 6 
 
 how to assign natural reasons for some strange new 
 acts that looked like miracles by being peculiar to 
 the individual genius of some particular admired 
 man, but carrying his inquiry to a much greater 
 height, had speculated likewise what might possibly 
 be achieved by human genius in the full perfection 
 of nature, and had laid it down as a thesis by strong 
 arguments, that such things might be compassed by 
 a human genius, if in its true degree of perfection, 
 as are the hourly operations of the person's life I am 
 writing, he would have been counted a wild ro- 
 mantic enthusiast, instead of a natural philosopher. 
 Some of the wisest would be infidels to so new and 
 so refined a scheme of thinking, and demand expe- 
 riment, or cry it was all against reason, and would 
 not allow the least tittle to be true without it. Yet 
 the man that had found out so great a mystery as 
 to tell us what might be done by human genius, as 
 it is here actually done, would have been a great 
 man within himself; but wanting further experi- 
 mental proof, could lay no claim to the belief of 
 others, or consequently to their esteem ; but how 
 great, then, is the man, who makes it constantly his 
 practice actually to do what would not otherwise 
 have been thought to be of such a nature as might 
 ever be acquired by mortal capacity, though in its 
 full complement of all possible perfection ? He is 
 not only great within himself, he is great to the 
 world ; his experiments force our belief, and the 
 amazing singularity of those experiments provokes 
 both our wonder and esteem. 
 
 If any learned man should have advanced this 
 proposition, that mere human art could give to the 
 deaf man what should be equal to his hearing, and 
 to the dumb man an equivalent for his want of 
 speech, so that he should converse as freely almost 
 as other hearing or talking persons, that he might, 
 
 b2 
 
4 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 though born deaf, be by art taught how to read, 
 write, and understand any language, as well as 
 students that have their hearing, would not the 
 world, and many even of the learned part of it, say, 
 that nothing could be more extravagantly wild, 
 more mad and frantic? The learned Dr. Wallis, 
 geometry professor of Oxford, did first of all lay 
 down this proposition, and was counted by many to 
 have overshot the point of learning, and to have 
 been the author of a whimsical thesis. And I 
 should not have wondered if, after a man's having 
 asserted this might be done before it was actually 
 done, some blind devout people in those days had 
 accused him of heresy, and of attributing to men a 
 power of working miracles. The notion of the 
 antipodes was by the most learned men of the age 
 in which St. Augustin lived, and by the great 
 St. Austin himself, treated in no milder a manner ; 
 yet if the ability of teaching the deaf and the dumb 
 a language, proved a truth in experience afterwards, 
 ought not those to turn their contempt into admira- 
 tion ? ought not those very people to vote him 
 into the Royal Society for laying down this propo- 
 sition, who, before it proved true in fact, would 
 have been very forward to have sent him to Bedlam? 
 The first instance of this accomplishment in a dumb 
 person was proved before king Charles II. by this 
 same Dr. Wallis, who was a fellow of the Royal 
 Society, and one of the most ingenious of that so- 
 ciety. 
 
 But notwithstanding this, should I come after- 
 wards and say that there is now living a deaf and 
 dumb man, and born so, who could, by dint of his 
 own genius teach all others deaf and dumb to read, 
 write, and converse with the talking and hearing 
 part of mankind, some would, I warrant, very reli- 
 giously conclude that I was about to introduce some 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. O 
 
 strange new miracle-monger and impostor into the 
 world, with a design of setting up some new sect of 
 antichristianism, as formidable as that of the Brah- 
 mins. Should I proceed still further, and say that 
 this same person so deaf and dumb might be able 
 also to show a presaging power, or kind of prophet- 
 ical genius, if I may be allowed the expression, by 
 telling any strange persons he never saw before in 
 his life, their names at first sight in writing, and by 
 telling them the past actions of their lives, and 
 predicting to them determined truths of future 
 contingences ; notwithstanding what divines say, 
 that Infuturis contingentibus noil datur determinata 
 Veritas, would not they conclude that I was going 
 to usher in a new Mahomet? Since, therefore, 
 there does exist such a man in London, who actually 
 is deaf and dumb, and was born so, who does write 
 and read, and converse, as well as anybody, who 
 teaches others deaf and dumb to write and read, 
 and converse with anybody, who likewise can, by a 
 presaging gift, set down in writing the name of any 
 stranger at first sight, tell him his past actions, and 
 predict his future occurrences in fortune, and since 
 he has practised this talent as a profession with 
 great success, for a long series of years, upon innu- 
 merable persons in every state and vocation of life, 
 from the peeress to the waiting- woman, and from 
 the lady mayoress to the milliner and sempstress, 
 will it not be wonderfully entertaining to give the 
 world a perfect history of this so singular a man's 
 life ? And while we are relating the pleasant ad- 
 ventures with such prodigious variety, can anything 
 be more agreeably instructive in a new way, than to 
 intersperse the reasons, and account for the manner, 
 how nature, having a mind to be remarkable, per- 
 forms by him acts so mysterious. 
 
 I have premised this introduction, compounded 
 
6 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 of the merry and the serious, with the hopes of en- 
 gaging many curious people of all sorts to be my 
 readers, even from the airy nice peruser of novels 
 and romances, neatly bound and finely gilt, to the 
 grave philosopher that is daily thumbing over the 
 musty and tattered pieces of more solid antiquity. 
 I have all the wonders to tell that such a merry 
 kind of a prophet has told, to entertain the fancies 
 of the first gay tribe, by which means I may entice 
 them into some solid knowledge and judgment of 
 human nature ; and I have several solid disquisitions 
 of learning to make, accounting for the manner of 
 these mysterious operations, never touched upon 
 before, in due form and order, by the hands of the 
 ancient or modern sages, that I may bribe the 
 judgment of this last grave class so far as to endure 
 the intermixing of entertainment with their severer 
 studies. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Mr. CampbelVs descent, family, birth, Sfc. 
 
 Of the goodness and antiquity of the name and 
 family of this gentleman, nobody can ever make any 
 question ; he is a Campbell lineally descended from 
 the house of Argyle, and bears a distant relation to 
 the present duke of that name in Scotland, and 
 who is now constituted a duke of England, by the 
 style and title of the duke of Greenwich. 
 
 It happens frequently that the birth of extra- 
 ordinary persons is so long disputed by different 
 people, each claiming him for their own, that the 
 real place where he first took breath grows at last 
 dubious ; and thus it fares with the person who 
 is the subject of the following sheets ; as there- 
 fore it is my proposal to have a strict regard to 
 historical faith, so am I obliged to tell the reader 
 that I can with no certainty give an account of 
 him till after he was three years old ; from which 
 age I knew him, even to this day ; I will answer for 
 the truths which I impart to the public during that 
 time, and as for his birth and the circumstances of 
 it, and how the first three years of his life passed, 
 I can only deliver them the same account I have 
 received from others, and leave them to their own 
 judgments whether it ought to be deemed real or 
 fabulous. 
 
 The father of our Mr. Duncan Campbell, as 
 these relate the story, was from his infancy of a very 
 curious inquisitive nature, and of an enterprising 
 
8 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 genius, and if he heard of anything surprising to 
 be seen, the difficulty in practice was enough to re- 
 commend to him the attempting to get a sight of it 
 at any rate or any hazard. It is certain, that during 
 some civil broils and troubles in Scotland, the 
 grandfather of our Mr. Campbell was driven with 
 his wife and family, by the fate of war, into the isle 
 of Shetland, where he lived many years ; and dur- 
 ing his residence there, Mr. Archibald Campbell, 
 the father of our Duncan Campbell, was born. 
 
 Shetland lies north-east from Orkney, between 
 sixty and sixty-one degrees of latitude. The largest 
 isle of Shetland, by the natives called the Mainland, 
 is sixty miles in length from south-west to the north- 
 east, and from sixteen, to one mile, in breadth. 
 
 The people who live in the smaller isles have 
 abundance of eggs and fowl, which contributes to 
 maintain their families during the summer. 
 
 The ordinary folks are mostly very nimble and 
 active in climbing the rocks in quest of those eggs 
 and fowl. This exercise is far more diverting than 
 hunting and hawking among us, and would cer- 
 tainly for the pleasure of it, be followed by people 
 of greater distinction, was it not attended with very 
 great dangers, sufficient to turn sport into sorrow, 
 and which have often proved fatal to those who too 
 eagerly pursue their game. Mr. Archibald Camp- 
 bell, however, delighted extremely in this way of 
 fowling, and used to condescend to mix with the 
 common people for company, because none of the 
 youths of his rank and condition were venturesome 
 enough to go along with him. 
 
 The most remarkable experiment of this sort, is 
 at the isle called the Noss of Brassah : the Noss 
 standing at sixteen fathom distance from the side 
 of the opposite Main ; the higher and lower rocks 
 have two stakes fastened in each of them, and to 
 
OP MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. y 
 
 these there are ropes tied ; upon the ropes there is 
 an engine hung which they call a cradle, and in 
 this a man makes his way over from the greater to 
 the smaller rocks, where he makes a considerable 
 purchase of eggs and fowl ; but his return being by 
 an ascent, makes it the more dangerous, though 
 those on the great rock have a rope tied to the 
 cradle, by which they draw it and the man safe 
 over for the most part. Over this rock Mr. Archi- 
 bald Campbell and five others were in that manner 
 let down by cradles and ropes ; but before they 
 could be all drawn back again it grew dark, and 
 their associates not daring to be benighted, were 
 forced to withdraw, and Mr. Campbell was the un- 
 fortunate person left behind, having wandered too 
 far, and not minded how the day declined, being 
 intent on his game. He passed that night, you 
 may easily guess, without much sleep, and with 
 great anxiety of heart. The night, too, as he lay in 
 the open air, was, to add to his misfortune, as boi- 
 sterous and tempestuous as his own mind ; but in 
 the end the tempest proved very happy for him. 
 The reader is to understand that the Hamburghers, 
 Bremeners, and Hollanders, carry on a great fish 
 trade there. Accordingly, a Holland vessel, that 
 was just coming in the sound of Brassah, was by 
 this tempest driven into a creek of the rock, which 
 nature had made into a harbour, and they were 
 providentially saved from the bottom of the sea by 
 a rock, from which, humanly speaking, they could 
 expect nothing but destruction, and being sent to 
 the bottom of that sea. As never could a man be 
 taken hold of with so sudden and surprising a dis- 
 aster, so nobody could meet with a more sudden 
 and surprising relief than Mr. Campbell found 
 when he saw a ship so near. He made to the ves- 
 sel, and begged the Hollanders to take him in; 
 
10 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 they asked him what he would give them, or, said 
 the barbarous sailors, we will even leave you where 
 you are ; he told them his disaster, but they asked 
 money, and nothing else would move them : as he 
 knew them a self-interested people, he bethought 
 himself, that if he should tell them of the plenty of 
 fowls and eggs they would get there, he might not 
 only be taken in a passenger, but made a partner 
 in the money arising from the stock ; it succeeded 
 accordingly : when he proposed it, the whole crew 
 were all at work, and, in four hours, pretty well 
 stored the vessel, and then, returning on board, set 
 sail for Holland. They offered Mr. Campbell to 
 put him in at his own island ; but having a mind 
 to see Holland, and being a partner, to learn their 
 way of merchandize, which he thought he might 
 turn to his countrymen's advantage, he told them 
 he would go the voyage out with them, and see the 
 country of those who were his deliverers ; a neces- 
 sary way of speech, when one has a design to sooth 
 barbarians, who, but for interest, would have left 
 him unredeemed, and, for aught they knew, a per- 
 petual sole inhabitant of a dreadful rock, encom- 
 passed round with precipices, some three hundred 
 fathom high. Not so the islanders, who are wrongly 
 called a savage set of mortals; no, they came in 
 quest of him after so bitter a night, not doubt- 
 ing to find him, but fearing to find him in a la- 
 mentable condition ; they hunted and ransacked 
 every little hole and corner in the rock, but all in 
 vain. In one place they saw a great slaughter of 
 fowls, enough to serve forty families for a week ; 
 and then they guessed, though they had not the 
 ill fortune to meet the eagles frequently noted to 
 hover about those isles, that they might have de- 
 voured part of him on some precipice of the rock, 
 and dropped the remnant into the sea. Night 
 
OP MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 1 1 
 
 came upon them, and they were afraid of falling 
 into the same disaster they went to relieve Mr. 
 Campbell from. They returned each to their pro- 
 per basket, and were drawn up safe by their respec- 
 tive friends, who were amazed that one basket was 
 drawn up empty which was let down for Mr. 
 Campbell, and that there was not the least intelli- 
 gence to be had concerning him, but the supposi- 
 tious story of his having been devoured by eagles. 
 The story was told at home ; and with the lament- 
 ation of the whole family, and all his friends ; he 
 was looked upon to be murdered or dead. 
 
 Return we now to Mr. Archibald Campbell, still 
 alive, and on board the Holland vessel ; secure as 
 he thought within himself, that from the delivery he 
 lately had by the gift of Providence, he was not in- 
 tended to be liable to any more misfortunes and 
 dangers of life, in the compass of so small a voyage. 
 But his lot was placed otherwise in the book of fate, 
 than he too fondly imagined ; his time of happiness 
 was dated some pages lower down, and more rubs 
 and difficulties were to be encountered with, before 
 his stars intended to lead him to the port of felicity. 
 Just as he arrived within sight of Amsterdam, a 
 terrible storm arose, and, in danger of their lives, 
 for many hours, they weathered out the tempest ; 
 and a calm promising fair afresh, they made to the 
 coast of Zealand ; but a new hurricane prevented 
 the ship from coming there also ; and after having 
 lost their masts and rigging, they were driven into 
 Lapland. There they went ashore in order to careen 
 and repair their ship, and take in provisions ; while 
 the ship was repairing by the Dutch, our islander 
 made merry with the inhabitants, being the most in- 
 clined to their superstitious customs ; he there be- 
 came acquainted with a very beautiful woman, who 
 fell in love with him, and after a very short space 
 
12 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 of time he married her. About the time when the 
 ship departed, his wife, who was very rich, was big 
 with child of a son, namely, Mr. Duncan Campbell. 
 He wrote a letter by the master of the vessel to his 
 parents in Shetland, concerning the various ad- 
 ventures he had met with, which was delivered the 
 June following, about the time of fishing, to his 
 parents, and several persons had copies thereof, 
 and, for aught I know, some retain them to this 
 very day ; sure I am that many remember the par- 
 ticulars of this surprising affair, who are now living 
 in that island. 
 
 The letter being very remarkable and singular in 
 all its circumstances, I shall present it to the reader 
 word for word, as it was given into my hands, to- 
 gether with some others which he wrote afterwards, 
 in all which I am assured by very credible persons, 
 and undoubted authorities, there are not the least 
 alterations, but what the version of it from the 
 then Scotch manner of expression into a more 
 modern English dress, made absolutely necessary. 
 
 My dearest Father, 
 
 The same odd variety of accident, which put 
 it out of my power to be personally present with you 
 for so long a time, put it likewise out of my power 
 to write to you. At last fortune has so ordered it, 
 that I can send a letter to you before I can come 
 myself, and it is written expressly to tell you the 
 adventures I have met with, which have detained 
 me this tedious space of time from my dear father, 
 and because the same captain of a ship that brings 
 you this, might as easily have brought your son 
 to speak for himself. I shall in the next place lay 
 before you the necessity there is for my stay a little 
 longer among the strange natives of the country 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 13 
 
 where I now inhabit, and where I am, in a manner, 
 become naturalized. 
 
 You have, no doubt of it, been informed by my 
 companions, some of whom I hope got safe back 
 again, if not all, that I was lost, where many a brave 
 man has perished before me, by going over the high 
 precipices of the mountain Brassah, in a basket, 
 sliding down by a rope. I must suppose I have 
 given you the anguish of a father for a son, who 
 you thought had lost his life by such a foolhardy 
 attempt, and I implore your pardon with all the 
 power of filial contrition, penitence, and duty. 
 You have always showed me such singular marks of 
 paternal affection, that I know your receipt of this 
 letter will fill your heart with joy, and cause you to 
 sign me an absolution and free pardon for all the 
 errors I have committed, and think the sufferings I 
 have undergone for my rashness and indiscretion, a 
 sufficient atonement for my crime of making you, 
 by my undutifulness, a partner of my sorrows. To 
 free you the more from this uneasiness, I know I 
 need only tell you, that every grief of mine is gone 
 excepting one, which is, that I must still lose the 
 pleasure of seeing you a little longer. There was 
 never surely a more bitter night than that which 
 must by me be for ever remembered, when I was 
 lost in the mountain of Brassah, where I must, for 
 aught I know, have lived for ever a wild single in- 
 habitant, but that the storm which made the night 
 so uneasy to me, rendered the first approach of day- 
 light, beyond measure, delightful. The first provi- 
 dential glimpse of the morning gave me a view of a 
 ship driven by the tempest into a creek of the rock, 
 that was by nature formed like a harbour ; a mira- 
 culous security of deliverance, as I thought, both 
 for the ship's crew and myself. I made all the 
 haste I could, you may be sure, to them, and I 
 
14 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 found them to be Dutchmen that were come for 
 fish ; but in, lieu of fish I instructed them to load 
 it with eggs and fowl, which we compassed very 
 happily in a short space of time, and I was to be a 
 sharer with the captain in the lading, and bar- 
 gained to go for Holland, to see the sale, and the 
 nature of traffick ; but when we were at sea, after 
 much bad weather, we made towards Zealand, but 
 we were driven upon the coast of Finland by a new 
 storm, and thence into Lapland, where I now am, 
 and from whence I send you this letter. 
 
 I could not come into a place so properly named 
 for my reception ; as I had been un dutiful to you, 
 and fortune seemed to make me an exile, or a 
 banished man, by way of punishment for the vices 
 of my youth ; so Lapland (which is a word originally 
 derived from the Finland word lappi, that is, exiles, 
 and from the Swedish word lap, signifying banished, 
 from which two kingdoms most of our inhabitants 
 were banished hither, for not embracing the Chris- 
 tian religion) was certainly the properest country in 
 the world to receive me. 
 
 When first I entered this country, I thought I 
 was got into quite another world ; the men are all 
 of them pigmies to our tall, brawny Highlanders ; 
 they are, generally speaking, not above three cubits 
 high, insomuch that though the whole country of 
 Lapland is immensely large, and I have heard it 
 reckoned by the inhabitants to be above a hundred 
 German leagues in length, and fourscore and ten in 
 breadth, yet I was the tallest man there, and 
 looked upon as a giant. The district in which I 
 live now, is called Uma Lapmark. You must under- 
 stand, sir, that when I landed at North Cape, in Kimi 
 Lapmark, another district of Lapland, there was at 
 that time a most beautiful lady come to see a sick 
 relation of her father's, who was prefect, or gover- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMFBELL. 15 
 
 nor of Uma Lapmark, which is a post of great dis- 
 tinction. This lady, by being frequently in the com- 
 pany of French merchants, who traffick now and then 
 in that province of Uma Lapmark, understood 
 French, and having heard of a man six foot and a 
 half high, desired to see me, and when I came, she 
 happened mightly to like my person ; and she 
 talked French, which when I answered, she made 
 great signs of joy, that she could communicate her 
 sentiments to me, and she told me who she was, how 
 rich, and that not one in the company besides could 
 understand a syllable we said, and so I might speak 
 my mind freely to her ; she told me the customs of 
 the country, that it was divided into cantons, like our 
 shires, and those cantons into rekars, or certain 
 grounds allotted to families, that are just like our 
 clans. As she was beyond measure beautiful, she 
 was extremely good humoured, a thing rarely to be 
 met among Lapland women, of a better stature than 
 her country women, and very rich, and of good 
 birth ; I thought it would be a prodigious turn of 
 fortune, for a man in my circumstances, if I could 
 make any progress in her heart, which she seemed 
 a little to open to me, in such a manner, for the 
 beginning, as if such a successful event, if managed 
 with prudence, might not be despaired off. Souls 
 that are generous are apt to love, and compassion is 
 the best introducer of love into a generous bosom, 
 and that was the best stock I had to go upon in my 
 courtship; I told her of all my calamities, my 
 dangers, and my escapes ; the goodness of my birth, 
 as being allied to one of the greatest nobles in our 
 island ; and still she would ask me to tell it her over 
 again, though every time I told it, just at such and 
 such passages, she was forced to drop the tears from 
 her eyes. In fine, I grew more in love with her, more 
 out of a sense of gratitude now, than by the power of 
 
J 6 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 her charms before ; the matter in a few days went 
 so far, that she owned to me I had her heart. As 
 to marriage, I did not then know the custom of the 
 nation ; I thought that if it proved only dangerous 
 to me, I loved her so well that I intended to marry 
 her, though the law was to pronounce me dead for 
 it ; but I did not know whether it might not be pe- 
 rilous for her too, to engage in such a state with me, 
 and I resolved in that case, rather to be singly un- 
 happy, than to involve her in distress, and make her 
 the fair companion of my woes. I would not tell 
 her so, for fear she should out of love hide from me 
 those dangers, and therefore using a kind sort of 
 dissimulation, I conjured her to tell me the laws and 
 customs of marriages in that country to a tittle, and 
 that nothing should hinder us from happiness. She 
 told me exactly, as I find since. Our marriage, 
 said she, will be very hard to compass ; provided we 
 follow the strict rule of the country. For our women 
 here, are bound not to see the man who makes 
 their addresses to them, in some time. His way of 
 courtship is to come to the parents, and his nearest 
 friends and relations must make her father presents, 
 and supplicate him like a king, to grant him his 
 daughter. The courtship often lasts two or three 
 years, and sometimes has not its effect at last ; but 
 if it has, the woman is dragged by her father and 
 brother to church, as unwilling to go to be married, 
 which is looked upon as a greater part of modesty 
 in her, according to the greater disinclination she 
 shows. My father and brother, said she, will both 
 be against it ; you have no relations in this country 
 to move your suit, I cannot be so hypocritical as to 
 be dragged unwillingly to him I own I desire for 
 my lawful husband, and therefore, as I have an in- 
 clination to you, and I dare own I have, I will not 
 follow those methods which I disapprove. I have 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 17 
 
 talked with several Swedes, and several polite 
 Frenchmen, about their manner of espousals, and I 
 am told, that when souls are naturally united by 
 affection, the couple so mutally and reciprocally 
 loving, though they had rather have their parents' 
 leave if likely to be got, yet, unwilling to be disap- 
 pointed, only go to the next minister's and marry 
 for better for worse. This way I approve of, for 
 where two persons naturally love each other, the 
 rest is nothing but a modest restraint to their wishes, 
 and since it is only custom, my own reason teaches 
 me there is no error committed, nor any harm done 
 in breaking through it upon so commendable an 
 occasion. I have, added she, a thousand rein deer 
 belonging to me, beyond my father's power of taking 
 away, and a third share in a rekar or clan, that is 
 ten leagues in compass, in the byar or canton of 
 Uma Lapmark. This is at my own disposal, and it 
 is all your own, if you please to accept of it with me. 
 Our women are very coy, when they are courted, 
 though they have never so much an inclination to 
 their suitor ; but good reason and the commerce I 
 have had with persons of politer nations than ours 
 is, teach me that this proceeds entirely from vanity 
 and affectation, and the greatest proof of a woman's 
 modesty, chastity, and sincerity, certainly consists, 
 contrary to the general corrupted opinion, in yield- 
 ing up herself soon into the arms of the man she 
 loves. For she that can dally with a heart she 
 prizes, can give away her heart, when she is once 
 balked, to any man, even though she dislikes him. 
 You must judge, my dear father, I must be touched 
 with a woman that was exceeding beautiful, beyond 
 any of her nation, and who had thoughts as beauti- 
 ful as her person. I therefore was all in rapture, 
 and longed for the matrimony, but still loved her 
 enough to propose the question, I resolved, to her, 
 
 L. D. C. C 
 
18 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 viz., if it would not be in her nation accounted a 
 clandestine marriage, and prove of great damage to 
 her. 
 
 To this she answered with all the wisdom which 
 could be expected from a woman who had given 
 such eminent tokens of her judgment on other 
 points, amidst a nation so barbarous in its manners, 
 and so corrupt in its principles, as Lapland is. I am, 
 said she, answerable to my father, for nothing by 
 our laws, having no portion of him, but only what 
 was presented me by my relations at my birth, ac- 
 cording to custom, in lands and rein deer. My 
 father is but deputy governor, it is a Swede who is 
 the governor of Uma ; and if I pay to him at every 
 mart and fair the due tribute, which must either 
 consist of fifty rein deer, or a hundred and fifty 
 rixdollars, he will have the priest that marries us 
 present at the court of justice, according to our 
 custom, and keep us in possession of our rights, that 
 we may be enabled to pay tribute to the crown of 
 Sweden. Indeed, before the abolition of the Bir- 
 karti, which were our native judges, we could not 
 have married thus without danger to us both ; but 
 now there is none at all. 
 
 My dear father, you must easily imagine that I 
 could not help embracing with all tenderness so 
 dear and so lovely a woman. In fine, I am married 
 to her, I have lived very happily hitherto, and am 
 now grown more happy, for she is big with child ; 
 and like, before my letter comes to your hands, to 
 make you a grandfather of a pretty boy. You will 
 perhaps wonder that I name the sex of the child 
 before it comes into the world, but we have a way 
 in Lapland of finding that out, which though some 
 judicious people call superstitious, I am really per- 
 suaded of by experience, and therefore I indulged 
 my dear wife's curiosity, when she signified to me 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 19 
 
 she had a mind to make the usual trial, whether the 
 child she was going to be delivered of would be a 
 boy or a girl. 
 
 You must understand, my dear father, the people 
 here judge of the sex of the child by the moon, 
 unto which they compare a big-bellied woman. If 
 they see a star appear just above the moon, it is a 
 sign it will be a boy, but, if the star be just below 
 the moon, they conjecture her to be big with a girl. 
 This observation and remark of Laplanders has, I 
 know, been accounted by some, and those wise and 
 judicious men too, to be ridiculously superstitious ; 
 but I have been led into an easy belief of this 
 mystery, by a mistress that is superior to wisdom 
 itself, constant, and therefore probably infallible, ex- 
 perience. I therefore indulged my wife in this her 
 request, and went with her to the ceremony; the 
 star appeared above the moon, which prognosticates 
 a boy, which I wish may, and I scarce doubt will, 
 prove true, and when she is brought to bed I will 
 send you word of it. It is remarkable, likewise, that 
 a star was seen just before the moon, which we also 
 count a very good omen. For it is a custom like- 
 wise here in Lapland, to consult the moon, as an 
 oracle about the health and vigour of the child. If 
 a star be seen just before the moon, we count it a 
 sign of a lusty and well grown child, without blemish ; 
 if a star comes just after, we reckon it a token that 
 the child will have some defect or deformity, or die 
 soon after it is born. 
 
 Having thus told you the manners of the coun- 
 try I live in at present, as much at large as the 
 space of a letter will permit, and related to you my 
 own happy circumstances, and the kindly promises 
 of the heavens that are ushering in the birth of my 
 child, I would not have you think that I addict my- 
 self to the superstitions of the country, which are 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 very many and groundless ; and arising partly from 
 the remainder of pagan worship, which is still cul- 
 tivated among some of the more obstinate inhabi- 
 tants. I have, on the contrary, since I married 
 her, endeavoured to repay my wife's temporal bless- 
 ings to me with those that are endless, instructed 
 her in all the points of religion, and made her per- 
 fectly a Christian ; and she, by her devotion and 
 prayers for me, makes me such amends for it, that I 
 hope in us two St. Paul's saying will be verified, 
 viz., That the woman shall be sanctified in her 
 husband, and the husband shall be sanctified in his 
 wife. 
 
 However, I must take notice in this place, with 
 all clue deference to Christianity, that though I am 
 obliged to applaud the prudence and piety of Charles 
 the IX. of Sweden, who constituting Swedish go- 
 vernors over this country, abrogated their practice 
 of superstitions, and art magic, upon pain of death ; 
 yet that king carried the point too far, and inter- 
 mingled with these arts, the pretensions to the gift 
 of a second-sight, which you know how frequent it 
 is with us in Scotland, and which I assure you, my 
 wife (though she durst not publicly own it, for fear 
 of incurring the penalty of those Swedish laws) does 
 as it were inherit (for all her ancestors before her 
 have had it from time immemorial) to a greater 
 degree than ever I knew any of our countrywomen 
 or countrymen. 
 
 One day this last week she distracted me between 
 the extremes of joy and sorrow. She told me I 
 should see you shortly, and that my coming son 
 would grow to be one of the most remarkable men 
 in England and Scotland, for his power of foresight ; 
 but that I should speedily lose her, and meet with 
 difficulties in my own country, in the same manner 
 as my father, meaning you, sir, had done before 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 21 
 
 me, and on the same account, viz., of civil broils, 
 and intestine wars in Scotland. 
 
 These unfortunate parts of her relation I would 
 not conceal from you, because the veracity of her 
 notions should appear, if they are true, though you 
 may be sure I much wish they all may prove false 
 to the very last ; excepting that wherein she tells 
 me, my son will be greatly remarkable, and that I 
 shall shortly see my dear father, which I daily long 
 for, and will endeavour to do as soon as possible. 
 Pray remember me to all friends ; being, 
 Honoured sir, 
 Your most dutiful and loving son, 
 
 Archibald Campbell. 
 
 THE SECOND LETTER. 
 
 I am now the happiest man alive ; the prosper- 
 ous part of my wife's predictions, which I men- 
 tioned to you in my last, is come in some measure 
 to pass. The child she has brought me proves a 
 boy, and as fine a one as I ever beheld, (if fond 
 ness for my own makes me not blind) ; and sure it 
 cannot be fondness, because other plain circum- 
 stances joined at his birth to prove it a more than 
 ordinary remarkable one. He was born with a cawl 
 upon his head, which we count one of the luckiest 
 signs that can be in nature ; he had likewise three 
 teeth ready cut through the gums, and we reckon 
 that an undeniable testimony and promise given to 
 the world by nature, that she intends such a person 
 for her extraordinary favourite, and that he is born 
 for great things, which I daily beg of heaven may 
 come to pass. 
 
 Since I have known for some months what it is 
 to be a father, it adds a considerable weight to 
 
22 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 those affections which I had for my wife. I thought 
 that my tenderness for her was at the height of 
 perfection before ; which shows how little we know 
 of those parts of nature that we have yet never 
 tried, and of which we have not yet been allotted 
 our share to act upon the stage of life. I find that 
 I did love her then as well as a husband could love 
 a wife, that is, a wife without a child ; but the love 
 to a wife that has a child, is a feeling wonderful and 
 inexpressibly different. A child is the seal and the 
 pledge of love. Meditating upon this, has likewise 
 doubled my affection to you. I loved you before, as 
 a son, and because as such, I felt your tenderness ; 
 but my love is much increased now, because I know 
 the tenderness which you felt for me as a father. 
 With these pleasing images of thought, I often 
 keep you nearer company at this vast distance, than 
 when I lived irregularly under your eye. These re- 
 flections render a solitary life dear to me. And 
 though I have no manner of acquaintance with her 
 relations, who hate me, as I am told, nor indeed 
 with almost any of the inhabitants, but my own do- 
 mestics, and those I am forced to deal with, yet I 
 have as much methinks, as I wish for, unless I could 
 come over to Shetland and live with you, which I 
 the more ardently desire, because I think I and my 
 wife could be true comforts to you, in your ad- 
 vanced years ; now I know what living truly is. I 
 am daily persuading my wife to go with me ; but 
 she denies me with kind expressions, and says, she 
 owes too much to the place, however less pleasant in 
 itself than other climates, where she had the happi- 
 ness of first joining hands with me in wedlock, ever to 
 part from it. But I must explain how I ask, and how 
 she refuses. I resolved never directly and down- 
 rightly to ask her, because I know she can refuse me 
 nothing ; and that would be bearing hard upon the 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPEELL. 23 
 
 goodness of her will. But my way of persuading her 
 consists in endeavouring to make her in love 
 with the place, by agreeable descriptions of it, and 
 likewise of the humane temper of the people ; so 
 that I shortly shall induce her to signify to me that 
 it is her own will to come with me, and then I shall 
 seem rather to consent to her will, than to have 
 moved it over to my own. These hopes I have of 
 seeing my dear father very shortly, and I know 
 such news would make this letter, which I therefore 
 send, more acceptable to him, to whom I will be, 
 A most dutiful and 
 
 affectionate son, till death, 
 Archibald Campbell. 
 
 P. S. If I cannot bring my wife to change this 
 country for another, I have brought her to that pitch 
 of devotion, that whenever Providence, which, not- 
 withstanding her predictions, I hope will be long 
 yet, shall call her to change this world for another, 
 it will be happy with her there ; she joins with me 
 in begging your blessing to me, herself, and our 
 little Duncan, whom we christened so, out of re- 
 spect to the name you bear. 
 
 the third letter. 
 
 My dear Father, 
 
 I am lost in grief; I had just brought my 
 wife (her that was my wife, for I have none now, I 
 have lost all joy) in the mind of coming over to be 
 a comfort to you. But now grief will let me say no 
 more, than that I am coming to beg comfort from 
 you, and by this I prepare you to receive, when he 
 comes, a son in tears and mourning. 
 
 Archibald Campbell. 
 
24 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 P. S. I have a babe not much above two years 
 old, must bear the hardships of travelling over the 
 ice, and all through Muscovy, for no ships can stir 
 here for many months, and I cannot bear to live in 
 this inhospitable place, where she died that only 
 could make it easy to me, one moment beyond the 
 first opportunity I have of leaving it. She is in 
 heaven, that should make me easy ; but I cannot, 
 I am not so good a Christian as she was ; I am lost 
 and ruined. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 25 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Duncan Campbell's mother 
 in Lapland, his father, Archibald, returned with 
 his son to Scotland. His second marriage, and 
 how his son ivas taught to write and read. 
 
 Mr. Archibald Campbell, having buried his 
 Lapland lady, returned to Scotland, and brought 
 over with him his son Mr. Duncan Campbell. By 
 that time he had been a year in his own country 
 he married a second wife ; a lady whom I had 
 known very well for some years, and then I first 
 saw the boy ; but, as they went into the western is- 
 lands, I saw them not again in three years. She 
 being, quite contrary to the cruel way much in use 
 among stepmothers, very fond of the boy, was ac- 
 customed to say, she did, and would always think 
 him her own son. The child came to be about 
 four years of age, as she has related to me the story 
 since, and not able to speak one word, nor to hear 
 any noise ; the father of him used to be mightily 
 oppressed with grief, and complain heavily to his 
 new wife, who was no less perplexed, that a boy so 
 pretty, the son of so particular a woman, which he 
 had made his wife, by strange accidents and adven- 
 tures, and a child coming into the world with so 
 many amazing circumstances attending his birth, 
 should lose those precious senses by which alone 
 the social commerce of mankind is upheld and 
 maintained, and that he should be deprived of all 
 advantages of education, which could raise him to 
 the character of being the great man that so many 
 
26 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 concurring incidents at his nativity promised and 
 betokened he would be. 
 
 One day, a learned divine, who was of the uni- 
 versity of Glasgow, but had visited Oxford, and been 
 acquainted with the chief men of science there, 
 happening to be in conversation with the mother-in- 
 law of this child, she related to him her son's mis- 
 fortunes, with so many marks of sorrow, that she 
 moved the good old gentleman's compassion, and 
 excited in him a desire to give her what relief and 
 consolation he could in this unhappy case. His 
 particular inclination to do her good offices, made 
 him recollect, that, at the time he was at Oxford, he 
 i had been in company with one doctor Wallis, a man 
 famous for learning, who had told him that he had 
 taught a born deaf and dumb man to write, and to 
 read, and even to utter some sounds articulately 
 with his mouth ; and that he told him he was then 
 going to commit to print the method he made use 
 of in so instructing that person, that others, in the 
 like unfortunate condition might receive the same 
 benefits and advantages from other masters, which 
 his deaf and dumb pupil had received from him. A 
 i£ dumb man recovering his speech, or a blind man 
 
 gaining his sight, or a deaf one getting his hearing, 
 could not be more overjoyed than Mrs. Campbell 
 was at these unexpected tidings, and she wept for 
 gladness when he told it. The good gentleman 
 animated and encouraged her with the kindest pro- 
 mises, and to keep alive her hopes, assured her he 
 would send to one of the chief booksellers in London 
 to inquire after the book, who would certainly pro- 
 cure it him if it was to be got, and that afterwards 
 he would peruse it diligently, make himself master 
 of doctor Wallis's method, and though he had 
 many great works upon his hands at that time, he 
 would steal from his other studies leisure enough to 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 27 
 
 complete so charitable an office, as teaching the 
 dumb and deaf to read and to write, and give her 
 son, who was by nature deprived of them, the ad- 
 vantages of speech, as far as art would permit that 
 natural defect to be supplied by her powerful inter- 
 position. 
 
 When the mother came home, the child, who 
 could hear no knocking, and therefore it must be 
 by a strange and inexplicable instinct in nature, was 
 the first that ran to the door, and falling in a great 
 fit of laughter, a thing it was not much used to be- 
 fore, having on the contrary rather a melancholy 
 cast of complexion, it clung round its mother's knees, 
 incessantly embracing and kissing them, as if just 
 at that time it had an insight into what the mother 
 had been doing for it, and into its own approaching 
 relief from its misery. 
 
 When the mother came with the child in her hand 
 to the father, to tell him the welcome news, the 
 child burst afresh into a great fit of laughter, which 
 continued for an unusual space of time ; and the 
 scene of such reciprocal affection and joy between a 
 wife and her own husband, on so signal an occasion, 
 is a thing easier to be felt by parents of a good dis- 
 position, imagining themselves under the same cir- 
 cumstance, with regard to a child they loved with 
 fondness, than to be expressed or described by the 
 pen of any writer. But it is certain, whenever they 
 spoke of this affair, as anybody, who knows the im- 
 patience of parents for the welfare of an only child 
 may guess, they must be' often discoursing it over, 
 and wishing the time was come ; the boy, who used 
 seldom so much as to smile at other times, and who 
 could never hear the greatest noise that could be 
 made, would constantly look wishfully in their faces 
 and laugh immoderately, which is a plain indication 
 that there was then a wonderful instinct in nature, 
 
/ 
 
 28 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 as I said before, which made him foretaste his good 
 fortune, and, if I may be allowed the expression, the 
 dawnings as it were of the second-sight, were then 
 pregnant within him. 
 
 To confirm this, the happy hour of his deliverance 
 being come, and the doctor having procured Mr. 
 Wallis's book, came with great joy. and desired to 
 see his pupil; scarce were the words out of his 
 mouth when the child happened to come into the 
 room, and running towards the doctor, fell on his 
 knees, kissed his hand eagerly, and laughed as be- 
 fore, which to me is a demonstration that he had 
 an insight into the good which the doctor intended 
 him. 
 
 It is certain, that several learned men, who have 
 written concerning the second-sight, have demon- 
 strated by incontestable proofs, and undeniable 
 arguments, that children, nay, even horses and 
 cows, see the second-sight, as well as men and 
 women advanced in years. But of this I shall dis- 
 course at large in its proper place, having allotted a 
 whole future chapter for that same subject of second- 
 sightedness. 
 
 In about half a year, the doctor taught his little 
 dumb pupil first to know his letters, then to name 
 .anything whatsoever, to leave off some savage 
 motions which he had taken of his own accord be- 
 fore, to signify his mind by, and to impart his 
 thoughts by his fingers and his pen, in a manner as 
 intelligible, and almost as swift through the eyes, as 
 that is of conveying our ideas to one another, by our 
 voices, through the conduits and portholes of the 
 ears. But in little more than two years he could 
 write and read as well as anybody ; because a great 
 many people cannot conceive this, and others pre- 
 tend it is not to be done in nature, I will a little 
 discourse upon doctor Wallis's foundation, and 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBEKL. 29 
 
 show in a manner obvious to the most ignorant, 
 how this hitherto mysterious help may be easily ad- 
 ministered to the deaf and the dumb, which shall be 
 the subject of the ensuing chapter. 
 
 But 1 cannot conclude this without telling the 
 handsome saying with which this child, when not 
 quite six years old, as soon as he thought he could 
 express himself well, payed his first acknowledgment 
 to his master, and which promised how great his 
 future genius was to be, when so witty a child 
 ripened into man. The words he wrote to him 
 were these, only altered into English from the 
 Scotch. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It is no little work you have accomplished. 
 My thanks are too poor amends ; the world, sir, shall 
 give you thanks ; for as I could not have expressed 
 myself without your teaching me, so those that can 
 talk, though they have eyes, cannot see the things, 
 which I can see, and shall tell them; so that in 
 doing me this, you have done a general service to 
 mankind. 
 
30 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 The method of teaching deaf and dumb persons to 
 write, read, and understand a language. 
 
 It is, I must confess, in some measure, amazing to 
 me that men, of any moderate share of learning, 
 should not naturally conceive of themselves a plain 
 reason for this art, and know how to account for the 
 practicability of it, the moment they hear the pro- 
 position advanced ; the reasons for it are so obvious 
 to the very first consideration we can make about it. 
 It will be likewise as amazing to me that the most 
 ignorant should not conceive it, after so plain a 
 reason is given them for it, as I am now going to 
 set down. 
 
 To begin ; how are children at first taught a 
 language that can hear ? are they not taught by 
 sounds ? and what are those sounds, but tokens and 
 signs to the ear. importing and signifying such and 
 such a thing ? If, then, there can be signs made to 
 the eye, agreed by the party teaching the child, that 
 they signify such and such a thing, will not the eye 
 of the child convey them to the mind, as well as the 
 ear ? They are indeed different marks to different 
 senses, but both the one and the other do equally 
 signify the same things or notions, according to the 
 will of the teacher, and consequently, must have an 
 equal effect with the person who is to be instructed, 
 for though the manners signifying are different, the 
 things signified are the same. 
 
 For example ; if, after having invented an alphabet 
 upon the fingers, a master always keeps company 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 31 
 
 with a deaf child, and teaches it to call for whatso- 
 ever it wants by such motions of the fingers which, 
 if put down by letters, according to each invented 
 motion of each finger, would form in writing a word 
 of a thing which it wanted ; might not he by these 
 regular motions teach its eye the same notions of 
 things, as sounds do to the ears of children that 
 hear ? The manner of teaching the alphabet by 
 fingers, is plainly set down in the following table. 
 
 When the deaf child has learned by these motions 
 a good stock of words, as children that hear first 
 learn by sounds, we may, methinks, call not impro- 
 perly, the fingers of such a dumb infant, its mouth, 
 and the eye of such a deaf child, its ear. When he 
 has learnt thus far, he must be taught to write the 
 alphabet, according as it was adapted to the motions 
 of his fingers ; as for instance, the five vowels, a, e, 
 i, o, u, by pointing to the top of the five fingers, and 
 the other letters, b, c, d, &c, by such other place or 
 posture of a finger, as in the above-mentioned table 
 is set forth, or otherwise, as shall be agreed upon. 
 When this is done, the marks B, R, E, A, D, and so 
 of all other words, corresponding with such fingers, 
 conveys through his eyes, unto his head, the same 
 notion, viz., the thing signified, as the sound we 
 give to those same letters, making the word ' bread,' 
 do into our heads through the ears. 
 
 This once done, he may be easily taught to under- 
 stand the parts of speech, as the verb, the noun, 
 pronoun, &c, and so, by rules of grammar and 
 syntax, to compound ideas, and connect his words 
 into a language. The method of which, since it is 
 plainly set forth in doctor Wallis's letter to Mr. 
 Beverly, I shall set it down by way of extract; 
 that people in the same circumstances with the 
 person we treat of, and of the like genius, may not 
 
32 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 have their talents lost for want of the like assist- 
 ance. 
 
 When once a deaf person has learned so far as to 
 understand the common discourse of others, and to 
 express his mind tolerably well in writing, I see no 
 room to doubt but that, provided nature has en- 
 dowed him with a proper strength of genius, as 
 other men that hear, he may become capable, upon 
 further improvement, of such further knowledge as 
 is attainable by reading. For I must here join with 
 the learned doctor Wallis in asserting, as to the 
 present case before us, that no reason can be 
 assigned why such a deaf person may not attain the 
 understanding of a language as perfectly as those 
 that hear ; and with the same learned author I take 
 upon me to lay down this proposition as certain, 
 that allowing the deaf person the like time and ex- 
 ercise, as to other men is requisite in order to attain 
 the perfection of a language, and the elegance of it, 
 he may understand as well, and write as good 
 language, as other men ; and abating only what doth 
 depend upon sound, as tones, cadences, and such 
 punctilios, no whit inferior to what he might attain 
 to, if he had his hearing as others have ? 
 
 An extract from Dr. Wallis, concerning the method 
 of teaching the deaf and dumb to read. 
 
 It is most natural, (as children learn the names of 
 things,) to furnish him by degrees with a nomen- 
 clator, containing a competent number of names of 
 things common and obvious to the eye, that you 
 may show the thing answering to such a name, and 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 33 
 
 these digested under convenient titles, and placed 
 under them in such convenient order, in several 
 columns, or other orderly situation in the paper, as 
 by their position best to express to the eye their 
 relation or respect to one another. As contraries or 
 correlatives one against the other, subordinates or 
 appurtenances under their principle, which may 
 serve as a kind of local memory. 
 
 Thus, in one paper, under the title mankind, may 
 be placed, not confusedly, but in decent order, man, 
 woman, child (boy, girl.) 
 
 In another paper, under the title body, may be 
 written, in like convenient order, head (hair, skin, 
 ear), face, forehead, eye (eyelid, eyebrow), cheek, 
 nose (nostril), mouth (lip, chin), neck, throat, back, 
 breast, side (right side, left side), belly, shoulders, 
 arm (elbow, wrist, hand, — back, palm), finger 
 (thumb, knuckle, nail), thigh, knee, leg (shin, calf, 
 ancle), foot (heel, sole), toe. 
 
 And when he hath learned the import of words 
 in each paper, let him write them in like manner, 
 in distinct leaves or pages of a book, prepared for 
 that purpose, to confirm his memory, and to have 
 recourse to it upon occasion. 
 
 In a third paper, you may give him the inward 
 parts ; as skull (brain), throat (windpipe, gullet), sto- 
 mach, guts, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney, bladder 
 (urine), vein (blood), bone (marrow), flesh, fat, &c. 
 
 In another paper, under the title beast, may be 
 placed horse (stonehorse, gelding), mare (colt), 
 bull (ox), cow, calf. Sheep, ram (wether), ewe 
 (lamb), hog, boar, sow, pig, dog (mastiff, hound, 
 greyhound, spaniel), bitch (whelp, puppy), hare, 
 rabbit, cat, mouse, rat, &c. 
 
 Under the title bird, or fowl, put cock, capon, hen, 
 chick, goose (gander), gosling, duck (drake), swan, 
 crow, kite, lark, &c. 
 
 d. c. D 
 
34 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Under the title fish, put pike, eel, plaice, salmon, 
 lobster, crab, oyster, crawfish, &c. 
 
 You may then put plants or vegetables under 
 several heads or subdivisions of the same head ; as 
 tree (root, body, bark, bough, leaf, fruit), oak, ash, 
 apple-tree, pear-tree, vine, &c. Fruit ; apple, pear, 
 plum, cherry, grape, nut, orange, lemon. Flower ; 
 rose, tulip, gilliflower, herb (weed), grass, corn, 
 wheat, barley, rye, pea, bean. 
 
 And the like of inanimates ; as heaven, sun, moon, 
 star, element, earth, water, air, fire ; and under the 
 title earth, — clay, sand, gravel, stone. Metal ; gold, 
 silver, brass, copper, iron (steel), lead, tin (pewter), 
 glass. Under the title water, put sea, pond, river, 
 stream ; under that of air, put light, dark, mist, fog, 
 cloud, wind, rain, hail, snow, thunder, lightning, 
 rainbow. Under that of fire ; coal, flame, smoke, 
 soot, ashes. 
 
 Under the title clothes, put woollen (cloth, stuff), 
 linen (holland, lawn, lockarum), silk (satin, velvet), 
 hat, cap, band, doublet, breeches, coat, cloak, stock- 
 ing, shoe, boot, shirt, petticoat, gown, &c. 
 
 Under the title house, put wall, roof, door, win- 
 dow, casement, room. 
 
 Under room, put shop, hall, parlour, dining-room, 
 chamber, study, closet, kitchen, cellar, stable, &c. 
 
 And under each of these, as distinct heads, the 
 furniture or utensils belonging thereunto ; with di- 
 visions and subdivisions, as there is occasion, which 
 I forbear to mention, that I be not too prolix. 
 
 And in like manner, from time to time, may be 
 added more collections, or classes of names or 
 words, conveniently digested, under distinct heads, 
 and suitable distributions, to be written in distinct 
 leaves or pages of his book in such order as may 
 seem convenient. 
 
 When he is furnished with a competent number 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 35 
 
 of names, though not so many as I have mentioned, 
 it will be seasonable to teach him under the titles 
 singular and plural, the formation of plurals from 
 singulars, by adding s, or es ; as hand, hands ; 
 face, faces ; fish, fishes, &c, with some few irre- 
 gulars, as man, men ; woman, women ; foot, feet ; 
 tooth, teeth ; mouse, mice ; louse, lice ; ox, oxen, &c. 
 
 Which, except the irregulars, will serve for pos- 
 sessives, to be after taught him, which are formed 
 by their primitives by like addition of s or es, ex- 
 cept some few irregulars, as my, mine ; thy, thine ; 
 our, ours ; your, yours ; his, her, hers ; their, 
 theirs, &c. 
 
 And in all those and other like cases, it will be 
 proper first to show him the particulars, and then 
 the general title. 
 
 Then teach him in another page or paper, the 
 particles, a, an, the, this, that, these, those. 
 
 And the pronouns, I, me, my, mine, thou, thee, 
 thy, thine, we, us, our, ours, ye, you, your, yours, 
 he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, 
 shoes, heirs, who, whom, whose. 
 
 Then under the titles substantive, adjective, teach 
 him to connect these, as my hand, your head, his 
 foot, his feet, her arm, her arms, our hats, their 
 John's coat, William's band, &c. 
 
 And in order to furnish him with more adjectives, 
 under the title colours, you may place black, white, 
 gray, green, blue, yellow, red, &c, and having 
 showed the particulars, let him know that these are 
 called colours. The like for taste and smell; as 
 sweet, bitter, sour, stink. 
 
 And for hearing, sound, noise, word. 
 
 Then for touch or feeling, hot, warm, cold, cool, 
 wet, moist, dry, hard, soft, tough, brittle, heavy, 
 light, &c. 
 
 From whence you may furnish him with more 
 
 d2 
 
36 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 examples of adjectives with substantives ; as white 
 bread, brown bread, green grass, soft cheese, hard 
 cheese, black hat, my black hat, &c. 
 
 And then inverting the order, substantive, ad- 
 jective, with the verb copulative between ; as silver 
 is white, gold is yellow, lead is heavy, wood is light, 
 snow is white, ink is black, flesh is soft, bone is 
 hard, I am sick, I am not well, &c, which will 
 begin to give him some notion of syntax. 
 
 In like manner when substantive and substantive 
 are so connected ; as gold is a metal, a rose is a 
 flower, they are men, they are women, horses are 
 beasts, geese are fowls, larks are birds, &c. 
 
 Then as those before relate to quality, you may 
 give him some other words relating to quantity. 
 As long, short, broad, narrow ; thick, thin ; high, 
 tall, low; deep, shallow, great, big, small (little), 
 much, little ; many, few, full, empty ; whole, part, 
 piece ; all, some, none, strong, weak, quick, slow, 
 equal, unequal, bigger, less. 
 
 Then words of figure; as straight, crooked, plain, 
 bowed, concave, hollow, convex ; round, square, 
 three-square, sphere, globe, bowl, cube, die, upright, 
 sloping, leaning forward, leaning backward, like, 
 unlike. 
 
 Of gesture ; as stand, lie, sit, kneel, sleep. 
 
 Of motion ; as move, stir, rest, walk, go, come, 
 run, leap, ride, fall, rise, swim, sink, drawn, slide, 
 creep, crawl, fly, pull, draw, thrust, throw, bring, 
 fetch, carry. 
 
 Then words relating to time ; place, number, 
 weight, measure, money, &c, are, in convenient 
 time, to be showed him distinctly ; for which the 
 teacher, according to his discretion, may take a 
 convenient season. 
 
 As likewise the time of the day ; the days of the 
 week, the days of the month, the months of the 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL* 37 
 
 year, and other things relating to the almanack, 
 which he will quickly be capable to understand, if 
 once methodically shown him. 
 
 As likewise the names and situation of places and 
 countries, which are convenient for him to know ; 
 which may be orderly written in his book, and 
 showed him in the map of London, England, Eu- 
 rope, the world, &c. 
 
 But these may be done at leisure, as likewise the 
 practice of arithmetic, and other like pieces of 
 learning. 
 
 In the mean time, after the concord of substan- 
 tive and adjective, he is to be showed by convenient 
 examples, that of the nominative and verb ; as, for 
 instance, I go, you see, he sits, they stand, the fire 
 burns, the sun shines, the wind blows, the rain falls, 
 the water runs, and the like, with the titles in the 
 top nominative verb. 
 
 After this, under the titles nominative verb, ac- 
 cusative, give him examples of verbs transitive ; as 
 I see you, you see me, the fire burns the wood, the 
 boy makes the fire, the cook roasts the meat, the 
 butler lays the cloth, we eat our dinner. 
 
 Or even with a double accusative ; as, you teach 
 me writing or to write, John teacheth me to dance, 
 Thomas tell me a tale, &c. 
 
 After this you may teach him the flexion or con- 
 jugation of the verb, or what is equivalent there- 
 unto ; for in our English tongue each verb hath but 
 two tenses, the present and the preter ; two parti- 
 ciples, the active and the passive ; all the rest is 
 performed by auxiliaries, which auxiliaries have no 
 more tenses than the other verbs. 
 
 Those auxiliaries are do, did, will, would, shall, 
 should, may, might, can, could, must, ought, to. 
 have, had, am, be, was. And if by examples you 
 can insinuate the signification of these few words, 
 
38 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 you have taught him the whole flexion of the 
 verb. 
 
 And here it will be convenient, once for all, to 
 write him out a full paradigm of some one verb, 
 suppose ' to see,' through all those auxiliaries. 
 
 The verb itself hath but these four words to be 
 learned, see, saw, seeing, seen ; save that after thou, 
 in the second person singular, in both tenses we 
 add est, and in the third person singular in the 
 present tense, eth or es, or instead thereof, st, ih 9 s,. 
 and so in all verbs. 
 
 Then to the auxiliaries do, did ; will, would ; 
 shall, should ; may, might ; can, could ; must, ought, 
 to; we join the indefinite see. And after have, had, 
 am, be, was, the passive particle seen, and so for all 
 other verbs. 
 
 But the auxiliary ' am ' or f be,' is somewhat ir- 
 regular in a double form. 
 
 Am, art, is ; plural, are ; was, wast, was ; plural 
 were. 
 
 Be, beest, be ; plural be, were, wert, were ; plural 
 were. 
 
 Be, am, was, being, been. 
 
 Which, attended with the other auxiliaries, make 
 us the whole passive voice. 
 
 All verbs, without exceptions, in the active par- 
 ticiple are formed by adding ing; as see, seeing ; 
 teach, teaching, &c. 
 
 The preter tense and the participle are formed 
 regularly, by adding ed, but are oft subject to con- 
 tractions, and other irregularities, sometimes the 
 same in both, sometimes different ; and therefore it 
 is convenient here to give a table of verbs, espe- 
 cially the most usual, for those three cases, which 
 may at once teach their signification and formation ; 
 as boil, boiled ; roast, roasted, roasted ; bake, baked, 
 baked, &c. ; teach, taught, taught ; bring, brought, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 39 
 
 brought ; buy, bought, bought, &c. ; see, saw, seen ; 
 give, gave, given ; take, took, taken ; forsake, for- 
 sook, forsaken ; write, wrote, written, &c. ; with 
 many more fit to be learned. 
 
 The verbs being thus despatched, he is then to 
 learn the prepositions, wherein lies the whole re- 
 gimen of the noun. For diversity of cases we have 
 none ; the force of which is to be insinuated by 
 convenient examples, suited to their different signi- 
 fications. As, for instance, ' of ;' a piece of bread, 
 a pint of wine, the colour of a pot, the colour of 
 gold, a ring of gold, a cup of silver, the mayor of 
 London, the longest of all, &c. 
 
 And in like manner, for, off, on, upon, to, unto, 
 till, until, from, at, in, within, out, without, into, 
 out of; about, over, under; above, below; between, 
 among; before, behind, after; for, by, with, through, 
 against, concerning, and by this time he will be 
 pretty well enabled to understand a single sentence. 
 
 In the last place, he is in like manner to be 
 taught conjunctions, which serve to connect not 
 words only, but sentences ; as and, also ; likewise, 
 either, or whether ; neither, nor, if then, why, 
 wherefore, because, therefore, but, though, yet, &c; 
 and these illustrated by convenient examples in each 
 case, as, Because I am cold, therefore I go to the 
 fire, that I may be warm, for it is cold weather. 
 
 If it were fair, then it would be good walking ; 
 but, however, though it rain, yet I must go, because 
 I promised ; with other like instances. 
 
 And by this time his book, if well furnished with 
 plenty of words, and those well digested under 
 several heads, and in good order, and well recruited 
 from time to time as new words occur, will serve 
 him in the nature of a dictionary and grammar. 
 
 And in case the deaf person be otherwise of a 
 good natural capacity, and the teacher of a good 
 
40 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 sagacity ; by this method, proceeding gradually step 
 by step, you may, with diligence and due appli- 
 cation of teacher and learner, in a year's time, or 
 thereabouts, perceive a greater progress than you 
 would expect, and a good foundation laid for further 
 instruction in matters of religion, and other know- 
 ledge which may be taught by books. 
 
 It will be convenient all along to have pen, ink, 
 and paper, ready at hand, to write down in a word, 
 what you signify to him by signs, and cause him to 
 write, or show how to write what he signifies by 
 signs ; which way of signifying their mind by signs, 
 deaf persons are often very good at. And we must 
 endeavour to learn their language, if I may so call 
 it, in order to teach them ours, by showing what 
 words answer to their signs. 
 
 It will be convenient also, as you go along, after 
 some convenient progress made, to express, in as 
 plain language as may be, the import of some of the 
 tables ; as, for instance, 
 
 The head is the highest part of the body, the 
 feet the lowest part, the face is the fore part of the 
 head, the forehead is over the eyes, the cheeks are 
 under the eyes, the nose is between the cheeks, the 
 mouth is under the nose, and above the chin, &c. 
 
 And such plain discourse put into writing, and 
 particularly explained, will teach him by degrees to 
 understand plain sentences ; and like advantages, a 
 sagacious teacher may take, as occasion offers itself 
 from time to time. 
 
 This extract is mostly taken out of the ingenious 
 Dr. Wallis, and lying hid in that little book, which 
 is but rarely inquired after, and too scarcely known ; 
 died, in a manner, with that great man. And as 
 he designed it for the general use of mankind, that 
 laboured under the misfortune of losing those two 
 valuable talents of hearing and speaking, I thought 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 41 
 
 it might not be amiss, in the life of so particular a 
 dumb person as I am writing, to give them this 
 small but particular fragment of grammar and 
 syntax. 
 
 It is exactly adjusted to the English tongue, be- 
 cause such are the persons with whom the doctor 
 had to deal, and such the persons whose benefit 
 alone I consult in this treatise. 
 
 One of the chief persons who was taught by 
 Dr. Wallis was Mr. Alexander Popham, brother-in- 
 law, if I am not mistaken, to the present earl of 
 Oxford ; and he was a very great proficient in this 
 way, and though he was born deaf and dumb, 
 understood the language so well as to give under 
 his hand many rare indications of a masterly genius. 
 
 The uncle of his present Sardinian majesty, as I 
 have been credibly informed, had the want of the 
 same organs, and yet was a perfect statesman, and 
 wrote in five or six different languages elegantly 
 well. 
 
 Bishop Burnet, in his book of travels tells us a story 
 almost incredible, but tells it as a passage that de- 
 serves our belief. It is concerning a young lady at 
 Genoa, who was not only deaf and dumb, but blind 
 too, it seems, into the bargain ; and this lady, he 
 assures us as a truth, could, by putting her hand 
 on her sister's mouth, know everything she said. 
 
 But to return back to England ; we have many 
 rare instances of our own countrymen, the principal 
 of whom I shall mention as their names occur to my 
 memory. Sir John Gawdy, sir Thomas Knot cliff, 
 
 sir Gostwick, sir Henry Lydall, and Mr. 
 
 Richard Lyns of Oxford, were all of this num- 
 ber, and yet men eminent in their several capacities 
 for understanding many authors, and expressing 
 themselves in writing with wonderful facility. 
 
 In Hatton-garden there now lives a miracle of 
 
42 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 wit and good nature ; I mean the daughter of 
 Mr. Loggin, who, though born deaf and dumb, 
 and she has a brother who has the same impedi- 
 ments, yet writes her mind down upon any subject 
 with such acuteness, as would amaze learned men 
 themselves, and put many students that have passed 
 for wits to the blush, to see themselves so far sur- 
 passed by a woman amidst that deficiency of the 
 common organs. If anybody speaks a word dis- 
 tinctly, this lady will, by observing narrowly the 
 motion of the speaker's lips, pronounce the word 
 afterwards very intelligibly. 
 
 As there are a great many families in England 
 and Ireland that have several, and some even have 
 five or six dumb persons belonging to them, and as 
 a great many more believe it impossible for persons 
 born deaf and dumb to write and read, and have 
 thence taken occasion to say and assert that Mr. 
 Campbell could certainly speak, I could never think 
 it a digression in the history of this man's life to set 
 down the grammar by which he himself was taught, 
 and which he has taught others, two of which scho- 
 lars of his are boys in this town, partly to confute 
 the slander made against him, and partly for the 
 help of others dumb and deaf, whose parents may 
 by these examples be encouraged to get them 
 taught. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 43 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Young Duncan Campbell returns with his mother 
 to Edinburgh. The earl of Argyle } s overthrow. 
 The ruin of Mr. Archibald Campbell and his 
 death. Young Duncan's practice in prediction 
 at Edinburgh while yet a boy. 
 
 Our young boy, now between six and seven years of 
 age, half a Highlander and half a Laplander, de- 
 lighted in wearing a little bonnet and plaid, thinking 
 it looked very manly in his countrymen ; and his 
 father, as soon as he was out of his hanging sleeves, 
 and left off his boy's vest, indulged him with that 
 kind of dress, which is truly antique and heroic. 
 In this early part of his nonage he was brought to 
 Edinburgh by his mother-in-law, where I myself 
 grew afresh acquainted with her, his father being 
 then but lately dead. Just after the civil commo- 
 tion, and off and on, have known him ever since, 
 and conversed with him very frequently during that 
 space of time, which, now is about three or four-and- 
 thirty years, so that whatever I say concerning him 
 in the future pages, I shall relate to the reader from 
 my own certain knowledge, which, as I resolve to 
 continue anonymous, may perhaps not have so 
 much weight and authority as if I had prefixed my 
 name to the account. Be that as it will, there are 
 hundreds of living witnesses that will justify each 
 action I relate, and his own future actions while he 
 lives will procure belief and credit to the precedent 
 ones which I am going to record ; so that if many 
 
44 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 do remain infidels to my relations, and will not 
 allow them exact (the fate of many as credible and 
 more important historians than myself), I can, how- 
 ever, venture to flatter myself, that greater will be 
 the number of those who will have a faith in my 
 writings, than of those who will reject my accounts 
 as incredible. 
 
 Having just spoke of the decease of Mr. Archibald 
 Campbell, the father of our young Duncan Campbell, 
 it will not be amiss here to observe how true the 
 predictions of his Lapland mother were, which arose 
 from second-sight, according to the notices given by 
 the child's father to its grandfather in his letter from 
 Lapland, even before it was born ; which shows that 
 the infant held this second-sighted power, or occult 
 faculty of divination, even by inheritance. 
 
 In the year 1685, the duke of Monmouth and the 
 earl of Argyle sailed out of the ports of Holland 
 without any obstruction, the earl of Argyle, in May, 
 with three ships for Scotland ; and Monmouth, in 
 June, with the same number for England, 
 
 The earl setting out first, was also the first at 
 landing. Argyle having attempted to land in the 
 north of Scotland, and being disappointed by the 
 vigilance of the bishop of the Orcades, landed in the 
 west, and encamped at Dunstaffnage castle in the 
 province of Lorn, which had belonged to him. He 
 omitted nothing that might draw over to him all the 
 malecontents in the kingdom, whom he thought 
 more numerous than they afterwards appeared to 
 be. He dispersed about his declarations, wherein, 
 after protesting that he had taken up arms only in 
 defence of religion and the laws, against an unjust 
 usurper, so he styled king James the second, he in- 
 vited all good protestants, and such Scotch as would 
 assert their liberty, to join him against a prince, he 
 said, was got into the throne to ruin the reforma- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN" CAMPBELL. 45 
 
 tion, and to bring in popery and arbitrary power. 
 Next he sent letters to those he thought his friends. 
 among whom was Mr. Archibald Campbell, who ac- 
 cording to the vast deference payed by the Scots to 
 their chief, joined him, though in his heart of a 
 quite different principle : to call them to his assist- 
 ance, he detached two of his sons to make inroads 
 in the neighbourhood, and compel some by threats. 
 others by mighty promises, to join him. All hi? 
 contrivances could not raise him above three thou- 
 sand men, with whom he encamped in the isle of 
 Bute, where he was soon, in a manner, besieged by 
 the earl of Dumbarton, with the king's forces, and 
 several other bodies, commanded by the duke of 
 Gordon, the marquis of Athol, the earl of Arran, 
 and other great men, who came from all parts to 
 quench the fire before it grew to a head. 
 
 The earl of Argyle being obliged to quit a post he 
 could not make good, went over into a part of the 
 country of his own name, where having hastily for- 
 tified a castle called Ellingrey, he put into it the 
 arms and ammunition taken out of his ships, which 
 lay at anchor under the cannon of a fort he erected 
 near that place. There his rout began ; for going 
 out from the castle with his forces to make an in- 
 cursion, one of his parties was defeated by the mar- 
 quis of Athol, who slew four hundred of his men : 
 and captain Hamilton, who attacked his ships with 
 some of the king's, and took them without any 
 resistance. 
 
 The earl of Dumbarton advancing towards him, at 
 the same time, by long marches, while he endeavoured 
 to secure himself by rivers, surprised him passing 
 the Clyde in the village of Killern, as he was 
 marching towards Lenox. Dumbarton coming upon 
 them at night, would have stayed till the next day 
 to attack the rebels, but they gave him not so much 
 
46 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 time, for they passed the river in the night, in such 
 confusion, that being overcome with fear, they dis- 
 persed as soon as over. Argyle could scarce rally 
 so many as would make him a small guard, which 
 was soon scattered again ; Dumbarton having passed 
 the river, and divided his forces to pursue those that 
 fled. Argyle had taken guides to conduct him to 
 Galloway ; but they mistaking the way, and leading 
 him into a bog, most of those that still followed him 
 quitted their horses, every man shifting for himself. 
 
 Argyle himself was making back alone towards 
 the Clyde, when two resolute servants, belonging to 
 an officer in the king's army meeting him, though 
 they knew him not, bid him surrender. He fired at 
 and missed them ; but they took better aim, and 
 wounded him with a bistol ball. Then the earl 
 drawing his two pistols out of the holsters, quitted 
 his horse, that was quite tired, and took the river. 
 A country fellow, who came with those two, that had 
 first assaulted him, pursued him with a pistol in his 
 hand ; the earl would have fired one of his, but the 
 flint failing he was dangerously wounded in the 
 head by the peasant. He discovered himself as he 
 fell senseless, crying out, Unfortunate Argyle. This 
 nobleman, how far soever he may be thought misled 
 in principle, was certainly in his person a very 
 brave and a very gallant hero. They made haste to 
 draw him out and bring him to himself; after which, 
 being delivered up to the officers, the erring, unfor- 
 tunate great man, was conducted to Edingburh and 
 there beheaded. 
 
 Many gentlemen that followed the fortunes of this 
 great man, though not in his death, they shared in 
 all the other calamities attending his overthrow. 
 They most of them fled into the remotest isles and 
 the obscurest corners of all Scotland ; contented 
 with the saving of their lives ; they grew exiles and 
 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 47 
 
 banished men of their own making, and abdicated 
 their estates before they were known to be forfeited, 
 because, for fear of being informed against by the 
 common fellows they commanded, they durst not 
 appear to lay their claims. Of this number was 
 Mr. Archibald Campbell, and this new disaster 
 wounded him deep into the very heart, after so many 
 late misadventures, and sent him untimely to the 
 grave. He perfectly pined away and wasted ; he 
 was six months dying inch by inch, and the differ- 
 ence between his last breath and his way of breathing 
 during all that time, was only, that he expired with 
 a greater sigh than he ordinarily fetched every time 
 when he drew his breath. 
 
 Everything the Lapland lady had predicted so 
 long before, being thus come to pass, we may the 
 less admire at the wonders performed by her son, 
 when we consider this faculty of divination to be so 
 derived to him from her, and grown as it were he- 
 reditary. 
 
 Our young prophet, who had taught most of his 
 little companions to converse with him by finger, 
 was the head at every little pastime and game they 
 played at. Marbles, which he used to call children's 
 playing at bowls, yielded him mighty diversion ; and 
 he was so dexterous an artist at shooting that little 
 alabaster globe from between the end of his fore- 
 finger and the knuckle of his thumb, that he seldom 
 missed hitting plum, as the boys call it, the marble 
 he aimed at, though at the distance of two or three 
 yards. The boys always when they played coveted 
 to have him on their side, and by hearing that he 
 foretold others things, used to consult him, when 
 they made their little matches, which were things of 
 great importance in their thoughts, who should get 
 the victory. He used commonly to leave these 
 trifles undecided, but if ever he gave his opinion in 
 
48 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 these trivial affairs, the persons fared well by their 
 consultation, for his judgment about them was like 
 a petty oracle, and the end always answered his 
 prediction. But I would have my reader imagine, 
 that though our Duncan Campbell was himself but 
 a boy, he was not consulted only by boys ; his pe- 
 netration and insight into things of a high nature, 
 got air, and being attested by credible witnesses won 
 him the esteem of persons, of mature years and dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 If a beautiful young virgin languished for a 
 husband, or a widow's mind was in labour to have 
 a second venture of infants by another spouse ; if a 
 housekeeper had lost anything belonging to her 
 master, still little Duncan Campbell was at hand ; 
 he was the oracle to be applied to, and the little 
 chalked circle, where he was diverting himself with 
 his playfellows near the cross at Edinburgh, was 
 frequented with as much solicitation, and as much 
 credit, as the tripos of Apollo was at Delphos in 
 ancient times. 
 
 It was highly entertaining to see a young blooming 
 beauty come and slily pick up the boy from his 
 company, carry him home with as much eagerness 
 as she would her gallant, because she knew she 
 should get the name of her gallant out of him before 
 he went, and bribe him with a sugarplum to write 
 down the name of a young Scotch peer in a green 
 ribbon that her mouth watered after. 
 
 How often after he has been wallowing in the 
 dust, have I myself seen nice squeamish widows help 
 him up in their gilded chariots, and give him a 
 pleasant ride with them, that he might tell them 
 they should not long lie alone ; little Duncan Camp- 
 bell had as much business upon his hands as the 
 parsons of all the parishes in Edinburgh. He com- 
 monly was consulted, and named the couples before 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 49 
 
 the minister joined them ; thus he grew a rare cus- 
 tomer to the toyshop, from whence he most an end 
 received fees and rewards for his advices. If lady 
 Betty such a one was foretold that she should cer- 
 tainly have beau such a one in marriage, then little 
 Duncan was sure to have a hobbyhorse from the 
 toyshop, as a reward for the promised fop. If such 
 a widow that was ugly, but very rich, was to be 
 pushed hard for, as she pretended, though in reality 
 easily won, little Duncan, upon insuring her such a 
 captain, or such a lieutenant-colonel, was sure to be 
 presented from the same child's warehouse, with a 
 very handsome drum, and a silvered trumpet. 
 
 If a sempstress had an itching desire for a parson, 
 she would, upon the first assurance of him, give this 
 little Apollo a pasteboard temple, or church, finely 
 painted, and a ring of bells into the bargain, from 
 the same toy-office. 
 
 If a housekeeper lost any plate, the thief was 
 certain to be catched, provided she took little master 
 into the storeroom, and asked him the question, 
 after she had given him his bellyfull of sweet- 
 meats. 
 
 Neither were the women only his consulters ; the 
 grave merchants, who were anxious for many ven- 
 tures at sea, applied to the boy for his opinion of 
 their security, and they looked upon his opinion to 
 be as safe as the insurance office for ships. If he 
 but told them, though the ship was j ust set sail and 
 a tempest rose just after on the ocean, that it would 
 have a successful voyage, gain the port designed, 
 and return home safe laden with the exchange of 
 traffic and merchandize, they dismissed all their 
 fears, banished all their cares, set their hearts at 
 ease, and, safe in his opinion, enjoyed a calm of mind 
 amidst a storm of weather. 
 
 d. c. E 
 
50 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 I myself knew one count Cog, an eminent gamester, 
 who was a person so far from being of a credulous 
 disposition, that he was an unbeliever in several 
 points of religion, and the next door to an infidel; 
 yet, as much as he was a stranger to faith, he was 
 mastered and overpowered so far in his incredulity 
 by the strange events which he had seen come fre- 
 quently to pass from the predictions of this child, 
 that he had commonly daily access to this boy to 
 learn his more adverse and more prosperous hours 
 of gaming. At first indeed he would try, when the 
 child foretold him his ill fortune, whether it would 
 prove true, and relying upon the mere hazard and 
 turn of the die, he had always, as he observed, a 
 run of ill luck on those forbidden days, as he never 
 failed of good if he chose the fortunate hours di- 
 rected by the boy. One time above all the rest, 
 just before he was departing from Edinburgh, and 
 when the season of gaming was almost over, most 
 persons of wealth and distinction withdrawing for 
 pleasure to their seats in the country, he came to 
 young Duncan Campbell to consult, and was ex- 
 tremely solicitous to know how happily or unluckily 
 he should end that term, as we may call it, of the 
 gamester's weighty business, viz., play, there being 
 a long vacation likely to ensue, when the gaming 
 table would be empty, and the box and dice lie idle 
 and cease to rattle, The boy encouraged him so 
 well with his predictions on this occasion, that count 
 Cog went to the toyshop, brought him from thence 
 a very fine ivory T totum, as children call it, a 
 pretty set of painted and gilded little ninepins 
 and a bowl, and a large bag of marbles and alloys ; 
 and what do you think the gamester got by this 
 little present and the prediction of the boy ? why 
 without telling the least tittle of falsehood, within 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 51 
 
 the space of the last week's play, the gains of count 
 Cog really amounted to no less than 20,000/. 
 sterling neat money. 
 
 Having mentioned these persons of so many dif- 
 ferent professions by borrowed names, and perhaps 
 in a manner seemingly ludicrous, I would not 
 have my reader from hence take occasion of looking 
 upon my account as fabulous. If I was not to make 
 use of borrowed names, but to tell the real charac- 
 ters and names of the persons, I should do injury to 
 those old friends of his who first gave credit to our 
 young seer, while I am endeavouring to gain him 
 the credit and esteem of new ones, in whose way 
 it has not yet happened to consult him. For many 
 persons are very willing to ask such questions as 
 the foregoing ones ; but few or none willing to 
 have the public told they asked them ; though they 
 succeeded in their wish, and were amply satisfied in 
 their curiosity. I have represented them perhaps 
 in a ludicrous manner, because though they are 
 mysterious actions they are still the actions of a 
 boy, and as the rewards he received for his advices 
 did really and truly consist of such toys as I men- 
 tioned, so could they not be treated of in a more 
 serious manner, without the author's incurring a 
 magisterial air of pedantry, and showing a mind, as 
 it were, of being mighty grave and sententious 
 about trifles. There are, however, some things of 
 greater weight and importance done by him in a 
 more advanced stage of life, which will be delivered 
 to the public with that exactitude and gravity which 
 becomes them ; and in some of those relations the 
 names of some persons that are concerned shall be 
 printed, because it will not at all be injurious to 
 them, or because I have their leave, and they are 
 still living to testify what I shall relate. 
 
 In the mean time, as the greatest part of his non- 
 
 e2 
 
52 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 age was spent in predicting almost innumerable 
 things, which are all, however, reducible to the ge- 
 neral heads above mentioned, I will not tire the 
 reader with any particulars : but instead of doing 
 that, before I come to show his power of divination, 
 in the more active parts of his life, and when after 
 removing from Edinburgh to London, he at last 
 made it his public profession ; I shall account how 
 such divinations may be made, and divert the 
 reader with many rare examples, taken from seve- 
 ral faithful and undoubted historians, of persons 
 who have done the like before him, some in one 
 way, and some in another ; though in this he seems 
 to be peculiar, and to be, if I may be allowed the 
 expression, a species by himself alone in the talent 
 of prediction ; that he has collected within his own 
 individual capacity all the methods which others 
 severally used, and with which they were differently 
 and singly gifted in their several ways of foreseeing 
 and foretelling. 
 
 This art of prediction is not attainable any 
 otherwise, than by these three ways ; first, it is 
 done by the company of familiar spirits and genii, 
 which are of two sorts ; some good and some 
 bad ; who tell the gifted person the things of which 
 he informs other people. Secondly, it is performed 
 by the second-sight, which is very various, and differs 
 in most of the possessors, it being but a very little 
 in some, very extensive and constant in others ; 
 beginning with some in their infancy, and leav- 
 ing them before they come to years ; happening to 
 others in a middle age, to others again in an old age, 
 that never had it before, and lasting only for a term 
 of years, and now and then for a very short period 
 of time ; and in some, intermitting, like fits as it 
 were, of vision, that leave them for a time, and then 
 return to be as strong in them as ever, and it being 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 53 
 
 in a manner hereditary to some families, whose 
 children have it from their infancy, without inter- 
 mission, to a great old age, and even to the time of 
 their death, which they often foretell before it comes 
 to pass, to a day, nay, even to an hour. Thirdly, it 
 is attained by the diligent study of the lawful part 
 of the art of magic. 
 
 Before I give the reader an account, as I shall do 
 in three distinct discourses, first, concerning the 
 intercourse which familiar spirits, viz., the good 
 and bad genii, have had and continue to have to a 
 great degree with some select parts of mankind ; 
 secondly, concerning the wonderful and almost mi- 
 raculous power of a second-sight, with which many, 
 beyond all controversy, have been extraordinarily 
 but visibly gifted ; and, thirdly, concerning the 
 pitch of perfection to which the magic science has 
 been carried and promoted by some adepts in that 
 mysterious art; 1 will premise a few particulars 
 about the genii which attended our little Duncan 
 Campbell, and about the second-sight which he had 
 when yet a child, and when we may much more 
 easily believe that the wonders he performed and 
 wrote of, must have been rather brought about by 
 the intervention of such genii and the mediation of 
 such a sight, than that he could have invented 
 such fables concerning them, and compassed such 
 predictions as seem to want their assistance, by the 
 mere dint of a child's capacity. 
 
 One day, I remember, when he was about nine 
 years of age, going early to the house where he 
 and his mother lived, and it being before his mo- 
 ther was stirring, I went into little Duncan Camp- 
 bell's room to divert myself with him, I found him 
 sitting up in his bed with his eyes broad open, but 
 as motionless as if he had been asleep, or even, if it 
 

 54 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 had not been for a lively beautiful colour which the 
 little pretty fair silver-haired boy always had in his 
 cheeks, as if he had been quite dead ; he did not 
 seem so much as to breathe ; the eyelids of him 
 were so fixed and immoveable, that the eyelashes did 
 not so much as once shake, which the least motion 
 imaginable must agitate ; not to say that he was 
 like a person in an ecstacy, he was at least in what 
 we commonly call a brown study, to the highest 
 degree, and for the largest space of time 1 ever 
 knew. I, who had been frequently informed by 
 people who have been present at the operations of 
 second-sighted persons, that at the sight of a vision 
 the eyelids of the person are erected, and the eyes 
 continue staring till the object vanishes ; I, I say, 
 sat myself softly down on his bed-side, and with a 
 quiet amazement observed him, avoiding diligently 
 any motion that might give him the least disturb- 
 ance, or cause in him any avocation or distraction 
 of mind from the business he was so intent upon. 
 I remarked that he held his head sideways, with 
 his mouth wide open and in a listening posture, and 
 that after so lively a manner, as, at first general 
 thought, made me forget his deafness, and plainly 
 imagine he heard something, till the second thought 
 of reflection brought into my mind the misfortune 
 that shut up all passage for any sound through 
 his ears. After a steadfast gaze, which lasted about 
 seven minutes, he smiled, and stretched his arms as 
 one recovering from a fit of indolence, and rubbed 
 his eyes ; then turning towards me, he made the 
 sign of a salute, and hinted to me, upon his fingers, 
 his desire for pen, ink, and paper, which I reached 
 him from a little desk that stood at his bed's feet. 
 
 Placing the paper upon his knees he wrote me 
 the following lines, which together with my answers 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. GO 
 
 I preserve by me, for their rarity, to this very day, 
 and which I have transcribed word for word, as 
 they form a little series of dialogue. 
 
 Duncan Campbell. I am sorry I cannot stay 
 with you ; but I shall see my pretty youth and my 
 lamb by and by, in the fields, near a little coppice 
 or grove, where I go often to play with them, and I 
 wuuld not lose their company for the whole world ; 
 for they and I are mighty familiar together, and the 
 boy tells me everything that gets me my reputation 
 among the ladies and nobility, and you must keep 
 it secret. 
 
 My question. I will be sure to keep it secret ; 
 but how do you know you are to meet them there 
 to-day ? Did the little boy appoint you ? 
 
 Duncan Campbell. Yes he did, and signified 
 that he had several things to predict to me con- 
 cerning people, that he foreknew would come to 
 me the week following to ask me questions. 
 
 My question. But what was you staring at when 
 I came in ? 
 
 Duncan Campbell. Why at that little boy that 
 goes along with the lamb I speak of, and it was then 
 he made me the appointment. 
 
 My question. How does he do it ? Does he write ? 
 
 Duncan Campbell. Xo, he writes sometimes, but 
 oftener he speaks with his fingers, and mighty swift ; 
 no man can do it so quick, or write half so soon ; he 
 has a little bell in his hand, like that which my mo- 
 ther makes me a sign to shake when she wants the 
 servants : with that he tickles my brain strangely, 
 and gives me an incredible delight of feeling in the 
 inside of my head ; he usually wakes me with it in 
 the morning when he comes to make me an appoint- 
 ment. I fancy it is what you call hearing, which 
 makes me mighty desirous I could hear in your way ; 
 it is sweeter to the feeling, methinks, than anything 
 
56 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 . 
 
 is to the taste ; it is just as if my head was tickle< 
 to death, as my nurse used to tickle my sides ; but 
 it is a different feeling, for it makes things like little 
 strings tremble in my temples and behind my ears. 
 Now I remember, I will tell you what it is like, 
 that makes me believe it is like your hearing, and 
 that strange thing which you that can speak, call 
 sound or noise : because, when I was at church 
 with my mother, who told me the bells could be 
 heard ringing a mile off, as I was kneeling on the 
 bench, and leaning over the top of the pew and 
 gnawing the board, every time the man pulled the 
 rope, I thought all my head beat as if it would 
 come to pieces, but yet it pleased me methought, 
 rather than pained me, and I would be always 
 gnawing the board when the man pulled the rope, 
 and I told my mother the reason : the feeling of 
 that was something like the little bell, but only that 
 made my head throb as if it would break, and this 
 tickles me and makes, as it were, little strings on 
 the back of my ears dance and tremble like any- 
 thing ; is not that like your way of hearing ? If it 
 be, it is a sweet thing to hear ; it is more pleasant 
 than to see the finest colours in the world ; it is 
 something like being tickled in the nose with a fea- 
 ther till one sneezes, or like the feeling after one 
 strikes the leg, when it has been numb or asleep, 
 only with this difference, that those two ways 
 give a pain, and the other a pleasure : I remember, 
 too, when I had a great cold for about two months, 
 I had a feeling something like it, but that was 
 blunt, dull, confused, and troublesome. Is not this 
 like what you call hearing ? 
 
 My question. It is the finest kind of hearing, 
 my dear, it is what we call music. But what sort 
 of a boy is that that meets you ? And what sort of 
 a lamb ? 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 57 
 
 Duncan Campbell. Oh! though they are like 
 other boys and other lambs which you see, they are 
 a thousand times prettier and finer ; you never saw 
 such a boy nor such a lamb in your lifetime. 
 
 My question. How big is he ? As big as you 
 are ? And what sort of a boy is he ? 
 
 Duncan Campbell. He is a little little pretty 
 boy, about as tall as my knee, his face is as white as 
 snow, and so are his little hands ; his cheeks are as 
 red as a cherry, and so are his lips ; and when he 
 breathes, it makes the air more perfumed than my 
 mother's sweet bags that she puts among the linen ; 
 he has got a crown of roses, cowslips, and other 
 flowers upon his head, such as the maids gather in 
 May ; his hair is like fine silver threads, and shine 
 like the beams of the sun ; he wears a loose veil 
 down to his feet, that is as blue as the sky in a 
 clear day, and embroidered with spangles, that 
 look like the brightest stars in the night ; he car- 
 ries a silver bell in one hand, and a book and pencil 
 in the other ; and he and the little lamb will dance 
 and leap about me in a ring as high as my head ; the 
 lamb has got a little silver collar, with nine little 
 bells upon it ; and every little piece of wool upon 
 its back, that is as white as milk, is tied up all round 
 it in puffs, like a little miss's hair, with ribbons of 
 all colours ; and round its head too are little roses 
 and violets stuck very thick into the wool that 
 grows upon its forehead, and behind and between its 
 ears, in the shape of a diadem. They first meet me 
 dancing thus ; and after they have danced some 
 time, the little boy writes down wonderful things 
 in his book, which I write down in mine ; then 
 they dance again, till he rings his bell, and then they 
 are gone all of a sudden, I know not where ; but I 
 feel the tinkling in the inside of my head caused by 
 the bell less and less, till I don't feel it at all, and 
 
58 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 then I go home, read over my lesson in my book, 
 and when I have it by heart, I burn the written 
 leaves, according as the little boy bids me, or he 
 would let me have no more. But I hear the little 
 bell again, the little boy is angry with me, he pulled 
 me twice by the ear, and I would not displease him 
 for anything ; so I must get up and go immediately 
 to the joy and delight of my life. 
 
 I told him he might, if he would promise me to 
 tell me further another time ; he said he would, if 
 I would keep it secret. I told him I would, and so 
 we parted ; though just before he went, he said he 
 smelt some venison, and he was sure they would 
 shortly have some for dinner ; and nothing was so 
 sure as that, my man had my orders to bring a side 
 of venison to me the next day to Mrs. Campbell's, 
 for I had been hunting, and came thither from the 
 death of a deer that morning ; and intended, as 
 usual, to make a stay there for two or three days. 
 
 There are, I know, many men of severe principles, 
 and who are more strict, grave, and formal in their 
 manner of thinking, than they are wise, who 
 will be apt to judge of these relations as things 
 merely fabulous and chimerical, and not contented 
 with being disbelievers by themselves, will labour 
 to insinuate into others this pernicious notion, that 
 it is a sign of infirmity and weakness in the head 
 to yield them credit. But though I could easily 
 argue these sir Gravities down, though a sentence 
 or two would do their business, put them beyond 
 the power of replying, and strike them dumb, yet 
 do I think it not worth my while ; their greatest 
 and most wonted objection against these Eu- 
 demons and Kakodemons, being that it arises all 
 from ihe work of fancy, in persons of a melancholic 
 blood. If we consider the nature of this child's 
 dialogue with me, will it not be more whimsically 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 59 
 
 strange and miraculous, to say that a child of nine 
 years' old had only a fancy of such things as these, 
 of which it had never heard anybody give an ac- 
 count, and that it could, by the mere strength of 
 imagination, predict such things as really after came 
 to pass, than it is, when it does so strangely predict 
 things, to believe the child does it, in the manner 
 itself owns it does, which is by the intervention of 
 a good demon, or a happy genius. Departing 
 therefore from these singular and wise men's opi- 
 nions, who will believe nothing excellent can hap- 
 pen to others, which it has not been their lot to en- 
 joy a share of, I shall take my farewell hastily of 
 them, without losing my own time or theirs, in the 
 words of the ingenious Monsieur le Clerc : Acerbos 
 homines non moror, indignos quippe, qui hcec studia 
 tractent, aut quorum judicii ulla ratio habeatur. 
 
 I shall rather see how far these things have lain 
 open to the eyes of, and been explained by the an- 
 cient sages ; I will relate who among them were 
 happy in their genii, and who among the moderns, 
 whose examples may be authorities for our belief; I 
 will set down as clearly as I can what perception men 
 have had of genii or spirits by the sense of seeing, 
 what by the sense of hearing, what by the sense 
 of feeling, touching, or tasting ; and, in fine, what 
 perception others have had of these genii by all the 
 senses, what by dreams, and what by magic ; a thing 
 rarely to be met with at once in any single man, and 
 which seems particular to the child, who was the 
 subject of our last little historical account. When 
 I have brought examples and the opinions of wise 
 philosophers, and the evidence of undeniable wit- 
 nesses, which one would think sufficient to evince 
 persons of the commerce men have with spirits, if 
 they were not past all sense of conviction ; I shall, 
 not so much to corroborate what I say, as to shame 
 
60 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 some wiseacres, who would by their frail reason 
 scan all things, and pretend to solve the mysteries 
 ascribed to spirits, as facts merely natural, and who 
 would banish from the thoughts of men all belief of 
 spirits whatsoever, I shall, I say, in order to put to 
 shame these wiseacres, if they have any shame left, 
 produce the opinions of the Fathers as divines, show 
 the doctrines of spirits in general to be consistent 
 with Christianity, that they are delivered in the 
 Scripture and by Christian tradition, in which if 
 they will not acquiesce, I shall leave them to the 
 labyrinth of their own wild opinions, which in the 
 end will so perplex their judgments of things, that 
 they will be never able to extricate themselves ; and 
 these different heads will be the subject of the 
 chapter ensuing ; and will, or I am greatly mistaken, 
 form both an instructive, edifying, and entertaining 
 discourse, for a reader really and truly intelligent, 
 and that has a good taste and relish for sublime 
 things. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 61 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 An argument proving the perception which men 
 have, and have had, by all the senses, as seeing, 
 hearing, fyc, of demons, genii, or familiar spirits. 
 
 It is said in the ninth book of the Morals of Ari- 
 stotle, It is better to come at the probable knowledge 
 of some things above us in the heavens, than to be 
 capable of giving many demonstrations relating to 
 things here below. This is no doubt an admirable 
 proposition, and speaks the lofty aims of that sub- 
 lime mind from whence it proceeded. Among all 
 the disquisitions in this kind, none seem to me more 
 excellent than those which treat concerning the 
 genii that attend upon men, and guide them in the 
 actions of life. A genius, or demon, of the good 
 kind, is a sort of mediate being, between human 
 and divine, which gives the mind of man a pleasant 
 conjunction with angelic and celestial faculties, and 
 brings down to earth a faint participation of the 
 joys of heaven. That there have been such fortu- 
 nate attendants upon wise men, we have many rare 
 instances. They have been ascribed to Socrates, 
 Aristotle, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Iamblicus, Chicus, 
 Scaliger, and Cardan. The most celebrated of all 
 these ancients, was Socrates ; and as for his having 
 a genius or demon, we have the testimonies of Plato, 
 Xenophon, and Antisthenes, his contemporaries, 
 confirmed by Laertius, Plutarch, Maximus Tyrius, 
 Dion Chrysostomus, Cicero, Apuleius, Ficinus, and 
 others ; many of the moderns, besides Tertullian, 
 Origen. Clemens Alexandrinus, Austin, and others ; 
 
62 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 and Socrates himself, in Plato's Theage, says, By 
 some divine lot I have a certain demon which has 
 followed me from my childhood as an oracle ; and 
 in the same place intimates that the way he gained 
 his instruction, was by hearing the demon's voice. 
 Nothing is certainly so easy as for men to be able to 
 contradict things, though never so well attested, 
 with such an air of truth as to make the truth of 
 the history doubted by others as well as themselves, 
 where no demonstrative proof can be brought to 
 convince them. This has been the easy task of 
 those who object against the demon of Socrates ; 
 but when no demonstrative proof is to be had on. 
 either side, does not wisdom incline us to lean to 
 the most probable ? Let us then consider whether 
 the evidences are not more credible, and witnesses 
 of such a thing are not persons of more authority, 
 than these men are, who vouchsafe to give no rea- 
 son but their own incredulity, for maintaining the 
 contrary, and whether those, therefore, by the right 
 rule of judging, ought not much sooner than these, 
 to gain over our assent to their assertions ? 
 
 We will, however, laying aside the histories of 
 those ancient times, the sense whereof, by various 
 readings and interpretations being put upon the 
 words, is rendered obscure and almost unintelligi- 
 ble, descend to more modern relations, the facts 
 whereof shall be placed beyond doubt, by reason of 
 the evidences we will bring to attest them, and shall 
 consequently prove the perception men have of 
 spirits, or genii, by every sense. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 We will first begin as to the perception of spirits 
 by the sight. 
 
 - 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 63 
 
 Mr. Glanvil, in his Collections of Relations, for 
 proving Apparitions, Spirits, &c, tells us of an 
 Irishman that had like to have been carried away by 
 spirits, and of the ghost of a man, who had been seven 
 years dead, that brought a medicine to his bed-side. 
 
 The relation is thus : — 
 
 A gentleman in Ireland, near to the earl of 
 Orrery's, sending his butler one afternoon to buy 
 cards, as he passed a field, to his wonder, he espied 
 a company of people sitting round a table, with a 
 deal of good cheer before them, in the midst of the 
 field ; and he, going up towards them, they all arose 
 and saluted him, and desired him to sit down with 
 them ; but one of them whispered these words in his 
 ear : Do nothing this company invites you to. 
 Hereupon he refused to sit down at the table, and 
 immediately table and all that belonged to it were 
 gone, and the company are now dancing and playing 
 upon musical instruments. And the butler being 
 desired to join himself with them, but he refusing 
 this also, they all fall to work, and he not being to 
 be prevailed with to accompany them in working, 
 any more than in feasting or dancing, they all dis- 
 appeared, and the butler is now alone ; but instead 
 of going forwards, home he returns, as fast as he could 
 drive, in a great consternation ; and was no sooner 
 entered his master's door, but he fell down and lay 
 some time senseless, but coming again to himself, he 
 related to his master what had passed. 
 
 The night following there comes one of his com- 
 pany to his bed-side, and tells him, that if he offered 
 to stir out of the doors the next day, he would be 
 carried away. Hereupon he kept within ; but 
 towards the evening, having need to make water, he 
 adventured to put one foot over the thres iold, se- 
 veral standing by, which he had no sooner lone but 
 they espied a rope cast about his middle ; and the 
 
64 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 poor man was hurried away with great swiftness, 
 they following him as fast as they could, but could 
 not overtake him; at length they espied an horse- 
 man coming towards him, and made signs to him 
 to stop the man whom he saw coming near him, and 
 both ends of the rope, but nobody drawing ; when 
 they met he laid hold of one end of the rope, and 
 immediately had a smart blow given him over his 
 arm with the other end ; but by this means the man 
 was stopped, and the horseman brought him back 
 with him. 
 
 The earl of Orrery hearing of these strange 
 passages, sent to the master to desire him to send 
 this man to his house, which he accordingly did ; 
 and the morning following, or quickly after, he told 
 the earl that his spectre had been with him again, 
 and assured him that that day he should most cer- 
 tainly be carried away, and that no endeavours should 
 avail to the saving of him ; upon this he was kept in 
 a large room with a considerable number of persons 
 to guard him, among whom was the famous stroaker 
 Mr. Greatrix, who was a neighbour. There were, 
 besides other persons of quality, two bishops in the 
 house at the same time, who were consulted con- 
 cerning the making use of a medicine, the spectre 
 or ghost prescribed, of which mention will be made 
 anon, but they determined on the negative. 
 
 Till part of the afternoon was spent, all was quiet ; 
 but at length he was perceived to rise from the 
 ground, whereupon Mr. Greatrix and another lusty 
 man clapped their arms over his shoulders, one of them 
 before him, and the other behind, and weighed him 
 down with all their strength ; but he was forcibly 
 taken up from them, and they were too weak to keep 
 their hold, and for a considerable time he was carried 
 into the air, to and fro over their heads, several of 
 the company still running under him to prevent his 
 
 . 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 65 
 
 receiving hurt if he should fall ; at length he fell, 
 and was caught before he came to the ground, and 
 had by that means no hurt. 
 
 All being quiet till bed-time, my lord ordered two 
 of his servants to lie with him, and the next morning 
 he told his lordship, that his spectre was again with 
 him, and brought a wooden dish with grey liquor in 
 it, and bid him drink it off; at the first sight of the 
 spectre he said he endeavoured to awake his bed- 
 fellows ; but it told him, that that endeavour should be 
 in vain ; and that he had no cause to fear him, he being 
 his friend, and he that at first gave him the good 
 advice in the field, which had he not followed he 
 had been before now perfectly in the power of the 
 company he saw there ; he added, that he concluded 
 it was impossible but that he should have been 
 carried away the day before, there being so strong 
 a combination against him ; but now he could 
 assure him there would be no more attempts of that 
 nature, but he being troubled with two sorts of sad 
 fits, he had brought that liquor to cure him of them, 
 and bid him drink it ; he peremptorily refusing, the 
 spectre was angry, and upbraided him with great 
 disingenuity, but told him, however, he had a kind- 
 ness for him, and that if he would take plantain 
 juice he should be well of one sort of fits, but he 
 should carry the other to his grave ; the poor man 
 having by this somewhat recovered himself, asked 
 the spectre whether by the juice of plantain he 
 meant that of the leaves or roots ? It replied, the 
 roots. 
 
 Then it asked him whether he did not know him? 
 He answered, no ; it replied, I am such a one ; the 
 man answered, he had been long dead ; I have been 
 dead, said the spectre or ghost, seven years, and 
 you know that I lived a loose life, and ever since I 
 have been hurried up and down in a restless condi- 
 
 d. c. f 
 
66 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 tion with the company you saw, and shall be to the 
 day of judgment ; then he proceeded to tell him, 
 that had he acknowledged God in his ways, he had 
 not suffered such severe things by their means ; and 
 further said, you never prayed to God before that 
 day you met with this company in the fields. 
 
 This relation was sent to Dr. Henry More by Mr. 
 E. Fowler, who said, Mr. Greatrix told it several 
 persons ; the lord Orrery also owned the truth of 
 it : and Mr. Greatrix told it to Dr. Henry More 
 himself, who particularly inquired of Mr. Greatrix 
 about the man's being carried up into the air, above 
 men's heads in the room, and he did expressly affirm 
 that he was an eyewitness thereof. 
 
 A vision which happened to the ingenious and 
 learned Dr. Donne, may not improperly be here in- 
 serted. Mr. Isaac Walton, writing the life of the 
 said doctor, tells us, that the doctor and his wife, 
 living with sir Robert Drury, who gave them a free 
 entertainment at his house in Dury-lane, it hap- 
 pened that the lord Haye was by king James sent 
 in an embassy to the French king, Henry IV., whom 
 sir Robert resolved to accompany, and engaged Dr. 
 Donne to go with them, whose wife was then with 
 child, at sir Robert's house- Two days after their 
 arrival at Paris, Dr. Donne was left alone in that 
 room in which sir Robert and he and some other 
 friends had dined together. To this place sir 
 Robert returned within half an hour ; and as he left 
 so he found Dr. Donne alone, but in such an ecstacy, 
 and so altered in his looks, as amazed sir Robert to 
 behold him, insomuch that he earnestly desired Dr. 
 Donne to declare what had befallen him in the short 
 time of his absence. To which Dr. Donne was not 
 able to make a present answer ; but after a long and 
 perplexed pause, did at last say, I have seen a 
 dreadful vision, since I saw you; I have seen my 
 
 , 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 67 
 
 dear wife pass twice by me, through this room, with 
 her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead 
 child in her arms ; this I have seen since I saw you. 
 To which sir Robert replied, sure, sir, you have 
 slept since I saw you, and this is the result of some 
 melancholy dream, which I desire you to forget, for 
 you are now awake. To which Dr. Donne's reply 
 was, I cannot be surer that I now live than that I 
 have not slept since I saw you, and am as sure at 
 her second appearing she stopped and looked me in 
 the face and vanished. Rest and sleep had not 
 altered Dr. Donne's opinion the next day ; for he 
 then affirmed this vision with a more deliberate and 
 so confirmed a confidence, that he inclined sir 
 Robert to a faint belief that the vision was true, 
 who immediately sent a servant to Drury house, with 
 a charge to hasten back and bring him word whether 
 Mrs. Donne were alive ; and if alive, what condition 
 she was in as to her health. The twelfth day the 
 messenger returned with this account; that he found 
 and left Mrs. Donne very sad and sick in bed, and 
 that after a long and dangerous labour she had been 
 delivered of a dead child, and upon examination the 
 abortion proved to be the same day, and about the 
 very hour that Dr. Donne affirmed he saw her pass 
 by in his chamber. Mr. Walton adds this as a re- 
 lation which will beget some wonder, and well it 
 may, for most of our world are at present possessed 
 with an opinion that visions and miracles are ceased, 
 and though it is most certain that two lutes being 
 both strung and tuned to an equal pitch, and then 
 one played upon, the other, that is not touched, 
 being laid upon the table at a fit distance will, like 
 an echo to a trumpet, warble a faint, audible 
 harmony in answer to the same tune, yet many will 
 not believe that there is any such thing as a sympathy 
 with souls, &c. 
 
 f2 
 
68 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 I shall next relate some little histories to show 
 what perception men have had of spirits by the 
 sense of hearing. For, as Wierus says, spirits ap- 
 pear sometimes invisibly, so that only a sound, voice, 
 or noise, is perceived by men, viz., a stroke, knock- 
 ing, whistling, sneezing, groaning, lamenting, or 
 clapping of the hands, to make men attent to inquire 
 or answer. 
 
 In Luther's Colloquia Mensalia, &c, set forth in 
 Latin, at Frankfort, anno 1557, it being a different 
 collection from that of Aurifaber, which is translated 
 from high Dutch into English. We have the follow- 
 ing relation : — 
 
 It happened in Prussia, that as a certain boy was 
 born, there presently came to him a genius, or what 
 you please to call it, for I leave it to men's judgments, 
 who had so faithful a care of the infant, that there 
 was no need either of mother or servant ; and, as he 
 grew up, he had a like care of him ; he went to 
 school with him, but so, that he could never be seen 
 either by himself, or any others in all his life. 
 Afterwards he travelled into Italy, he accompanied 
 him, and, whensoever any evil was like to happen 
 to him, either on the road or in the inn, he was 
 perceived to foretell it by some touch or stroke ; he 
 drew off his boots as a servant ; if he turned his 
 journey another way, he continued with him, having 
 the same care of him in foretelling evil ; at length 
 he was made a canon ; and as, on a time, he was 
 sitting and feasting with his friends in much jollity, 
 a vehement stroke was struck on a sudden on the 
 table, so that they were all terrified ; presently the 
 canon said to his friends, be not afraid, some great 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 69 
 
 evil hangs over my head. The next day he fell into 
 a great fever, and the fit continued on him for three 
 whole days, till he died, miserably. 
 
 Captain Henry Bell, in his narrative prefixed to 
 Luther's Table, printed in English, anno 1652, 
 having acquainted us how the German copy printed 
 of it had been discovered under ground, where it 
 had lain hid fifty-two years, that edition having been 
 suppressed by an edict of the emperor Rudolphus 
 the second, so that it was death for any person to 
 keep a copy thereof ; and having told us that Cas- 
 parus van Spar, a German gentleman, with whom 
 he was familiarly acquainted, while he negotiated 
 affairs in Germany for king James the first, was the 
 person that discovered it, anno 1626, and trans- 
 mitted it into England to him, and earnestly desired 
 him to translate the said book into English, says, he 
 accordingly set upon the translation of it many times, 
 but was always hindered from proceeding in it by 
 some intervening business. About six weeks after 
 he had received the copy, being in bed with his wife, 
 one night, between twelve and one of the clock, 
 she being asleep, but himself awake, there appeared 
 to him an ancient man standing at his bed-side, ar- 
 rayed all in white, having a long and broad white 
 beard hanging down to his girdle, who taking him 
 by his right ear, said thus to him : Sirrah ! will you 
 not take time to translate that book which is sent 
 unto you out of Germany ? I will shortly provide 
 for you both place and time to do it ; and then he 
 vanished. Hereupon, being much affrighted, he 
 fell into an extreme sweat, so that his wife awaking 
 and finding him all over wet, she asked him what 
 he ailed ? He told her what he had seen and 
 heard ; but he never regarded visions nor dreams, 
 and so the same fell out of his mind. But a fort- 
 night after, being on a Sunday; at his lodging in 
 
70 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 King-street, Westminster, at dinner with his wife, 
 two messengers were sent from the whole council- 
 board, with a warrant to carry him to the Gate- 
 house, Westminster, there to be kept till further order 
 from the lords of the council ; upon which warrant 
 he was kept there ten whole years close prisoner, 
 where he spent five years of it in translating the 
 said book, having good cause to be mindful of the 
 old man's saying: I will shortly provide for you 
 both place and time to translate it. 
 
 Though the perception of spirits chiefly affects 
 the hearing and seeing faculties, yet are not the 
 other senses without some participation of these 
 genial objects, whether good or evil; for, as St. 
 Austin says, the evil work of the devil creeps 
 through all the passages of the senses ; he presents 
 himself in figures, applies himself to colours, ad* 
 heres to sounds, introduces odours, infuses himself 
 in savours, and fills all the passages of intelligence ; 
 sometimes cruelly tormenting with grief and fear, 
 sometimes sportingly diverting man or taunting 
 with mocks ; and on the other hand, as the learned 
 Walter Hilton, a great master of contemplative 
 life, in his Scale of Perfection sets forth, that ap- 
 pearances or representations to the corporeal senses 
 may be both good and evil. 
 
 But before I condude upon this head, to give still 
 more weight and authority to the perception men 
 have had of these genii, both by the senses of hear- 
 ing and seeing, I will relate two very remarkable 
 fragments of history of this kind, told us by persons 
 who demand our credit, and done within the me- 
 mory of our grandfathers and fathers. 
 
 The first is concerning that duke of Buckingham 
 who was stabbed by Felton, August the twenty- 
 third, 1628. 
 
 Mr. Lilly, the astrologer, in his book entituled 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 71 
 
 Monarchy, or no Monarchy, in England, printed in 
 quarto, 1651; having mentioned the duke of 
 Buckingham, writes as follows : Since I am upon 
 the death of Buckingham, I shall relate a true story, 
 of his being admonished often of the death he 
 should die, in this manner: — 
 
 An aged gentleman, one Parker, as I now re- 
 member, having formerly belonged unto the duke, 
 or of great acquaintance with the duke's father, and 
 now retired, had a demon appeared several times 
 to him in the shape of sir George Villiers, the 
 duke's father : this demon walked many times in 
 Parker's bedchamber, without any action of terror, 
 noise, hurt, or speech ; but at last, one night, broke 
 out in these words : Mr. Parker, I know you loved 
 me formerly, and my son George at this time very 
 well, I would have you go from me, you know me 
 very well to be his father, old sir George Villiers of 
 Leicestershire, and acquaint him with these and 
 these particulars, &c. ; and that he above all refrain 
 the council and company of such and such, whom 
 he then nominated, or else he will come to destruc- 
 tion, and that suddenly. Parker, though a very 
 discreet man, partly imagined himself in a dream 
 all this time ; and being unwilling to proceed upon 
 no better grounds, forbore addressing himself to 
 the duke ; for he conceived, if he should acquaint 
 the duke with the words of his father, and the man- 
 ner of his appearance to him, such apparitions be- 
 ing not usual, he should be laughed at, and thought 
 to dote, in regard he was aged. Some few nights 
 past without further trouble to the old man, but not 
 very many nights after, old sir George Villiers ap- 
 peared again, walked quick and furiously in the 
 room, seemed angry with Parker, and at last said, 
 Mr. Parker, I thought you had been my friend so 
 much, and loved my son George so well, that you 
 
72 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 would have acquainted him with what I desired, but 
 I know you have not done it ; by all the friendship 
 that ever was betwixt you and me, and the great 
 respect you bear my son, I desire you to deliver 
 what I formerly commanded you to my son. The 
 old man seeing himself thus solicited, promised the 
 demon he would, but first argued it thus, that the 
 duke was not easy to be spoken withal, and that he 
 would account him a vain man to come with such a 
 message from the dead ; nor did he conceive the 
 duke would give any credit to him ; to which the 
 demon thus answered : If he will not believe 
 you have this discourse from me, tell him of such a 
 secret, and named it, which he knows none in the 
 world ever knew but myself and him. Mr. Parker 
 being now well satisfied that he was not asleep, and 
 that the apparition was not a vain delusion, took a 
 fit opportunity, and seriously acquainted the duke 
 with his father's words and the manner of his appa- 
 rition. The duke laughed heartily at the relation, 
 which put old Parker to a stand, but at last he as- 
 sumed courage, and told the duke that he ac- 
 quainted his father's ghost with what he found now 
 to be true, viz., scorn and derision ; But, my lord, 
 says he, your father bid me acquaint you by this 
 token, and he said it was such as none in the world 
 but your two selves did yet know. Hereat the duke 
 was amazed and much astonished, but took no warn- 
 ing or notice thereof, keeping the same company 
 still, advising with such counsellors, and performing 
 such actions as his father by Parker countermanded. 
 Shortly after, old sir George Villiers, in a very quiet 
 but sorrowful posture, appears again to Parker, and 
 said, Mr. Parker, I know you delivered my words 
 to George my son, I thank you for so doing, but he 
 slighted them, and now I only request this more at 
 your hands, that once again you repair to my son, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 73 
 
 and tell him that if he will not amend, and follow 
 the counsel I have given him, this knife or dagger, 
 and with that he pulled a knife or dagger from 
 under his gown, shall end him ; and do you Mr. 
 Parker set your house in order, for you shall die at 
 such a time. Mr. Parker once more engaged, 
 though very unwillingly, to acquaint the duke with 
 the last message, and so did ; but the duke desired 
 him to trouble him no further with such messages 
 and dreams, and told him he perceived he was now 
 an old man and doted ; and within a month after, 
 meeting 3Ir. Parker on Lambeth bridge, said, now, 
 Mr. Parker, what say you of your dream ? Who 
 only returned ; Sir, I wish it may never have suc- 
 cess, &c. But within six weeks after, he was 
 stabbed with a knife, according to his father's ad- 
 monition beforehand, and Mr. Parker died soon 
 after he had seen the dream or vision performed. 
 
 This relation is inserted also in the great lord 
 Clarendon's History, and in sir R. Baker's Chronicle. 
 The lord Clarendon, in his History, vol. i. lib. i., 
 having given some relations, says, that amongst 
 others, there was one, meaning this of Parker, 
 which was upon a better foundation of credit than 
 usually such discourses are founded upon. And he 
 tells us that Parker was an officer in the king's 
 wardrobe in Windsor castle, of a good reputation 
 for honesty and discretion, and then about the age 
 of fifty years or more. This man had, in his youth 
 been bred in a school in the parish where sir George 
 Villiers, the father of the duke lived, and had been 
 much cherished and obliged in that season of his 
 age by the said sir George, whom afterwards he 
 never saw. About six months before the miser- 
 able end of the duke of Buckingham the apparition 
 was seen ? After the third appearance, he made a 
 journey to London, where the court then was ; he 
 
74 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 was very well known to sir Ralph Freeman, one of 
 the masters of the requests, who had married a 
 lady that was near allied to the duke, and was 
 himself well received by him. He informed 
 the duke; with the reputation and honesty of the 
 man, and sir Ralph Freeman carried the man the 
 next morning, by five of the clock, to Lambeth, ac- 
 cording to the duke's appointment, and there pre- 
 sented him to the duke, who received him cour- 
 teously at his landing, and walked in conference 
 near an hour with him, and sir Ralph's and the 
 duke's servants at such a distance that they heard 
 not a word ; but sir Ralph always fixed his eyes on 
 the duke, who sometimes spoke with great com- 
 motion and disorder ; and that the man told sir 
 Ralph in their return over the water, that when he 
 mentioned those particulars that were to gain him 
 credit, the duke's colour changed, and he swore he 
 could come to that knowledge only by the devil ; 
 for that those particulars were known only to himself 
 and to one person more, who, he was sure, would 
 never speak of them. So far the lord Clarendon. 
 
 I will now subjoin an authentic relation, which 
 Mr. Beaumont tells us at the end of his book of 
 Genii, or Familiar Spirits, printed in the year 1705, 
 he had just before received from the mouth of the 
 then bishop of Gloucester himself. It is as follows, 
 word for word : — 
 
 Sir Charles Lee, by his first lady, had only one 
 daughter, of which she died in childbirth ; and 
 when she died, her sister, the lady Everard, desired 
 to have the education of the child ; and she was 
 by her very well educated till she was marriageable ; 
 and a match was concluded for her with sir William 
 Perkins, but was then prevented in an extraordinary 
 manner. Upon a Thursday night, she thinking she 
 saw a light in her chamber after she was in bed, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 75 
 
 knocked for her maid, who presently came to her ; 
 and she asked why she left a candle burning in her 
 chamber ? The maid said she left none, and there 
 was none, but what she brought with her at that 
 time. Then she said it was the fire ; but that the 
 maid told her was quite out, and said she believed 
 it was only a dream : whereupon she said it might 
 be so, and composed herself again to sleep ; but 
 about two of the clock she was awakened again, 
 and saw the apparition of a little woman between 
 her curtain and her pillow, who told her she was 
 her mother, and that she was happy, and that by 
 twelve of the clock that day she should be with 
 her ; whereupon, she knocked again for her maid, 
 called for her clothes, and when she was dressed, 
 went into her closet, and came not out again till 
 nine; and then brought out with her a letter, 
 sealed, to her father, brought it to her aunt, the 
 lady Everard, told her what had happened, and de- 
 sired that, as soon as she was dead, it might be 
 sent to him ; but the lady thought she was sud- 
 denly fallen mad; and thereupon sent presently 
 away to Chelmsford for a physician and surgeon, 
 who both came immediately, but the physician 
 could discern no indication of what the lady ima- 
 gined, or of any indisposition of her body ; notwith- 
 standing, the lady would needs have her let blood, 
 which was done accordingly ; and when the young 
 woman had patiently let them do what they would 
 with her, she desired that the chaplain might be 
 called to read prayers, and when prayers were ended* 
 she took her guitar and psalm book, and sat down 
 upon a chair without arms, and played and sung so 
 melodiously and admirably, that her music master, 
 who was then there, admired at it ; and near the 
 stroke of twelve, she rose and sat herself down in a 
 great chair with arms, and presently fetching a 
 
76 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 strong breathing or two, immediately expired, and 
 was so suddenly cold as was much wondered at by 
 the physician and surgeon. She died at Waltham, 
 in Essex, three miles from Chelmsford ; and the 
 letter was sent to sir Charles, at his house in War- 
 wickshire ; but he was so afflicted with the death of 
 his daughter, that he came not till she was buried : 
 but when he came he caused her to be taken up, 
 and to be buried by her mother at Edmonton, as 
 she desired in her letter. This was about the year 
 one thousand six hundred and sixty- two or sixty- 
 three ; and this relation the right reverend the lord 
 bishop of Gloucester had from sir Charles Lee him- 
 self; and Mr. Beaumont printed it in his book 
 above mentioned, from the bishop's own mouth. 
 
 The relations which I have given above, are not 
 like the trifling accounts too often given of these 
 things, and therefore causing grave ones to be ridi- 
 culed in common with them. They are of that na- 
 ture, that, whoever attempts to ridicule them, will, 
 instead of turning them into jest, become the ob- 
 ject of ridicule himself. 
 
 The first story, which has in it such amazing cir- 
 cumstances, and such uncommon and dreadful inci- 
 dents concerning the butler in Ireland, is, as the 
 reader sees, attested by no less a personage than 
 the earl of Orrery, two bishops, and many other 
 noblemen and gentleman being present and eye- 
 witnesses of what the earl said. What greater tes- 
 timony would the most incredulous have ? They 
 say such things are told for interest. What interest 
 could an earl and many noblemen have in promot- 
 ing such an imposture? The incredulous say, 
 likewise, great and learned men delight sometimes 
 in putting frauds upon the world, and after laugh 
 at their credulity. Would a number of noble lay- 
 men choose two prelates to carry on such a fraud ; 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. i 7 
 
 i and would two pious bishops probably combine with 
 several, and some servants there present, in spread- 
 ; ing such a deceit ? It is past believing, and it de- 
 mands the strictest of moral faith that can be given 
 to the most unquestioned history that the pen of 
 man ever wrote. 
 
 The second story is founded, first, upon the ex- 
 perience of one of the most ingenious men of that 
 age, Dr. Donne, and then upon the proof made by 
 his friend sir Robert Drury, who could at first 
 scarce believe it ; and shall we doubt the credit of 
 men, whose company, for their credit be it spoken, 
 a British ambassador was proud of gaining ? 
 
 The third story is told by Luther himself, who 
 began the great work of the Reformation. 
 
 The fourth is told by one that was a king's public 
 minister, and told from his own trial of the matter, 
 where he could have no interest in the telling it. 
 
 The fifth is related by those great historians, the 
 lord Clarendon and sir Richard Baker, as a truth 
 relied upon by themselves, and fit to be credited 
 by their readers. 
 
 The sixth and last was related to Mr. Beaumont, 
 . by the lord bishop of Gloucester, who received the 
 account from sir Charles Lee himself, to whose 
 granddaughter the matter happened. 
 
 Men who will not believe such things as these, 
 so well attested to us, and given us by such author- 
 ities, because they did not see them themselves, 
 nor anything of the like nature, ought not only to 
 deny the demon of Socrates, but that there was such 
 a man as Socrates himself; they should not dispute 
 the genii of Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, Marc Antony, 
 but avow that there were never any such men 
 existing upon earth, and overthrow all credible 
 history whatsoever. Meanwhile, all men, but those 
 who run such lengths in their fantastical incredu- 
 
78 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 lity, will, from the facts above mentioned, rest satis- 
 fied that there are such things as evil and good 
 genii, and that men have sometimes a commerce 
 with them by all their senses, particularly those of 
 seeing and hearing, and will not therefore be 
 startled at the strange fragments of histories which 
 I am going to relate of our young Duncan Campbell, 
 and look upon some wonderful adventures which he 
 performed by the intervention of his familiar de- 
 mon or genius, as falsehoods, only because they are 
 uncommon and surprising, more especially since 
 they were not done in a corner, but by an open 
 way of profession of a predictor of things, in the 
 face of the metropolis of London, where he settled 
 young, as will appear in the progress of his life. 
 However, some people, notwithstanding all this, 
 may allege, that though a man may have a genius 
 appear to him, so as to convey into his mind, 
 through his senses, the knowledge of things that 
 are to come to pass, yet this happens but on very 
 eminent and extraordinary occasions. The mur- 
 der, for example, of a prime minister, and the 
 favourite of a monarch, in such a manner as it was 
 performed on the great Buckingham, by Felton, 
 was a thing so uncommon, that it might perhaps 
 deserve, by the permission of Heaven, an uncom- 
 mon prediction ; the others likewise are instances 
 eminent in their way, particularly that of the lady 
 Everard's niece; for that young lady being then 
 marriageable, and a treaty for that end being on 
 foot with sir William Perkins, the Divine Provi- 
 dence foreseeing that such a state might call away 
 her thoughts, hitherto bent on him and spiritual 
 affairs, and fix them on the trifles of this world, 
 might perhaps permit her to be called by a holy mo- 
 ther to the state of happiness she before she enjoyed, 
 lest her daughter's mind should change, and she go 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. iV 
 
 into the ways of a sinner. But if these superemi- 
 nent, these scarce and rare examples, may be ad- 
 mitted of man's holding a conversation with the 
 spiritualized beings of another world ; it will, how- 
 ever, be far below the dignity of human reason, 
 methinks, to make such large concessions to people 
 who pretend to converse that wonderful way, as to 
 allow them the credit of being able to do it upon 
 every slight occasion, and every indifferent occur- 
 rence of human life. 
 
 I cannot help acknowledging, that a man of wis- 
 dom may at first thought, make such an objection ; 
 but reflection will presently retract it, and the same 
 good sense that taught him to make an objection so 
 well upon the first thought, will teach him, upon se- 
 cond thoughts, to acquiesce in the answer. 
 
 Infants may have, no doubt, the benefit of such 
 an attending genius, as well as people more ad- 
 vanced in years ; as may be seen in one of the in- 
 stances, which is a very famous one, relating to the 
 boy born in Prussia, who was attended by one con- 
 stantly, from the time of his birth to his death. 
 Besides, it is a mistake in the understanding to 
 imagine, that death, which is the determination 
 and end of life, is of more consequence to be known 
 than the manner of regulating that life ; for in 
 reality, according to the right way of considering, 
 death, or the determination of a man's life, derives 
 its importance from the steps which he took in the 
 due regulation of it ; and therefore every the least 
 step proper to be taken for the due regulation of 
 life, is of more consequence to be known than the 
 death of a person, though this at first sight carries 
 the face of significance, and the other nothing bet- 
 ter than the look of a trifle. Marriage, for exam- 
 ple, is a step in life of the utmost importance, whe- 
 ther we consider that estate with regard to this, or 
 
80 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 the next world. Death is but the finishing of one 
 person, but marriage may be the introducing of 
 many into the world with happiness ; it is therefore 
 a thing of more importance to be known before- 
 hand, and consequently more worthy of the com- 
 munication of a genius, to the man with whom he 
 conversed. Posidonius tells us, that a certain 
 Rhodian dying, nominated six of his equals, and 
 said who should die first, who next, and so on, and 
 the event answered the prediction ; why then, 
 though some people are apt to make a jest of it, 
 may not a man, by the intervention of his good 
 genius, tell a woman that is to have six husbands, 
 who she shall have first, who next, and so on, 
 and the event answer the prediction ? If men 
 of learning may acquire such knowledge as to at- 
 tain to extraordinary things by their ordinary facul- 
 ties, why may not ordinary things be taught others 
 in this extraordinary way ? For will anybody say 
 that it is easier for a man to accommodate himself 
 to the knowledge of a demon or genius, than for a 
 demon or genius to accommodate himself to the 
 knowledge of a man ? Certain it is indeed that if 
 this good genius, that induces a man with a prophetic 
 kind of science, be anything resembling a good 
 angel, the primary end of his being permitted to 
 direct mankind must consist in things relating 
 more to their welfare hereafter ; yet I know not 
 why they may not sometimes inspire, or openly di- 
 rect them in human knowledge, and in things relat- 
 ing to human life, so they are of a good tendency ; 
 more especially since such a good inspiration may 
 be a counterbalance to the bad knowledge which 
 some have been inspired with by evil spirits. I 
 would not be thought to go too far in a point of 
 this nature, and have therefore, though perhaps I 
 could say much more if I followed entirely my own 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 81 
 
 private opinion, and would venture to introduce it 
 here, in order to communicate it to others, and 
 make it a public one, said no more on this head 
 than what divines generally teach. 
 
 But the most unexceptionable mistress, that 
 teaches these things to be in nature, is experience, 
 If we had very many people gifted this way, the ex- 
 traordinary thing would have been become ordinary, 
 and therefore I cannot help wondering that it should 
 be so ordinary a thing for wise men themselves to 
 wonder too much at things because they are extra- 
 ordinary, and suspect them as frauds because they 
 are uncommon. 
 
 There has scarce been any period of time in 
 which some person of this prophetic class has not 
 existed, and has not been consulted by the greatest of 
 men, and their predictions found at the long run to 
 come true ; ignorant men always rise to their belief 
 of them by experience, and the most learned men 
 submit their great opinions to experience, but your 
 men of middling talents, who make up their want 
 of reason with bustling obstinacy and noisy contra- 
 diction, have been and still continue to be their own 
 opposers, and without discovering the reason for 
 what they say, they content themselves with having 
 the laugh on their sides, and barely affirming with- 
 out proving, that it is a kind of ideal juggle and 
 intellectual legerdemain, by which these modern 
 predictors impose things upon the eye of reason, as 
 the corporeal eye is imposed upon by sleight of 
 hand ; but it is a strange thing that men of such 
 quick reason cannot give us a sample of the frauds. 
 Thus I remember to have read, I cannot tell where, 
 a story of some courtiers, who, when a great artist 
 of legerdemain was to act before the king, pre- 
 tended to be so quick-sighted, that nothing he 
 did should escape their discovery, were left by his 
 
 d. c. g 
 
82 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 nimble fingers in the dark, and forced at last 
 with blushes to own they had no better eyes than 
 other people. In a word, if people will be led by 
 suspicions and remote possibilities of fraud and 
 contrivance of such men, all historical truth shall 
 be ended, when it consists not with a man's private 
 humour or prejudice to admit it. Now, therefore, 
 to prove by experience and undeniable testimonies, 
 that these kind of genii will submit to little offices, 
 in order to bring men to greater good, I will give 
 the reader three or four curious passages that will 
 set the reasonable reader at ease, and prepare him 
 for reading the passages of Mr. Campbell's life with 
 pleasure, and as a fine history of wonderful facts, 
 that, though they seem to surpass belief, yet ought 
 to have his credit. 
 
 What in nature can be more trivial than for a 
 spirit to employ himself in knocking on a morning 
 at the wainscot by the bed's-head of a man who 
 got drunk over-night, according to the way that 
 such things are ordinarily explained ? And yet I 
 shall give you such a relation of this, that not even 
 the most devout and precise presbyterian will offer 
 to call in question. For Mr. Baxter, in his Histo- 
 rical Discourse of Apparitions, writes thus : — 
 
 There is now in London an understanding, sober, 
 pious man, oft one of my hearers, who has an elder 
 brother, a gentleman of considerable rank, who, 
 having formerly seemed pious, of late years does 
 often fall into the sin of drunkenness ; he often 
 lodges long together here in his brother's house ; 
 and whensoever he is drunk and has slept himself 
 sober, something knocks at his bed's-head, as if one 
 knocked on a wainscot ; when they remove his bed 
 it follows him ; besides other loud noises, on other 
 parts where he is, that all the house hears ; they 
 have often watched him, and kept his hands lest he 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 83 
 
 should do it himself. His brother has often told it 
 me, and brought his wife, a discreet woman, to at- 
 test it ; who avers, moreover, that as she watched 
 him, she has seen his shoes under the bed taken up, 
 and nothing visible to touch them. They brought 
 the man himself to me, and when we asked him 
 how he dare sin again after such a warning, he had 
 no excuse : but being persons of quality, for some 
 special reason of worldly interest I must, not name 
 him. 
 
 Two things are remarkable in this instance, 
 says Mr. Baxter. First, what a powerful thing 
 temptation and fleshly concupiscence is, and what 
 a hardened heart sin brings men to; if one rose 
 from the dead to warn such sinners, it would not 
 of itself persuade them. 
 
 Secondly, says Mr. Baxter, it poses me to think 
 what kind of spirit this is that has such a care of 
 this man's soul, which makes me hope he will reco- 
 ver. Do good spirits dwell so near us, or are they 
 sent on such messages ? or is it his guardian an- 
 gel ? or is it the soul of some dead friend that 
 suffers ? and yet retaining love to him, as Dives to 
 his brethren, would have him saved ? God yet 
 keeps such things from us in the dark. 
 
 So far we have the authority of the renowned 
 and famous Mr. Baxter, who makes this knocking 
 of the spirit at the bed's-head, though what we 
 commonly call frivolous, an important errand. 
 
 Another relation of this kind was sent to Mr. 
 John Beaumont, whom I myself personally know, 
 and which he has inserted in his Account of Genii, 
 or Familiar Spirits, in a letter by an ingenious 
 and learned clergyman of Wiltshire, who had given 
 him the relation likewise before, by word of mouth. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 Near eighty years since, in the parish of Wilcot. 
 
 g2 
 
84 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 which is by Devizes, in the vicar's house, there 
 was heard for a considerable time the sound of 
 a bell constantly tolling every night. The occa- 
 sion was this : A debauched person who lived in 
 the parish came one night very late and demanded 
 the keys of the church of the vicar, that he might 
 ring a peal, which the vicar refused to let him have, 
 alleging the unseasonableness of the time, and that 
 he should, by granting his desires, give a disturb- 
 ance to sir George Wroughton and his family, whose 
 house adjoined to the churchyard. Upon this re- 
 fusal, the fellow went away in a rage, threatening to 
 be revenged of the vicar, and going some time 
 after to Devizes, met with one Cantle or Cantlow, 
 a person noted in those days for a wizard, and he 
 tells him how the vicar had served him, and begs 
 his help to be even with him. The reply Cantle 
 made him was this ; Does he not love ringing ? he 
 shall have enough of it : and from that time a bell 
 began to toll in his house, and continued so to do 
 till Cantle's death, who confessed at Fisherton 
 gaol, in Sarum, where he was confined by king 
 James during his life, that he caused that sound, 
 and that it should be heard in that place during 
 life. The thing was so notorious that persons came 
 from all parts to hear it; and king James sent a gen- 
 tleman from London on purpose to give him satis- 
 faction concerning the truth of the report. Mr. 
 Beaumont had likewise this story, as he tells, from 
 the mouth of sir George Wroughton's own son ; 
 with this remarkable circumstance, that if any in 
 the house put their heads out of the window they 
 could not hear the sound, but heard it immediately 
 again as soon as they stood in the room. 
 
 The reader here sees that good and bad genii 
 exercise themselves upon very little functions, 
 knocking at bed's-heads, and ringing of bells. For 
 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 85 
 
 proof of this we have the testimonies of two divines, 
 of a man of quality and probity, and the same satis- 
 faction that a learned king had, who sent to inquire 
 into the matter ; and after this there can be I think 
 no room for doubt. 
 
 But to carry the point still nearer home ; inas- 
 much as I know some will leave no stone unturned 
 to make the extraordinary actions which the person 
 whose life I write has performed, appear impos- 
 tures, and inasmuch as for this end they may say, 
 that though many people may have been gifted in 
 this extraordinary manner, yet not so as to make a 
 profession of it, and therefore from thence they 
 take their suspicions, I shall in this place, to re- 
 move every nicest scruple they can have touching 
 this affair, give the reader one instance of this kind 
 likewise, before I proceed with my history. 
 
 There lived not many years since a very aged 
 gentlewoman in London, in Water-lane, by Fleet- 
 street, whose name was Pight, who was endowed 
 with a prophetic spirit ; and the ingenious Mr. 
 Beaumont, whom I personally knew, and who had a 
 familiar genius himself, gives toe world this account 
 of her. She was very well known, says he, to many 
 persons of my acquaintance now living in London. 
 Among others, a gentleman, whose candour I can 
 no way suspect, has told me, that he often resorted 
 to her as to an oracle ; and that as soon as he came 
 into her presence, she would usually tell him, that 
 she knew what he was coming for, for that she had 
 seen his spirit for some time before; and without his 
 saying anything to her, she would commonly tell 
 him what the^business was which he came to con- 
 sult her about, and what the event of it would be ; 
 which he always found to fall out as she said, and 
 many other persons now living can testify the like 
 experience of her as to themselves. 
 
86 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Before I conclude this chapter, I am willing to 
 give the public one further little history of the like 
 kind with the foregoing ones, with this only differ- 
 ence, that if it be valued according to the worth 
 the world has always attributed to the very ingeni- 
 ous person whom it concerns, it will be far the 
 most famous of them all, and therefore fittest to 
 finish this chapter, and to crown this part of the 
 work, in which we are showing that persons have 
 had a perception of genii or spirits, not visible at 
 the same time to others. 
 
 The famous Torquatus Tasso, prince of the Ita- 
 lian poets, and scarce inferior to the immortal Virgil 
 himself, and who seems to enjoy the intermingled 
 gifts of the most accurate judgment of this Latin 
 poet, and the more fertile and copious invention 
 and fancy of the Greek one, Homer, strongly as- 
 serted his own experience in this kind. His life 
 was written and published in French, anno 1692, 
 by D. C. D. D. V. who, in his preface, tells us, that 
 in what he writ he has followed chiefly the history 
 given us in Italian by John Baptista Manso, a Nea- 
 politan gentleman, who had been a very intimate 
 friend to Tasso. In his life, among other things, 
 he acquaints us that Tasso was naturally of that 
 melancholic temperament, which has always made 
 the greatest men, and that this temperament being 
 aggravated by many hardships he had undergone, 
 it made him sometimes beside himself, and that 
 those melancholic vapours being despatched, he 
 came again to himself, like those that return from 
 fits of the falling sickness, his spirit being as free as 
 before. That, near his latter end, he retired from 
 the city of Naples to his friend Manso, at Bisaccia, 
 a small town in the kingdom of Naples, where 
 Manso had a considerable estate, and passed an au- 
 tumn there in the diversions of the season. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL,. 87 
 
 And here the French author gives us an account 
 of Tasso's sensible perception of a genius, as follows : 
 As, after these amusements, he usually retired to his 
 chamber, to entertain himself there with his friend 
 3Ianso, the latter had the opportunity to inquire 
 into one of the most singular effects of Tasso's me- 
 lancholy, of this heroic melancholy, as I may call 
 it, which raised and brightened his spirit, so far it 
 was from depressing or rendering it obscure ; and 
 which, among the ancients, would have reasonably 
 caused them to have ascribed a familiar demon to 
 him, as to Socrates. They were often in a warm 
 debate concerning this spirit, with which Tasso pre- 
 tended to have so free a communication. I am too 
 much your friend, said Manso to him one day, not 
 to let you know what the world thinks of you con- 
 cerning this thing, and what I think of it myself. 
 Is it possible, that, being enlightened as you are, 
 you should be fallen into so great a weakness as to 
 think you have a familiar spirit ; and will you give 
 your enemies that advantage, to be able to prove by 
 your own acknowledgment, what they have already 
 published to the world ? You know, they say, you 
 did not publish your Dialogue of the Messenger, as 
 a fiction ; but you would have men believe that 
 the spirit which you make to speak there, was a 
 real and true spirit ; hence men have drawn this 
 injurious consequence, that your studies have em- 
 broiled your imagination, so that there is made in 
 it a confused mixture of the fictions of the poets, 
 the inventions of the philosophers, and the doc- 
 trine of religion. 
 
 I am not ignorant, answered Tasso, of all that is 
 spread abroad in the world, on the account of my 
 Dialogue : I have taken care divers times to dis- 
 abuse my friends, both by letter and word of mouth : 
 I prevented even the malignity of my enemies, as 
 
88 THE LIFE AND ADVENTTJKES 
 
 you know, at the time I published my Dialogue. 
 Men could not be ignorant that I composed it for 
 the young prince of Mantua, to whom I would ex- 
 plain, after an agreeable manner, the principal mys- 
 teries of the Platonic philosophy. It was at Mantua 
 itself, after my second flight from Ferrara, that I 
 formed the idea of it, and I committed it to paper a 
 little after my unfortunate return. I addressed it 
 to this prince, and all men might have read in the 
 epistle dedicatory, the protestation I there make, that 
 . this dialogue, being writ according to the doctrine 
 of the Platonics, which is not always conformable to 
 revealed truths, men must not confound what I 
 expose there as a philosopher, with what I believe 
 as a Christian. This distinction is by so much the 
 more reasonable, that at that time nothing extra- 
 ordinary had happened to me, and I spake not of 
 any apparition. This can be attested by all those 
 with whom I lodged, or whom frequented in this 
 voyage ; and therefore there is no reason for con- 
 founding the fiction of my dialogue with what has 
 happened to me since. I am persuaded of all you 
 say to me, replied Manso ; but truly I cannot be of 
 what you believe, at present, concerning yourself. 
 Will you imagine that you are in commerce with 
 a spirit ? And I ask you of what order is that spi- 
 rit ? Shall we place him in the number of the 
 rebels, whom their pride precipitated into the 
 abyss ? or of the intelligences, who continued 
 firm in faith and submission to their creator ? For 
 there is no mean to take in the true religion, and 
 we must not fall into the extravagances of the 
 gnomes and sylphs of the cabalists. 
 
 Now the spirit in question cannot be a demon ; 
 you own that instead of inspiring you anything con- 
 trary to piety and religion, he often fortifies in you 
 the maxims of Christianity: he strengthens your 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 89 
 
 faith by profound reasonings, and has the same re- 
 spect with you for sacred names and things. Nei- 
 ther can you say that it is an angel ; for though you 
 have always led a regular life, and far from all dis- 
 soluteness ; though for some years past you have 
 applied yourself, after a particular manner, to the 
 duties of a true Christian, you will agree with me, 
 that these sorts of favours are not common ; that a 
 man must have attained to a high degree of sanc- 
 tity, and not be far from the pureness of celestial 
 spirits, to merit a familiar converse, and bear a har- 
 mony with them. Believe me, there is nothing in 
 all these discourses which you imagine you have 
 with this spirit. You know, better than any man, 
 those symptoms which the black humours where- 
 with you are tormented causes in you. Your va- 
 pours are the source of your visions, and yourself 
 would not judge otherwise of another person to 
 whom a like thing should happen ; and you will come 
 to this in your own respect also, if you will make a 
 mature reflection, and apply yourself to blot out, by 
 an effort of reason, these imaginations which, the 
 violence of your evil effect causes in you. You may 
 have reason, replied Tasso, to think so of the things 
 that pass in me ; but as to myself, who have a sens- 
 ible perception of them, I am forced to reason after 
 another manner. If it were true that the spirit did 
 not show himself to me, but in the violent assault of 
 my vapours ; if he offered to my imagination but 
 wandering and confused species, without connection 
 or due sequel ; if he used to me frivolous reasonings, 
 which ended in nothing ; or if having begun some 
 solid reasoning he broke it off on a sudden, and left 
 me in darkness, I should believe with you, that all 
 things that pass are but mere dreams and phantoms ; 
 but it is quite otherwise. This spirit is a spirit of 
 truth and reason, and of a truth so distinct, of a 
 
90 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 reason so sublime, that he raises me often to know- 
 ledges that are above all my reasonings, though 
 they appear to me no less clear ; that he teaches 
 me things which, in my most profound meditations, 
 never came into my spirit, and which I never heard 
 of any man, nor read in any book. This spirit there- 
 fore is somewhat of real ; of whatsoever order he be, 
 I hear him and see him, nevertheless for its being 
 impossible for me to comprehend and define him. 
 Manso did not yield to these facts, which Tasso 
 would have passed for proofs ; he pressed him with 
 new questions, which were not without answers. 
 Since you will not believe me on my word, said 
 Tasso to him another day, after having well dis- 
 puted, I must convince you by your own eyes, that 
 these things are not pure imaginations : and the 
 next day, conversing together in the same cham- 
 ber, Manso perceived that, on a sudden, he fixed 
 his eyes towards the window, and that he stood, as 
 it were, immoveable ; he called to him and jogged 
 him many times, but instead of answering him ; 
 see there the spirit, says Tasso, at last, that has 
 been pleased to come and visit me, and to enter- 
 tain himself with me ; look on him, and you will 
 acknowledge the truth of what I say. 
 
 Manso, somewhat surprised, cast his eyes to- 
 wards the place he showed him, and perceived no- 
 thing but the rays of the sun passing through the 
 glass, nor did he see anything in all the chamber, 
 though he cast his eyes round it with curiosity, and 
 he desired him to show him the spirit, which he 
 looked for in vain, while he heard Tasso speak with 
 much vehemency. He declares in a letter which 
 he writ concerning this to the admiral of Naples, 
 that he really heard no other voice but Tasso's own ; 
 but they were sometimes questions made by him to 
 the pretended spirit, sometimes answers that he 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 91 
 
 made to the pretended questions of the spirit, and 
 which were couched in such admirable terms, so 
 efficacious, concerning subjects so elevated, and so 
 extraordinary, that he was ravished with admira- 
 tion, and dared not to interrupt him. He heark- 
 ened, therefore, attentively, and being quite beside 
 himself at this mysterious conversation, which ended 
 at last by a recess of the spirit, as he found by the 
 last words of Tasso ; after which, Tasso, turning 
 himself to him, Well, said he, are your doubts at 
 last dissipated ? On the contrary, answered Manso, 
 I am more embroiled than ever ; I have truly 
 heard wonderful things ; but you have not showed 
 me what you promised me ; you have seen and heard, 
 
 resumed Tasso, perhaps more than he stopped 
 
 here ; and Manso, who could not recover himself of 
 his surprise, and had his head filled with the ideas 
 of this extraordinary entertainment, found himself 
 not in a condition to press him further. Meanwhile 
 he engaged himself not to speak a word to any man 
 of these things he had heard, with a design to make 
 them public, though he should have liberty granted 
 him. They had many other conversations con- 
 cerning this matter, after which Manso owned he 
 was brought to that pass, that he knew not what 
 to think or say, only, that if it were a weakness in 
 his friend to believe these visions, he much feared 
 it would prove contagious to him, and that he 
 should become at last as credulous as himself. 
 
 Dr. Beaumont, who is still living, and with whom 
 I have had formerly some acquaintance myself, has 
 set down, among the others, this relation at large 
 concerning Tasso, and gives this reason for it : Be- 
 cause, says the doctor, I think it contains a suffi- 
 cient answer to what many learned friends have said 
 to myself on the like occasion. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be ungrateful to the reader, 
 
92 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 if I subjoin here the short eulogium writ on Tasso, 
 by the famous Thuanas, which is as follows : — 
 
 Torquatus Tasso died about the forty-fifth year 
 of his age, a man of a wonderful and prodigious 
 wit, who was seized with an incurable fury in his 
 youth, when he lived at the court of Ferrara, and 
 nevertheless, in lucid intervals, he writ many things, 
 both in verse and prose, with so much judgment, 
 elegancy, and extreme correctness of style, that he 
 turned at length that pity which many men had 
 conceived for him, into an amazement ; while by 
 that fury, which, in others, makes their minds out- 
 rageous or dulls them, after it was over, his under- 
 standing became as it were more purified, more 
 ready in inventing things, more acute in aptly dis- 
 posing them after they were invented, and more co- 
 pious in adorning them with choice words and 
 weight of sentences ; and that which a man of the 
 soundest sense would scarce excogitate at his lei- 
 sure, with the greatest labour and care imaginable, 
 he, after a violent agitation of the mind set beside 
 itself, naturally performed with a wonderful felicity, 
 so that he did not seem struck with an alienation 
 of mind, but with a divine fury. He that knows 
 not these things, which all men know that have 
 been in Italy, and concerning which himself some- 
 times complains, though modestly, in his writings ; 
 let him read his divine works, and he must neces- 
 sarily conclude, either that I speak of another man 
 than Tasso, or that these things were written by 
 another man than Tasso. 
 
 After having given my readers so many memora- 
 ble accounts concerning the perception men have 
 had in all ages, and still continue to have, of genii 
 or familiar spirits, by all the senses, as seeing, hear- 
 ing, &c, which accounts have been attested by men 
 of the greatest learning and quality, if any of them 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 93 
 
 still remain dissatisfied, I am contented, and desire 
 them, for their punishment, to lay down the book 
 before they arrive at the more pleasant parts of it, 
 which are yet to come, and not to read one tittle fur- 
 ther. These unbelieving gentlemen shall then be 
 at liberty, according as their different spirits dic- 
 tate, to ridicule me in the same manner as many 
 more learned and greater men than I have been 
 satirized, before my time, by persons of a like 
 infidel temper, who would fain pass incredulity 
 upon the world as wisdom ; and they may, with all 
 the freedom in nature, bestow upon me those merry 
 appellations, which I very well know such extra- 
 
 : ordinary freethinkers imagine to belong of right to 
 any author, that either believes himself, or would 
 possess the world with an opinion and belief, that 
 there is such a thing as the holding commerce and 
 conversation in this habitable world with genii and 
 familiar spirits. I shall only first tell them all I 
 
 , have to say to terminate the dispute between them 
 
 ; and me. 
 
 Those who, to give themselves the air and appear- 
 
 : ance of men of solid wisdom and gravity, load other 
 
 i men, who believe in spirits, with the titles of being 
 
 i men of folly, levity, or melancholy, are desired to 
 learn, that the same folly, as they are pleased to 
 term it, of opinion, is to be found in the greatest 
 men of learning that ever existed in the universe. 
 
 i Let them, in order to be convinced of this, read 
 Apuleius's book, de deo Socrat. ; Censorinus's book 
 de die Nat. c. 3 ; Porphyrius, in his book de Absti- 
 nentia; Agrippa, in his Treatise de Occult Phil. 
 1. 3, c. 22, and also c. 21 ; Natalis comes in his 
 Myth. 1. 4, c. 3 ; Maraviglia, in his Pseudomantia. 
 Dissertation. 9 and 11, and Animadversion. 10; 
 Plato, in his Timceus et Cratylus ; Ammianus 
 
 i Marcellinus's History, book 21 ; Hieronimus Car- 
 
94 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 danus, in his book de Vita Propria, c. 47 ; the 
 great Kircher, in his (Edipus JEgyptiacus, vol. iii. 
 p. 474 ; Pausanius, in Cliac. Poster. ; that immor- 
 tal orator, Cicero, lib. i. de Divinatione ; lib. ii. de 
 Natura Deorum ; the Histoire Prodigieuse, written 
 by Pere Arnault ; and a book entituled Lux e Tene- 
 bris, which is a collection of modern visions and 
 prophecies in Germany, by several persons, trans- 
 lated into Latin by Jo. Amos. Comenius, printed 
 at Amsterdam, 1655. And if they will be at the 
 pains of having due recourse to these quotations, 
 they will find that all these men, whose learning is 
 unquestionable, and most of whom have been in a 
 firm and undisputed possession of fame for many 
 centuries, have all unanimously agreed in this opi- 
 nion, how foolish soever they may think it, that 
 there ever was and ever would be a communication 
 held between some select men and genii, or familiar 
 spirits. I must therefore desire their pardon, if I 
 rejoice to see them remain wise by themselves, and 
 that I continue to be esteemed by them a fool among 
 so much good company. 
 
 Others, out of a mere contempt of religion, or 
 cowardly, for fear of being thought pusillanimous 
 by men, turn bravos to heaven, and laugh at every 
 notion of spirits as imbibed from the nurse, or im- 
 posed upon us by priests, and may top these lines 
 upon us with an elegant and a convincing magis- 
 terial sneer, though the divine Socrates was of our 
 opinion, and even experienced it to be true, hav- 
 ing a genius himself: — 
 
 The priests but finish what the nurse began, 
 And thus the child imposes on the man. 
 
 These bring into my mind a saying of sir Roger 
 UEstrange on Seneca, which I must apply to So- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 95 
 
 crates : I join in opinion with a Christian heathen, 
 while they remain heathen Christians. 
 
 The third sort, out of a pretended veneration to 
 religion and divinity, may call me superstitious and 
 chimerical. To them I answer, I will continue 
 chimerical and superstitious with St. Austin ; who 
 gives the same opinion in his Civitate Dei with 
 Ludovicus Vives ; let them be solider and more 
 religious divines than St. Austin in disowning it. 
 Thus I bid these austere critics heartily farewell ; 
 but let my better-natured readers go on and find a 
 new example of this conversation being held with 
 the genii by our Duncan Campbell. 
 
96 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 A narrative of Mr. CampbelVs coming to London 
 and taking upon him the profession of a pre- 
 dictor ; together with an account of many strange 
 things that came to pass just as he foretold. 
 
 To proceed on regularly with the life of young 
 Duncan Campbell, I must let the reader know that 
 he continued thus conversing with his little genius, 
 as is set forth above in the dialogue he had with 
 me, and predicting many things of the like nature, 
 as I have described, till the year 1694, when he was 
 just fourteen years of age, and then he left Scot- 
 land. 
 
 But before I come to speak of the manner of his 
 departure from thence, his half native country, in- 
 asmuch as his father was of that country, and he 
 had his education there, what education he could 
 have, being deaf and dumb. I must let the 
 reader know that in the year 1692, my very good 
 friend Mrs. Campbell, his mother-in-law, died, and 
 left him there at Edinburgh, an orphan of twelve 
 years of age. 
 
 He was, I may venture to say, the most beautiful 
 boy of that age I ever knew; and the sensible 
 reader, who considers a child of good birth, with 
 the misfortunes of being deaf and dumb, left father- 
 less and motherless in the wide world, at twelve 
 years old, without any competency for his mainte- 
 nance and support, without any relations, in a man- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 97 
 
 ner, that knew him or assisted him ; all the little 
 fortune his father had having been lost in the civil 
 commotions in Scotland, as I have related above, 
 need not hear me describe the compassion I and 
 many more had for him ; because such a reader 
 must certainly feel in his own bosom the same 
 lively acts of pity and commiseration at the hearing 
 of such a mishap as I had at the seeing it, or at 
 least as I have now revived afresh within me at the 
 relating it. 
 
 However, it came so to pass, that a person of the 
 name of Campbell, and who was a distant relation 
 of the boy, though he himself was but in indiffer- 
 ent circumstances, was resolved to see him provided 
 for one way or another, in a manner somewhat 
 suitable to his condition, and till that time to take 
 the best care of him himself that he was able. 
 
 Several ladies of quality who had known his per- 
 fections coveted to make the boy one of their do- 
 mestics, as a page, or a playfellow to their children ; 
 for though he could not speak, he had such a vi- 
 vacity in all his actions, such a sprightliness of be- 
 haviour, and such a merriment accompanying all 
 his gestures, that he afforded more entertainment 
 than the prettiest and wittiest little prattlers at 
 those years are wont to do. Mr. Campbell had 
 certainly accepted of some of these fortunate offers 
 for his little cousin, which were many of them likely 
 to prove very advantageous, if it had not been put 
 in his head by some friends, particularly myself, 
 that if he had a mind to dispose of the boy in that 
 manner, the best way he could take would be to 
 present him to the late earl of Argyle, who for his 
 namesake and for his father's sake, as well as the 
 qualifications and endowments of the boy, would 
 more naturally, according to all probability, take a 
 greater pleasure and delight in him, and conse- 
 
 d. c. h 
 
98 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 quently provide better for him, and with a more 
 lasting care, than any other person of quality that 
 had a sudden liking to him, which might change, 
 and took him as a stranger out of a bare curiosity. 
 Mr. Campbell was by these reasons overruled in the 
 disposal of his little dumb prophetical cousin, as he 
 called him, and resolved that an offer should be 
 made of him to the present illustrious duke of 
 Argyle's most noble father. But it so unfortunately 
 happened that the earl making very much a longer 
 stay at London than was expected, Mr. Campbell, 
 the uncle, sent our young Duncan Campbell, his 
 nephew, handsomely accoutred, and with a hand- 
 some sum of money in his pocket, by sea, with 
 captain Meek of Kircaldie, to London, with letters 
 of recommendation to the earl's favour, and just a 
 few days before young Duncan arrived in London, 
 the earl was set out on his journey to his seat in 
 Scotland. 
 
 I had now left him for near three years, not 
 having seen him since about a year after his mo- 
 ther's death ; and then coming to London, I had by 
 mere accident an appointment to meet some Scotch 
 gentlemen at the Buffalo at Charing-cross. There 
 happened at that time to be a great concourse of 
 Scotch nobility there at an entertainment ; and one 
 of the ladies and gentlemen passing by and seeing 
 one of my friends, desired him to come in, and told 
 him both he and his companions should be very 
 welcome to partake of the diversion. The lady 
 told him they had got a lovely youth, a Scotch mi- 
 racle, among them, that would give us exquisite 
 delight, and write down to us all the occurrences of 
 our future lives, and tell us our names upon our 
 first appearance. The moment I heard of it, 
 Duncan Campbell came into my head ; but as it is 
 a thing not rare to be met with in Scotland for se- 
 
OP MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 99 
 
 cond-sighted persons to tell such things, and as the 
 earl of Argyle was in the north, I thought little 
 Duncan had been under his protection and with 
 him, and did not dream of meeting with him there ; 
 and accordingly told my friend, before I went in, 
 that I believed I knew a lad in Scotland would ex- 
 ceed this in foresight, let him be as dexterous in 
 his art as he would. 
 
 As soon as I entered the room, I was surprised 
 to find myself encompassed and surrounded by a 
 circle of the most beautiful females that ever my 
 eyes beheld. In the centre of this angelic tribe was 
 seated a heavenly youth, with the most winning 
 comeliness of aspect that ever pleased the sight of 
 any beholder of either sex ; his face was divinely 
 fair, and tinged only with such a sprightly blush as 
 a painter would use to colour the picture of health 
 with, and the complexion was varnished over by a 
 blooming like that of flourishing fruit, which had 
 not yet felt the first nippings of an unkind and an 
 uncivil air ; with this beauty was joined such a 
 smiling draught of all the features as is the result 
 of pleasantry and good humour. His eyes were 
 large, full of lustre, majestic, well set, and the soul 
 shone so in them, as told the spectators plainly how 
 great was the inward vivacity of his genius ; the 
 hair of his head was thick, and reclined far below 
 his shoulders ; it was of a fine silver colour, and 
 hung down in ringlets like the curling tendrils of a 
 copious vine. He was by the women entertained, 
 according to the claim which so many perfections 
 joining in a youth just ripening into manhood might 
 lay to the benevolent dispositions of the tender sex. 
 One was holding the basin of water, another wash- 
 ing a hand, a third with a towel drying his face, 
 which another fair had greedily snatched the plea- 
 sure of washing before, while a fourth was disposing 
 
 h2 
 
100 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 into order his silver hairs with an ivory comb, in a 
 hand as white, and which a monarch might have 
 been proud to have had so employed in adjusting 
 the crown upon his head ; a fifth was setting into 
 order his cravat ; a sixth stole a kiss, and blushed 
 at the innocent pleasure, and mistook her own 
 thoughts as if she kissed the angel and not the 
 man ; and they all rather seemed to adore than to 
 love him, as if they had taken him not for a person 
 that enjoyed the frequent gift of the second-sight, 
 but as if he had been some little prophet peculiarly 
 inspired ; and while they all thus admired and won- 
 dered, they all consulted him as an oracle. The 
 surprise of seeing a young man so happy amidst the 
 general concurring favours of the fair, made me be 
 for awhile lost in a kind of delightful amazement, 
 and the consideration of what bliss he was possessed 
 made me scarce believe my own eyes, when they 
 told me it was Duncan Campbell, who I had left an 
 unhappy orphan at Edinburgh. But so it was, 
 though he was much altered in stature, being now 
 shot up pretty fast in his growth since I had seen 
 him, and having gained a kind of a fixed comport- 
 ment, such as we may daily observe in those who 
 are taking leave of their minority, and stepping into 
 a stage of maturer life. 
 
 The first remarkable thing I knew him do in 
 London, being in this splendid company, where 
 there were so many undoubted witnesses of quality 
 too, that had ocular proof of his predictions at that 
 public tavern : I choose to record it here in the first 
 place according to its due order. It was in the 
 year 1698. 
 
 Among this angelical class of beauties were 
 Dr. W — lw — d's lady and daughter. Upon earth 
 there was not sure a more beautiful creature than 
 the daughter was ; she was the leading light of all 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 101 
 
 the sparkling tribe ; and Otway's character suits her 
 exactly ; for she was among ten thousand eminently 
 fair. One would imagine prosperous and lucky 
 fortune was written upon her face, and that nothing 
 unhappy could be read in so fair a book ; and it 
 was therefore the unanimous consent of all, that by 
 way of good omen to the rest, his predictions should 
 begin to be opened luckily that day, and that 
 therefore he should first of all be consulted abou 
 her. 
 
 Accordingly, the mother, to be satisfied of his 
 talent before she proceeded to any other questions, 
 asked him in writing if he knew the young lady, 
 her name, and who she was. After a little rumi- 
 nating and pondering upon the matter, and taking 
 an exact view of the beauty, he wrote down her 
 name, told Mrs. W — lw — d she was her daughter, 
 and that her father was a doctor. Convinced by his 
 so readily telling the name and quality of persons 
 he had never seen in his lifetime, that fame had not 
 given a false character of his capacity, she proceeded 
 in her questions as to her future fortune. He gazed 
 afresh at her very eagerly for some time, and his 
 countenance during that time of viewing her seemed 
 to be ruffled with abundance of disturbance and 
 perplexity. We all imagined that the youth was a 
 little touched at the heart himself with what he saw, 
 and that instead of telling hers, he had met in her 
 bright eyes with his own destiny, the destiny of 
 being for ever made a slave and a captive to so 
 many powerful and almost irresistible charms. 
 
 At length, after having a long debate within 
 himself, which we thought proceeded from the 
 strugglings of love and passion, he fetching a great 
 sigh, which still convinced us more, took the pen 
 and wrote to Mrs. W — lw — d, that he begged to be 
 excused, and that his pen might remain as dumb and 
 
102 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 silent as his tongue on that affair. By this answer 
 we concluded, one and all, that our former con- 
 jectures were true, and we joined in pressing him 
 the more earnestly to deliver his real and sincere 
 opinion concerning the accidents upon which the 
 future fortunes of her life were to turn and depend. 
 He showed many mighty reluctances in the doing 
 it ; and I have often since considered him in the 
 same anguish as the late great Dr. Ratcliff, who was 
 endeavouring by study to save a certain fair one, 
 whom he loved with a vehemence of temper, and 
 who was, as his reason told him, got far away be- 
 yond the reach of the art of physic to recover. At 
 last he wrote in plain terms that his backwardness 
 and unwillingness to tell it, arose from his wishes 
 that her fortune would be better than his certain 
 foreknowledge of it told him it would be, and 
 begged that we would rest satisfied with that ge- 
 neral answer, since it w r as in so particular a case, 
 where he himself was a well-wisher in vain, to the 
 lady about whom he was consulted. The young 
 lady herself thinking that if she knew any disasters 
 that were to befall her she might, by knowing the 
 nature of them beforehand, and the time when they 
 were likely to happen, be able, by timely prudence 
 and forecast, to avert those evils, with many be- 
 seechings urged him to reveal the fatal secret. 
 After many struggles to avoid it, and as many in- 
 stances made to him both by mother and daughter 
 for the discovery of his prescience in that point, he 
 complied with very great difficulty; and blotting 
 the paper with tears that trickled fast from his eyes, 
 he gave her the lamentable scroll, containing the 
 words that follow; viz., I wish it had not fallen to 
 my lot to tell this lady, whom everybody that but 
 once looks at her must admire, though they must 
 not have leave to love, that she is not much longer 
 
OP MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 103 
 
 to be possessor of that lovely face, which gains her 
 such a number of adorers. The smallpox will too soon 
 turn a ravisher, and rifle all those sweets and charms 
 that might be able to vanquish a king and to subdue 
 a conqueror of mighty battles. Her reign is doomed, 
 alas! to be as short as it is now great and universal ; 
 I believe she has internal beauties of the mind, not 
 the least inferior to those external excellencies of 
 the body ; and she might, perhaps, by the power of 
 her mind alone, be absolute queen of the affections 
 of men, if the smallpox threatened not too surely 
 to be her further enemy, and, not contented to de- 
 stroy the face, was not perversely bent to destroy 
 the whole woman. But I want words to express 
 my sorrow. I would not tell it if you did not extort 
 the baneful secret from my bosom. This fair 
 creature, whose beauty would make one wish her 
 immortal, will, by the cruel means of the smallpox, 
 give us too sudden a proof of her mortality. But 
 neither the mother nor herself ought too much to 
 repine at this, seeing it appears to be the decree of 
 Providence, which is always to be interpreted as 
 meant for our good, and seeing it may be the means 
 of translating her the sooner only to her kindred 
 angels, whose beauty she so much resembles here 
 on earth, and to be among the lowest class of whom, 
 is better than being the greatest beauty of the world 
 here below, and wearing an imperial crown. While 
 I comfort you, I cannot help the force of nature, 
 which makes me grieve myself; and I only give 
 you, because you compel me to it, so particular and 
 so exact an answer to so particular and so exacting 
 a question. 
 
 The mother, who took the paper, was prudent 
 enough to conceal from the daughter what he said ; 
 but nature would force its way, and bubbled from her 
 eyes ; and the daughter perceiving that, pressed 
 
104 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 hard to see it, and wept at the consideration that 
 hard fate, though she knew not particularly what 
 way, was to befall her. Never surely was anything 
 so beautiful in tears, and I obtained of the mother 
 to see the writing. At last, in general terms, to 
 free her from a suspense of mind, it was told her 
 that some trouble should happen to her that would 
 diminish her beauty. She had courage enough to 
 hear that misfortune with disdain, and crying if that 
 be all, I am armed, I don't place much pride in that 
 which I know age much shortly after destroy, if 
 trouble did not do it before ; and she dried up her 
 tears ; and, if what Mr. Bruyere says be true, viz., 
 that the last thing a celebrated woman thinks of 
 when she dies, is the loss of her beauty, she showed 
 an admirable pattern of female philosophy, in bearing 
 such a cruel prediction with such unspeakable mag- 
 nanimity, as exceeded even the patience of stern 
 stoicism, considering she was a woman, to whom 
 beauty is more dear than life. 
 
 If any evil, that is impending over people's heads, 
 could be evaded by foreknowledge, or eluded by 
 art, she had the fairest opportunity of having this 
 prediction annulled, which would have been more 
 to the satisfaction of the predictor than knowing it 
 verified, than ever any woman had. Her mother 
 was specifically told that the fatal distemper should 
 be the smallpox ; her father was, and is still, a very 
 eminent physician ; and distempers of that kind, es- 
 pecially, are much more easily prevented by care, 
 than cured by art, and by art more easily set aside, 
 when there is a timely warning given to a physician 
 to prepare the body against the danger of the poison, 
 than when the distemper has once catched hold of a 
 body at unawares, when it is unpurged of any gross 
 humours that may accompany it. But neither the 
 foreknowledge and caution of the mother, nor the 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 105 
 
 skill and wisdom of the great physician her father, 
 were sufficient to ward off the approaching harm, 
 that was written in the books of fate. Not many 
 suns had finished their yearly courses, before she 
 was forced to submit to the inevitable stroke of 
 death, after the infectious and malicious malady had 
 first ravaged her beauty, rioted in all her sweets, 
 and made an odious deformed spectacle of the 
 charmer of mankind. The death of the daughter 
 worked hard upon the mother's bowels, and dragged 
 her speedily after her, with a broken heart to the 
 grave. 
 
 This lady, whose fortune so great and so distin- 
 guished an assembly had chosen to hear as a happy 
 forerunner and lucky omen of all their own, which 
 were to be asked afterwards in their turns, proving 
 so contrary to their expectations, already unfortunate 
 in the prediction, and having been in tears about the 
 matter, disheartened all the rest of the beauties from 
 consulting him further that day. The person who 
 kept the tavern, by name Mrs. Irwin, alleged that 
 as some people were very fortunate, and others un-. 
 fortunate upon the same day, so one lady might be 
 before told a mishap one minute, and another lady 
 all the prosperity in nature the very next minute 
 following, and therefore that what the unfortunate 
 lady had heard was not to be taken as ominous, or 
 as what could malignantly influence the day, neither 
 ought it to be the least hinderance to any who had 
 the curiosity of being let into the secrets of time 
 beforehand. Howeve , whether the ladies were 
 convinced or no ; if she prevailed over their belief 
 in that point, she could not prevail over their 
 humour, which, though they might not believe the 
 former prediction omnious to themselves, was na- 
 turally awed for fear of the like, peradventure, for a 
 time, and so it was agreed, nemine contradicente, as 
 
106 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 a witty lady wrote it down, That no more petitions 
 should for that day be presented by any of that 
 company to his dumb, yet oracular, majesty. Mrs. 
 Irwin, however, would have her way ; said she did 
 not presume to such honour as to call herself of that 
 company, and that therefore she might consult him 
 without breaking through the votes of the assembly* 
 Many endeavoured to dissuade her, but as she was 
 passionately fond of knowing future events ; and had 
 a mighty itch to be very inquisitive with the oracle 
 about what might happen, not only to herself, but 
 her posterity ; it was agreed that he should have the 
 liberty of satisfying her curiosity, since she presumed 
 her fortune was sure to be so good, and was so for- 
 ward and eager for the knowledge of it. But, alas ! 
 such is too often the fantastical impulse of nature 
 unluckily depraved, that it carries us often into wishes 
 of knowing, what when known we would be glad to 
 unknow again, and then our memory will not let us 
 be untaught. 
 
 Mrs. Irwin was at that time in a pretty commodi- 
 ous way of business, everything in plenty round 
 about her, and lived more like a person of distinc- 
 tion, that kept such a cellar of wine, open house, 
 and a free table, than like one who kept a tavern. 
 She brought in her three pretty children, that were 
 then almost babies, the youngest having not long 
 been out of the nurse's arms, or trusted to the use of 
 its own legs. These children she loved as a mother 
 should love children ; they were the delight of her 
 eyes all day, and the dream of her imagination all 
 night. All the passions of her soul were confined 
 to them ; she was never pleased but when they were 
 so, and always angry if they were crossed; her 
 whole pride was centered in them, and they were 
 clothed and went attended more like the infants of a 
 princess, than of a vintner's relict. The fortune of 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 107 
 
 these was what she had near at heart, and of which 
 she was so eager of being immediately apprised. 
 Her impatience was proportionable to the love she 
 had for them, and which made her wish to foreknow 
 all the happiness that was like to attend them. She 
 sat cheerfully down, presented one to him, and 
 smiling, wrote the question in general terms, viz., is 
 this boy to be happy or unhappy. A melancholy 
 look once more spread itself all over the face of the 
 predictor, when he read the too inquisitive words, 
 and he seemed mightily to regret being asked a 
 question, to which he was by his talent of foreseeing 
 compelled to give so unwelcome an answer. The 
 colour of the poor woman flushed and vanished 
 alternately, and very quick, and she looked not 
 quite like the picture of despair, but a disconsolate 
 woman, with little hopes on one hand, and great 
 doubts and dismal fears on the other. She professed 
 she read great evil in the troubles of his face, 
 thanked him for his good nature, told him that they 
 all knew that though he could foretell he could not 
 alter the acts and decretals of fate, and therefore 
 desired him to tell her the worst ; for that the mis- 
 fortunes, were they never so great, would be less 
 dreadful to her than remaining in the state of fear 
 and suspension. He at last wrote down to her that 
 great and unexpected and even unavoidable ac- 
 cidents would involve the whole family in new ca- 
 lamities, that the son she asked him about would 
 have the bitterest task of hardship to go through 
 withal, while he lived, and that to finish all more 
 unhappily, he would be basely and maliciously 
 brought to an untimely end, by some mortal enemy 
 or other, but that she should not trouble herself so 
 much on that head, she would never see it, for it 
 would happen some years after she was departed 
 from the world. This melancholy account closed up 
 
108 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 the book of prediction s for that day, and put a sad 
 stop to all the projected mirth and curiosity. Now 
 I must tell the reader how and when the event 
 answered the prediction. And in a few words it 
 was thus ; poor Mrs. Irwin, by strange accidents, 
 decayed in the world, and dying poor, her sons were 
 forced to be put out apprentices to small trades, and 
 the son, whom the above-mentioned prediction con- 
 cerned, was, for stealing one cheese from a man in 
 the Haymarket, severely prosecuted at the Old 
 Bailey, and on Wednesday the 23rd of December, 
 1713, hanged at Tyburn, with several other 
 criminals. 
 
 The two foregoing passages are of so tragical a 
 nature, that it is time I should relieve the minds of 
 my readers with some histories of ladies who con- 
 sulted him with more success and advantage, to 
 whom his predictions were very entertaining, when 
 they so came to pass in their favour, the relation 
 whereof will consequently be agreeable to all 
 readers who have within them a mixture of happy 
 curiosity and good nature. 
 
 Two ladies, who were the most remarkable beau- 
 ties in London, and most courted, turned at the 
 same time their thoughts to matrimony ; and being 
 satiated, I may say wearied, with the pleasure of 
 having continually after them a great number and 
 variety of adorers, resolved each, about the same 
 time, to make a choice of their several men, to 
 whom they thought they could give most happi- 
 ness, and from whom they might receive most. 
 Their names, for they are both persons of distinc- 
 tion, shall be Christallina and Urbana. Christallina 
 was a virgin, and Urbana a young widow. Chris- 
 tallina engrossed the eyes, the hearts, and the sighs 
 of the whole court; and wherever she appeared, put 
 any court lady out of her place, that had one before 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 109 
 
 in the heart of any youth ; and was the most cele- 
 brated toast among the beau monde. Urbana's 
 beauty made as terrible havock in the city ; all the 
 citizens' daughters that had many admirers, and 
 were in fair hopes of having husbands when they 
 pleased themselves, as soon as Urbana had lost her 
 old husband, found that they every day lost their 
 lovers ; and it was a general fear among the pret- 
 tiest maids, that they should remain maids still, as 
 long as Urbana remained a widow. She was the 
 monopolizer of city affection, and made many girls, 
 that had large stocks of suitors, bankrupts in the 
 trade of courtship, and broke some of their hearts, 
 when her charms broke off their amours. Well, 
 but the day was near at hand when both the belles 
 of the court and the city damsels were to be freed 
 from the ravages which these two tyrants, triumph- 
 ant in beauty and insolent in charms, made among 
 the harvest of love. Each had seen her proper 
 man, to whom the enjoyment of her person was to 
 be dedicated for life. But it being an affair of so 
 lasting importance, each had a mind to be let into 
 the knowledge of the consequences of such a choice, 
 as far as possible, before they stepped into the irre- 
 vocable state of matrimony. Both of them hap- 
 pened to take it into their heads, that the best way 
 to be entirely satisfied in their curiosity, was to have 
 recourse to the great predictor of future occurrences, 
 31r. Duncan Campbell, whose fame was at that time 
 spread pretty largely about the town. Christallina 
 and Urbana were not acquainted with each other, 
 only by the report which fame had made of beauty. 
 They came to Mr. Campbell's on the same day, and 
 both with the same resolution of keeping themselves 
 concealed and under masks, that none of the com- 
 pany of consulters, who happened to be there, might 
 know who they were. It happened that on that 
 
110 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 very day, just when they came, Mr. Campbell's 
 rooms were more than ordinarily crowded with cu- 
 rious clients of the fair sex, so that he was obliged 
 to desire these two ladies, who expressed so much 
 precaution against, and fear of having their persons 
 discovered, to be contented with only one room be- 
 tween them, and with much ado they complied with 
 the request, and condescended to sit together incog. 
 Distant compliments of gesture passed between 
 them, the dress and comportment of each making 
 them appear to be persons of figure and breeding, 
 and after three or four modish courtesies, down they 
 sat, without so much as once opening their lips, 
 or intending so to do. The silence between them 
 was very formal and profound for near half an hour, 
 and nothing was to be heard but the snapping of 
 fans, which they both did very tun ably, and with 
 great harmony, and played as it were in concert. 
 
 At last, one of the civil, well-bred mutes, hap- 
 pening to sneeze, the other very gracefully bowed, 
 and before she was well aware, out popped the 
 words, Bless you, madam ; the fair sneezer returned 
 the bow, with an — I thank you, madam. They 
 found they did not know one another's voices, and 
 they began to talk very merrily together, with 
 pretty great confidence, and they taking a mutual 
 liking from conversation, so much familiarity grew 
 thereupon instantly between them, that they began 
 not only to unmask, but to unbosom themselves to 
 one another, and confess alternately all their se- 
 crets. Christallina owned who she was, and told 
 Urbana the beau and courtier that had her heart. 
 Urbana as frankly declared that she was a widow, 
 that she would not become the lady's rival, that she 
 had pitched upon a second husband, an alderman of 
 the city. Just by that time they had had their chat 
 out, and wished one another the pleasure of a sue- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. Ill 
 
 cessful prediction, it came to Christallina's turn to 
 visit the dumb gentleman, and receive from his pen 
 oracular answers to all the questions she had to pro- 
 pose. Well, he accordingly satisfied her in every 
 point she asked him about ; but while she was about 
 this, one of Mr. Campbell's family going with Ur- 
 bana to divert her a little, the widow railed at the 
 virgin as a fool, to imagine that she should ever 
 make a conquest of the brightest spark about the 
 court, and then let fly some random bolts of malice 
 to wound her reputation for chastity. Now it be- 
 came the widow's turn to go and consult ; and the 
 same person of Mr. Campbell's family in the mean 
 time entertained Christallina. The maid was not 
 behindhand with the widow ; she railed against 
 the widow, represented her as sometimes a coquette, 
 sometimes a lady of pleasure, sometimes a jilt, and 
 lifted up her hands in wonder and amazement that 
 Urbana should imagine so rich a man as an alder- 
 man such a one, should fall to her lot. Thus Ur- 
 bana swore and protested that Christallina could 
 never arrive at the honour of being the wife to the 
 courtly Secretarius, let Mr. Campbell flatter her as 
 he would ; and Christallina vowed that Campbell 
 must be a downright wizard if he foretold that such 
 a one as Urbana would get alderman Stinrump as a 
 husband, provided a thing so improbable should 
 come to pass. 
 
 However, it seems, Duncan had told them their 
 own names and the names of their suitors, and told 
 them further, how soon they were both to be mar- 
 ried, and that too directly to their heart's content, 
 as they said rejoicingly to themselves, and made 
 their mutual gratulations. 
 
 They went away each satisfied that she should 
 have her own lover, but Christallina laughed at Mr. 
 Campbell for assigning the alderman to Urbana ; 
 
112 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 and Urbana laughed at him for promising the 
 courtier to the arms of Christallina. 
 
 This a pretty good figure of the tempers of two 
 reigning toasts with regard to one another. 
 
 First, their curiosity made them, from resolving 
 to be concealed, discover one another wilfully ; from 
 utter strangers grow as familiar as old friends in a 
 moment, swear one another to secrecy, and ex- 
 change the sentiments of their hearts together; and, 
 from being friends, become envious of each other's 
 enjoying a similitude of happiness ; the compliments 
 made on either side face to face, were, upon the 
 turning of the back, turned into reflections, de- 
 traction, and ridicule; each was a self-lover and 
 admirer of her own beauty and merit, and a despiser 
 of the other's. 
 
 Hower, Duncan Campbell proved at last to be in 
 the right ; Urbana was wrong in her opinion of 
 Christallina's want of power over Secretarius, and 
 Christallina was as much out in her opinion that 
 Urbana would miss in her aim of obtaining Stiff- 
 rump ; for they both proved in the right of what 
 they thought with regard to their own dear single 
 persons, and were made happy according to their 
 expectations, just at the time foretold by Mr. 
 Campbell. 
 
 Christallina's ill wishes did not hinder Urbana 
 from being mistress of alderman Stiffrump's person 
 and stock, nor did Urbana's hinder Christallina 
 from showing herself a shining bride at the Ring, 
 in Secretarius's gilded chariot, drawn by six 
 prancers of the proud Belgian kind, with her half 
 dozen of liveries with favours in their hats, wait- 
 ing her return at the gate of Hyde park. 
 
 Both loved and both envied, but both allowed of 
 Mr. Campbell's foreknowledge. 
 
 Having told you two very sorrowful passages, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 113 
 
 and one tolerably successful and entertaining ; I 
 shall now relate to you another of my own know- 
 ledge, that is mixed up with the grievous and the 
 pleasant, and chequered, as it were, with the shade 
 and the sunshine of fortune. 
 
 Though there are vicissitudes in every stage of 
 life under the sun, and not one ever ran continually 
 on with the same series of prosperity ; yet those 
 conditions which are the most liable to the signal 
 alterations of fortune, are the conditions of mer- 
 chants ; for professed gamesters I reckon in a man- 
 ner as men of no condition of life at all ; but what 
 comes under the statute of vagabonds. 
 
 It was indeed, as the reader would guess, a wor- 
 thy and a wealthy merchant, who was to run through 
 these different circumstances of being. He came 
 and visited our Mr. Campbell in the year 1707, he 
 found him amidst a crowd of consulters ; and being 
 very eager and solicitous to know his own fortune just 
 at that critical juncture of time, he begged of him, 
 if possible, to adjourn his other clients to the day 
 following, and sacrifice that one wholly to his use ; 
 which as it was probably more important than all 
 the others together, so he wrote down that he 
 would render the time spent about it more advan- 
 tageous to Mr. Campbell ; and, bv way of previous 
 encouragement, threw him down ten guineas as a 
 retaining fee. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, who held money in very little 
 esteem, and valued it so much too little, that he has 
 often had my reprehensions on that head, paused 
 a little, and after looking earnestly in the gentle- 
 man's face, and reading there, as I suppose, in that 
 little space of time in general, according to the 
 power of the second-sight, that what concerned 
 him was highly momentous, wrote him this answer ; 
 That he would comply with his requests, adjourn his 
 
 D. C. I 
 
114 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 other clients to the day following, and set apart all 
 the remnant of that, till night, for inspecting the 
 future occurrences of which he had a mind to be 
 made a master. 
 
 There is certainly a very keen appetite in curio- 
 sity ; it cannot stay for satisfaction, it is pressing for 
 its necessary repast, and is without all patience: 
 hunger and thirst are not appetites more vehement 
 and more hard and difficult to be repressed than that 
 of curiosity ; nothing but the present now is able 
 to allay it. A more expressive picture of this I 
 never beheld than in the faces of some, and the 
 murmurs and complaints of others, in that little 
 inquisitive company, when the unwelcome note was 
 given about signifying an adjournment for only 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 The colour of a young woman there came and 
 went a hundred times, if possible, in the space of 
 two minutes ; she blushed like a red rose this mo- 
 ment, and in the switch of an eyelash she was all 
 over as pale as a white one : the suitor, whose name 
 her heart had gone pit-a-pat for the space of an 
 hour to be informed of from the pen of a seer, was 
 now deferred a whole day longer ; she was once or 
 twice within an ace of swooning away, but he 
 comforted her in particular, by telling her, though 
 he said it only by way of jest, that the day follow- 
 ing would be a more lucky day to consult about 
 husbands than the present that she came on. The 
 answer was a kind of cordial to her hopes, and 
 brought her a little better to herself. 
 
 Two others, I remember, sisters and old maids, 
 that it seems were misers, women ordinarily 
 dressed and in blue aprons, and yet, by relation, 
 worth no less than two thousand pounds each, were 
 in a peck of troubles about his going and leaving 
 them unsatisfied. They came upon an inquiry 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 1 ] 5 
 
 after goods that were stolen, and they complained 
 that by next morning at that time, the thief might 
 be got far enough off, and creep into so remote a 
 corner, that he would put it beyond the power of 
 the devil and the art of conjuration to find him out 
 and bring him back again. The disturbance and 
 anxiety that was to be seen in their countenances 
 was just like that which is to be beheld in the face 
 of a great losing gamester, when his all, his last 
 great stake, lies upon the table, and is just sweeping 
 off by another winning hand into his own hat. 
 
 The next was a widow who bounced, because, as 
 she pretended, he would not tell her what was best 
 to do with her sons, and what profession it would 
 be most happy for them to be put to ; but in reality 
 all the cause of the widow's fuming and fretting, 
 was not that she wanted to provide for her sons, 
 but for herself; she wanted a second husband, and 
 was not half so solicitous about being put in a way 
 of educating those children she had already, as 
 of knowing when she should be in a likelihood of 
 getting more. This was certainly in her thoughts, 
 or else she would never have flounced about in her 
 weed, from one end of the room to the other, and 
 all the while of her passion, smile by fits upon the 
 merchant, and leer upon a young pretty Irish fellow 
 that was there. The young Irishman made use of a 
 little eye-language ; she grew appeased, went away 
 in quite a good humour, scuttled too airily down 
 stairs for a woman in her clothes, and the reason was 
 certainly that she knew the matter before, w T hich we 
 took notice of presently after : the Irishman went 
 precipitately after her down stairs without taking 
 his leave. 
 
 But neither were the two misers for their gold, the 
 • virgin for a first husband, nor the widow for a second, 
 1 half so eager as another married woman there was for 
 
 i2 
 
116 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 the death of her spouse. She had put the question in 
 so expecting a manner for a lucky answer, and with 
 so much keen desire appearing plainly in her looks, 
 that no big-bellied woman was ever more eager for 
 devouring fruit ; no young, hasty bridegroom, just 
 married to a beauty, more impatient for night and 
 enjoyment, than she was to know what she thought 
 a more happy moment, the moment of her husband's 
 last agonising gasp. As her expectation was the 
 greatest, so was her disappointment too, and conse- 
 quently her disorder upon his going and leaving 
 her unresolved. She was frantic, raging, and im- 
 placable ; she was in such a fury at the delay of 
 putting off her answer to the day following, that in 
 her fury she acted as if she would have given her- 
 self an answer which of the two should die first, by 
 choking herself upon the spot, with the indignation 
 that swelled in her stomach and rose into her throat 
 on that occasion. It may look like a romance to 
 say it, but indeed they were forced to cut her lace, 
 and then she threw out of the room with great pas- 
 sion ; but yet had so much of the enraged wife left, 
 beyond the enraged woman, as to return instantly 
 up stairs, and signify very calmnly, she would be 
 certain to be there next day, and beseeched ear- 
 nestly that she might not meet with a second dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 All this hurry and bustle created a stay a little 
 too tedious for the merchant, who began to be im- 
 patient himself, especially when word was brought 
 up that a fresh company was come in; but Mr. 
 Campbell was denied to them ; and to put a stop to 
 any more interruptions, the merchant and the dumb 
 gentleman agreed to slip into a coach, drive to a 
 tavern in the city, and settle matters of futurity over 
 a bottle of French claret. 
 
 The first thing done at the tavern, was Mr. Camp- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 117 
 
 bell's saluting him upon a piece of paper by his name, 
 and drinking his health. The next paper held a 
 discourse of condolence for a disaster that was past 
 long since; namely, a great and considerable loss that 
 happened to his family, in the dreadful conflagration 
 of the city of London. In the third little dialogue 
 which they had together, he told the merchant that 
 losses and advantages were general topics, which a 
 person unskilled in that art might venture to assign 
 to any man of his profession ; it being next to im- 
 possible that persons who traffic should not some- 
 times gain, and sometimes lose. But, said Mr. 
 Di ncan Campbell, I will sketch out particularly, and 
 specify to you some future misfortunes with which 
 you will unavoidably meet ; it is in your stars, it is 
 in destiny, that you should have some trials, and 
 therefore when you are forewarned, take a prudent 
 care to be forearmed with patience, and by long- 
 animity, and meekly and resignedly enduring your 
 lot, render it more easy, since impatience can't avert 
 it, and will only render it more burdensome and 
 heavy. He gave these words to the merchant ; who 
 pressed for his opinion that moment. By your leave, 
 resuming the pen, said the dumb gentleman, in 
 writing, we will have this bottle out first and tap 
 a fresh one, that you may be warmed with courage 
 enough to receive the first speculative onset of ill 
 fortune, that I shall predict to you, with a good 
 grace, and that may perhaps enable you to meet it 
 when it comes to reduce itself into action, with a 
 manful purpose and all becoming resolution. The 
 merchant agreed to the proposal, and put on an air of 
 the careless and indifferent as well as he could, to 
 signify that he had no need to raise up an artificial 
 courage from the auxiliary forces of the grape. But 
 nature, when hard pressed, will break through all 
 disguises, and not only notwithstanding the air of 
 pleasantry he gave himself, which appeared forced 
 
118 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 and constrained, but in spite of two or three spark- 
 ling and enlivening bumpers, a cloud of care would 
 ever and anon gather and shoot heavily cross his 
 brow, though he laboured all he could to dispel it as 
 quickly, and to keep fair weather in his countenance. 
 Well, they had cracked the first bottle, and the second 
 succeeded upon the table, and they called to blow 
 a pipe together. This pipe Mr. Campbell found 
 had a very ill effect ; it is certainly a pensive kind 
 of instrument, and fills a mind, anything so disposed, 
 with disturbing thoughts, black fumes, and me- 
 lancholy vapours, as certainly as it doth the mouth 
 with smoke. It plainly took away even the little 
 sparks of vivacity which the wine had given before ; 
 so he wrote for a truce of firing those sort of noxious 
 guns any longer, and they laid down their arms by 
 consent, and drank off the second bottle. A third 
 immediately supplied its place, and at the first glass, 
 the opening of the bottle, Mr. Campbell began to 
 open to him his future case, in the following words : 
 Sir, you have now some ventures at sea from such 
 and such a place, to such a value. Don't be dis- 
 comforted at the news which you certainly will have 
 within three months, but it will be false at last, that 
 they are by three different tempests made the prey 
 of the great ocean, and enrich the bottom of the sea, 
 the palace of Neptune. A worse storm than all 
 these attends you at home, a wife who is and will 
 be more the tempest of the house wherein she lives. 
 The high and lofty winds of her vanity will blow 
 down the pillars of your house and family ; the high 
 tide of her extravagance will roll on like a resistless 
 torrent, and leave you at low water, and the ebb of 
 all your fortunes. This is the highest and the most 
 cutting disaster that is to befall you ; your real ship- 
 wreck is not foreign but domestic ; your bosom 
 friend is to be your greatest foe, and even your 
 powerful undoer for a time ; mark what I say, and 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 119 
 
 take courage, it shall be but for a time, provided you 
 take courage ; it will upon that condition be only a 
 short and wholesome taste of adversity given to you, 
 that you may relish returning prosperity with virtue, 
 and with a greater return of thanks to Him that 
 dispenses it at pleasure to mankind. Remember, 
 courage and resignation is what I advise you to ; 
 use it, as becomes you, in your adversity, and believe 
 that as I foretold that adversity, so I can foretell a 
 prosperity will again be the consequence of those 
 virtues ; and the more you feel the one ought not 
 to cast you down, but raise your hopes the more, 
 that he who foretold you that so exactly, could like- 
 wise foretell you the other. The merchant was by 
 this put into a great suspense of mind, but somewhat 
 easier by the second prediction being annexed so 
 kindly to the first fatal one. They crowned the 
 night with a flask of Burgundy, and then parting, 
 each went to their respective homes. 
 
 The reader may perchance wonder how I, who 
 make no mention of my being there, as in truth I 
 was not at the tavern, should be able to relate this 
 as of my own knowledge ; but if he pleases to have 
 patience to the end of the story, he will have entire 
 satisfaction in that point. 
 
 About half a year after, the merchant came again, 
 told him that his prediction was too far verified, to 
 his very dear cost, and that he was now utterly 
 undone, and beyond any visible means of a future 
 recovery, and doubting lest the other fortunate part 
 of the prediction was only told him by way of en- 
 couragement, for groundless doubts and fears always 
 attend a mind implunged in melancholy, besought 
 him very earnestly to tell him candidly and sincerely 
 if there was no real prospect of good, and rid him at 
 once of the uneasiness of such a suspension of 
 thought ; But pray too, said he, with all the vehe- 
 
1 20 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 mence of repeated expostulation, satisfy me if there 
 are any further hopes on this side the grave? 
 
 To this Duncan Campbell made a short, but a 
 very significant reply in writing. May the heavens 
 preserve you from a threatening danger of life. Take 
 care only of yourself, great and mighty care; and if 
 you outlive Friday next, you will yet be great 
 and more fortunate than ever you was in all the 
 height of your former most flourishing space of life. 
 He coloured inordinately when Duncan Campbell 
 said Friday, and conjured him to tell him as parti- 
 cularly as he could what he meant by Friday. He 
 told him he could not particularise any further, but 
 that great danger threatened him that day ; and that 
 without extraordinary precaution it would prove 
 fatal to him, even to death. He shook his head, 
 and went away in a very sorrowful plight. Friday 
 past, Saturday came, and on that very Saturday 
 morning came likewise the joyful tidings, that what 
 ventures of his were given over for lost at sea, were 
 all come safe into the harbour. He came the moment 
 he received those despatches from his agent, to 
 Mr. Duncan Campbell's apartment, embraced him 
 tenderly, and saluted him with much gladness of 
 heart, before a great roomful of ladies, where I 
 happened to be present at that time ; crying out in 
 a loud voice, before he knew what he said, that Mr. 
 Campbell had saved his life, that Friday was his 
 birthday, and he had intended with a pistol to shoot 
 himself that very day. The ladies thought him 
 mad ; and he, recovered from his exstacy, said no 
 more, but sat down, till Mr. Campbell dismissed all 
 his clients ; and then we three went to the tavern 
 together, where he told me the whole little history 
 or narrative, just as is above related. 
 
 The fame which Mr. Duncan Campbell got by 
 the foregoing, and several other predictions of the 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 121 
 
 like kind, was become very large and extensive, and 
 had spread itself into the remotest corners of this 
 metropolis. The squares rung with it, it was 
 whispered from one house to another through the 
 more magnificent streets, where persons of quality 
 and distinction reside; it catched every house in the 
 city, like the news of stock from Exchange-alley ; it 
 run noisily through the lanes and little thorough- 
 fares where the poor inhabit ; it was the chat of the 
 tea-table, and the babble of the streets; and the 
 whole town, from the top to the bottom, was full of 
 it. Whenever any reputation rises to a degree like 
 this, let it be for what art or accomplishment, or on 
 what account soever it will, malice, envy, and detrac- 
 tion, are sure to be the immediate pursuers of it 
 with full mouth, and to hunt it down, if possible, 
 with full cry. Even the great Nostra-damus. though 
 favoured by kings and queens, which always without 
 any other reason creates enemies, was not more 
 pursued by envy and detraction for his predictions 
 in Paris, and throughout France, than our Duncan 
 Campbell was in London, and even throughout 
 England. Various, different, and many were the 
 objections raised to blot his character and extenuate 
 his fame, that when one was confuted another might 
 not be wanting to supply its place, and so to main- 
 tain a course and series of backbiting, according to 
 the known maxim, Throw dirt, and if it does not 
 stick, throw dirt continually, and some will stick. 
 
 Neither is there any wonder; for a man, that 
 has got applauders of all sorts and conditions, must 
 expect condemners and detractors of all sorts and 
 conditions likewise. If a lady of high degree, for 
 example, should say smiling, though really thinking 
 absolutely what she says, for fear of being thought 
 over-credulous: Well, I vow, some things Mr. 
 Campbell does are surprising after all ; they would 
 
122 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 be apt to incline one to a belief that he is a wonder 
 of a man ; for one would imagine the things he 
 does impossible: why then a prude, with an assumed, 
 supercilious air and a scornful tihee, would, in order 
 to seem more wise than she was, reply: Laud, 
 madam, it is more a wonder to me that you can be 
 imposed upon so. I vow to Gad, madam, I would 
 as soon consult an almanack maker, and pin my 
 faith upon what he pricks down ; or believe, like 
 my creed, in the cross which I make upon the hand 
 of a gipsy. Lard, madam, I assure your ia'ship he 
 knows no more than I do of you. I assure you so, 
 and therefore believe me. He has it all by hearsay. 
 If the lady that believed it, should reply, that if he 
 had notice of every stranger by hearsay he must be 
 a greater man than she suspected, and must keep 
 more spies in pay than a prime minister; the 
 prude's answer would be with a loud laugh, and 
 giggling out these words ; Lard, madam, I assure 
 you nothing can be more easy ; and so take it for 
 granted. Because she was inclined to say so, and 
 had the act of wisdom on her side, forsooth, that 
 she appeared hard of belief, which some call hard 
 to be put upon, and the other lady credulous, which 
 some though believing upon good grounds are called, 
 and so thought, foolish ; the prude's answer would 
 be thought sufficient and convincing. 
 
 Thus malice and folly, by dint of noise and impu- 
 dence, and strong though empty assertions, often 
 run down modesty and good sense. Among the 
 common people it is the same, but only done in a 
 different manner. For example, an ordinary person 
 that had consulted, might say, as he walked along, 
 there goes the dumb gentleman who writes down 
 any name of a stranger at first sight. Steps up a 
 blunt fellow, that takes stubborness for sense, and 
 says, that is a confounded lie ; he is a cheat and an 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 123 
 
 impostor, and you are one of his accomplices ; he 
 will tell me my name, I suppose, if you tell it him 
 first ; he is no more dumb than I am ; he can 
 speak and hear as well as us ; I have been with 
 those that say they have heard him ; I wish I and 
 two or three more had him in our stable, and I 
 warrant you with our cartwhips we would lick 
 some words out of his chaps, as dumb as you call 
 him. I tell you it is all a lie, and all a bite. If the 
 other desires to be convinced for himself by his own 
 experience, the rougher rogue, who perhaps has 
 stronger sinewsthan theother, answers, if you lie any 
 further I will knock you down ; and so he is the 
 vulgar wit, and the mouth of the rabble-rout, and 
 thus the detraction spreads below with very good 
 success, as it does above in another kind. 
 
 As there are two comical adventures in his life, 
 which directly suit and correspond with the fore- 
 going reflections, this seems the most proper place 
 to insert them in. The first consists of a kind of 
 mob- way of usage he met with from a fellow who 
 got to be an officer in the army, but by the following 
 behaviour will be found unworthy of the name and 
 the commission. 
 
 In the year 1701, a lady of good quality came 
 and addressed herself to him much after the follow- 
 ing manner. She told him she had choice of lovers, 
 but preferred one above the rest ; but desired to 
 know his name, and if she made him her choice 
 what would be the subsequent fate of such a matri- 
 mony. Mr. Duncan Campbell very readily gave her 
 down in writing this plain and honest reply ; That of 
 all her suitors she was most inclined to a captain, 
 a distinguished officer, and a great beau, naming 
 his name, and one that had a great many outward, 
 engaging charms, sufficient to blind the eyes of any 
 lady that was not thoroughly acquainted with his 
 
124 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 manner of living. He therefore assured her, and 
 thought himself bound, being conjured so to do, 
 having received his fee, though there was danger in 
 such plain and open predictions, that he was a vil- 
 lain and a rogue in his heart, a profligate gamester, 
 and that if she took him to her bed, she would only 
 embrace her own ruin. The lady's woman, who 
 was present, being in fee with the captain, resolv- 
 ing to give intelligence, for fear the officer her so 
 good friend should be disappointed in the siege, 
 slily shuffled the papers into her pocket, and made 
 a present of them to the military spark. Fired 
 with indignation at the contents, he vowed revenge ; 
 and in order to compass it, conspires with his female 
 spy about the means. In fine, for fear of losing the 
 lady, though he quarrelled with Duncan Campbell, 
 a method was to be found out how to secure her by 
 the very act of revenge. At last it was resolved to 
 discover to her, that he had found out what she had 
 been told by Mr. Campbell, but the way how he 
 had been informed was to remain a secret. He did 
 do so and ended his discovery with these words : — 
 I desire, madam, that if I prove him an impostor, 
 you would not believe a word he says. The lady 
 agreed to so fair a proposal. Then the captain swore 
 that he himself would never eat a piece of bread 
 more till he had made Mr. Campbell eat his words ; 
 nay, he insisted upon it that he would bring him to 
 his tongue, and make him own by word of mouth, 
 that what he had written before was false and ca- 
 lumnious. To which the lady answered again, 
 that, if he performed what he said, she would be 
 convinced. This brave, military man, however, not 
 relying upon his own single valour and prowess, to 
 bring about so miraculous a thing as the making a 
 person that was dumb to speak, he took with 
 him for this end three lusty assistants to combine 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 125 
 
 with him in the assassination. The ambuscade was 
 settled to be at the Five Bells tavern, in Wych-street, 
 in the Strand. After the ambush was settled with 
 so much false courage, the business of decoying Mr. 
 Campbell into it was not practicable any other way 
 than by sending out false colours. The lady's wo- 
 man, who was by her own interest tied fast to the 
 interest of the beau, was to play the trick of Delilah, 
 and betray this deaf and dumb Samson, as he will 
 appear to be a kind of one in the sequel of the 
 story, into the hands of these Philistines. She 
 smooths her face over with a complimenting lie 
 from her mistress to Mr. Campbell, and acted her 
 part of deceit so well that he promised to follow her 
 to the Five Bells with all haste ; and so she scuttled 
 back to prepare the captain, and to tell him how 
 lucky she was in mischief; and how she drew him 
 out by smiles into perdition. The short of the story 
 is, when they got him in among them, they endea- 
 voured to assassinate him ; but they missed of their 
 aim ; yet it is certain they left him in a very ter- 
 rible and bloody condition ; and the captain went 
 away in as bad a plight as the person was left in, 
 whom he assaulted so cowardly with numbers, and 
 to such disadvantage. I was sent for to him upon 
 this disaster, and the story was delivered to me 
 thus, by one of the drawers of the tavern, when I 
 inquired into it. They began to banter him, and 
 speaking to him as if he heard, asked him if he 
 knew his own fortune ; they told him it was to be 
 beaten to death. This was an odd way of address- 
 ing a deaf and dumb man. They added they would 
 make him speak before they had done. The boy 
 seeing he made no reply, but only smiled, thought 
 what passed between them was a jest with an old 
 acquaintance, and withdrew about his business. 
 The door being fastened, however, before they be- 
 
126 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 gan the honourable attack, they vouchsafed to write 
 down their intent in the words above mentioned, 
 which they had uttered before, to make sure that he 
 should understand their meaning, and what this odd 
 way of correction was for. All the while the maid 
 who had brought him into it was peeping through a 
 hole and watching the event, as appears afterwards. 
 Mr. Campbell wrote them the following answer, viz., 
 That he hoped for fair play, that he understood bear- 
 garden as well as they ; but if a gentleman was 
 amongst them he would expect gentlemanly usage. 
 The rejoinder they made to this, consisted, it seems, 
 not of words but of action. The officer in conjunc- 
 tion with another ruffian, one of the strongest of the 
 three he had brought, commenced the assault. As 
 good luck would have it, he warded off their first 
 blows, it seems, with tolerable success, and a wine 
 quart pot standing upon the table, Duncan took to 
 his arms, and at two or three quick blows, well ma- 
 naged, and close laid in upon the assailants, felled 
 them both to the ground. Here it was that the 
 maid discovered her knowledge of it, and privity to 
 the plot to the whole house ; for she no sooner sees 
 the famous leader, the valiant captain, lie sprawling 
 on the floor with bleeding temples, but she shrieked 
 out with all the voice she could exert, Murder, 
 murder, murder! Alarmed at this outcry, the 
 master and all the attendants of the tavern scam- 
 pered up stairs, burst into the room, and found 
 Duncan Campbell struggling with the other two, 
 and the quart pot still fast clenched in his hand, 
 which they were endeavouring to wrench from him. 
 The drawers rescued him out of their hands, and 
 inquired into the matter. The maid in a fright 
 confessed the whole thing. The officer and his 
 associate rubbed their eyes as recovering from a 
 stunning sleep, reeled as they went to rise, paid the 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 127 
 
 reckoning, and slunk pitifully away ; or, as the 
 rakes' term for it is, they brushed off, and for all 
 their odds had the worst of the lay. I, who had 
 some authority with Mr. Campbell, by reason of 
 my years, and the strict acquaintance I had with 
 his mother, when I came and found him in that 
 pickle, and had the whole relation told to me by 
 the people of the house, though I could not forbear 
 pitying him within my own mind, took upon me to 
 reprehend him, and told him that these hardships 
 would by Providence be daily permitted to fall upon 
 him, for he met with them twenty times, while 
 he continued in that irregular way of living and 
 spending his time, that might be so precious to 
 himself and many others, in drunkenness and de- 
 bauchery ; and I think the lessons I wrote down to 
 him upon that head, though a little severe just at 
 that juncture, were notwithstanding well timed, 
 and did, as I guessed they would, make a more 
 solid impression in him that at any other. In all 
 these scuffles, whether it is that being deaf and 
 dumb an affront works deeper upon a man, and so 
 renders him far more fierce or resolute, it must be 
 said, that, though nature has been kind in making 
 him very strong, robust, and active withal, yet he 
 has bore some shocks, one would imagine, beyond the 
 strength of a man, having sometimes got the better 
 of five or six ruffians in rencounters of the like kind. 
 
 The next banter he met with was in a gentler 
 way, from an unbelieving lady, and yet she came 
 off with very ill success, and the banter turned all 
 upon herself in the end. 
 
 A lady of distinction, whose name shall therefore 
 be concealed in this place, came with two or three 
 of her special friends, who took her for the most 
 merry, innocent, spotless virgin upon earth, and 
 whose modesty was never suspected in the least by 
 
128 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 her relations or servants that were nearest about 
 her ; after having rallied Mr. Campbell with seve- 
 ral frivolous questions, doubting his capacity, and 
 vexing and teasing him with gay impertinences be- 
 yond all patience, was by him told, that he did not 
 take fees in his profession to be made a jest of like 
 a common fortuneteller, but to do real good to 
 those who consulted him, as far as he was able by 
 his predictions ; that he was treated with more re- 
 spect by persons of a higher condition, though her 
 own was very good, and so offered her guinea back 
 again with a bow and a smile. She had a little 
 more generosity of spirit than not to be a little 
 nettled at the proffer she had caused by so coarse 
 an usage. She affected appearing grave a little, and 
 told him she would be serious for the future, and 
 asked him to set down her name, which she had 
 neglected before, to ask other questions that were 
 nothing to the purpose. He promised to write it 
 down, but pausing a little longer than ordinary 
 about it, she returned to her former way of uncivil 
 merriment and ungallant raillery. She repeated to 
 him in three or four little scraps of paper, one after 
 another, as fast as she could write them, the same 
 words, viz., That he could not tell her name, nor 
 whether she was maid, wife, or widow ; and laughed 
 as if she would split her sides, triumphing to the 
 rest of her companions over his ignorance and her 
 own wit, as if she had posed him, and put him to an 
 entire stand. But see what this overweening opi- 
 nion of security ended in : the man of the second- 
 sight was not to be so easily baffled. Vexed at being 
 so disturbed, and coming out of his brown study, he 
 reaches the paper and begins to write. Now it 
 was the lady's turn to suffer, she had deserved 
 hearty punishment, and it came into her hands 
 with the note, to a degree of severity, as you will 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 129 
 
 perceive by the contents of it just now. She read it, 
 and swooning away, dropped from her chair. The 
 whole room being in a bustle, I, that was in the out- 
 ward chamber, ran in : while Mr. Campbell was 
 sprinkling water in her face, a lady snatched up 
 the note to read it, at which he seemed mightily 
 displeased ; I, therefore, who understood his signs, 
 recovered it out of her hands by stratagem, and ran 
 to burn it, which I did so quick that I was not dis- 
 covered in the curiosity which I must own I satis- 
 fied myself in by reading it first ; a curiosity raised 
 too high by so particular an adventure, to be over- 
 come in so little a time of thought, as I was to keep 
 it in my hands, and so I came by the knowledge of 
 it myself, without being informed by Mr. Campbell. 
 This shows how a sudden curiosity, when there is 
 not time given to think and correct it, may over- 
 come a man as well as a woman ; for I was never 
 over-curious in my life, and though I was pleased 
 with the oddness of the adventure, I often blushed 
 to myself since for the unmanly weakness of not 
 being able to step with a note from one room to an- 
 other to the fireside, without peeping into the con- 
 tents of it. The contents of it were these : Ma- 
 dam, since you provoke me, your name is . 
 
 You are no widow, you are no wife, and yet you are 
 no maid ; you have a child at nurse at such a place, 
 by such a gentleman, and you were brought to 
 bed in Leicestershire. The lady convinced by this 
 answer of his strange and mystical power, and 
 pleased with his civility in endeavouring to conceal 
 from others the secret, after so many repeated pro- 
 vocations, though she showed great disorder for 
 that day, became one of his constant attenders 
 some time after, and would not take any step in her 
 affairs without his advice, which she often has said 
 since, she found very much to her advantage. She 
 d. c. k 
 
130 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 was as serious in her dealings with him afterwards, 
 and improved by being so, as she was gay and tur- 
 bulent with him before, and smarted for it. In fine, 
 she was a thorough convert, and a votary of his ; 
 and the only jest she used afterwards to make, con- 
 cerning him, was a civil witticism to his wife ; to 
 whom she was wont, every now and then, smiling, 
 to address herself after this manner : Your hus- 
 band, madam, is a devil, but he is a very handsome, 
 and a very civil one. 
 
 Not long after this came another lady, with a like 
 intent, to impose upon him ; and was resolved, as 
 she owned, to have laughed him to scorn if she had 
 succeeded in her attempt. She had very dexterously 
 dressed herself in her woman's habit, and her woman 
 in her own ; her footman squired the new-made lady 
 in a very gentlemanly dress, hired for that purpose 
 of a disguise, from Monmouth-street. The strange 
 and unknown masqueraders entered Mr. Campbell's 
 room with much art. The fellow was by nature of 
 a clean make, and had a good look, and from fol- 
 lowing a genteel master when he was young, copied 
 his gait a little, and had some appearance of a mien, 
 and a tolerable good air about him. But this being 
 the first time of his being so fine, and he a little 
 vain in his temper, he over-acted his part; he 
 strutted too much ; he was as fond of his ruffles, his 
 watch, his sword, his cane, and his snuffbox, as a 
 boy of being newly put into breeches ; and viewed 
 them all too often to be thought the possessor of 
 any such things long. The affectation of the cham- 
 bermaid was insufferable ; she had the toss of the 
 head, the jut of the bum, the sidelong leer of the 
 eye, the imperious look upon her lady, now de- 
 graded into her woman, that she was intolerable, 
 and a person without the gift of the second-sight 
 would have guessed her to have been a pragmatical 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBFXL. 131 
 
 upstart, though it is very probable that during that 
 time she fancied herself really better than her mis- 
 tress ; the mistress acted her part of maid the best ; 
 for it is easier for genteel modesty to act a low part, 
 than for affected vanity to act a high one. She 
 kept her distance like a servant, but would, to dis- 
 guise things the better, be every now and then pert, 
 according to their way, and give occasion to be 
 chid. But there is an air of gentility inborn and 
 inbred to some people ; and even when they aim to 
 be awkward a certain grace will attend all their 
 minutest actions and gestures, and command love, 
 respect, and veneration. I must therefore own that 
 there was not need of a man's being a conjurer to 
 guess who ought to be the lady and who the maid ; 
 but to know who absolutely was the lady, and who 
 was the maid, did require that skill. For how 
 many such real ladies have we that are made so 
 from such upstarts, and how many genteel waiting- 
 women of great descent that are born with a grace 
 about them, and are bred to good manners. Mr. 
 Campbell's art made him positive in the case ; he 
 took the patches from the face of the maid, and 
 placed them on the mistress's ; he pulled off her 
 hood and scarf, and gave it the lady, and taking 
 from the lady her riding-hood, gave it the maid 
 in exchange ; for ladies at that time of day were 
 not entered into that fashion of cloaking themselves. 
 Then he wrote down that he should go out, and 
 ought to send his maid in to undress them quite, 
 and give the mistress her own clothes and the maid 
 hers, and with a smile wrote down both their names, 
 and commended her contrivance ; but after that it 
 was remarked by the lady that he paid her less re- 
 spect than she expected, and more to her footman, 
 who was in gentleman's habit, whom he took by his 
 side, and told a great many fine things ; whereas he 
 
 k2 
 

 132 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 would tell the lady nothing further. The lady 
 nettled at this, wrote to him that she had vanity 
 enough to believe that she might be distinguished 
 from her maid in any dress, but that he had shown 
 his want of skill in not knowing who that gentleman 
 was. Mr. Campbell told her her mistake in sharp 
 terms; and begging her pardon, assured her he 
 knew several chambermaids as genteel and as well- 
 born as her, and many mistresses more awkward 
 and worse born than her maid ; that he did not 
 go therefore by the rule of guess and judging what 
 ought to be, but by the rule of certainty and the 
 knowledge of what actually was. She, however, 
 unsatisfied with that answer, perplexed him mightily 
 to know who the man was. He answered he 
 would be a great man. The lady laughed scorn- 
 fully, and said she wanted to know who he was, 
 not what he would be. He answered again, he 
 was her footman, but that she would have a worse. 
 She grew warm, and desired to be informed, why, 
 since he knew the fellow's condition, he respected 
 her so little and him so much, and accused him of 
 want of practising manners, if he had not want of 
 knowledge. He answered, madam, since you will 
 be asking questions too far, this footman will ad- 
 vance himself to the degree of a gentleman, and 
 have a woman of distinction to his wife ; while you 
 will degrade yourself by a marriage to be the wife 
 of a footman ; his ambition is laudable, your con- 
 descension mean, therefore I give him the prefer- 
 ence ; I have given you fair warning and wholesome 
 advice, you may avoid your lot by prudence ; but 
 his will certainly be what I tell you. 
 
 This coming afterwards to pass exactly as was 
 predicted, and his disappointing so many that had a 
 mind to impose upon him, has rendered him pretty 
 free from such wily contrivances since, though now 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 138 
 
 and then they have happened, but still to the mor- 
 tification and disappointment of the contrivers. But 
 as we have not pretended to say, with regard to 
 these things, that he has his genius always at his 
 elbow or his beck, to whisper in his ear the names 
 of persons, and such little constant events as these ; 
 so, that we may not be deemed to give a fabulous 
 account of his life and adventures, we think our- 
 selves bound to give the reader an insight into the 
 particular power and capacity which he has for 
 bringing about these particular performances, espe- 
 cially that of writing down names of strangers at 
 first sight, which I don't doubt will be done to the 
 satisfaction of all persons who shall read the suc- 
 ceeding chapter, concerning the gift of the second- 
 sight. 
 
134 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Concerning the second- sight 
 
 Mr. Martin lately published a book, entituled, 
 A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, 
 called by the ancient geographers, Hebrides. It 
 contains many curious particulars relating to the 
 natural and civil history of those islands, with a 
 map of them ; and in his preface he tells us that, 
 perhaps, it is peculiar to those isles that they have 
 never been described, till now, by any man that 
 was a native of the country, or had travelled them, 
 as himself has done ; and in the conclusion of the 
 said preface he tells us, he has given here such 
 an account of the second-sight as the nature 
 of the thing will bear, which has always been 
 reckoned sufficient among the unbiassed part of 
 mankind ; but for those that will not be satisfied, 
 they ought to oblige us with a new scheme, by 
 which we may judge of matters of fact. The 
 chief particulars he has given us concerning the 
 second-sight, are here set down by way of abstract 
 or epitome, that they may not be too tedious to the 
 reader. 
 
 1 . In the second-sight, the vision makes such a 
 lively impression on the seers, that they neither see 
 nor think of anything else but the vision as long as 
 it continues ; and then they appear pensive or 
 jovial, according to the object which was presented 
 to them. 
 
 2, At the sight of a vision the eyelids of the 
 person are erected, and the eyes continue staring 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 135 
 
 till the object vanish, as has often been observed by 
 the author and others present. 
 
 3. There is one in Skye, an acquaintance of whom 
 observed, that when he sees a vision, the inner part 
 of his eyelids turns so far upwards, that, after the 
 object disappears, he must draw them down with 
 his fingers, and sometimes employs others to draw 
 them down, which he finds to be much the easier 
 way. 
 
 4. The faculty of the second-sight does not lineally 
 descend in. a family, as some imagine ; for he knows 
 several parents that are endowed with it, but not 
 their children, and so on the contrary ; neither is it 
 acquired by any previous compact ; and after a 
 strict inquiry, he could never learn from any among 
 them that this faculty was communicable any way 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Note. That this account is differing from the 
 account that is given by Mr. Aubrey, a gentleman 
 of the Royal Society ; and I think Mr. Martin's 
 reason here against the descent of this faculty from 
 parents to children is not generally conclusive. For 
 though he may know parents endowed with it and 
 not children, and so vice versa, yet there may be 
 parents who are endowed with it, being qualified, 
 as Mr. Aubrey has said, viz., both being second- 
 sighted, or even one to an extraordinary degree, 
 whose children may have it by descent. And as to 
 this faculty being any otherwise communicable, 
 since the accounts differ, I must leave it to a further 
 examination. 
 
 o. The seer knows neither the object, time, nor 
 place of a vision before it appears ; and the same 
 object is often seen by different persons living at a 
 considerable distance from one another. The true 
 
136 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 way of judging as *o the time and circumstance of 
 an object, is by observation ; for several persons of 
 judgment, without this faculty, are more capable to 
 judge of the design of a vision, than a novice that is 
 a seer. As an object appears in the day or night, it 
 w T ill come to pass sooner or later accordingly. 
 
 6. If an object be seen early in the morning, 
 which is not frequent, it will be accomplished in a 
 few hours afterwards ; if at noon, it will commonly 
 be accomplished that very day ; if in the evening, 
 perhaps that night ; if after candles be lighted, it 
 will be accomplished that night ; it is later always 
 in accomplishment by weeks, months, and sometimes 
 years, according to the time of the night the vision 
 is seen. 
 
 7. When a shroud is perceived about one, it is a 
 sure prognostic of death ; the time is judged accord- 
 ing to the height of it about the person ; for if it be 
 not seen above the middle, death is not to be ex- 
 pected for the spaee of a year, and perhaps some 
 months longer ; and as it is frequently seen to 
 ascend higher towards the head, death is concluded 
 to be at hand in a few days, if not hours, as daily 
 experience confirms. Examples of this kind were 
 shown the author, when the persons, of whom the 
 observations were made, enjoyed perfect health. 
 
 There was one instance lately of a prediction of 
 this kind, by a seer that was a novice, concerning 
 the death of one of the author's acquaintance ; this 
 was communicated to a few only, and with great 
 confidence ; the author being one of the number, 
 did not in the least regard it, till the death of the 
 person, about the time foretold, confirmed to him 
 the certainty of the prediction. The foresaid novice 
 is now a skilful seer, as appears from many late 
 instances ; he lives in the parish of St. Mary's, the 
 most northern in Skye. 
 
OF ME. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 137 
 
 •8. If a woman be seen standing at a man's left 
 hand, it is a presage that she will be his wife, 
 whether they are married to others, or unmarried, 
 at the time of the apparition. If two or three 
 women are seen at once standing near a man's left 
 hand, she that is next him will undoubtedly be his 
 wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man, 
 be single or married at the time of the vision ; of 
 which there are several late instances of the author's 
 acquaintance. It is an ordinary thing for them to 
 see a man, that is to come to the house shortly 
 after; and though he be not of the seer's acquaintance 
 yet he not only tells his name, but gives such a 
 lively description of his stature, complexion, habit, 
 &c, that upon his arrival he answers the character 
 given of him in all respects. If the person so ap- 
 pearing be one of the seer's acquaintance, he can 
 tell by his countenance whether he comes in good 
 or bad humour. The author has been seen thus, 
 by seers of both sexes, at some hundreds of miles' 
 distance ; some that saw him in this manner had 
 never seen him personally, and it happened accord- 
 ing to their visions, without any previous design of 
 his to go to those places, his coming there being 
 purely accidental ; and in the nineteenth page of his 
 book he tells us, that Mr. Daniel Morrison, a mi- 
 nister, told him, that upon his landing in the island 
 Rona, the natives received him very affectionately, 
 and addressed themselves to him with this salutation; 
 God save you, Pilgrim ! you are heartily welcome 
 here, for we have had repeated apparitions of your 
 person amongst us ; viz., after the manner of the 
 second-sight. 
 
 9. It is ordinary with them to see houses, gardens, 
 and trees, in places void of all three, and this in 
 process of time uses to be accomplished ; of which 
 he gives an instance in the island of Skye. 
 
138 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 10. To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm, t>r 
 breast, is a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in 
 the arms of those persons, of which there are seve- 
 ral fresh instances. 
 
 To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting 
 in it, is a presage of that person's death quickly 
 after. 
 
 When a novice, or one that has lately obtained 
 the second-sight, sees a vision in the night-time 
 without doors, and comes near a fire, he presently 
 falls into a swoon. 
 
 Some find themselves, as it were, in a crowd of 
 people, having a corpse, which they carry along with 
 them ; and after such visions the seers come in 
 sweating, and describe the people that appeared ; if 
 there are any of their acquaintance among them, 
 they give an account of their names, and also of the 
 bearers. But they know nothing concerning the 
 Corpse. 
 
 All those that have the second-sight, do not 
 always see these visions at once, though they are 
 together at the time ; but if one, who has this 
 faculty, designedly touch his fellow seer, at the 
 instant of a vision's appearing, then the second sees 
 it as well as the first. 
 
 11. There is the way of foretelling death by a 
 cry, that they call taisk, which some call a ivraith, 
 in the lowland. They hear a loud cry without 
 doors, exactly resembling the voice of some particu- 
 lar person, whose death is foretold by it, of which 
 he gives a late instance, which happened in the 
 village Rigg 3 in Skye isle. 
 
 12. Things are also foretold by smelling some- 
 times, as follows : Fish or flesh is frequently smelt 
 in the fire, when at the same time neither of the 
 two are in the house, or, in any probability, like to 
 be had in it for some weeks or months. This smell 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 139 
 
 several persons have who are eDdued with the 
 second-sight, and it is always accomplished soon 
 after. 
 
 13. Children, horses, and cows, have the second- 
 sight, as well as men and women advanced in years. 
 
 That children see it, it is plain, from their crying 
 aloud at the very instant that a corpse or any other 
 vision appears to an ordinary seer ; of which he 
 gives an instance in a child when himself was present. 
 
 That horses likewise see it is very plain, from their 
 violent and sudden starting, when the rider, or seer 
 in company with them, sees a vision of any kind by 
 night or day. It is observable of a horse, that he will 
 not go forward that way, till he be led about at some 
 distance from the common road, and then he is in a 
 sweat ; he gives an instance of this in a horse in the 
 Isle of Skye. 
 
 That cows have the second-sight appears from 
 this ; that if a woman milking a cow happens to see 
 a vision by the second-sight, the cow runs away in 
 a great fright at the same time, and will not be 
 pacified for some time after. 
 
 In reference to this, Paracelsus, torn. ix. 1. de arte 
 presagd, writes thus; "Horses also have their 
 auguries, who perceive, by their sight and smell, 
 wandering spirits, witches, and spectres, and the like 
 things ; and dogs both see and hear the same." 
 
 Here in the next place the author answers ob- 
 jections that have lately been made against the 
 reality of the second-sight. 
 
 First, it is objected, that these seers are visionary 
 and melancholy people, who fancy they see things 
 that do not appear to them or anybody else. 
 
 He answers, the people of these isles, and parti- 
 cularly the seers, are very temperate, and their diet 
 is simple and moderate in quantity and quality ; so 
 that their brains are not, in all probability, disordered 
 
140 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 by undigested fumes of meat or drink. Both sexes 
 are free from hysteric fits, convulsions, and several 
 other distempers of that sort. There are no mad- 
 men among them, nor any instance of self-murder. 
 It is observed among them, that a man drunk never 
 has a vision of the second-sight ; and he that is a 
 visionary would discover himself in other things as 
 well as in that ; nor are such as have the secoud- 
 sight, judged to be visionaries by any of their friends 
 or acquaintance. 
 
 Secondly, it is objected, that there are none among 
 the learned able to oblige the world with a satisfac- 
 tory account of these visions ; therefore they are not 
 to be believed. 
 
 He answers, if everything of which the learned > 
 are not able to give a satisfactory account, shall be 
 condemned as false and impossible, we shall find 
 many other things, generally believed, which must 
 be rejected as such. 
 
 Thirdly, it is objected, that the seers are impostors, 
 and the people who believe them are credulous, 
 and easy to be imposed upon. 
 
 He answers, the seers are generally illiterate, and 
 well-meaning people, and altogether void of design ; 
 nor could he ever learn that any of them made the 
 least gain of it ; neither is it reputable among them 
 to have that faculty ; beside, the people of the Isles 
 are not so credulous as to believe an impossibility, 
 before the thing foretold be accomplished ; but when 
 it actually comes to pass, afterwards it is not in their 
 power to deny it, without offering violence to their 
 senses and reason ; beside, if the seers were de- 
 ceivers, can it be reasonable to imagine that all the 
 islanders, who have not the second-sight, should 
 combine together and offer violence to their under- 
 standings and senses, to force themselves to believe 
 a lie from age to age ? There are several persons 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 141 
 
 among them, whose birth and education raise them 
 above the suspicion of concurring with an imposture 
 merely to gratify an illiterate and contemptible sort 
 of persons. Nor can a reasonable man believe, that 
 children, horses, and cows, could be engaged in a 
 combination to persuade the world of the reality of 
 a second-sight. 
 
 Every vision that is seen comes exactly to pass 
 according to the rules of observation, though novices 
 and heedless persons do not always judge by those 
 rules ; concerning which he gives instances. 
 
 There are visions seen by several persons, in 
 whose days they are not accomplished ; and this is 
 one of the reasons why some things have been seen, 
 that are said never to have come to pass ; and there 
 are also several visions seen, which are not under- 
 stood till they are accomplished. 
 
 The second- sight is not a late discovery, seen by 
 one or two in a corner, or a remote isle ; but it is 
 seen by many persons of both sexes, in several isles, 
 separated about forty or fifty leagues from one 
 another ; the inhabitants of many of these isles never 
 had the least converse by word or writing ; and this 
 faculty of seeing visions having continued, as we 
 are informed by tradition, ever since the plantation 
 of these isles, without being disproved by the nicest 
 sceptic after the strictest inquiry, seems to be a 
 clear proof of its reality. 
 
 It is observable, that it was much more common 
 twenty or thirty years ago than at present ; for one 
 in ten does not see it now, that saw it then. 
 
 The second-sight is not confined to the Western 
 Isles alone, the author having an account that it is in 
 several parts of Holland, but particularly in Bommel, 
 where a woman has it, for which she is courted by 
 some, and dreaded by others. She sees a smoke 
 about one's face, which is the forerunner of the 
 
142 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 death of a person so seen, and she actually foretold 
 the deaths of several that lived there. She was 
 living in that town a few winters ago. 
 
 The second-sight is likewise in the Isle of Man, 
 as appears by this instance : Captain Leathes, the 
 chief commander of Belfast, in his voyage 1690, lost 
 thirteen men by a violent storm ; and upon his land- 
 ing in the Isle of Man, an ancient man, clerk to a 
 parish there, told him immediately that he had lost 
 thirteen men there ; the captain inquired how he 
 came to the knowledge of that ; he answered that it 
 was by thirteen lights, which he had seen come into 
 the churchyard ; as Mr. Sacheverel tells us in his 
 late description of the Isle of Man. Note, that this 
 is like the sight of the corpse-candles in Wales, 
 which is also well attested. 
 
 Here the author adds many other instances con- 
 cerning the second-sight, of which I shall set down 
 only a few. 
 
 A man in Knockow, in the parish of St. Mary's, the 
 northernmost part of Skye, being in perfect health, 
 and sitting with his fellow-servants at night, was on 
 a sudden taken ill, dropped from his seat backward, 
 and then fell a vomiting ; at which the family was 
 much concerned, he having never been subject to 
 the like before ; but he came to himself soon after, 
 and had no sort of pain about him. One of the fa- 
 mily, who was accustomed to see the second-sight, 
 told them that the man's illness proceeded from a 
 very strange cause, which was thus : An ill-natured 
 woman, whom he named, who lives in the next adja- 
 cent village of Bornskittag, came before him in a 
 very angry and furious manner, her countenance 
 full of passion, and her mouth full of reproaches, 
 and threatened him with her head and hands, till 
 he fell over, as you have seen him. This woman 
 had a fancy for the man, but was like to be disap- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBEIX. 143 
 
 pointed as to her marrying of him. This instance 
 told the author by the master of the family, and 
 others who were present when it happened. 
 
 r Norman Macleod, and some others, playing at 
 tables, at a game called in Irish, Falmermore, wherein 
 there are three of a side, and each of them throw 
 the dice by turns, there happened to be one diffi- 
 cult point in the disposing of one of the tablemen ; 
 this obliged the gamester to deliberate before he 
 was to change his man, since, upon the disposing of 
 it, the winning or losing of the game depended ; 
 at length the butler, who stood behind, advised 
 the player where to place the man, with which he 
 complied, and won the game. This being thought 
 extraordinary, and sir Norman hearing one whisper 
 him in the ear, asked who advised him so skilfully ? 
 He answered it was the butler; but this seemed 
 more strange, for it was generally thought he could 
 not play at tables. Upon this sir Norman asked 
 him how long it was since he had learned to play ? 
 and the fellow owned that he had never played in 
 his life, but that he saw the spirit Brownie, a spirit 
 usually seen in that country, reaching his arm over 
 the player's head, and touching the part with his 
 finger wmere the tableman was to be placed. This 
 was told the author by sir Norman, and others who 
 happened to be present at the time. 
 
 Daniel Bow, alias Black, an inhabitant of Born- 
 skittag, who is one of the precisest seers in the 
 Isles, foretold the death of a young woman in Min- 
 ginis, within less than twenty-four hours before 
 the time, and accordingly she died suddenly in the 
 fields, though at the time of the prediction she was 
 in perfect health ; but the shroud appearing close 
 about her head, was the ground of his confidence 
 that her death was at hand. 
 
 The same person foretold the death of a child in 
 
144 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 his master's arms, by seeing a spark of fire fall on 
 his left arm; and this was likewise accomplished 
 soon after the prediction. 
 
 Some of the inhabitants of Harris, sailing round 
 the Isle of Skye, with a design to go to the oppo- 
 site mainland, were strangely surprised with an ap- 
 parition of two men hanging down by the ropes 
 that secured the mast, but could not conjecture what 
 it meant ; they pursued their voyage, but the wind 
 turning contrary, they were forced into Broadford, 
 in the Isle of Skye, where they found sir Donald 
 Macdonald keeping a sheriff's court, and two crimi- 
 nals receiving sentence of death there. The ropes 
 and mast of that very boat were made use of to hang 
 those criminals. This was told the author by seve- 
 ral, who had this instance related to them by the 
 boat's crew. 
 
 Several persons, living in a certain family, told 
 the author that they had frequently seen two men 
 standing at a gentlewoman's left hand, who was 
 their master's daughter ; they told the men's names, 
 and being her equals, it was not doubted but she 
 would be married to one of them ; and perhaps to 
 the other after the death of the first. Some time 
 after a third man appeared, who seemed always to 
 stand nearest to her of the three, but the seers did 
 not know him, though they could describe him ex- 
 actly ; and within some months after, this man who 
 was seen last, actually came to the house, and fully 
 answered the description given of him by those who 
 never saw him but in a vision ; and he married 
 the woman shortly after. They live in the Isle of 
 Skye, and both themselves and others confirmed 
 the truth of this instance when the author saw 
 them. 
 
 Archibald Macdonald, of the parish of St. Mary's, 
 in the Isle of Skye, being reputed famous in his 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELlL. 145 
 
 skill of foretelling things to come, by the second- 
 sight, happening to be in the village Knockow one 
 night, and before supper, told the family that he 
 had just then seen the strangest thing he ever saw 
 in his life, viz., a man with an ugly long cap, always 
 shaking his head ; but that the strangest of all was 
 a little kind of a harp which he had, with four 
 strings only, and that it had two hart's horns fixed 
 in the front of it. All that heard this odd vision 
 fell a laughing at Archibald, telling him that he was 
 dreaming, or had not his wits about him, since he 
 pretended to see a thing which had no being, and 
 was not so much as heard of in any part of the 
 world. Ail this could not alter Archibald's opi- 
 nion, who told them that they must excuse him if 
 he laughed at them after the accomplishment of the 
 vision. Archibald returned to his own house, and 
 within three or four days after, a man with a cap, 
 harp, &c, came to the house, and the harp, strings, 
 horns, and cap, answered the description of them 
 at first view, and he shook his head when he 
 played ; for he had two bells fixed to his cap. 
 This harper was a poor man, who made himself a 
 buffoon for his bread, and was never seen before in 
 those parts, and at the time of the prediction he 
 was in the Isle of Barray, which is about twenty 
 leagues distant from that part of Skye. This rela- 
 tion is vouched by Mr. Daniel Martin, and all his 
 family, and such as were then present ; and they 
 live in the village where this happened. 
 
 One Daniel Nicholson, minister of St. Mary's, in 
 Skye, the parish in which Mr. Archibald Mac- 
 donald lived, told the author, that one Sunday, after 
 sermon, at the chapel Uge, he took an occasion to 
 inquire of Archibald, if he still retained that un- 
 happy faculty of seeing the second-sight, and wished 
 him to get rid of it if possible ; for, said he, it is 
 
 D. C. Jj 
 
146 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 no true character of a good man. Archibald was 
 highly displeased, and answered that he hoped he 
 was no more unhappy than his neighbours, for see- 
 ing what they could not perceive. I had, said he, 
 as serious thoughts as my neighbours in time of 
 hearing a sermon to-day, and even then I saw a 
 corpse laid on the ground, close to the pulpit ; and 
 I assure you it will be accomplished shortly, for it 
 was in the day-time. There were none in the pa- 
 rish then sick, and few are buried at that little 
 chapel, nay, sometimes, not one in a year. Yet 
 when Mr. Nicholson returned to preach in the 
 said chapel, a fortnight or three weeks after, he 
 found one buried in the very spot named by Archi- 
 bald. This story is vouched by Mr. Nicholson the 
 minister, and several of the parishioners still living. 
 
 Note, that it is counted by many an argument of 
 somewhat evil attending upon this faculty of the 
 second-sight, because there are instances given of 
 some persons who have been freed of it upon using 
 some Christian practices ; but I shall hereafter 
 show that this opinion cannot be entirely true. 
 
 Sir Norman Maclead, who has his residence in 
 the Isle of Bernera, which lies between the isles of 
 North Uist and Harris, went to the Isle of Skye 
 about business, without appointing any time for his 
 return ; his servants, in his absence, being altoge- 
 ther in the large hall at night ; one „of them, who 
 had the second-sight, told the rest they must re- 
 move, for there would be abundance of other com- 
 pany in the hall that night. One of his fellow-servants 
 answered that there was very little likelihood of 
 that, because of the darkness of the night, and the 
 danger of coming through the rocks that lie round 
 the isle ; but within an hour after, one of sir Nor- 
 man's men came to the house, bidding them provide 
 lights, &c. ? for his master had newly landed. 
 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 147 
 
 Sir Norman being told of this, called for the seer 
 and examined him about it. He answered, that he 
 had seen the spirit Brownie, in human shape, come 
 several times and make a show of carrying an old 
 woman, that sat by the fire, to the door, and at last 
 seemed to carry her out by neck and heels, which 
 made him laugh heartily, and gave occasion to the 
 rest to conclude him mad, to laugh so much without 
 any reason. This instance was told the author by 
 sir Norman himself. 
 
 Four men from the Isle of Skye and Harris went 
 to Barbadoes, and stayed there some years ; who, 
 though they had wont to see the second-sight in 
 their native country, never saw it in Barbadoes ; 
 but upon their return to England, the first night 
 after their landing, they saw the second-sight ; as 
 the author was told by several of their acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 John Morrison, who lives in Bernera, of Harris, 
 wears the plant called fuga dcBinonum sewed in 
 the neck of his coat, to prevent his seeing of visions, 
 and says, he never saw any since he first carried 
 that plant about him. 
 
 A spirit, by the country people called Brownie, 
 was frequently seen in all the most considerable 
 families in the isles, and north of Scotland, in the 
 shape of a tall man, having very long brown hair ; 
 but within these twenty years past he has been seen 
 but rarely. 
 
 There were spirits also that appeared in the 
 shape of women, horses, swine, cats, and some like 
 fiery bulls, which would follow men in the fields ; 
 but there have been but few instances of these for 
 upwards of forty years past. 
 
 These spirits used also to form sounds in the air, 
 resembling those of a harp, pipes, crowing of a 
 cock, and of the grinding of hand-mills ; and some- 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 times voices have been heard in the air at night, 
 singing Irish songs ; the words of which songs some 
 of the author's acquaintances still retain; one of 
 them resembled the voice of a woman who died 
 some time before, and the song related to her state 
 in the other world. All these accounts the author 
 says he had from persons of as great integrity as 
 any are in the world. So far Mr. Martin, whose 
 account is so long, that I have given the reader only 
 a short abridgement thereof; and shall therefore 
 satisfy myself, without relating any further pas- 
 sages, by directing the reader to others also, learned 
 men, who have written on the same subject. Lau- 
 rentius Ananias printed a volume in Latin, at Ve- 
 nice, anno 1581, about the nature of demons; where, 
 in the third book, he writes concerning the second- 
 sight. The learned Camerarius does the like, and 
 names a person of his own acquaintance whom he 
 testifies to have had that gift. St. Austin himself 
 testifies something (not very different from what 
 we now call the gift of the second-sight) of one 
 Curina, who lived in the country of Hippo, in 
 Africa. Bonaysteau tells us something like it in 
 his Disc, de Excell. et Dig. Hominis, concerning 
 the spirit of Hermotimus. So do likewise Hero- 
 dotus and Maximus Tyrius, about the spirit of Ari- 
 staeus. Cardan does the same in his De Rerum 
 Variet. 1. 8. c. 84, of his kinsman Baptista Cardan, 
 a student at Pavia. Baptista Fulgosus tells us of 
 what we call the second-sight, in other words, in 
 his Fact, et Diet. Memorab. 1. i. c. 6. Among our 
 own countrymen, the lord Henry Howard, in the 
 book he writ against supposed prophecies, in his 
 seventeenth chapter, tells us a wonderful story of 
 this kind of sight ; and sure that noble lord may be 
 looked upon as an unexceptionable testimony, in a 
 story he relates of his own knowledge, he having 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 149 
 
 otherwise little faith in things of this kind. Mr. 
 Cotton Mather, a minister of New England, in his 
 relation of the wonders of the invisible world, in- 
 serted in his Ecclesiastical History of that country, 
 printed in London, anno 1702, in folio, has given 
 us several instances of this kind, as also of many 
 other diabolical operations. Mr. Baxter's book con- 
 cerning The Certainty of the World of Spirits, has 
 the like proofs in it. Mr. Aubrey, fellow of the Royal 
 Society, has written largely concerning second- 
 sighted persons ; so has Mr. Beaumont, in his book 
 of Genii and Familiar Spirits, who has collected al- 
 most all the other accounts together; and many 
 others, whose very names it would be tedious to 
 recite. However, as there are a few more passages, 
 very curious in themselves, I will venture so far 
 upon the reader's patience, as not only to recite the 
 names of the authors, but the accounts themselves, 
 in as succinct and brief a manner as it is possible 
 for any one to do. 
 
 Mr. Th. May, in his History, lib. viii. writes, that 
 an old man, like a hermit, second-sighted, took his 
 leave of king James I. when he came into England ; 
 he took little notice of prince Henry, but addressing 
 himself to the duke of York, since king Charles I., 
 fell a weeping to think what misfortunes he should 
 undergo ; and that he should be one of the most 
 miserable and most unhappy princes that ever was. 
 
 A Scotch nobleman sent for one of these second- 
 sighted men out of the Highlands, to give his judg- 
 ment of the then great George Villiers, duke of 
 Buckinghim. As soon as ever he saw him ; Pish, 
 said he, he will come to nothing, I see a dagger in 
 his breast; and he was stabbed in the breast by 
 captain Felton, as has been at large recounted in 
 some of the foregoing pages. 
 
150 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Sir James Melvin hath several the like passages 
 in his history. 
 
 A certain old man in South Wales, told a great 
 man there of the fortune of his family, and that 
 there should not be a third male generation. It 
 has fallen out accordingly. 
 
 Sir William Dugdale with his own mouth in- 
 formed several gentlemen, that major-general Mid- 
 dleton (since lord) went into the Highlands of Scot- 
 land to endeavour to make a party for king Charles I. 
 An old gentleman, that was second -sighted, came 
 and told him that his endeavour was good, but 
 he would be unsuccessful ; and, moreover, that they 
 would put the king to death ; and that several 
 other attempts would be made, but all in vain ; but 
 that his son would come in, but not reign in a long 
 time; but would at last be restored. This lord 
 Middleton had a great friendship with the laird 
 Bocconi, and they made an agreement, that the first 
 of them that died should appear to the other in ex- 
 tremity. The lord Middleton was taken prisoner at 
 Worcester fight, and was prisoner in the Tower of 
 London, under three locks. Lying in his bed, pen- 
 sive, Bocconi appeared to him ; my lord Middleton 
 asked him if he were dead or alive ? He said, dead ; 
 and that he was a ghost ; and told him that within 
 three days he should escape, and he did so, in his 
 wife's clothes ; when he had done his message he 
 gave a frisk, and said — 
 
 Givanni, Givanni, 'tis very strange, 
 
 In the world to see so sudden a change ; 
 
 and then gathered up and vanished. This account 
 sir William Dugdale had from the bishop of Edin- 
 burgh ; and this account he hath writ in a book of 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 1 <j 1 
 
 Miscellanies, which is now reposited, with other 
 books of his, in the Museum at Oxford. 
 
 Thus the reader sees what great authorities may 
 be produced to prove that wonderful and true pre- 
 dictions have been delivered by many persons gifted 
 with the second-sight. The most learned men in 
 almost all nations, who are not in all likelihood de- 
 ceived themselves ; the most celebrated and au- 
 thentic historians, and some divines in England, 
 who, it is not to be thought, have combined toge- 
 ther and made it their business to obtrude upon us 
 falsehoods ; persons of all ranks, from the highest 
 to the lowest, in Scotland, who, it would be even 
 madness to think would join in a confederacy to 
 impose tricks upon us, and to persuade us to the 
 greatest of impostures as solemn truths delivered from 
 their own mouths ; all these, I say, have unani- 
 mously, and, as it were, with one voice, asserted, 
 repeated, and confirmed to us, that there have been 
 at all times, and in many different nations, and 
 that still there are persons, who, possessed with the 
 gift of a second-sight, predict things that wonder- 
 fully come to pass ; and seem to merit very little 
 less than the name of prophets for their miraculous 
 discoveries. Now if any man should come, and 
 without giving the least manner of reason for it, 
 (for there is no reason to be given against such as- 
 sertions,) declare his disbelief of all these authentic, 
 though strange accounts, can he with reason 
 imagine that his incredulity shall pass for a token of 
 wisdom ? Shall his obstinacy confute the learned ? 
 Shall his want of faith be thought justly to give the 
 lie to so many persons of the highest honour and 
 quality, and of the most undoubted integrity ? In 
 fine, shall his infidelity, by a reverse kind of power 
 to that which is attributed to the philosopher's 
 stone, be able to change the nature of things, turn 
 
152 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 and transmute truth into falsehood, and make a 
 downright plain matter of fact to be no more than a 
 chimera, or an ens rationis ? And shall a manifest 
 experience be so easily exploded ? 
 
 Taking it therefore for granted, that no modest 
 man whatsoever, though never so hard of belief, 
 which is certainly as great a weakness as that of 
 too much credulity, will make bold openly to de- 
 clare his disbelief of things so well attested ; and 
 taking it much more for granted still, that it is im- 
 possible for any man of common sense to have the 
 front of declaring his disbelief of them in such a 
 manner as to urge it for an argument and a reason 
 why others should disbelieve them too ; taking this, 
 I say, as I thmk I very well may, for granted, I 
 think there remains nothing further for me to offer, 
 before I conclude this chapter, except a few remarks 
 as to the similitude there is between those actions 
 which I have related above to have been performed 
 by Mr. Campbell, and these actions which so many 
 learned, ingenious, and noble authors, as I have 
 just now quoted, have asserted to have been per- 
 formed by persons whom they knew to be gifted 
 with the second-sight. 
 
 As to what is said several pages above, concern- 
 ing Duncan Campbell when a boy at Edinburgh, 
 that he even told his little companions who would 
 have success at their little matches when they 
 played at marbles, and that he informed a great 
 gamester there, whose name I have disguised under 
 that of count Cog, what times he should choose to 
 play if he would win, as ludicrous as it may have 
 appeared to be, and as much as it may have seemed 
 to my readers to carry with it nothing better than 
 the face of invention and the air of fiction, yet if 
 they will be at the pains of comparing that passage 
 of Duncan Campbell's with the account given in 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 153 
 
 this chapter from the mouth of sir Norman Mac- 
 lead, concerning a man, who, though he never 
 played at tables in his life, instructed a skilful 
 gamester, when he was at a stand, to place one of 
 his men right, upon which the whole game de- 
 pended, which the ignorant fellow, when asked how 
 he came to do it, said he was directed to by the spirit 
 Brownie; whoever, I say, will be at the pains of 
 comparing these passages together, will find they 
 bear a very near resemblance, and that the way we 
 may most reasonably account for Duncan Camp- 
 ! bell's prediction when he was a boy, must be, that 
 •he was at that time directed by his little genius or 
 familiar spirit, which I described in the precedent 
 pages, as this fellow was by the spirit Brownie, ac- 
 cording to sir Norman Maclead's assertion ; which 
 spirit Brownie, as Mr. Martin, a very good and cre- 
 dited writer, assures us, in his History of the 
 Western Islands, dedicated to the late princejGeorge 
 of Denmark, is a spirit usually seen all over that 
 country. 
 
 If the reader recollects, he will remember like- 
 wise, that in the little discourse which I men- 
 tioned to have been held between me and this 
 Duncan Campbell, when a boy, concerning his little 
 genius, I there say, the boy signified to me that he 
 smelt venison, and was sure that some would come to 
 his mother's house shortly after; accordingly I came 
 thither that morning from the death of a deer, and 
 ordered a part of it to be brought after me to her 
 house. Now Mr. Martin's twelfth observation 
 about the second-sight, in this chapter, clears it 
 plainly up that this knowledge in the boy proceeded 
 from the gift of second-sight. Not to give the 
 reader too often the trouble of looking back in or- 
 ler to judge of the truth of what I say, I will here 
 *epeat that observation, which is as follows : Things 
 
154 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 are also foretold by smelling sometimes ; for exam- 
 ple, fish or flesh is frequently smelt in the fire, 
 when, at the same time, neither of the two are in 
 the house, or, in any probability, like to be had in 
 it for some weeks or months. This smell seve- 
 ral persons have, who are endued with the second- 
 sight, and it is always accomplished soon after. 
 
 But I will here omit any further remarks by way 
 of accounting how he compassed his predictions 
 when a boy, either by the intervention of his genius, 
 or the gift of a second-sight; and examine how nearly 
 those things, which I have related to have been done 
 by him in his more advanced years, when he took 
 up the profession of a predictor in London, corre- 
 spond with the accounts given us in this chapter 
 about a second-sight, and how near a resemblance 
 the things done by him bear to those things that are 
 so well attested to have been performed by others, 
 through the efficacious power of this wonderful 
 faculty. 
 
 First, then, if we have a mind to make a tolerable 
 guess which way Mr. Campbell came acquainted 
 that the death of the beautiful young lady, Mrs. 
 W — lw — d was so near at hand, and that, though 
 she was so universally admired she would die un- 
 married, the accounts given of other second-sighted 
 persons in the like cases, will put us in the most 
 probable way of guessing right. This is explained 
 by the seventh observation in this chapter, where 
 it is said from Mr. Martin, that when a shroud is 
 perceived about one, it is a sure prognostic of death; 
 the time is judged according to the height of it, 
 about the person ; for if it be not seen above the 
 middle, death is not to be expected for the space 
 of a year or longer, but as it comes nearer to the 
 head it is expected sooner ; if to the very head, it 
 is concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 155 
 
 hours. Of this we have an example, of which Mr. 
 Martin was an eye-witness, concerning the death of 
 his own acquaintance ; but he did not in the least 
 regard it, till the death of the person, about the 
 time foretold, confirmed to him the certainty of the 
 prediction. 
 
 Secondly, as to the ignominious death that Irwin 
 came to, and which he predicted to his mother so 
 long before, when she was in flourishing circum- 
 stances, and when there was no appearance that 
 any of her children should be brought to a beggarly 
 condition, and learn among base gangs of company 
 to thieve, and be carried to the gallows ; the story 
 told in this chapter of some of the inhabitants of 
 Harris, sailing round the Isle of Skye, and seeing 
 the apparition of two men hanging by the ropes on 
 the mast of their vessel, and when they came to the 
 opposite mainland, finding two criminals just sen- 
 tenced to death by sir Donald Macdonald, and 
 seeing their own very mast and ropes made choice 
 of for their execution, clears up the manner how 
 Mr. Campbell might predict this of Irwin likewise 
 by the force of the second-sight. 
 
 Thirdly, as to Mr. Campbell's telling Christallina 
 the belle and chief toast of the court, and Urbana the 
 reigning beauty of the city, that they should shortly 
 be married, and who were to be their husbands, it 
 is a thing he has done almost every day in his life to 
 one woman or other, that comes to consult him 
 about the man she is to be married to ; the manner 
 he probably takes in doing this may be likewise ex- 
 plained by the foregoing story in this chapter about 
 the servants, who said they saw three men standing 
 by the left hand of their master's daughter ; and that 
 he that was nearest would marry her first, whom 
 they plainly and exactly described, though they had 
 never seen him but in their vision, as appeared 
 
156 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 afterwards. For within some months after, the verj 
 man described did come to the house, and did many 
 her. Vide the eight observation of the second- 
 sight. 
 
 Fourthly, as to the predictions delivered by Mr. 
 Campbell to the merchant, which are set down at 
 length in the foregoing chapter, I know no better 
 way at guessing the manner how the second-sight 
 operated in him at that time, than by comparing 
 them to these two instances, which I briefly repeat, 
 because they are set down at length before, in this 
 chapter. And first it may be asked, how did the 
 second-sight operate in Mr. Campbell, when it gave 
 him to know that the merchant's ships, which 
 repeated intelligences had in appearance confirmed 
 to be lost, were at that time safe, and would return 
 securely home into the harbour designed ? The best 
 way of accounting for it, that I know, is by the 
 story that sir Norman Maclead is above affirmed 
 to have told with his own mouth, concerning a 
 servant of his, who rightly foretold his returning 
 home and landing on the Isle of Bernera one night, 
 where his residence is, when there was very little 
 or no likelihood of it, because of the darkness of the 
 night, and the danger of coming through the rocks 
 that lie round the isle. When sir Norman examined 
 him about it ; he answered that he knew it by a 
 vision of the spirit Brownie ; and hence it may be 
 the most probably conjectured that Mr. Campbell's 
 knowledge of the merchant's ships being safe, came 
 from a vision of his particular genius, or familiar 
 spirit, which we spoke of before. What I have 
 already instanced in, is, I think, sufficient with re- 
 gard to the wonderful things which Mr. Campbell 
 has performed, either by the intervention of a genius, 
 or the power of a second-sight. But has he has 
 frequently done a great many amazing performances, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBKLL. 157 
 
 vhich seem to be of such a nature that they can't 
 '>e well and clearly explained to have been done 
 ither by the intervention of his familiar spirit and 
 genius, or by the power of the second-sighted faculty, 
 ve must have recourse to the third means by which 
 >nly such predictions and practices can be compassed, 
 >efore we expound these new mysteries, which ap- 
 pear like incredible riddles, and enigmas at the first; 
 :nd this third means which we must have recourse 
 o for expounding these strange acts of his, is a 
 iue consideration of the force and power of natural 
 nagic, which, together with a narrative of the acts, 
 vhich he seems magically to bring about, will be the 
 ubject of the following chapter. 
 
J 58 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 But before we proceed to our disquisitions concern- 
 ing the power and efficacy of natural magic, and 
 examine what mysterious operations may be brought 
 about and compassed by magical practices, and be- 
 fore we take a further survey of what Mr. Campbell 
 has performed in this kind, that relates to his pro- 
 fession and the public part of his life, which concerns 
 other people as well as himself; I shall here relate 
 some singular adventures that he passed through in 
 in his private life, and which regard only his own 
 person. In order to this, I must return back to the 
 year 1702, about which time some unaccountable 
 turns of fortune attended him in his own private ca- 
 pacity, which must be very surprising and entertain- 
 ing to my readers, when they find a man, whose 
 foresight was always so great a help and assistance 
 to others, who consulted him in their own future 
 affairs, helpless, as it has been an observation con- 
 cerning all such men in the account of the second- 
 sight, and blind in his own future affairs, tossed up 
 and down by inevitable and spiteful accidents of 
 fortune, and made the may-game of chance and 
 hazard, as if that wayward and inconstant goddess 
 was resolved to punish him, when she catched him 
 on the blind side, for having such a quick insight 
 and penetrating faculty in other people's matters, and 
 scrutinizing too narrowly into her mysteries, and so 
 sometimes preventing those fatal intentions of hers, 
 into which she would fain lead many mortals hood- 
 winked, and before they knew where they were. 
 In this light, these mighty and famous seers seem to 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 159 
 
 be born for the benefit and felicity of others, but at 
 the same time to be born to unhappiness themselves. 
 And certainly, inasmuch as we consider them as 
 useful and beneficial often, but always satisfactory 
 to persons who are curious in their inquiries about 
 their fortunes, it will be natural to those of us who 
 have the least share of generosity in our minds, to 
 vield our pity and compassion to them, when they 
 are remarkably unfortunate themselves ; especially 
 when that calamity seems more particularly to light 
 upon them for their ability, and endeavour to consult 
 the good fortune of other folks. 
 
 About the above-mentioned year, 1702, Duncan 
 Campbell grew a little tired of his profession ; such 
 a multitude of followers troubled him, several of 
 whom were wild youths and came to banter him, 
 and many more too inquisitive females, to tease him 
 with endless impertinences, and who, the more he 
 told them, had still the more to ask, and whose cu- 
 riosity was never to be satisfied : and besides this, 
 he was so much envied, and had so many malicious 
 artifices daily practised against him, that he resolved 
 to leave off his profession. He had, I know, fol- 
 lowed it pretty closely from the time I first saw him 
 in London, which was, I think, in the beginning of 
 the year 1698, till the year 1702, with very good 
 success ; and in those few years he had got toge- 
 ther a pretty round sum of money. Our young 
 seer was now at man's estate, and had learned the 
 notion that he was to be his own governor, so far as 
 to be his own counsellor too in what road of life he 
 was to take, and this consideration no doubt worked 
 with a deeper impression on his mind, than it usually 
 does on others that are in the same blossom and 
 pride of manhood, because it might appear more 
 natural for him to believe that he had a sufficient 
 ability to be his own proper adviser, who had given 
 
160 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 so many others, and some more aged than himself, 
 counsel, with very good success. Now every expe- 
 rienced person knows, that when manhood is yet 
 green, it is still in the same dangerous condition as 
 a young plant, which is liable to be warped by a 
 thousand cross fortuitous accidents, if good mea- 
 sures be not taken to support it against all the con- 
 tingent shocks it may meet with from the weather 
 or otherwise. Now it was his misfortune to be 
 made averse to business, which he loved before, by 
 having too much of it, and to be so soured by meet- 
 ing with numerous perplexities and malicious rubs 
 laid in his way by invidious people, (who are the 
 useless and injurious busybodies that always repine 
 at the good of others, and rejoice to do harm to the 
 diligent and assiduous, though they reap no profit 
 by it themselves,) that he was disgusted and de- 
 terred entirely from the prosecution of a profession 
 by which he got not only a competent but a copious 
 and plentiful subsistence. Nay, indeed, this was an- 
 other mischief arising to him from his having so 
 much business, that he had got money enough to 
 leave it off, when the perplexities of it had made 
 him willing to do so, and to live very comfortably 
 and handsomely, like a gentleman, without it, for a 
 time ; and we know the youngest men are not wont 
 to look the furthest before them, in matters that 
 concern their own welfare. Now inasmuch as he 
 had thus taken a disgust to business and applica- 
 tion, and was surfeited, as I may say, with the per- 
 plexities of it, it must be as natural for him, we 
 know, to search for repose in the contrary extreme, 
 viz., recreation and idleness, as it is for a man to 
 seek rest after toil, to sleep after a day's labour, or 
 to sit down after a long and tiresome walk. But 
 there are two very distinct sorts of idleness, and two 
 very different kinds of recreation ; there is a shame- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 161 
 
 fill idleness which is no better than downright 
 sloth ; and there is a splendid kind of indolence, 
 where a man having taken an aversion to the wea- 
 risomeness of a business which properly belongs to 
 him, neglects not however to employ his thoughts, 
 when they are vacant from what they ought more 
 chiefly to be about, in other matters not entirely un- 
 profitable in life, the exercise of which he finds he 
 can follow with more abundant ease and satisfaction. 
 There are some sorts of recreations too that are 
 mean, sordid, and base ; others that are very inno- 
 cent, though very diverting, and that will give one 
 the very next most valuable qualifications of a gen- 
 tleman, after those which are obtained by a more 
 serious application of the mind. The idea which I 
 have already given my readers of our Duncan 
 Campbell, will easily make them judge, before I tell 
 them, which way, in these two ways, his genius 
 would naturally lead him ; and that, when he grew 
 an idle man, he would rather indulge himself with 
 applying his mind to the shining trifles of life, than 
 be wholly slothful and inactive ; and that when he 
 diverted himself he would not do it after a sordid, 
 base manner, as having a better taste and a relish 
 for good company ; but that his recreations would 
 still be the recreations of a gentleman. And just, 
 accordingly, as my readers would naturally judge 
 beforehand in his case, so it really happened. The 
 moment he shook off business, and dismissed the 
 thoughts of it, his genius led him to a very gallant 
 way of life ; in his lodgings, in his entertainments, in 
 paying and receiving visits, in coffee-houses, in ta- 
 verns, in fencing -schools, in balls, and other public 
 assemblies, in all ways, in fine, both at home and 
 abroad, Duncan Campbell was a well-comported 
 and civil fine gentleman ; he was a man of pleasure, 
 and nothing of the man of business appeared about 
 
 D. C. M 
 
162 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 him. But a gentleman's life, without a gentleman's 
 estate, however shining and pleasant it may be for 
 a time, will certainly end in sorrow, if not in infamy ; 
 and comparing life, as moralists do, to a day, one 
 may safely pronounce this truth to all the splendid 
 idlers I have mentioned, that if they have sunshiny 
 weather till noon, yet the afternoon of their life will 
 be very stormy, rainy, and uncomfortable, and per- 
 haps just at the end of their journey, to carry on 
 the metaphor throughout, close in the darkest kind 
 of night. Of this, as I was a man of years and 
 more experienced in the world than he, I took upon 
 me to forewarn Mr. Campbell, as soon as I per- 
 ceived the first dangerous fit of this elegant idle- 
 ness had seized him. But when will young men, 
 by so much the more headstrong as they have less 
 of the beard, be guided and brought to learn ! and 
 when shall we see that happy age, in which the 
 grey heads of old men shall be clapped upon the 
 shoulders of youth! I told him, that in this one 
 thing he ought to consult me, and acknowledge me 
 to be a true prophet, if I told him the end of the 
 seeming merry steps in life he was now taking, 
 would infallibly bring him to a labyrinth of difficul- 
 ties, out of which if he extricated himself at all, he 
 would at least find it a laborious piece of work. 
 His taste had been already vitiated with the sweets 
 which lay at the top of the bitter draught of fortune, 
 and my honest rugged counsel came too late to pre- 
 vail, when his fancy had decoyed and debauched 
 his judgment, and carried it over into another inte- 
 rest. I remember I writ down to him the moral 
 story, where vicious Pleasure and Virtue are pic- 
 tured by the philosopher to appear before Hercules, 
 to court him into two several paths. I told him 
 more particularly, since he had not an estate to go 
 through with the gentlemanly life, as he called it, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 163 
 
 that, if he followed the alluring pleasures which 
 endeavoured to tempt Hercules, he would involve 
 himself at last in a whole heap of miseries, out of 
 which it would be more than an Herculean labour 
 for him to disentangle himself again. If he had been 
 a man that could have ever heard with either, I 
 would have told the reader in a very familiar idiom, 
 that he turned the deaf ear to me ; for he did not 
 mind one syllable nor tittle of the prescriptions I 
 set down for him, no more than if he had never 
 read them ; but, varying the phrase a little, I may 
 say at least, when he should have looked upon my 
 counsel with all the eyes he had, he turned the 
 blind side upon it. I was resolved to make use of 
 the revenge natural to a man of years, and there- 
 fore applied that reproachful proverb to him, which 
 we ancients delight much in making use of to 
 youths that follow their own false and hot imagina- 
 tions, and will not heed the cooler dictates of age, 
 experience, and wisdom. Accordingly, I wrote 
 down to him these words, and left him in a seeming 
 passion : I am very well assured, young man, you 
 think me that am old to be a fool ; but I that am 
 old, absolutely know you who are a young fellow, 
 to be a downright fool, and so I leave you to follow 
 your own ways, till sad and woful experience teaches 
 you to know it your own self, and makes you come 
 to me to own it of your own accord. As I was 
 going away, after this tart admonition and severe 
 reprimand, I had a mind to observe his counte- 
 nance, and I saw him smile, which I rightly con- 
 strued to be done in contempt of the advice of age, 
 and in the gaiety and fulness of conceit, which 
 youth entertains of its own fond opinions and hair- 
 brained rash resolves. He was got into the company 
 of a very pretty set of gentlemen, whose fortunes were 
 far superior to his ; but he followed the same gen- 
 
 m 2 
 
164 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 teel exercises, as fencing, &c, and made one at all 
 their public entertainments ; and so being at an 
 equal expense with those who could well afford to 
 spend what they did out of their estates, he went on 
 very pleasantly for a time, still spending, and never 
 getting, without ever considering that it must, by 
 inevitable consequence, fall to his lot at last to be 
 entirely reduced to a state of indigence and want. 
 And what commonly heightens the misfortune of 
 such men, and so of all gentlemen's younger bro- 
 thers, who live upon the ready money that is given 
 them for their portions, is, that the prosperity they 
 live in for a time gains them credit enough just to 
 bring them in debt, and render them more miser- 
 able than those very wretches who never had either 
 any money or credit at all. They run themselves into 
 debt out of shame, and to put off the evil day of ap- 
 pearing ruined men as long as they can, and then, 
 when their tempers are soured by adversity, they 
 grow tired of their own lives ; and then, in a quarrel, 
 they or some other gentleman, maybe, is run through, 
 or else being hunted by bailiffs, they exercise their 
 swords upon those pursuers. Thus where gentle- 
 men will not consider their circumstances, their 
 very prosperity is a cause of, and aggravates their 
 misery ; their very pride, which was a decent pride at 
 first, in keeping up and maintaining their credit, sub- 
 jects them too often to the lowest and the meanest 
 acts, and their courage, which was of a laudable 
 kind, turns into a brutish and savage rage ; and all 
 the fine, esteemed, flourishing, and happy gentleman 
 ends, and is lost in the contemned, poor, and miser- 
 able desperado, whose portion at last is confinement 
 and a gaol, and sometimes even worse, and what I 
 shall not so much as name here. Into many of these 
 calamities Mr. Campbell had brought himself before 
 it was long, by his heedlessness, and running, accord- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 165 
 
 ing to the wild dictates of youth, counter to all 
 sound and wholesome advice. He had, it seems, 
 run himself into debt, and one day as he was at a 
 coffee-house, the sign of the Three Crowns, in Great 
 Queen-street, in rushed four bailiffs upon him, who 
 being directed by the creditor's wife, had watched 
 him into that house, and told him they had a war- 
 rant against him, and upon his not answering, they 
 being unacquainted with his being deaf and dumb, 
 offered to seize his sword. He startled at their 
 offering of violence, and taking them for ruffians, 
 which he had often met with, repelled the assaulters, 
 and drawing his sword, as one man, more bold than 
 the rest, closed in with him, he shortened his blade, 
 and in the fall pinned the fellow through the shoul- 
 der, and himself through the leg, to the floor. After 
 that he stood at bay with all the four officers, when 
 the most mischievous assailant of them all, the cre- 
 ditor's wife, ventured to step into the fray, and very 
 barbarously took hold of that nameless part of the 
 man, for which, as she was a married woman, nature 
 rnethinks should have taught her to have a greater 
 tenderness, and almost squeezed and crushed those 
 vitals to death. But at last he got free from them 
 all, and was going away as fast as he could, not 
 knowing what consequences might ensue. But the 
 woman who aimed herself at committing murder, in 
 the most savage and inhuman manner, ran out 
 after him, crying out murder ! murder ! as loud as 
 she could, and alarmed the whole street. The bai- 
 liffs following the woman, and being bloody from 
 head to foot, by means of the wound he received, 
 gave credit to the outcry. The late earl Rivers' 
 footmen happening to be at the door, ran imme- 
 diately to stop the supposed murderer, and they 
 indeed did take him at last, but perceived their 
 mistake, and discovered that instead of being as- 
 
& 
 
 166 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 sistants in taking a man whom they thought to be a 
 murderer endeavouring to make his escape from the 
 hands of justice, they had only been tricked in by 
 that false cry to be adjutants to a bailiff in retaking 
 a gentleman, who, by so gallant a defence, had res- 
 cued himself from the dangers of a prison ; and 
 when they had discovered this their mistake they 
 were mighty sorry for what they had done. The 
 most active and busy among the earl's footmen was 
 a Dutchman, and the earl happening to be in a 
 room next the street, and hearing the outcry of 
 murder, stepped to the window, and seeing his own 
 servants in the midst of the bustle, examined the 
 Dutchman how the matter was, and, being told it, 
 he chid the man for being concerned in stopping a 
 gentleman that was getting free from such trouble- 
 some companions. But the Dutchman excused 
 himself, like a Dutchman, by making a very merry 
 blunder for a reply ; Sacramente, said he, to his 
 lord, if I had thought they were bailiffs I would 
 have fought for the poor dumb gentleman, but then 
 why had he not told me they were bailiffs, my 
 lord? 
 
 In short, Duncan Campbell was carried off as 
 their prisoner ; but the bailiff that was wounded 
 was led back to the coffee-house, where he pretended 
 the wound was mortal, and that he despaired of 
 living an hour. The proverb however was of the 
 fellow's side, and he recovered sooner than other 
 people expected he could. As soon as all danger 
 was over, an action for damages and smart money, 
 as their term is, was brought against Mr. Campbell; 
 the damages were exaggerated and the demand was 
 so extravagant, that Duncan Campbell was neither 
 able, just at that time, nor willing, had he been able, 
 to pay so much, as he thought, in his own wrong, 
 and having no bail, and being ashamed to make his 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 167 
 
 case known to his better sort of friends, who were 
 both able and willing to help him at a dead lift, 
 he was hurried away to gaol by the bailiffs, who 
 showed such a malignant and insolent pleasure, as 
 commonly attends powerful revenge, when they put 
 him into the Marshalsea. There he lay in confine- 
 ment six weeks, till at last four or five of his chief 
 friends came by mere chance to hear of it ; imme- 
 diately they consulted about his deliverance, and 
 unanimously resolved to contribute for his enlarge- 
 ment, and they accordingly went cross the water 
 together, and procured it out of hand. 
 
 Two of his benefactors were officers, and were 
 just then going over to Flanders. Duncan Campbell, 
 to whom they communicated their design, was re- 
 solved to try his fortune in a military way, out of a 
 roving kind of humour, raised in him partly by his 
 having taken a sort of aversion to his own profession 
 in town, and partly by his finding that he could 
 not live, without following a profession, as he had 
 done, any longer. He over a bottle frankly imparted 
 his mind to them at large ; he signified to them 
 that he hoped, since they had lately done him so 
 great a favour in freeing him from one captivity, 
 they would not think him too urgent if he pressed 
 for one favour further, upon natures so generous as 
 theirs, by whom he took as great a pleasure in being 
 obliged, as he could receive in being capable of 
 obliging others. He wrote to them that the favour 
 he meant was to redeem him from another captivity, 
 almost as irksome to him as that out of which they 
 had lately ransomed him. This captivity, continued 
 he, is being either forced to follow my old profession, 
 which I have taken an entire disgust to, for a 
 maintenance, or being forced to live in a narrower 
 way than suits with my genius, and the better taste 
 I have of higher life. Such a state, gentlemen, you 
 
168 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 know, is more unpalatable than half-pay ; it is like 
 either being forced to go upon the forlorn hope, or 
 else like a man's being an entirely cashiered and 
 broken officer, that had no younger brother's fortune, 
 and no other support but his commission. Thus 
 though you have set my body at liberty, my soul is 
 still under an imprisonment, and will be till I leave 
 England, and can find means of visiting Flanders, 
 which I can do no otherwise than by the advantage 
 of having you for my convoy. I have a mighty 
 longing to experience some part of a military life, 
 and I fancy, if you will grant me your interest, and 
 introduce me to the valiant young lord Lome, and 
 be spokesmen for a dumb man, I shall meet with a 
 favourable reception ; and as for you, gentlemen, 
 after having named that great patron and pattern of 
 courage and conduct in the field, I can't doubt but 
 the very name I bear, if you had not known me, 
 would have made you taken me for a person of a 
 military genius, and that I should do nothing but 
 what would become a British soldier, and a gentle- 
 man ; nothing, in fine, that should make you repent 
 the recommendation. 
 
 These generous and gallant friends of his, it 
 seems, complied with his request, and promised they 
 would make application for him to the lord Lome, 
 and Duncan Campbell had nothing to do but to get 
 his bag and baggage ready, and provide himself with 
 a pass. His baggage was not very long a getting 
 together, and he had it in tolerable good order, and 
 as for his pass, a brother of the lord Forbes was so 
 kind as to procure him one upon the first applica- 
 tion Duncan made to him. 
 
 Accordingly, in a few days afterwards, they went 
 on board, and having a speedy and an easy passage, 
 arrived soon at Rotterdam. Duncan met with some 
 of his English acquaintance in that town, and his 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 169 
 
 mind being pretty much bent upon rambling, and 
 seeing all the curiosities, customs, and humours he 
 could, in all the foreign places he was to pass 
 through, he went, out of a frolic, with some gentle- 
 men, next day, in a boat to an adjacent village, to 
 make merry over a homely Dutch entertainment, 
 the intended repast being to consist of what the 
 boors there count a great delicacy, brown bread and 
 white beer. He walked out of sight from his com- 
 pany, and they lost one another ; and strolling about 
 by himself at an unseasonable hour, as they call it 
 there after the bell has tolled, Duncan Campbell, 
 who neither knew their laws, nor if he had, was ca- 
 pable of being guided by the notice which their 
 laws ordain, was taken into custody in the village, 
 for that night, and carried away the next day to 
 \Yilliamstadt, where he was taken for a spy, and put 
 into a close imprisonment for three or four days. 
 
 But some Scotch gentlemen, who had been in 
 company with Mr. Campbell at Mr. Cloysterman's, a 
 painter in Covent-garden, made their application to 
 the magistrate and got him released ; he knew his 
 friends the officers, that carried him over, were gone 
 forward to the camp, and that there was no hope of 
 finding them at Rotterdam, if he should go thither, 
 and so he resolved, since he had had so many days 
 punishment in Williamstadt, to have three or four 
 days pleasure there too, by way of amends, before he 
 would set out on his journey after his friends. But 
 on the third night he got very much in drink ; and 
 as he went very boisterously and disorderly along, a 
 sentry challenged him ; and the want of the sense 
 of hearing had like to have occasioned the loss of his 
 life. The sentry fired at him and narrowly missed 
 him ; he was taken prisoner, not without some re- 
 sistance, which was so far innocent, as that he knew 
 not any reason why he should be seized ; but very 
 
170 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 troublesome and unwarrantable in so orderly a 
 town ; so the governor's secretary, after the matter 
 was examined into, judging it better for the unhappy 
 gentleman's future safety, advised him to return 
 home to his own country, and accordingly bespoke 
 him a place in a Dutch ship called Yowfrow Catherine, 
 for his passage to England. 
 
 Duncan Campbell had taken up this humour of 
 rambling, first, of his own accord, and the troubles 
 which he had run himself into by it, we may reason- 
 ably suppose had pretty well cured him of that ex- 
 travagant itch ; and there is little doubt to be made 
 but that he rejoiced very heartily when he was got 
 on board the ship to return to England ; and that 
 in his new resolutions he had reconciled himself to 
 the prosecution of his former profession, and intended 
 to set up for a predictor again as soon as he could 
 arrive at London. But now fortune had not a mind 
 to let him go off so ; he had had his own fancy for 
 rambling, and now she was resolved to have hers, 
 and to give him his bellyful of caprice. Accordingly, 
 when the Dutch ship, called Yowfrow Catherine, 
 was making the best of her road for London, and 
 each person in the vessel was making merry, filled 
 with the hopes of a quick and prosperous passage, 
 a French privateer appeared in sight, crowding all 
 the sails she could, and bearing towards them with 
 all haste and diligence. The privateer was double- 
 manned, and carried thirty guns ; the Dutch vessel 
 was defenceless in comparison ; and the people on 
 board had scarce time to think, and to deplore that 
 they should be made a prey of, before they actually 
 were so, and had reason enough given them for 
 their sorrow. All the passengers, to a single man, 
 were stripped, and had French seamen's jackets in 
 exchange for their clothes. Duncan Campbell had 
 now a taste given him of the fate of war, as well as 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. ] 7 1 
 
 of the humour of travelling, and wished himself 
 again, I warrant him, among his greatest crowd of 
 consulters, as tiresome as he thought business to be, 
 instead of being in the middle of a crew of sea 
 savages. The town where the dumb prisoner was 
 at last confined was Denain. There happened to 
 be some English friars there, who were told by the 
 others who he was, and to them he applied himself 
 in writing, and received from them a great deal of 
 civil treatment. But a certain man of the order 
 of Recollects, happening to see him there, who had 
 known him in England, and what profession he 
 followed, caused him to be called to question, as a man 
 that made use of ill means to tell fortunes. When he 
 was questioned by a whole society of these religious 
 men, he made them such pertinent and satisfactory 
 answers in writing, that he convinced them he had 
 done nothing for which he deserved their reprimand ; 
 and they unanimously acquitted him. The heads 
 of his defence, as I have been informed, were these: — 
 First, he alleged that the second-sight was in- 
 born and inbred in some men ; and that every 
 country had had examples of it more or less ; but 
 that the country of Scotland, in which he was edu- 
 cated from an infant, abounded the most of any 
 with those sort of people ; and from thence he said 
 he thought he might very naturally draw this con- 
 clusion, that a faculty that was inborn and inbred 
 to men, and grown almost a national faculty among 
 a people who were remarkably honest, upright, and 
 well-meaning people, could not, without some im- 
 piety, be imputed to the possessors of it as a sin ; 
 and when one of the fathers rejoined that it was 
 remarked by several writers of the second-sight, 
 that it must be therefore sinful, because it remained 
 no longer among the people when the doctrines of 
 
172 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Christianity were fully propagated, and trie light of 
 the gospel increased among them ; and that after- 
 wards it affected none but persons of vicious lives 
 and an ill character ; to this objection Mr. Campbell 
 replied, that he knew most (even ingenious) writers 
 had made that remark concerning the second-sight, 
 but begged leave to be excused, if he ventured to de- 
 clare that it was no better than a vulgar and common 
 error ; and the reasons were these, which he alleged 
 in his own behalf; and to confirm his assertion, 
 he told them men of undoubted probity, virtue, 
 and learning, both of their own religion, viz., the 
 Roman catholic, and also of the reformed religion, 
 and in several nations, had been affected, and conti- 
 nued all their lives to be affected, with this second- 
 sighted power, and that there could be therefore no 
 room to fix upon it the odious character of being 
 a sinful and vicious, not to say that some called it 
 still worse, a diabolical talent. He said he would 
 consent himself with making but two instances, be- 
 cause he believed those two would be enough to 
 give content to them, his judges too, in that case. 
 In his first instance he told them that they might 
 find somewhat relating to this in Nicolaus He- 
 mingius, who in his tracts de Superstitionibus 
 Magicis, printed at Copenhagen, anno 1575, informs 
 the world, that Petrus Palladius a bishop of See- 
 landt, and professor of divinity at Copenhagen, 
 could, from a part of his body affected, foretell 
 from what part of the heavens tempests would come, 
 and was seldom deceived. One of the fathers im- 
 mediately asked him if he understood Latin ? To 
 this Duncan Campbell replied, no. Oh ! said the 
 friar, then, I don't remember that book was ever 
 translated into English that you mention. But, 
 rejoined Duncan Campbell, the passage I men- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 173 
 
 tioned to you, I have read in an English book, and 
 word for word, according to the best of my memory, 
 as I have written it down to you. In what English 
 book ? said the friar. I don't remember the name 
 of the book, Duncan Campbell answered, but very 
 well remember the passages, and that it was in a 
 book of authority, and which bore a credit and good 
 repute in the world ; and you being scholars, may, 
 if you please, have recourse to the learned original, 
 and I doubt not but you'll find what I say to be a 
 truth. For the second instance, he told them, that 
 in Spain, there are those they call Saludadores, 
 that have this kind of gift. There was, continued 
 he, in writing, one of your own religion, venerable 
 fathers, and of a religious order, nay a friar too, 
 that had this gift. He was a noted Dominican, 
 said he, and though I forget his name, you may by 
 writing a letter to England learn his name. He was 
 a devout Portuguese, belonging to queen Catherine 
 dowager's chapel, and had the second-sight to a 
 great degree, and was famous and eminent for it. 
 They then asked him what was the full power he 
 had to do by the second -sight. He answered, that 
 as they had intimated that they had perused some 
 of the skilful writers concerning the second-sight, 
 he did not doubt but they had found, as well as 
 he could tell them, that as to the extent of peo- 
 ple's knowledge in that secret way, it reached 
 both present, past, and future events. They 
 foresee murders, drownings, weddings, burials, 
 combats, manslaughters, &c, of all which there are 
 many instances to be given. They commonly fore- 
 see sad events a little while before they happen ; 
 for instance, if a man's fatal end be hanging, they 
 will see a gibbet, or rope about his neck ; if be- 
 heading, they will see a man without a head ; if 
 drowning, they will see water up to his throat ; if 
 
174 THE LITE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 stabbing, they will see a dagger in his breast ; if 
 unexpected death in his bed, they will see a wind- 
 ingsheet about his head. They foretell not only 
 marriages, but of good children ; what kind of life 
 men shall lead, and in what condition they shall 
 die ; also riches, honours, preferments, peace, 
 plenty, and good weather. It is likewise usual 
 with persons that have lost anything to go to some 
 of these men, by whom they are directed how, with 
 what persons, and in what place they shall find 
 their goods. It is also to be noted that these gifts 
 bear a latitude, so that some have it in a far more 
 eminent degree than others ; and what I have here 
 written down to you, you need not take as a truth 
 from me ; bat as it concerned me so nearly, I re- 
 member the passage by heart, and you will find it 
 very near word for word in Dr. Beaumont's book Of 
 Familiar Spirits. Aye, said the friars, but you have 
 a genius too that attends you, as we are informed. 
 So, replied Duncan Campbell, have all persons that 
 have the second-sight in any eminent degree ; and 
 to prove this I will bring no less a witness than 
 king James, who, in his Demonology, book the 
 third and chapter the second, mentions also a spirit 
 called Brownie, that was wont formerly to haunt di- 
 vers houses, without doing any evil, but doing, as 
 it were, necessary turns up and down the house ; 
 he appeared like a rough man, nay, some believed 
 that their house was all the ; sonsier,' as they called 
 it, that is, the more lucky or fortunate, that such 
 spirits resorted there. With these replies the friars 
 began to own they were very well satisfied, and acqui- 
 esced in the account he had given of himself as a 
 very good, true, and honest account ; but they told 
 him they had still a further accusation against him, 
 and that was, that he practised magic arts, and that 
 he used, as they had been informed, unlawful incan- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 175 
 
 tations. To this he made answer, that there were 
 two kinds of magic, of which he knew they that 
 were men of learning could not be ignorant. The 
 art of magic, which is wicked and impious, conti- 
 nued he, is that which is professed, and has been 
 professed at all times in the world, by witches, ma- 
 gicians, diviners, enchanters, and suchlike notori- 
 ous profligates; who, by having an unnatural com- 
 merce with the devil, do many strange, prodigious, 
 and preternatural acts, above and beyond all human 
 wisdom ; and all the arguments I ever did, or ever 
 will deduce, continued he, from that black art, is a 
 good and, shining argument ; it is this, O fathers : I 
 draw a reason from these prodigious practices of 
 wizards, magicians, enchanters, &c, and from all 
 the heathen idolatry and superstition, to prove that 
 there is a Deity ; for from these acts of theirs, 
 being preternatural and above human wisdom, we 
 may consequently infer that they proceed from a 
 supernatural and immaterial cause, such as demons 
 are. And this is all the knowledge I ever did or ever 
 will draw from that black hellish art. But, fathers, 
 there is another kind of art magic, called natural 
 magic, which is directly opposite to theirs, and 
 the object of which art is to do spiritual good to 
 mankind, as the object of theirs is to torment them, 
 and induce them to evil. They afflict people with 
 torments, and my art relieves them from the tor- 
 ments they cause. The public profession of these 
 magical arts has, as you know, fathers, it is a com- 
 mon distinction, between black and white magic, 
 been tolerated in some of the most famous univer- 
 sities of Christendom, though afterwards for a very 
 good reason in politics, making it a public study to 
 such a degree was very wisely retrenched by prohi- 
 bition. If this therefore be a fault in your own 
 
176 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 opinions, hear my accusers, but if not, you will not 
 only excuse, but commend me. 
 
 The friars were extremely well pleased with his 
 defence ; but one of them had a mind to frighten 
 him a little if he could, and asked him what he 
 would say if he could produce some witches lately 
 seized, that would swear he had been frequently at 
 their unlawful assemblies, where they were making 
 their waxen images and other odd mischievous in- 
 ventions in black magic, to torment folks ; what if 
 I can produce such evidence against you, wrote the 
 father to him, by way of strengthening the ques- 
 tion, will you not own that we have convicted you 
 then ? And when he had wrote the note he gave 
 it Duncan Campbell, with a ]ook that seemed to 
 express his warmth and eagerness in the expostu- 
 lation. Duncan Campbell took the paper and read 
 it, and far from being startled, returned this answer, 
 with a smile continuing in his face while he wrote 
 it. No, said he, fathers, by your leave, they will 
 only prove me a good magician by that oath, and 
 themselves more plainly witches. They will prove 
 their love to torment good folks, and only show 
 their hatred to me an innocent man, but wise 
 enough to torment them by hindering them from tor- 
 menting others. The fathers were well pleased with 
 the shrewdness of the answer ; but Duncan Camp- 
 bell had a mind to exert his genius a little further 
 with the good friar, who thought likewise he had 
 put him a very shrewd question ; so taking up an- 
 other sheet of paper, Fathers, said he, shall I en- 
 tertain you with a story of what passed upon this 
 head, between two religious fathers, as you all of 
 you are, and a prince of Germany, in which you 
 will find that mine ought to be reputed a full an- 
 swer to the question the last learned father was 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 177 
 
 pleased to propose to me ? The story is somewhat 
 long, but very much to the purpose, and entertain- 
 ing ; 1 remember it perfectly by heart, and if you 
 will have patience while I am writing it, I do not 
 doubt but that I shall not only satisfy you, but 
 please you and oblige you with the relation. The 
 author I found it in quotes it from Fromannus, (I 
 think the man's name was so, and I am sure my 
 author calls him a very learned man,) in his third 
 book of Magical Incantation, and though I do not 
 understand the language the original is writ in, yet 
 I dare venture to say upon the credit of my English 
 author, from whom I got the story by heart, that 
 you will find me right whenever you shall be 
 pleased to search. 
 
 The friars were earnest for the story, and ex- 
 pressed a desire that he would write it down for 
 them to read, which he did in the following words. 
 Note that 1 have since compared Mr. Duncan 
 Campbell's manuscript with the author's page out 
 of which he took it, and find it word for word the 
 same ; which shows how incomparable a memory 
 this deaf and dumb gentleman has got, besides his 
 other extraordinary qualifications. The story is 
 this : — 
 
 A prince of Germany invited two religious fathers, 
 of eminent virtue and learning, to a dinner. The 
 prince, at table, said to one of them : Father ; think 
 you we do right in hanging persons, w T ho are accused 
 by ten or twelve witches, to have appeared at their 
 meetings or sabbaths ? I somewhat fear we are im- 
 posed on by the devil, and that it is not a safe way 
 to truth, that we walk in by these accusations ; 
 especially since many great and learned men every- 
 where begin to cry out against it, and to charge our 
 consciences with it ; tell me, therefore, your opinion. 
 To whom the fathers, being somewhat of an eager 
 
 D. C. N 
 
V 
 
 178 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 spirit, said ; What should make us doubtful in this 
 case ? Or what should touch our consciences, being 
 convicted by so many testimonies ? Can we make 
 it a scruple, whether God will permit innocent 
 persons should be so traduced ? there is no cause 
 for a judge to stick at such a number of accusations, 
 but he may proceed with safety. To which when 
 the prince had replied, and much had been said pro 
 and con on both sides about it, and the father seemed 
 wholly to carry the point, the prince at length con- 
 cluded the dispute ; saying, I am sorry for you, 
 father, that in a capital cause you have condemned 
 yourself, and you cannot complain if I commit you 
 to custody ; for no less than fifteen witches have 
 deposed that they have seen you, ay, start not! 
 you your ownself, at their meetings ; and to show 
 you that I am not in jest, I will presently cause the 
 public acts to be brought for you to read them. 
 The father stood in a maze, and with a dejected 
 countenance had nothing here to oppose but con- 
 fusion and silence, for all his learned eloquence. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Campbell had wrote down the 
 story ; the fathers perused it, and seemed mightily 
 entertained with it. It put an end to all further 
 questions, and the man whom they had been trying 
 for a conjurer, they joined in desiring, upon distinct 
 pieces of paper, under their several hands, to come 
 frequently and visit them, as being not only a harm- 
 less and innocent, but an extraordinary well-meaning, 
 good, and diverting companion. They treated him 
 for some time afterwards during his stay, with the 
 friendship due to a countryman, with the civility 
 that is owing to a gentleman, and with the assist- 
 ance and support which belonged to a person of 
 merit in distress. Money they had none themselves 
 it seems to give him, being Mendicants by their 
 own profession ; but they had interest enough to 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 179 
 
 get him quite free from being prisoner ; he partici- 
 pated of their eleemosynary table, had a cell allowed 
 him among them in what they call their Dormitory; 
 he had an odd coat and a pair of trowsers made out 
 of some of their brown coarse habits, by the poor 
 unfashionable tailor, or botcher, belonging to the 
 convent, and at last they found means of recommend- 
 ing him to a master of a French vessel that was 
 ready to set sail, to give him a cast over the Channel 
 to England ; and to provide him with the necessaries 
 of life till he got to the port. This French vessel 
 was luckier than the Dutch one had been before to 
 our dumb gentleman ; it had a quick and prosperous 
 passage, and arrived at Portsmouth ; and as soon as 
 he landed there, he having experienced the mis- 
 fortunes and casualties that a man in his condition, 
 wanting both speech and hearing, was liable to, in 
 places where he was an utter stranger to everybody, 
 resolved to make no stay, but move on as fast as he 
 could towards London. When he came to Hampton 
 town, considering the indifferent figure he made in 
 those odd kind of clothes, which the poor friars had 
 equipped him with, and that his long beard and an 
 uncombed wig added much to the disguise, he was 
 resolved to put on the best face he could, in those 
 awkward circumstances, and stepped into the first 
 barber's shop he came at to be trimmed and get his 
 wig combed and powdered. This proved a very 
 lucky thought to him; for as soon as he stepped 
 into the first barber's shop, who should prove to be 
 the master of it, but one Tobit Yeats, who had 
 served him in the same capacity at London, and 
 was but newly set up in the trade of a barber-surgeon, 
 at Hampton town, and followed likewise the profes- 
 sion of schoolmaster. This Tobit Yeats had shaved 
 him quite, before he knew him in that disguise ; and 
 Mr. Campbell, though he knew him presently, had 
 
 n2 
 
180 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 a mind to try if he should be known himself first ; 
 at length, the barber finding him to be a dumb man, 
 by his ordering everything with motions of the hand 
 and gestures of the body, looked at him very earnestly, 
 remembered him, and in a great surprise called for 
 pen, ink, and paper, and begged to know how he 
 came to be in that disguise ; whether he was under 
 any misfortune, and apprehension of being discovered, 
 that made him go in so poor and so clownish a habit, 
 and tendered him any services, as far as his little 
 capacity would reach, and desired him to be free, 
 and command him ; if he was able to assist him in 
 anything. These were the most comfortable words 
 that Duncan Campbell had read a great while. He 
 took the pen and paper in his turn ; related to him 
 his whole story, gave the poor barber thanks for his 
 good natured offer, and said he would make so much 
 use of it, as to be indebted to him for so much 
 money as would pay the stagecoach, and bear him 
 in his travelling expenses up to London, from whence 
 he would speedily return the favour with interest. 
 The poor honest fellow, out of gratitude to a master 
 whose liberality he had formerly experienced, imme- 
 diately furnished Mr, Duncan Campbell with that 
 little supply, expressing the gladness of his heart 
 that it lay in his power ; and the stagecoach being 
 to set out within but a few hours, he ran instantly to 
 the inn to see if he could get him a place. By good 
 luck there was room, and but just room for one more, 
 which pleased Duncan Campbell mightily, when he 
 was acquainted with it by his true and trusty ser- 
 vant the barber ; for he was as impatient to see 
 London again, it seems, as he had been before to 
 quit it. Well, he had his wish ; and when he came 
 to London, he had one wish more for Fortune to 
 bestow upon him, which appeared to begin to grow 
 kind again, after her fickle fit of cruelty was over ; 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 181 
 
 and this wish was, that he might find his former 
 lodgings empty, and live in the same house as he 
 did when he followed his profession. This too 
 succeeded according to his desire, and he was 
 happily fixed once more to his heart's content in 
 his old residence, with the same people of the house 
 round about him, who bore him all that respect and 
 affection, and showed all that readiness and willing- 
 ness to serve him on every occasion and at every 
 turn, which could be expected from persons that 
 let lodgings in town to a gentleman, whom they 
 esteemed the best tenant they ever had in their 
 lives, or ever could have. 
 
 Immediately the tidings of the dumb gentleman's 
 being returned home from beyond sea, spread 
 throughout all the neighbourhood ; and it was noised 
 about from one neighbourhood to another, till it 
 went through all ranks and conditions, and was 
 known as well in a day or two's time, all the town 
 over, as if he had been some great man belonging to 
 the state, and his arrival had been notified to the 
 public in the gazette, as a person of the last impor- 
 tance. And such a person he appeared indeed to 
 be taken for, especially among the fair sex, who 
 thronged to his doors, crowd after crowd, to consult 
 with him about their future occurrences in life. 
 
 These curious tribes of people were as various in 
 their persons, sex, age, quality, profession, art, trade, 
 as they were in the curiosity of their minds, and the 
 questions they had intended to propound to this 
 dumb predictor of strange events, that lay yet as 
 embryos in the womb of time, and were not to 
 come, some of them, to a maturity for birth, for very 
 many years after; just as procelain clay is stored up 
 in the earth by good artificers, which their heirs 
 make china of half a century, and sometimes more 
 than an age, afterwards. 
 
182 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 These shoals of customers, who were to fee him 
 well for his advice, as we may suppose, now he stood 
 in need of raising a fresh stock, were unquestion- 
 ably as welcome and acceptable to him as they ap- 
 peared too troublesome to him before, when he was 
 in a state of more wealth and plenty. 
 
 Fortune, that does nothing moderately, seemed 
 now resolved, as she had been extremely cruel be- 
 fore, to be extremely kind to him. He had nothing 
 to do from early in the morning till late at night, 
 but to read questions, and resolve them as fast as 
 much-frequented doctors write their prescriptions 
 and recipes, and like them also to receive fees as 
 fast. Fortune was indeed mightily indulgent to the 
 wants she had so suddenly reduced him to, and re- 
 lieved him as suddenly by these knots of curiosos, 
 who brought him a glut of money. But one single 
 fair lady, that was one of his very first consulters 
 after his return, and who had received satisfactory 
 answers from him in other points, before he went 
 abroad, proved, so good fortune would have it, 
 worth all the rest of his customers together, as nu- 
 merous as they were, and as I have accordingly 
 represented them. 
 
 This lady was the relict or widow of a gentleman 
 of a good estate, and of a very good family, whose 
 name was Digby, and a handsome jointure she had 
 out of the estate. This lady, it seems, having been 
 with him in former days, and seen him in a more 
 shining way of life, (for he had taken a humour to 
 appear before all his company in that coarse odd 
 dress made out of the friar's habit, and would not 
 be persuaded by the people of the house to put on 
 a nightgown till he could provide himself with a 
 new suit,) was so curious, among other questions, 
 as to ask him whether he had met with any misfor- 
 tunes, and how he came to be in so slovenly and 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 183 
 
 wretched a habit? Here Mr. Campbell related 
 the whole story of his travels to her, and the crosses 
 and disappointments he had met with abroad. The 
 tears, he observed, would start every now and then 
 into her eyes when she came to any doleful passage, 
 and she appeared to have a mighty compassionate 
 kind of feeling, when she read of any hardship 
 more than ordinarily melancholy that had befallen 
 him. Mr. Campbell, it is certain, had then a very 
 good presence, and was a handsome and portly 
 young man ; and as a great many young gentlemen 
 derive the seeming agreeableness of their persons 
 from the tailor and perukemaker, the shoemaker 
 and hosier, so Mr. Campbell's person, on the other 
 hand, gave a good air and a good look to the awk- 
 ward garb he had on ; and I believe it was from 
 seeing him in this odd trim, as they called it, the 
 ladies first took up the humour of calling him ' the 
 handsome sloven :' add to this that he looked his 
 misfortune in the face with a jolly countenance, 
 and smiled even while he was penning the relation 
 of his calamities ; all which are certainly circum- 
 stances that first sooth a generous mind into a 
 state of compassion, and afterwards heighten it in 
 the breast wherein it is conceived. Hence it came 
 that this pretty and good natured widow, Mrs. 
 Digby, when she had expressed her commiseration 
 of him by her looks, began to take the pen and ex- 
 press it in very tender terms. Neither did she 
 think that expression in words a sufficient testimony 
 of the compassion she bore to him ; the generosity of 
 her mind did lead her to express it in a more sub- 
 stantial manner still, and that was to show it plainly 
 by a very benevolous action. She laid a purse of 
 twenty guineas before the table, and at the same 
 time smiling, pointed to the table, as signifying her 
 desire that he would accept it, and running to the 
 
184 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 door, dropped a curtsy, and skuttled away ; and 
 by the same civil act us she obliged him, she put 
 it out of his power to refuse being so obliged ; so 
 that, though the present was very handsome, the 
 manner of giving it was still handsomer. If being 
 a handsome young man of merit in distress, and 
 bearing his misfortunes vdth an equal mind, are 
 powerful motives to excite compassion in the mind 
 of a generous lady, so the generosity of a young 
 agreeable widow, expressed in so kind and so bene- 
 velous a way, to a young gentleman, when he had 
 been tasting nothing but the bitter draughts of for- 
 tune before, must stir up an affection in a mind 
 that had any sense of gratitude ; and truly just 
 such was the effect that this lady's civility had upon 
 Mr. Duncan Campbell. He conceived from that 
 moment a very great affection for her ; and resolved 
 to try whether he could gain her, which he had no 
 small grounds to hope, from the esteem which she 
 appeared to bear towards him already. I remem- 
 ber Mr. Dryden makes a very beautiful observation 
 of the near alliance there is between the two pas- 
 sions of pity and love in a woman's breast, in one 
 of his plays. His words are these ; For pity still 
 foreruns approaching love, as lightning does the 
 thunder. Mr. Bruyere, a most ingenious member 
 of the French academy, has made another remark, 
 which comes home to our present purpose. He 
 says, That many women love their money better 
 than their friends ; but yet value their lovers more 
 than their money. According to the two reflections 
 of these fine writers upon the tempers of the fair, 
 Mr. Campbell had hopes enough to ground his 
 courtship upon ; and it appeared so in the end by 
 his proving successful ; she from being a very libe- 
 ral and friendly client, became at last a most affec- 
 tionate wife. He then began to be a housekeeper, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 185 
 
 and accordingly took a little neat one, and very 
 commodious for his profession, in Monmouth-court. 
 Here I must take leave to make this observation ; 
 that if Mr. Campbell inherited the talents of his 
 second-sighted mother, he seemed likewise to be an 
 heir to his father, Mr. Archibald Campbell, both in 
 his strange and accidental sufferings by sea, and 
 likewise in his being relieved from them after as 
 accidental and strange a manner, by an unexpected 
 marriage, just like his father's. And here we re- 
 turn again to take a new survey of him in the course 
 of his public practice as a predictor. The accounts 
 I shall give of his actions here, will be very various 
 in their nature from any I have yet presented to 
 the reader ; they are more mysterious in them- 
 selves, and yet I shall endeavour to make the man- 
 ner of his operating in this kind as plain as I think 
 I have the foregoing ones, and then I flatter myself 
 they must afford a fresh entertainment for every 
 reader that has any curiosity and a good taste for 
 things of so extraordinary a kind. For what I have 
 all along propounded to myself from the begin- 
 ning, and in the progress to the end of this history, 
 is to interweave entertaining and surprising nar- 
 ratives of what Mr. Campbell has done, with curious 
 and instructive inquiries into the nature of those 
 actions, for which he has rendered himself so sin- 
 gularly famous. It was not, therefore, suitable to 
 my purpose, to clog the reader with numerous ad- 
 ventures, almost all of the same kind, but out of a 
 vast number of them to single some few of those 
 that were most remarkable, and that were myste- 
 ries, but mysteries of very different sorts. I leave 
 that method of swelling distorted and commented 
 trifles into volumes, to the writers of fable and ro- 
 mance ; if I was to tell his adventures, with regard, 
 for example, to women, that came to consult him, 1 
 
186 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 might perhaps have not only written the stories of 
 eleven thousand virgin? that died maids, but have 
 had relations to give of as many married women 
 and widows, and the work would have been endless. 
 All that I shall do therefore is to pick out one par- 
 ticular, each of a different kind, that there may be 
 variety in the entertainment. Upon application to 
 this dumb man, one is told in the middle of her 
 health, that she shall die at such a time ; another, 
 that she shall sicken, and upon the moment of her 
 recovery, have a suitor and a husband ; a third, 
 who is a celebrated beauty with a multitude of ad- 
 mirers round about her, that she shall never become 
 a wife ; a fourth, that is married, when she shall 
 get rid of an uneasy husband ; a fifth, that hath lost 
 her goods, who stole them, where and when they 
 shall be restored ; a sixth, that is a merchant, 
 when he shall be undone, and how and when he 
 shall recover his losses, and be as great on the Ex- 
 change as ever; a seventh, that is a gamester, 
 which will be his winning, and which his losing 
 hour ; an eighth, how he shall be involved in a law- 
 suit, and whether the suit will have an adverse or 
 a prosperous issue ; a ninth, that is a woman, with 
 choice of lovers, which she shall be most happy 
 with for life ; and so on to many others, where 
 every prediction is perfectly new and surprising, 
 and differs from the other in almost every circum- 
 stance. When a man has so extensive a genius as 
 this at foretelling the future occurrences of life, one 
 narrative of a sort is enough in conscience to pre- 
 sent the reader with, and several of each kind would 
 not methinks be entertaining, but tiresome ; for he 
 that can do one thing in these kinds by the power 
 of prediction, can do ten thousand ; and those who 
 are obstinate in extenuating his talents, and calling 
 his capacity in question, and that will not be con- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 187 
 
 vinced by one instance of his judgment, would not 
 own the conviction if ten thousand instances were 
 given them. The best passages I can recommend 
 to their perusal are those where persons who came 
 purposely to banter him under the colour of con- 
 sulting him, and covered over their sly intentions 
 with borrowed disguises, and came in masquerades, 
 found all the jest turned upon themselves in the end, 
 which they meant to our famous predictor, and had 
 the discouragement of seeing their most concealed 
 and deepest laid plots discovered, and all their most 
 witty fetches and wily contrivances defeated, till 
 they were compelled universally to acknowledge, 
 that endeavouring to impose upon the judgment of 
 our seer by any hidden artifice and cunning what- 
 soever, was effectually imposing upon their own. 
 His unusual talent in this kind was so openly 
 known, and so generally confessed, that his know- 
 ledge was celebrated in some of the most witty 
 weekly papers that ever appeared in public. Isaac 
 Bickerstaff, who diverted all the beau monde for a 
 long space of time with his lucubrations, takes oc- 
 casion in several of his papers to applaud the spe- 
 culations of this dumb gentleman in an admirable 
 vein of pleasantry and humour, peculiar to the 
 writer, and to the subject he writ upon. And when 
 that bright author, who joined the uttermost face- 
 tiousness with the most solid improvements of mo- 
 rality and learning in his works, laid aside the title 
 of a Tatler, and assumed the name of a Spectator 
 and censor of men's actions, he still, every now and 
 then, thought our Duncan Campbell a subject 
 worthy enough to employ his further considerations 
 upon. I must take notice of one letter sent con- 
 cerning him to the Spectator, in the year 1712, 
 which was at a time when a lady wanted him, after 
 he had removed from Monmouth-street to Drury-lane. 
 
188 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Mr. Spectator, 
 
 About two years ago I was called upon by the 
 younger part of a country family, by my mother's 
 side related to me, to visit Mr. Campbell, the dumb 
 man ; for they told me that was chiefly what brought 
 them to town, having heard winders of him in 
 Essex. I, who always wanted faith in such matters, 
 was not easily prevailed on to go ; but lest they 
 should take it ill, I went with them, when, to my own 
 surprise, Mr. Campbell related all their past life ; in 
 short, had he not been prevented, such a discovery 
 would have come out, as would have ruined their 
 next design of coming to town, viz., buying wedding 
 clothes. Our names, though he never heard of us 
 before, and we endeavoured to conceal, were as 
 familiar to him as to ourselves. To be sure, Mr. 
 Spectator, he is a very learned and wise man. Being 
 impatient to know my fortune, having paid my 
 respects in a family Jacobus, he told me, after his 
 manner, among several other things, that in a year 
 and nine months I should fall ill of a new fever, be 
 given over by my physicians, but should with much 
 difficulty recover ; that the first time I took the air 
 afterwards, I should be addressed to by a young 
 gentleman of a plentiful fortune, good sense, and a 
 generous spirit. Mr. Spectator, he is the purest 
 man in the world, for all he said is come to pass, 
 and I am the happiest she in Kent. I have been in 
 quest of Mr. Campbell these three months, and 
 cannot find him out ; now hearing you are a dumb 
 man too, I thought you might correspond and be 
 able to tell me something ; for I think myself 
 highly obliged to make his fortune, as he has mine. 
 It is very possible your worship, who has spies all 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 189 
 
 over this town, can inform me how to send to him ; 
 if you can, I beseech you be as speedy as possible, 
 and you will highly oblige your constant reader and 
 admirer, 
 
 DULCIBELLA ThANKLEY. 
 
 The Spectator's Answer. 
 
 Ordered, that the inspector I employ about 
 wonders, inquire at the Golden-lion opposite to 
 the Half-moon tavern in Drury-lane, into the merit 
 of this silent sage, and report accordingly. Vide 
 the 7th volume of Spectators, 2\o. 474, being on 
 Wednesday, September the 3rd, 1712. 
 
 But now let us come to those passages of his life 
 the most surprising of all, during the time that he 
 enjoyed this reputation, and when he proved that he 
 deserved the fame he enjoyed. Let us take a survey 
 of him while he is wonderfully curing persons la- 
 bouring under the misfortune of witchcraft, of which 
 the following story will be an eminent instance, and 
 likewise clear up how he came by his reputation in 
 Essex, as mentioned in the above-mentioned letter 
 to the Spectator. 
 
 In the year 1709, Susanna Johnson, daughter to 
 one captain Johnson, who lived at a place adjacent 
 to Rumford, in Essex, going one morning to that 
 town to buy butter at the market, was met there by 
 an old miserable looking woman, just as she had 
 taken some of her change of the marketwoman, in 
 copper, and this old woman rather demanded than 
 begged the gentlewoman to give her a penny. Mrs. 
 Johnson reputing her to be one of those hateful 
 people that are called sturdy beggars, refused it her, 
 as thinking it to be no act of charity, and that it 
 would be rather gratifying and indulging her impu- 
 
190 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 dence, than supplying or satisfying her indigence. 
 Upon the refusal, the old hag, with a face more 
 wrinkled still, if possible, by anger, than it was by 
 age, took upon her to storm at young Mrs. Johnson 
 very loudly, and to threaten and menace her ; but 
 when she found her common threats and menaces 
 were of no avail, she swore she would be revenged 
 of the young creature in so signal a manner, that she 
 should repent the denial of that penny from her 
 heart before she got home, and that it should cost 
 her many pounds to get rid of the consequences of 
 that denial and her anger. The poor innocent girl 
 despised these last words likewise, and, getting up 
 on horseback, returned homewards ; but just as she 
 got about half way her horse stopped, and no means 
 that she could use would make him advance one 
 single step; but she stayed awhile to see if that 
 would humour him to go on. At last the beast began 
 to grow unruly, and snorted and trembled as if he 
 had seen or smelt something that frightened him, and 
 so fell a kicking desperately, till he threw the girl 
 from the saddle, not being able to cling to it any 
 longer, though a pretty good horsewoman of her 
 years ; so much were the horse's motions and plung- 
 ings more than ordinarily violent. 
 
 As Providence would have it, she got not much 
 harm by the fall, receiving only a little bruise in the 
 right shoulder ; but she was dreadfully frightened. 
 This fear added wings to her feet, and brought her 
 home as speedily of herself as she usually came on 
 horseback. She immediately, without any other 
 sign of illness than the palid colour with which fear 
 had disordered the complexion of her face, alarmed 
 all the family at home with the story, took her bed 
 upon it, complained of inward rackings of the belly, 
 and was never at ease unless she lay doubled up 
 together, her head to her knees, and her heels to her 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 191 
 
 rump, just like a figure of 8. She could not be a 
 single moment out of that posture without shrieking 
 out with the violence of anxious torments and racking 
 pains. 
 
 In this condition of misery, amidst this agony of 
 suffering, and in this double posture, was the poor 
 wretched young gentlewoman brought to town ; 
 physicians were consulted about her, but in vain ; 
 she was carried to different hospitals for assistance, 
 but their endeavours likewise proved ineffectual ; at 
 last she was conducted to the college of physicians ; 
 and even the collective wisdom of the greatest sages 
 and adepts in the science of physic was posed to 
 give her any prescription that would do her service, 
 and relieve her from the inexplicable malady she 
 laboured under. The poor incurable creature was 
 one constant subject of her complaining mother's 
 discourse in every company she came into. It 
 happened at last, and very providentially truly, that 
 the mother was thus condoling the misfortune of her 
 child among five or six ladies, and telling them, 
 among other things, that by the most skilful persons 
 she was looked upon to be bewitched, and that it 
 was not within the power of physic to compass her 
 recovery. They all having been acquainted with our 
 Mr. Duncan Campbell, unanimously advised her to 
 carry her daughter to his house, and consult with, 
 him about her. The mother was overjoyed at these 
 tidings, and purposed to let no time slip where her 
 child's health was so deeply concerned. She got 
 the ladies to go with her and her child, to be eye- 
 witnesses of so extraordinary a piece of practice, and 
 so eminent a trial of skill. 
 
 As soon as this dismal object was brought into his 
 room, Mr. Duncan Campbell lifted up her head and 
 looked earnestly in her face, and in less than a 
 minute's time signified to the company, that she was 
 
192 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 not only bewitched, but in as dreadful a condition 
 almost as the man that had a legion of fiends within 
 him. 
 
 At the reading of these words the unhappy crea- 
 ture raised up her head, turned her eyes upwards, 
 and a smile, a thing she had been a stranger to for 
 many months, overspread her whole face, and such 
 a kind of colour as is the flushing of joy and glad- 
 ness, and with an innocent tone of voice she said, 
 she now had a firm belief she should shortly be de- 
 livered. The mother and the rest of the company 
 were all in tears, but Mr. Campbell wrote to them 
 that they should be of good heart, be easy and quiet 
 for a few moments, and they should be convinced 
 that it was witchcraft, but happily convinced by 
 seeing her so suddenly well again. This brought 
 the company into pretty good temper ; and a little 
 after, Mr. Campbell desired she might be led up 
 stairs into his chamber and left there alone with him 
 for a little while ; this occasioned some small female 
 speculation, and as much mirth as their late sorrow, 
 alleviated with the hopes of her cure, would permit. 
 
 This you may be sure was but a snatch of mirth, 
 just as the nature of the thing would allow of; and 
 all sorts of waggery being laid instantly aside, and 
 removed almost as soon as conceived, the poor 
 young thing was carried in that double posture up 
 stairs. She had not been much above half an hour 
 there, when by the help only of Mr. Campbell's arm 
 she was led down stairs, and descended into that 
 roomful of company as a miracle appearing in a 
 machine from above ; she was led backward and 
 forward in the room, while all gazed at her for a- 
 while with joyful astonishment, for no arrow was 
 ever more straight than she. Mr. Campbell then 
 prevailed with her to drink a glass of wine, and im- 
 mediately after she evacuated wind, which she had 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 193 
 
 not done for some months before, and found herself 
 still more amended and easy ; and then the mother 
 making Mr. Campbell some small acknowledgment 
 at that time, with the promise of more, and her 
 daughter giving thanks, and all the company com- 
 mending his skill, took their leaves and departed, 
 with great demonstrations of joy. I shall here, to 
 cut the story short, signify, that she came frequently 
 afterwards to make her testimonials of gratitude to 
 him, and continues to enjoy her health to this very 
 day, at Greenwich, where she now lives, and will at 
 any time, if called upon, make oath of the truth of 
 this little history, as she told me herself with her 
 own mouth. 
 
 The next thing, therefore, it behoves me to do in 
 this chapter, is, to give some satisfactory account of 
 magic, by which such seeming mysterious cures and 
 operations are brought about. 
 
 This task I would perform in the most perspicu- 
 ous and most convincing manner I can ; for magic, 
 I know, is held to be a very hard and difficult study 
 by those learned, and universally unlawful and di- 
 abolical by those unlearned, who believe there is 
 such a science attainable by human genius. On 
 the other hand, by some learned men, who believe 
 there is no such science, it is represented as an in- 
 consistent system of superstitions and chimeras ; 
 and again laughed at as such by the unlearned, 
 who are of an incredulous temper ; what I would 
 therefore undertake to do in this place is to show 
 the learned men, who believe there is such an art, 
 that the attainment to a tolerable knowledge of the 
 manner how magical practices may be brought 
 about, is no such difficult matter as they have re- 
 presented it to themselves ; and by doing this I 
 shall make the system of it so plain, that while the 
 learned approve of it, the unlearned too, who are 
 
 d. c. o 
 
194 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 not of an unbelieving kind, may understand clearly 
 what I say ; and the learned men who have rejected 
 this science as chimerical, may be clearly convinced 
 it is real ; and then there is nothing left but ob- 
 stinate unbelieving ignorance, which I shall not 
 here pretend by arguments to lead into sense, but 
 leave it to the work of time. In fine, I will endea- 
 vour to induce men of sense to say, that what has 
 been accounted mysterious, is delivered in a plain, 
 easy, and convincing manner, and to own that they 
 approve, while men of the lower class of under- 
 standing shall confess and acknowledge that they 
 themselves understand it; and that what has hi- 
 therto been represented as arduous and difficult to 
 a great genius, is adapted and rendered not only 
 clear, but familiar to persons of middling talents. 
 In this work, therefore, I shall follow the strictest 
 order I can, which of all things render a discourse 
 upon any subject the most clear ; and that it may 
 be plain to the commonest capacity, I will first set 
 down what order I intend to follow. 
 
 First, I will speak of magic in general. 
 
 Secondly, Of magic under its several divisions 
 and subdivisions. 
 
 Thirdly, Concerning the object of art, as it is 
 good or bad. 
 
 Fourthly, Of the persons exercising that art in 
 either capacity of good or bad, and by what means 
 they become capacitated to exercise it. 
 
 In the fifth place, I shall come to the several ob- 
 jections against the art of magick, and the refu- 
 tation of those objections. 
 
 The first objection shall be against the existence 
 of good and bad spirits ; the refutation of which 
 will consist in my proving the existence of spirits, 
 both good and bad, by reason and by experience. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 195 
 
 The second objection that will be brought, is to 
 contain an allegation that there are no such per- 
 sons as witches now, and an argument to support 
 that allegation, drawn from the incapacity and im- 
 possibility of any thing's making, while itself is in- 
 carnate, a contract with a spirit. This objection 
 will be answered by proving the reality of witches 
 from almost universal experience, and by explaining 
 rationally the manner how the devils hold com- 
 merce with witches; which explication is backed 
 and authorised by the opinion of the most eminent 
 divines and the most learned physicians. 
 
 From hence, sixthly and lastly, We shall con- 
 clude on the side of the good magic, that as there 
 are witches on the one hand that may afflict and 
 torment persons with demons, so on the other hand 
 there are lawful and good magicians that may 
 cast out demons from people that are possessed 
 with them. 
 
 And first as to magic in general. Magic con- 
 sists in the spirit by faith, for faith is that magnet 
 of the magicians by which they draw spirits to 
 them, and by which spirits they do great things, 
 that appear like miracles. 
 
 Secondly, Magic is divided into three sorts, viz., 
 divine, natural, and diabolical. And natural ma- 
 gic is again subdivided into two kinds, simple and 
 compound ; and natural compound magic is again 
 likewise divided into two kinds, viz., natural-divine 
 magic, and natural-diabolical magic. Now, to 
 give the reader a clear and a distinct notion of each 
 several species of magic here mentioned, I set 
 down the following definitions : Divine magic is 
 a celestial science, in which all operations that 
 are wonderfully brought about, are performed by 
 the spirit of God. Natural magic is a science in 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 which all the mysterious acts that are wrought, are 
 compassed by natural spirits. But as this natural 
 magic may be exercised about things either in a 
 manner indifferent in themselves, or mere mo- 
 rally good, and then it is mere natural magic ; or 
 else about things theologically good, and transcend- 
 ently bad ; and then it is not merely and natural 
 magic, but mixed and compound. If natural ma- 
 gic be exercised about the most holy operations, it 
 is then mixed with the divine, and may then be 
 called, not improperly, natural-divine magic. But 
 if natural magic troubles itself about compassing 
 the wickedest practices, then is it promiscuous with 
 the demoniacal, and may not improperly be called 
 natural-diabolical magic. 
 
 Thirdly, The object of this art is doing wonders 
 out of the ordinary appearing course of nature, 
 which tend either to great good or bad, by the 
 help and mediation of spirits good and bad. 
 
 Fourthly, As to the persons exercising that art 
 in either way, whether good or bad, and by what 
 means they become capacitated to act it, the notion 
 of this may be easily deduced from the notions of 
 the art itself, as considered above in its each dif- 
 ferent species ; for as all magic consists in a spirit, 
 every magician acts by a spirit. 
 
 Divine magicians, that are of God, are spoke of 
 in the sacred Book, and therefore I shall not men- 
 tion the passages here, but pass them over, as I 
 ought in a book like this, with a profound and reve- 
 rential silence, as well as the other passages which 
 speak of natural and demoniacal magicians ; and in 
 all I shall speak of them in this place, I shall only 
 speak of them with regard to human reason and ex- 
 perience, and conclude this head with saying, that 
 natural magicians work all things by the natural 
 spirits of the elements ; but that witches and de- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 197 
 
 moniacal magicians, as Jannes and Jambres in 
 in Egypt were, work their magical performances by 
 the spirit of demons, and it is by the means of 
 these different spirits that these different magicians 
 perform their different operations. 
 
 These things thus distinctly settled and ex- 
 plained, it is now we must come and ground the 
 dispute between those who believe there are no 
 such things as magicians of any kind, and those who 
 assert there are of all the kinds above specified. 
 
 Those who contend there are, have recourse to 
 experience, and relate many well- witnessed narra- 
 tives, to prove that there have been in all times, 
 and that there are still, magicians of all these kinds. 
 But those who contend that there are no such per- 
 sons, will give no ear to what the others call plain 
 experience ; they call the stories, let whatever wit- 
 nesses appear to justify them, either fabulous 
 legends invented by the authors, or else tricks of 
 intellectual legerdemain imposed by the actors, 
 upon the relators of those actions. Since, there- 
 fore, they say, though the believers in magic brag 
 of experience never so much, it may be but a fal- 
 lible experience ; they reasonably desire to know 
 whether these gentlemen that stand for magic can 
 answer the objections which they propose, to prove 
 that the practice of magic, according to the system 
 laid down, is inconsistent with reason, before they 
 will yield their assent. Let the stories be never so 
 numerous, appear never so credible, these unbe- 
 lieving gentlemen desire to be tried by reason, and 
 aver till that reason is given they will not be con- 
 vinced by the number of stories, because, though 
 numerous, they are stories still ; neither will they 
 believe them because they appear credible, because 
 seeming so is not being so, and appearances, though 
 never so fair, when they contradict reason, are not 
 
198 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 to be swallowed down with an implicit faith as so 
 many realities. And uhus far, no doubt, the gen- 
 tlemen who are on the unbelieving side are very 
 much in the right of it. The learned gentlemen, 
 on the other hand, who are persuaded of this 
 mighty mysterious power being lodged in the hands 
 of magicians, answer, that they will take upon 
 them to refute the most subtle objections brought 
 by the learned unbelievers, and to reconcile the 
 practicability of magical mysteries by the capacity 
 of men who study that art, to right rules and laws 
 of reasoning, and to show that some stories, though 
 never so prodigious, which are told of magicians, 
 demand the belief of wise men on two accounts ; 
 because as experience backs reason on the one 
 hand, reason backs experience on the other, and so 
 the issue of the whole argument, whether there are 
 magicians are not, is thrown upon both experience 
 and reason. These arguments on each side, I shall 
 draw up fairly pro and con; for I do not pretend to be 
 the inventor of them myself, they belong to other 
 authors many years ago ; be it enough for me to 
 boast of, if I can draw them up in a better and 
 closer form together than they have yet appeared 
 in. In that I take upon myself a very great task ; 
 I erect myself as it were into a kind of a judge ; I 
 will sum up the evidences on both sides, and I 
 shall, wherever I see occasion, intimate which side 
 of the argument bears the most weight with me ; but 
 when I have enforced my opinion as far as 1 think 
 needful, my readers, like a jury, are still at liberty 
 to bring in their verdict just as they themselves shall 
 see fit ; and this naturally leads me where I pro- 
 mised to come to in the fifth part of this discourse, 
 to the several objections against the power of art 
 magic, and the refutation of those objections. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 199 
 
 The first objections being against the existence of 
 spirits, and the refutations thereof 
 
 The first objection which they who reject magic 
 make use of, is, denying that there are any such 
 things as spirits, about which, since those who de- 
 fend the art say it entirely exerciseth itself, the ob- 
 jectors contend, that if they can make out that 
 there are no such beings as spirits, all pretensions 
 to the art must be entirely groundless, and for the 
 future exploded. 
 
 To make this part out, that there are no spirits, 
 the first man they produce on their side is un- 
 doubtedly one of very great credit and authority, 
 inasmuch as he has justly borne for many centuries 
 the title of a prince of philosophers. They say that 
 Aristotle in his book de Mundo, reasons thus 
 against the existence of spirits, viz., That since 
 God can do all things of himself, he doth not stand 
 in need of ministering angels and demons. A mul- 
 titude of servants showing the weakness of a prince. 
 
 The gentlemen who defend the science make this 
 reply, they allow the credit and authority of Ari- 
 stotle as much as the objectors ; but as the objectors 
 themselves deny all the authorities for the spirits, 
 and desire that reason may be the only ground they 
 go upon, so the refuters, on their parts desire, 
 that Aristotle's ipse dixit may not be absolutely 
 passed upon them for argument ; but that his words 
 may be brought to the same touchstone of reason, 
 and proved if they are standard. If this argument, 
 say they, will hold good, Aristotle should not sup- 
 pose intelligences moving the celestial spheres ; for 
 God sufficeth to move all without ministering spi- 
 rits ; nor would there be need of a sun in the 
 
200 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 world, for God can enlighten all things by himself, 
 and so all second causes were to be taken away ; 
 therefore, there are angels and ministering spirits 
 in the world, for the majesty God, not for his want 
 of them, and for order, not for his omnipotency. 
 And here if the objectors return and say, who told 
 you that there are spirits ? Is not yours a preca- 
 rious hypothesis ? May not we have leave to recri- 
 minate in this place ? Pray who told Aristotle 
 that there were intelligences that moved the celes- 
 tial spheres ? Is not this hypothesis as precarious 
 as any man may pretend that of spirits to be ? And 
 we believe there are few philosophers at present 
 who agree with Aristotle in that opinion ; and we 
 dare pronounce this to be ours, that Aristotle took 
 his intelligences from the Hebrews, who went ac- 
 cording to the same whimsical, though pretty 
 notion, which first gave rise to the fiction of the 
 nine muses. But more than all this, it is a very 
 great doubt among learned men, whether this book 
 de Mundo be Aristotle's or no. 
 
 The next thing the objectors bring against the 
 existence of spirits, is, that it is nonsense for men 
 to say that there are such beings of which it is im- 
 possible for a man to have any notion, and they in- 
 sist upon it that it is impossible for any man to 
 form an idea of a spiritual substance. As to this 
 part, the defendants rejoin, that they think our 
 late most judicious Mr. Locke, in his elaborate and 
 finished Essay on the Human Understanding, has 
 fairly made out, that men have as clear a notion of a 
 spiritual substance as they have of any corporeal sub- 
 stance, matter, or body ; and that there is as much 
 reason for admitting the existence of the one, as of 
 the other ; for that if they admit the latter, it is but 
 humour in them to deny the former. It is in book 
 the 2nd, chap. 29, where he reasons thus : "If a man 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 201 
 
 will examine himself concerning his notion of pure 
 substance in general, he will find he has no other 
 idea of it, but only a supposition of he knows not 
 what support of such quality which are capable of 
 producing simple ideas in us, which qualities are 
 commonly called accidents. Thus, if we talk or 
 think of any particular sort of corporeal substance, 
 as horse, stone, &c, though the idea we have of 
 either of them be but the complication or collec- 
 tion of those several simple ideas, or sensible qua- 
 lities which we use to find united in the thing 
 called horse, or stone ; yet because we cannot con- 
 ceive how they should subsist alone, not one in an- 
 other, we suppose them to exist in, and be sup- 
 ported by some common subject; which support 
 we denote by the name of substance, though it be 
 certain we have no clear or distinct idea of that 
 thing we suppose a support. The same happens 
 concerning the operations of our mind, viz., think- 
 ing, reasoning, and fearing, &c, which we con- 
 cluding not to subsist of themselves, and not appre- 
 hending how they can belong to body, we are apt 
 to think these the actions of some substance which 
 we call spirit ; whereby it is evident, that having 
 no other notion of matter, but something wherein 
 those many sensible qualities which affect our 
 senses do subsist, by supposing a substance wherein 
 thinking, knowing, doubting, and a power of mov- 
 ing, &c, do subsist, we have as clear a notion of 
 the nature or substance of spirit, as we have of 
 body : the one being supposed to be, without know- 
 ing what is, the substratum to those simple ideas 
 which we have from without; and the other sup- 
 posed, with a like ignorance of what it is, to be the 
 substratum of these operations which we experiment 
 in ourselves within. It is plain, then, that the idea 
 of corporeal substance in matter, is as remote from 
 
202 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 our conceptions and apprehensions as that of spi- 
 ritual substance, and therefore from our not having 
 any notion of the substance of spirit, we can no 
 more conclude its not existence, than we can for 
 the same reason deny the existence of body ; it 
 being as rational to affirm there is no body, because 
 we cannot know its essence, as it is called, or have 
 the idea of the substance of matter, as to say, there 
 is no spirit, because we know not its essence, or 
 have no idea of a spiritual substance." Mr. Locke 
 also, comparing our idea of spirit with our idea of 
 body, thinks there may seem rather less obscurity 
 in the former than the latter. Our idea of body 
 he takes to be an extended solid substance, capable 
 of communicating motion by impulse ; and our idea 
 of soul is a substance that thinks, and has a power 
 of exciting motion in body by will or thought. 
 Now, some perhaps will say they comprehend a 
 thinking thing, which perhaps is true ; but, he says, 
 if they consider it well, they can no more compre- 
 hend an extended thing ; and if they say, they know 
 not what it is thinks in them, they mean they know 
 not what the substance is of that thinking thing ; 
 no more, says he, do they know what the substance 
 is of that solid thing ; and if they say they know 
 how not how they think, he says, neither do they 
 know how they are extended, how the solid parts 
 are united, or where to make extension, &c. 
 
 The learned monsieur le Clerc, who generally 
 knows how far human reason can bear, argues con- 
 sonantly to what is before delivered by Mr. Locke, 
 in his Coronis, added to the end of the fourth vo- 
 lume of his Philosophical Works, in the third edition 
 of them, where he writes as followeth : — 
 
 " When we contemplate the corporeal nature, we 
 can see nothing in it but extension, divisibility, 
 solidity, mobility, and various determinations of 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 203 
 
 quantity, or figures ; which being so, it were a rash 
 thing, and contrary to the laws of right reasoning, 
 to affirm other things of bodies ; and consequently 
 from mere body nothing can be deduced by us, which 
 is not joined in a necessary connection with the said 
 properties ; therefore those who have thought the 
 properties of perceiving by sense, of understanding, 
 willing, imagining, remembering, and others the 
 like, which have no affinity with corporeal things, to 
 have risen from the body, have greatly transgressed 
 in the method of right reasoning and philosophising, 
 which hath been done by Epicurus, and those who 
 have thought as he did, having affirmed our minds 
 to be composed of corporeal atoms : but whence 
 shall we say they have had their rise ? truly, they 
 do not owe their rise to matter, which is wholly des- 
 titute of sense and thought, nor are they sponta- 
 neously sprung up from nothing, it being an onto- 
 logical maxim of most evident truth, that nothing 
 springs from nothing." 
 
 Having thus given the reader the first objections 
 made against the existence of spirits, and the re- 
 futations thereof, I must now frankly own on which 
 side my opinion leans ; and for my part, it seems 
 manifest to me that there are two beings ; we con- 
 ceive very plainly and distinctly, viz., body and spirit, 
 and that it would be as absurd and ridiculous to 
 deny the existence of the one as of the other ; and 
 really, if the refuters have got the better in their 
 way of reasoning, they have still a much greater 
 advantage over the objectors, when they come to 
 back these reasons with fresh arguments drawn 
 from experience. Of this, there having been many 
 undoubted narratives given in the foregoing pages, 
 concerning the apparitions of spirits, I shall refer 
 the reader back again to them, and only subjoin 
 here one or two instances, which may, if required, 
 be proved upon oath, of spirits seen by two persons 
 
204 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 of our Duncan Campbell's own acquaintance. In 
 the year 171], one Mrt. Stephens and her daughter 
 were together with Mr. Campbell, at the house of 
 Mr. Ramell, a very great and noted weaver at Hag- 
 gerstone, where the rainy weather detained them 
 till late at night. Just after the clock struck twelve, 
 they all of them went to the door to see if the rain 
 had ceased, being extremely desirous to get home. 
 As soon as ever they had opened the door and were 
 all got together, there appeared before them a thing 
 all in white, the face seemed of a dismal palid hue, 
 but the eyes thereof fiery and flaming, like beacons, 
 and of a saucer size. It made its approaches to 
 them till it came up within the space of about 
 three yards of them, there it fixed and stood like 
 a figure agaze, for some minutes ; and they all stood 
 likewise stiff, like the figure, frozen with fear, mo- 
 tionless, and speechless ; when all of a sudden it 
 vanished from their eyes, and that apparition to the 
 sight was succeeded by a noise, or the appearance 
 of a noise, like that which is occasioned by the 
 fighting of twenty mastiff dogs. 
 
 Not long after, Mrs. Anne Stephens, who lived 
 in Spitalfields, a woman well known by her great 
 dealings with mercers upon Ludgate-hill, sitting in 
 her house alone, and musing upon business, hap- 
 pened by accident to look behind her, and saw a 
 dead corpse, to her thinking, lie extended upon 
 the floor, just as a dead corpse should be, excepting 
 that the foot of one leg was fixed on the ground, 
 as it is in a bed when one lies with one knee up ; 
 she looked at it a long while, and by degrees at 
 last stole her eyes from so unpleasing and unex- 
 pected an object. However, a strange kind of 
 a curiosity overcame her fears, and she ventured a 
 second time to turn her head that way, and saw it, 
 as before, fixed for a considerable time longer, 
 but durst not stir from her seat ; she again with- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 205 
 
 drew her eyes from the horrible and melancholy 
 spectacle, and resumed the courage, after a little 
 reflection, of viewing it again, and resolving to 
 ascertain herself if the vision was real, by getting 
 up from her seat and going to it, but upon this 
 third retrospection she found it vanished. This 
 relation she writ down to Mr. Duncan Campbell, 
 and has told before Mrs. Ramell, her own sister, 
 and many other very creditable persons. Now as 
 to these arguments from experience, I shall also 
 deliver my opinion ; I dispute not but that learned 
 men, who have obstinate prepossessions, may pro- 
 duce plausible arguments why all things should be 
 thought to be done by imposture which seem 
 strange to them, and interfere with their belief; 
 and truly thus far their humour may be indulged, 
 that if only one person relates a very strange and 
 surprising story, a man may be more apt to think it is 
 possible for that person to lie, than that so strange a 
 relation should be true ; but if a considerable num- 
 ber of persons, of several countries, several religions, 
 several professions, several ages, and those persons 
 looked upon to be of as great sagacity as any the 
 country afford, agree in relations of the same kind, 
 though very strange, and are ready to vouch the 
 truth of them upon oath, after having well consi- 
 dered circumstances, I think it a violation of 
 the law of nature to reject all these relations as 
 fabulous, merely upon a self-presuming conceit, 
 unless a man can fairly show the things to be im- 
 possible, or can demonstrate wherein those persons 
 were imposed on ; for from hence I form the follow- 
 ing conclusive argument. What is possible accord- 
 ing to reason, grows probable according to belief; 
 where the possibility is attested to have reduced 
 itself into action by persons of known credit and 
 integrity. Now, not only the possibility of the ex- 
 
206 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 istence of spirits, but the actual existence thereof is 
 proved above by logical demonstration ; therefore 
 are we to believe both by the course of logical reason 
 and moral faith, that those existences have ap- 
 peared to men of credit, who have attested the 
 reality thereof upon oath. 
 
 Second objection against the existence of ivitches. 
 
 These objectors go on to say, that provided they 
 should allow there is an existence of spirits, yet that 
 would be still no argument how magic should sub- 
 sist, because they deny that it is impossible for a 
 man in his body to have a commerce, much less 
 make a contract, with spirits ; but here again the 
 refuters allege they have both experience and 
 reason on their sides. As a joint argument of 
 reason and experience, they tell you, that the nume- 
 rous witches which have in all countries been ar- 
 raigned and condemned upon this occasion, are 
 evident testimonies of this commerce and contract 
 being held and made with spirits. They pretend to 
 say, that these objectors call not their, the refuters, 
 judgment so much in question, who contend that 
 there is a magic art, as they call in question the 
 judgment of all the wisest legislative powers in 
 Christendom, who have universally agreed in 
 enacting penal laws against such capital offenders. 
 
 But here the objectors return and say, that it 
 being impossible for us to show the manner how 
 such a contract should be made, we can never, but 
 without reason, believe a thing to be, of which we 
 can form no perfect idea. The refuters, on the 
 other hand, reply with the learned father le Brune, 
 it is manifest that we can see but two sorts of beings, 
 spirits and bodies ; and that since we can reason but 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 207 
 
 according to our own ideas, we ought to ascribe to 
 spirits what cannot be produced by bodies. Indeed 
 the author of the Republic of Learning, in the month 
 of August, anno 1686, has given us a rough draught 
 for writing a good tract of witchcraft, which he looks 
 upon as a desideratum ; where among other things 
 he writes thus : Since this age is the true time of 
 systems, one should be contrived concerning the 
 commerce that may be betwixt demons and men. 
 
 On this passage father le Brune writes thus : 
 " Doubtless here the author complies with the language 
 of a great many persons, who, for want of attention 
 and light, would have us put all religion in systems. 
 Whatever regard I ought to have for many of those 
 persons, I must not be afraid to say, that there is no 
 system to be made of those truths, which we ought 
 to learn distinctly by faith, because we must advance 
 nothing here, but what we receive from the oracle. 
 "We must make a system to explain the effects of the 
 loadstone, the ebbing and flowing of the sea, the 
 motion of the planets ; for that the cause of these 
 effects is not evidently signified to us, and many may 
 be conceived by us ; and to determine us, we have 
 need of a great number of observations, which by an 
 exact induction may lead us to a cause that may 
 satisfy all the phenomena. It is not the same in the 
 truths of religion, we come not at them by groping, 
 it were to be wished men spoke not of them, but 
 after a decisive and infallible authority. It is thus 
 we should speak of the power of demons, and of the 
 commerce they have with men ; it is of faith, that they 
 have power, and that they attack men, and try to se- 
 duce them divers ways. It is true, indeed, they are 
 sometimes permitted to have it over the just, though 
 they have it not ordinarily, but over those that want 
 faith, or fear not to partake of their works ; and that 
 to the last particularly, the disordered intelligences 
 
208 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 try to make exactly succeed what they wish; inspiring 
 them to have recourse to certain practices by which 
 those seducing spirits enter into commerce with men." 
 Thus far father le Brune. But still these objectors 
 demand to know by what means this commerce 
 may be held between demons and men, and urge us 
 to describe the manner ; or pretend that they have 
 still reason to refuse coming into the belief of a 
 thing which we would impose upon them, though 
 wholly ignorant of it ourselves ; to that the refuters 
 answer thus ; that both Christian divines and 
 physicians agree as to the manner how, which 
 they are so curious in inquiring after, that demons 
 stir up raptures and ecstacies in men, binding or 
 loosing the exterior senses, and that either by stop- 
 ping the pores of the brain, so that the spirits cannot 
 pass forth, as it is done naturally by sleep, or by re- 
 calling the sensitive spirits from the outward senses 
 to the inward organs, which he there retains ; so 
 the Devil renders women witches ecstatical and ma- 
 gicians, who while they lie fast asleep in one place, 
 think they have been in divers places, and done 
 many things. This the learned objectors say pro- 
 ceeds from no demon, but from the disease called an 
 epilepsy ; but, on the other hand, the more learned 
 refuters insist upon it, that these ecstacies are not 
 epileptic seizures ; this, say they, appears from 
 Bodin, in his Theatre of Universal Nature, where he 
 says, That those that are wrapped by the Devil, feel 
 neither stripes nor cuttings, nor no'wresting of their 
 limbs, nor burning tortures, nor the application of 
 a redhot iron ; nay, nor is the beat of the pulse, nor 
 the motion of the heart perceived in them ; but 
 afterwards, returning to themselves, they feel most 
 bitter pains of the wounds received, and tell of 
 things done at six hundred miles' distance, and affirm 
 themselves to have seen them done. The ingenious 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 209 
 
 Dr. Ader, makes an admirable physical distinction 
 between this kind of ecstacy and a syncope, or stupor 
 caused by narcotic medicines. Sennertus, in his 
 Institutio Medica, writes of the demoniacal sopor of 
 witches, who think they are carried through the air, 
 dance, feast, and have copulation with the devil, 
 and do other things in their sleep, and afterwards 
 believe the same things waking. Now, he says, 
 whether they are really so carried in the air, &c, 
 or being in a profound sleep, or only dream they are 
 so carried, and persist in that opinion after they are 
 awake, these facts or dreams cannot be natural ; 
 for it cannot be that there should be so great an 
 agreement in dreams, of persons differing in place, 
 temperament, age, sex, and studies, that in one 
 night, and at the same hour, they should, in concert, 
 dream of one and the same such meeting, and should 
 agree as to the place, number, and quality of the 
 persons, and the like circumstances ; but such dreams 
 are suggested from a preternatural cause, viz., from 
 the devil to his confederate, by the divine permission 
 of an Almighty power, where punishments are to be 
 permitted to be inflicted upon reprobate sinners. 
 
 Whence also, to those witches sincerely converted, 
 and refusing to be any more present at those diabo- 
 lical meetings, those dreams no longer happen, which 
 is a proof that they proceeded not before from a 
 natural cause. 
 
 Here begins the great point of the dispute as to 
 that branch of magic which we call natural magic. 
 The objectors may tell us, that they will freely own 
 that there may be an existence of spirits, that there 
 may be an existence of witches, that by a divine 
 power men may be influenced so far as to have 
 a communication with good spirits, and that from 
 thence they may become spiritual-divine magicians 
 they will likewise, perhaps, as freely grant, that by 
 
 d. c. p 
 
210 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 the intervention of a demon things preternatural 
 may be brought about by persons who have studied 
 the demoniacal magic ; but then what they prin- 
 cipally insist upon is, that it must be contradictory 
 to all human reason to imagine that there can 
 be such a thing as natural magicians; and thus 
 far they may form their argument. They say, that 
 the persons, who contend for the magic art, own, 
 that all that is brought about by magic, is by the 
 assistance and help of a spirit, and that consequently 
 what is effected by it must be perternatural ; now, 
 they say, it is a thing inconsistent, by a natural 
 power, to bring about a perternatural effect ; there- 
 fore, there can be no such thing as natural magic, 
 which has within itself the efficacy of destroying 
 those acts done by magicians in the diabolical. 
 
 To this the refuters take leave to reply, that the 
 foundation upon which the argument is built is 
 wrong grounded ; they have admitted that, in dia- 
 bolical art magic, there may be a commerce held 
 between men and spirits, by which several preter- 
 natural effects may be brought about; and the 
 reason they assign for it there is, because there is 
 a preternatural agent concerned therein, the devil ; 
 but then, say they, in natural magic you can pre- 
 tend to no such agent, and therefore to no such pre- 
 ternatural effect. This argument contains within it 
 two fallacies ; first, as to the commerce held between 
 a man and a demon, there is nothing preternatural 
 in getting the acquaintance ; the will of the man is 
 entirely natural, either naturally good, or naturally 
 corrupted; the black spirit that converseth with 
 him, it is acknowledged is not so, but it is from 
 the will of the man ; not from the power vested 
 in the devil, that the acquaintance first grows, 
 therefore the acquaintance itself is natural, though 
 it arises from the last corruption and depravations 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 211 
 
 of nature; but being made with a preternatu- 
 ral existence, though the cause of the acquain- 
 tance be corruptedly natural, yet the interme- 
 diate cause or means after that acquaintance is not 
 so, and therefore the effect of that intermediate 
 cause may be wonderful, and seem to be out of the 
 ordinary course of nature. Now, since it is gene- 
 rally allowed that there are natural spirits of the 
 elements, as well as divine and infernal, what we 
 have to prove is only this, that man by natural 
 magic may have a commerce with natural spirits of 
 their elements, as witches may have with the spirits 
 or demons. Now, as we said before, the commerce 
 itself depends upon the will of the person, and is 
 therefore natural, and consequently may as well 
 subsist between the one as the other ; for the devil 
 cannot force a man to hold a commerce with him 
 whether he will or no. The second fallacy is calling 
 the effect preternatural, no otherwise than as it con- 
 notates the agent that brought it about, which is a 
 spiritual agent ; for the effect is, in itself considered, 
 natural, and brought about by second causes that 
 are natural, by the devil's penetration, who is 
 subtle enough to make use of them for such and 
 such ends. Now men, by natural spirits, which are 
 of a faculty thoroughly subtle, may as well with 
 natural second causes compass the remedy of an 
 evil spirit, as the devil is able to infect men with 
 it. From these speculations a further plain conse- 
 quence may be deduced, how a man may, by the 
 pure force of natural magic, cure a person that is 
 infested with evils by a demon ; for how is it that a 
 demon infests anybody with his evil motions ? It is 
 true, he is a preternatural agent, but the evil effect 
 he does is brought about by natural causes. For 
 how does a demon stir up raptures or ecstacies in 
 men? Why he does it, as we are told above, by 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 binding or loosing the exterior senses, by stopping 
 the pores of the brain, so that the spirits cannot pass 
 forth ; and this the art of physic can compass by 
 its drugs, and sleep causes the same thing very na- 
 turally of itself; therefore, as the evil itself is natural, 
 the remedy, that is natural, will certainly overcome 
 it. But then, say you, why cannot those persons be 
 cured by physicians? I answer, not because their 
 remedies are not in themselves sufficient to cure the 
 evils themselves, but because generally physicians 
 do not administer their drugs as Christians, but as 
 physicians ; and when they prescribe them to the 
 sick they generally prescribe to them only purely 
 considered as patients, not as Christians, and therein 
 they come to fail ; because the agent> the devil, is 
 a subtle spirit, that brings the evil, and alters its 
 situation before the remedy, which would master it 
 otherwise, can take any effect; which agent, the 
 devil, is employed by the horrible and impious faith 
 of the antiphysician, viz., the black magician ; but 
 if the physician would act the Christian at the same 
 time, so far as to have a faith that things ordained 
 in the course of nature for the good of man, would 
 have its effects in spite of a devil, if taken with a 
 good faith by the patient ; that all good things 
 ordained to be for the natural recovery of men, if 
 they took it with thankfulness to the sender, would 
 have due effect ; why then the natural spirits of the 
 elements would resist the further agency of the 
 demoniacal spirit, and then nothing but the natural 
 evil, caused at first by the demon, remaining in the 
 person, without the further superintendency of the 
 demon, might demonstratively be taken away b}^ the 
 mere natural remedy or medicine. And thus good 
 and pious physicians, making use of such proper re^- 
 medies as their skill teaches them, and having an 
 honest faith, that the goods of nature intended for 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 213 
 
 the use and benefit of man, if received by the patient 
 with the same good faith, is above the power of the 
 devil to frustrate, may not improperly be called na- 
 tural magicians. These arguments of mine I shall 
 now take leave to back by experience. 
 
 Besides, what we have urged from reason, con- 
 cerning the power of natural magic, we shall only 
 subjoin, that divines themselves hold that natural 
 magic, and also natural divinations and prophecies, 
 are proved by quotations from that venerable writ 
 which is their guide ; and bring proofs from the 
 same also, that by natural magic demons are also 
 cast forth, but not all kinds of demons, and so many 
 works of efficacy are wrought by natural magic ; 
 they tell you, such was the Pythonissa that raised 
 the apparition to Saul, which appeared in a body of 
 wind and air. Thus, if a person by natural magic 
 should cast out demons, it does not follow that this 
 was also from divine magic ; and if demons are cast 
 out by natural magic, by one that is in the fear of 
 God, it does not follow that he is a true magician of 
 God ; but if it exorbitates to demoniacal, then it is 
 condemned : and when natural magic keeps within its 
 bounds, the divines tell us it is not condemned in 
 the venerable book, which is the Christian's sure 
 guide. But, inasmuch as the lawfulness even of 
 natural magic has been called in question by others, 
 I shall, in an Appendix joined to this treatise, 
 examine that matter, both according to the reasons 
 of our English laws, and according to the best 
 stated rules of casuistry that I am a master of; still 
 submitting my judgment to the superior judgment 
 of those who are professed divines and lawyers ; and 
 if my opinions prove erroneous, I am willing to re- 
 tract them ; and therefore, in this place, there re- 
 mains nothing further for me to do, but only, as I 
 have shown, on the one hand, how natural magic, 
 
214 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 and its powerful operations, are proved by reason, 
 to show, on the other hand, how far reason in these 
 cases is likewise backed and supported by well- 
 evidenced practice, and notorious experience. And 
 to do this, after having mentioned one memorable 
 instance, which I refer the reader to in the body of 
 the book, concerning the performances of Mr. Great- 
 rix, to which a lord Orrery was a witness, in Ireland ; 
 I shall, to avoid prolixity, bring the other testimonials 
 of practice, from the success which our Duncan Camp- 
 bell himself has had in this way on other occasions. 
 In the year 1713, lived in Fenchurch-street, one 
 Mr. Coates, a tobacco-merchant, who had been for 
 many years sorely tormented in his body, and had 
 had recourse for a cure to all the most eminent 
 physicians of the age, even up to the great Dr. 
 Ratcliff himself ; but all this mighty application for 
 relief was still in vain ; each doctor owned him a 
 wonder and a mystery to physic, and left him as 
 much a wonder as they found him. Neither could 
 the professors of surgery guess at his ailment, or 
 resolve the riddle of his distemper; and after 
 having spent, from first to last, above a thousand 
 pounds in search of proper remedies, they found the 
 search ineffectual ; the learned all agreed that it 
 could proceed from nothing else but witchcraft ; 
 they had now indeed guessed the source of his ill- 
 ness, but it was an illness of such a kind that, when 
 they had found it out, they thought themselves not 
 the proper persons to prescribe to him any remedies. 
 That task was reserved, it seems, for our Duncan 
 Campbell, who, upon somebody's information or 
 other, was sent for to the bewitched patient Mr. 
 Coates, who found him the wonder that the others 
 had left him, but did wonders in undertaking and 
 compassing his cure. I remember, one of the in- 
 gredients made use of was boiling his own water, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 215 
 
 but I cannot tell how it was used ; and, upon turning 
 over the books of some great physicians since, I 
 have found, that they themselves have formerly de- 
 livered that as one part of the prescriptions for the 
 cure of patients in like cases. But as there are 
 other things which Mr. Campbell performs, that 
 seem to require a mixture of the second-sight, and 
 of this natural magic, before they can be brought 
 about, I will entertain the reader with one or two pas- 
 sages of that sort likewise, and so conclude the history 
 of this so singular a man's life and adventures. 
 
 In the year 1710, a gentlewoman lost about six 
 pounds' worth of Flanders lace, and inasmuch as it 
 was a present made to her husband, she was con- 
 cerned as much as if it had been of twenty times 
 the value ; and a lady of her acquaintance coming 
 to visit her, to whom she unfolded, among other 
 things in discourse, this little disaster, the lady, 
 smiling, replied with this question, Did you never 
 hear, madam, of Mr. Duncan Campbell ? It is but 
 making your application to him, things that are lost 
 are immediately found; the power of his know- 
 ledge exceeds even the power of laws ; they but 
 restrain, and frighten, and punish robbers, but he 
 makes thieves expiate their guilt by the more 
 virtuous way of turning restorers of the goods they 
 have stolen. Madam, rejoined the losing gentle- 
 woman, you smile when you tell me this ; but really, 
 as much a trifle as it is, since it was a present to my 
 husband, I cannot help being sensibly concerned at it, 
 a moment's disappointment to him in the least 
 thing in nature, creates in me a greater uneasiness 
 than the greatest disappointment to my single 
 self could do in things of moment and impor- 
 tance. What makes me smile, said the lady, 
 when I speak of it, or think of it, is the oddness 
 aud peculiarity of this man's talent in helping 
 
216 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 one to such things ; but, without the least jest, I 
 assure you, that I know, by experience, these 
 things come within the compass of his knowledge ; 
 and I must seriously tell you, for your further satis- 
 faction, that he has helped me, and several of my 
 friends, to the finding again things lost, which were 
 of great value. And is this, without laughing, true, 
 said the losing fair, very gravely and demurely, like 
 a person half believing, and desirous to be fully con- 
 firmed in such a belief? The lady she advised with 
 did then ascertain her of the truth of the matter, 
 alleging that, for a single half guinea, he would in- 
 form her of her things, and describe the person that 
 conveyed them away. No sooner was this gentle- 
 woman convinced, but she was eager for the trial; 
 solicited her friend to conduct her to Mr. Campbell, 
 and, upon the first word of consent, she was hooded 
 and scarfed immediately, and they coached it away 
 in a trice to Mr. Campbell's house, whom they 
 luckily found within. 
 
 The ladies had not been long seated before he 
 wrote down the name of this new client of his, 
 exactly as it was, viz., Mrs. Saxon. Then she was 
 in good hopes, and with much confidence pro- 
 pounded to him the question about the lace. He 
 paused but a very little while upon the matter, be- 
 fore he described the person that took it, and 
 satisfied her that in two or three days she would be 
 mistress of her lace again, and find it in some book, 
 or corner of her room. She presented him a half- 
 guinea, and was very contentedly going away, but 
 Mr. Campbell very kindly stopped her, and signified 
 to her, that, if she had no more to offer to him, he 
 had something of more importance to reveal to her. 
 She sat full of expectation while he wrote this new 
 matter ; and the paper he delivered to her con- 
 tained the following account : As for the loss of a 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 217 
 
 little bit of lace, it is a mere trifle ; you have lost 
 a great many hundreds of pounds, which your 
 aunt (naming her name) left you, but you are 
 bubbled out of that large sum. For while you 
 was artfully required down stairs about some pre- 
 tended business or other, one Mr. H — tt — n, 
 conveyed your aunt's will out of the desk, and seve- 
 ral other things of value ; and writing down the 
 names of all the persons concerned, which put Mrs. 
 Saxon in a great consternation, he concluded this 
 paper, with bidding her go home with a contented 
 mind, she should find her lace in a few days ; 
 and as she found that prediction prove true, she 
 should afterwards come and consult about the rest. 
 When she came home, it seems, big at first with 
 the thoughts of what she had been told, she rifled 
 and ransacked every corner, but no lace was to be 
 met with ; all the next day she hunted in the like 
 manner, but frightened the whole time as if she 
 thought the devil was the only person could bring 
 it, but all to no purpose ; the third day her curi- 
 osity abated, she gave over the hopes of it, and took 
 the prediction as a vain delusion, and that what 
 she gave for it was only more money thrown away 
 after what had been lost before. That very day, as 
 it commonly happens in such cases, when she least 
 dreamt of it, she lighted on it by accident and sur- 
 prise. She ran with it in her hand immediately to 
 her husband, and now she had recovered it again, told 
 him of the loss of it, and the whole story of her having 
 been at Mr. Campbell's about it ; and then, amplify- 
 ing the discourse about what he had told her besides, 
 as to more considerable affairs, she said she resolved 
 to go and consult him a little further about them, 
 and begged her husband to accompany her. He 
 would fain have laughed her out of that opinion 
 and intent, but the end was, she persuaded him 
 
218 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 into it, and prevailed upon him to seem at least 
 very serious about the matter, and go with her to 
 the oracle, assuring him there was no room for 
 doubting the same success. 
 
 Well, to Mr. Campbell's they accordingly came ; 
 and after Mr. Saxon, in deference to his wife's de- 
 sire, had paid our predictor a handsome comple- 
 ment of gold, Mr. Duncan Campbell saluted him 
 in as grateful a manner, with the assurance that 
 there was in Kent a little country house, with some 
 lands appertaining to it, that was his in right of his 
 wife ; that he had the house, as it were, before his 
 eyes, that though he had never substantially 
 seen it, nor been near the place where it stood, he 
 had seen it figuratively, as if in exact painting and 
 sculpture ; that particularly it had four green trees 
 before the door, from whence he was positive, that 
 if Mr. Saxon went with him in quest of it, he 
 should find it out, and know it as well the moment 
 he come near it, as if he had been an inhabitant in 
 it all his life. 
 
 Mr. Saxon, though somewhat of an unbeliever, 
 yet must naturally wish to find it true, you may be 
 sure, and yet partly doubting the event, and partly 
 pleased with the visionary promise of a fortune he 
 never expected, laughed very heartily at the odd- 
 ness of the adventure, and said he would consider 
 whether it would not savour too much of Quixotism, 
 ta be at the expense of a journey on such frolics, 
 and on such a chimerical foundation of airy hopes, 
 and that then he would call again and let Mr. 
 Campbell know his mind upon that point. 
 
 In every company he came into, it served for 
 laughter and diversion ; they all, however, agreed 
 it was worth his while, since the journey would not 
 be very expensive, to go it by way of frolic. His 
 wife, one morning, saying that she did remember 
 
OF MK. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 219 
 
 some talk of a house, and such things as Mr. Camp- 
 bell had described, put him forward upon the ad- 
 venture ; and upon Mr. Saxon's proposing it to his 
 brother Barnard, Mr. Barnard favoured the proposal 
 as a joke, and agreed upon the country ramble. 
 They came on horseback to Mr. Campbell's with a 
 third horse, on which the dumb predictor was 
 mounted, and so on they jogged into'Kent, towards 
 Sevenoaks, being the place which he described. 
 The first day they set out was on a Saturday morn- 
 ing in June, and about five that afternoon they 
 arrived at the Black Bull, at Sevenoaks, in Kent. It 
 being a delicate evening, they took an agreeable 
 walk up a fine hill, gracefully adorned with woods, 
 to an old seat of the earl of Dorset. Meeting by 
 the way with an old servant of the earl, one 
 Perkin, he offered Mr. Barnard who it seems, was 
 his old acquaintance, to give them all a sight of 
 that fine ancient seat. 
 
 After they had pleased themselves with viewing 
 the antique nobility of that stately structure, this 
 Perkin went back with them to their inn, the Bull, 
 at Sevenoaks. They that could talk were very 
 merry in chat ; and the dumb gentleman, who saw 
 them laugh and wear all the signs of alacrity in 
 their countenances, was resolved not to be behind 
 with their tongues, and by dint of pen, ink, and 
 paper, that he made signs should be brought in, 
 was resolved, if one might be said to crack without 
 noise, to crack his jest as well as the best of them ; 
 for it may be truly said of him, that he seldom comes 
 into any even diverting company, where he is not 
 the most diverting man there, and the head, though 
 we cannot call him the mouth, of the cheerful so- 
 ciety. After having eyed this Perkin a little, and 
 being grown, by his art, as we may suppose, as 
 familiar with the man's humour as if he had known 
 
220 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 him as many years as Mr. Barnard, Pray, Mr. 
 Barnard, quoth he in writing, how comes it, you, 
 that are so stanch and so stiff a whig, should be so 
 acquainted and so particularly familiar with such 
 an old papist, and so violent a Jacobite, as I know 
 that Mr. Perkin (whom I never saw nor had any no- 
 tice of in my life) to be? And pray, replied Mr. 
 Barnard, what reason have you beyond a pun to 
 take him for a Jacobite ? Must he be so because 
 his name is Perkin ? I do assure you, in this you 
 show yourself but little of a conjurer ; if you can 
 tell no more of houses than you do of men, we may 
 give over the search after the house you spoke of. 
 (Here the reader must understand they discoursed 
 on their fingers, and wrote by turns.) Mr. Camp- 
 bell replied seriously, Laying a wager is no argu- 
 ment in other things, I own, but in this I know it 
 is, because I am sure, after we have laid the wager, 
 he will fairly confess it among friends, since it will 
 go no further ; and I, said Mr. Campbell, will lay 
 what wager 3^0 u will apiece with you all round. 
 Hereupon, Mr. Barnard, who had known him a 
 great many years, was the first that laid, and many 
 more, to the number of five or six, followed his ex- 
 ample ; the decision of the matter was deferred till 
 next day at the return of the old man to the inn, they 
 being about to break up that night and go to bed. 
 
 The next day being Sunday, the landlord carried 
 his guests to see the country, and after a handsome 
 walk, they came through the churchyard. They 
 were poring upon the tombs ; no delight can be 
 greater to Mr, Campbell than that ; and really, by the 
 frequent walks he usually takes in Westminster 
 abbey, and the churchyards adjacent to this metro- 
 polis, one would imagine he takes delight to stalk 
 along by himself on that dumb silent ground, where 
 the characters of the persons are only to be known, 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 221 
 
 as his own meaning is, by writings and inscriptions 
 on the marble. When they had sufficiently sur- 
 veyed the churchyard, it grew near dinner-time, 
 and they went homewards ; but before they had got 
 many yards out of the churchyard, Mr. Campbell 
 makes a full stop, pointing up to a house, and stop- 
 ping his friends a little, he pulls out of his pocket a 
 pencil and paper, and notes down the following 
 words : That, that is the house my vision presented 
 to me ; I could swear it to be the same, I know it 
 to be the same, I am certain of it. The gentlemen 
 with him remarked it, would not take any further 
 notice at that time, intending to inquire into it 
 with secrecy, and so went on to the inn to dinner. 
 
 As merry as they had been the night before after 
 supper, they were still more innocently cheerful 
 this day after dinner, till the time of service begun. 
 When the duty of the day was performed and over, 
 they returned to divert and unbend their minds 
 with pleasant but harmless conversation. I sup- 
 pose nobody but a set of very great formalists will 
 be offended with scandal or scruples, that to tra- 
 vellers just ready to depart the town, Mr. Perkin 
 came on that good day and decided the wagers, by 
 owning to all the company, secrecy being first en- 
 joined, that he was a Roman catholic, though no- 
 body of the family knew it in so many years as he 
 had lived there, which was before Mr. Campbell 
 was born. This and other innocent speeches af- 
 forded as much cheerfulness as the Lord's-day 
 would allow of. 
 
 On the next day, being Monday, they sent for 
 one Mr. Toland Toler, an attorney of the place, to 
 find out to whom that house belonged, but by all 
 the inquiry that could possibly be made with con- 
 venient secrecy, nobody could find it out for a long 
 
222 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 time ; but at last it came to light, and appeared to be 
 justly to a tittle as Mr. Campbell had predicted. 
 
 Being now satisfied, the next day our three tra- 
 vellers returned for London; and the two vocal 
 men were very jocular upon their adventure, and 
 by their outward gesticulations gave the prophetical 
 mute his share of diversion. Mr. Barnard, as they 
 passed into a farmhouse-yard, remarked that all the 
 hogs fell a grunting and squeaking more and more 
 as Mr. Campbell came nearer, (who, poor man! 
 could know nothing of the jest, nor the cause of it, 
 till they alighted and told it him by signs and 
 writing,) said to Mr. Saxon, laughing, Now we have 
 found out our house, we shall have only Mr. Camp- 
 bell home again by himself, we have no further 
 need of the devil that accompanied him to the 
 country, up to town with us, there are other devils 
 enow to be met with there he knows ; and so this, 
 according to the fashion of his predecessor devils, 
 is entered into the herd of swine. 
 
 However, the event of this journey, to cut the 
 story short, procured Mr. Saxon a great insight, 
 upon inquiry, into several affairs belonging to him, 
 of which he would otherwise have had no know- 
 ledge ; and he is now engaged in a chancery suit 
 to do himself justice, and in a fair way of recover- 
 ing great sums of money, which, without the con- 
 sultation he had with this dumb gentleman, he had 
 in all likelihood never dreamt of. 
 
 In the year 1711, a gentleman, whose name 
 shall be, in this place, Amandus, famed for his ex- 
 quisite talents in all arts and sciences, but particu- 
 larly for his gentlemanlike and entertaining manner 
 of conversation, whose company was affected by all 
 men of wit, who grew his friends, and courted by 
 all ladies of an elegant taste, who grew his admirers ; 
 thi& accomplished gentleman, I say, came to Mr. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 223 
 
 Campbell, in order to propound a question to him, 
 which was so very intricate, and so difficult to an- 
 swer, that, if he did answer it, it might administer 
 to himself and the ladies he brought with him, the 
 pleasure of admiration in seeing a thing so wonder- 
 ful in itself performed ; or, on the other hand, if he 
 did not make a satisfactory reply to it, then it might 
 afford him and the ladies a very great delight, in 
 being the first that puzzled a man who had had the 
 reputation for so many years of being capable of 
 baffling all the wittiest devices and shrewd strata- 
 gems that had been from time to time invented to 
 baffle his skill and explode his penetration in the 
 second-sight, and the arts which he pretended to. 
 The persons whom Amandus brought with him, were 
 the illustrious lady Delphina, distinguished for her 
 great quality, but still more celebrated for her beauty, 
 his own lady, the admired Amabella, and a young 
 blooming pretty virgin whom we will call by the name 
 of Adeodata, about which last lady, the question was 
 to be put to Mr. Campbell. Adeodata, it seems, was 
 the natural daughter of this very fine gentleman, who 
 had never let her into the knowledge of her own 
 birth, but had bred her up from her infancy un- 
 der a borrowed name, in the notion that she was a 
 relation's daughter, and recommended to his care 
 in her infancy. Now the man that had the second- 
 sight was to be tried ; it was now to be put to the proof 
 if he could tell names or no ? Amandus was so much 
 an unbeliever as to be willing to hazard the disco- 
 very. Amabella and Delphina were strangers to 
 her real name, and asked Duncan Campbell, not 
 doubting but he would set down that which she or- 
 dinarily went by. Amabella had indeed been told 
 by Amandus, that Adeodata was the natural daughter 
 of a near friend of his ; but who this near friend was 
 remained a secret : that was the point which lay 
 
224 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 upon our Duncan Campbell to discover. When 
 the question was proposed to him, what her name 
 was, he looked at her very steadfastly, and shook his 
 head, and after some time he wrote down that it 
 would be a very difficult name for him to fix upon. 
 And truly so it proved ; he toiled for every letter till 
 he sweated ; and the ladies laughed incontinently, 
 imagining that he was in an agony of shame and 
 confusion at finding himself posed. He desired 
 Amandus to withdraw a little, for that he could not 
 so well take a full and proper survey of ladies' faces 
 when a gentleman was by. This disturbance and 
 perplexity of his afforded them still more subject of 
 mirth ; and that excuse was taken as a pretence, 
 and a put-off to cover his shame the better, and 
 hide from one at least, that he was but a downright 
 bungler in what he pretended to be so wonderful an 
 artist. However, after two hours hard sweat and 
 labour, and viewing the face in different shades and 
 lights, (for I must observe to the reader that there 
 is a vast deal of difference, some he can tell in a 
 minute or two with ease, some not in less than four 
 or five hours, and that with great trouble) he un- 
 deceived them with regard to his capacity. He 
 wrote down that Adeodata's real name was Amanda, 
 as being the natural daughter of Amandus. Del- 
 phina and Amabella were surprised at the disco- 
 very ; and Amandus, when he was called in, owning 
 it a truth, his wife Amabella applauded the curious 
 way of her coming by such a discovery, when 
 Adeodata was just marriageble, took a liking to 
 her as if her own daughter, and everything ended 
 with profit, mirth, and cheerfulness. I could add 
 a thousand more adventures of Mr. Campbell's life, 
 but that would prove tedious ; and as the town has 
 made a great demand for the book, it was thought 
 more proper to conclude it here. The most di- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 225 
 
 verting of all, are to be found best to the life in 
 original letters that passed between Mr. Campbell 
 and his correspondents, some select ones of which 
 will be shortly published in a little pocket volume, 
 for the further entertainment of such readers as 
 shall relish this treatise ; in which the author hopes 
 he shallbe esteemed to have endeavoured at the 
 intermingling of some curious disquisitions of 
 learning, with entertaining passages, and to have 
 ended all the merriest passages with a sober, in- 
 structive, and edifying moral, which even to those 
 who are not willing to believe the stories, is reck- 
 oned sufficient to recommend even fables them- 
 selves. 
 
 !). 0. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 It is not that Mr. Duncan Campbell stands in need 
 of my arguments, to prove that he is in no respect 
 liable to the acts of parliament made against fortune- 
 tellers, &c, that I undertake the writing of this Ap- 
 pendix, the true reason thereof being the more 
 completely to finish this undertaking ; for having, 
 in the body of the book itself, fully proved a second- 
 sight, and that the same frequently happens to 
 persons, some of them eminently remarkable for 
 piety and learning, and have from thence accounted 
 for the manner of Mr. Campbell's performing those 
 things he professes, to the great surprise, and no less 
 satisfaction of all the curious who are pleased to 
 consult him ; and at the same time proved the law- 
 fulness of such his performances from the opinions 
 of some of the most learned in holy science ; I. 
 thought it not improper to add the following short 
 Appendix, being a summary of several acts of par- 
 liament made against fortune-tellers, conjurers, 
 Egyptians, sorcerers, pretenders to prophecy, &c, 
 with some proper remarks, suited to our present 
 purpose, as well to satisfy them who are fantastically 
 wise, and obstinately shut their eyes against the 
 most refulgent reason, and are wilfully deaf to the 
 
 Q2 
 
228 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 most convincing and persuasive arguments, and 
 thereupon cry out, that Mr. Campbell is either an 
 impostor and a cheat, or at least a person who acts 
 by the assistance of unlawful powers ; as also to put 
 to silence the no less waspish curs, who are always 
 snarling at such whom providence has distinguished 
 by more excellent talents than their neighbours. 
 True merit is always the mark against which 
 traducers level their keenest darts ; and wit and in- 
 vention oftentimes join hands with ignorance and 
 malice to foil those who excel. Art has no greater 
 enemy than ignorance ; and were there no such 
 thing as vice, virtue would not shine with half its 
 lustre. Did Mr Campbell perform those wonderful 
 things he is so deservedly famous for, as these ca- 
 villers say, by holding intelligence with infernal 
 powers, or by any unjustifiable means, I am of opinion 
 he would find very few, in this atheistical age, who 
 would open their mouths against him, since none 
 love to act counter to the interest of that master they 
 industriously serve. And did he, on the other hand, 
 put the cheat upon the world, as they maliciously 
 assert, I fancy he would then be more generally 
 admired, especially in a country where the game is 
 so universally, artfully, and no less profitably played, 
 and that with applause, since those pretenders to 
 wisdom merrily divide the whole species of mankind 
 into the two classes of knaves and fools, fixing the 
 appellation of folly only upon those whom they 
 think not wise, that is, wicked enough to have a 
 share with them in the profitable guilt. 
 
 Our laws are as well intended by their wise 
 makers to screen the innocent, as to punish the 
 guilty; and where their penalties are remarkably 
 severe, the guilt they punish is of a proportionable 
 size. Art, which is a man's property, when acquired, 
 claims a protection from those very laws which false 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 229 
 
 pretenders thereto are to be tried and punished by, 
 or else all science would soon have an end ; for no 
 man would dare make use of any talent providence 
 had lent him, and his own industrious application 
 had improved, should he be immediately tried and 
 condemned by those statutes, which are made to 
 suppress villains, by every conceited and half-learned 
 pedant. 
 
 It is true, indeed, those excellent statutes, which 
 are made against a sort of people, who pretend to 
 fortune-telling and the like, are such as are well 
 warranted, as being built upon the best foundation, 
 viz., religion and policy ; and were Mr. Campbell 
 guilty of any such practice, as those are made to 
 punish, I openly declare, that I should be so far 
 from endeavouring to defend his cause, that I would 
 be one of the first that should aggravate his crime, 
 thereby to enforce the speedier execution of those 
 laws upon him, which are made against such of- 
 fenders. But when he is so far from acting, that he 
 doth not even pretend to any such practice, or for 
 countenancing the same in others, as is manifest 
 from the many detections he has made of that sort 
 of villany, which the book furnishes us with, I think 
 myself sufficiently justified for thus pleading in his 
 defence. 
 
 I cannot but take notice, in reading the statutes 
 made against such offenders, our wise legislature 
 hath not in any part of them seemed so much as to 
 imply that there are in reality any such wicked 
 persons as they are made against, to wit, conjurers, 
 &c, but that they are only pretenders to those in- 
 fernal arts, as may reasonably be inferred from the 
 nature of the penalties they inflict; for our first 
 laws of that sort only inflicted a penalty which 
 affected the goods and liberty of the guilty, and not 
 their lives, though indeed they were afterwards 
 
230 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 forced to heighten the punishment with a halter ; 
 not that they were better convinced, as I humbly 
 conceive, but because the criminals were most com- 
 monly persons who had no goods to forfeit, and to 
 whom their liberty was no otherwise valuable but 
 as it gave them the opportunity of doing mischief. 
 Indeed our law-books do furnish us with many 
 instances of persons who have been tried and exe- 
 cuted for witchcraft and sorcery, but then the wiser 
 part of mankind have taken the liberty to condemn 
 the magistrate, at that time of day, of too much in- 
 consideration, and the juries of an equal share of 
 credulity ; and those who have suffered for such 
 crimes, have been commonly persons of the lowest 
 rank, whose poverty might occasion a dislike of 
 them in their fellow-creatures, and their too artless 
 defence subject them to their mistaken justice ; so 
 that, upon the whole, I take the liberty to conclude, 
 and I hope not without good grounds, that those 
 laws were made to deter men from an idle pretence 
 to mysterious and unjustifiable arts, which, if too 
 closely pursued, commonly lead them into the 
 darkest villany, not only that of deceiving others, 
 but, as far as in them lie, making themselves slaves 
 to the devil ; and not to prevent and hinder men 
 from useful inquiries, and from the practice of such 
 arts, which though they are in themselves mysteri- 
 ous yet are, and may be lawful. 
 
 I would not however be thought, in contradiction 
 to my former arguments, to assert that there never 
 were, or that there now are, no persons such as 
 wizards, sorcerers, &c, for by so doing I should be 
 as liable to be censured for my incredulity, as those 
 who defame Mr. Campbell on that account are for 
 their want of reason and common honesty. Holy 
 and profane writ, I confess, furnishes us with 
 many instances of such persons ; but we must not 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 231 
 
 from thence hastily infer, that all those men are 
 such who are spitefully branded with the odious 
 guilt ; for were it in the devil's power to make every 
 wicked man a wizard, and woman a witch, he soon 
 would have agents enough to shake this lower world 
 to atoms; but the Almighty, who restrains him, like- 
 wise restrains those. 
 
 Having premised thus much, I shall now proceed 
 to consider some of the acts of parliament themselves ; 
 the persons against whom they were made, and the 
 necessity of making the same. And some of the 
 first acts we meet with, were those which were made 
 against a sort of people called Egyptians ; persons 
 who, if in reality such, might, if any, be suspected 
 of practising what we call the black art, the same 
 having been for many ages encouraged in their 
 country ; nay, so much has it been by them favoured, 
 that it was introduced into their superstitious re- 
 ligion, if I may without an absurdity call it so, and 
 made an essential part thereof; and, I believe, 
 Mahometanism has not much mended the matter, 
 since it has imperiously reigned there, or in any re- 
 spect reformed that idolatrous nation. Now the 
 mischief these persons might do, being so much in 
 the devil's power, among the unwary, was thought 
 too considerable not to be provided against ; and 
 therefore our wise legislature, the more effectually 
 to prevent the same, by striking at the very founda- 
 tion, made an act in the 22 Henry VIII. 8 : That 
 if any, calling themselves Egyptians, do come into 
 this realm, they shall forfeit all their goods; and 
 being demanded, shall depart the realm within 
 fifteen days, upon pain of imprisonment ; and the 
 importers of them, by another act, were made liable 
 to a heavy penalty. This act was continued by the 
 1 Philip and Mary. Conjuration, witchcraft, enchant- 
 ment, and sorcery, to get money, or consume any 
 
232 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 person in his body, members, or goods, or to provoke 
 any person to unlawful love, was by the 33 Henry 
 VIII. 14. and the 5 Elizabeth 16. and the 1 James 
 I. 12. made felony; and by the same 33 Henry 
 VIII. 14. it was made felony to declare to another 
 any false prophecies upon arms, &c, but this 
 act was repealed by the 1 Edward VI. 12. but by 
 another act of the 3 and 4 of Edward VI. 15. it was 
 again enacted, That all such persons who should 
 pretend to prophecies, &c, should, upon conviction, 
 for the first offence forfeit ten pounds, and one 
 year's imprisonment ; and for the second offence, all 
 his goods, and imprisonment for life. And by the 
 7 Edward VI. 11. the same was made to continue 
 but till the then next sessions of parliament. And 
 by the 5 Elizabeth 15. the same act was again re- 
 newed against fantastical prophesiers, &c, but both 
 those acts were repealed by the 1 James I. 12. 
 
 Thus far we find, that for reasons of state, and for 
 the punishment of particular persons, those acts 
 were made and repealed, as occasion required, and 
 not kept on foot, nor indeed were they ever made 
 use of, as I can remember in my reading, against 
 any persons whose studies led them into a useful 
 inquiry into the nature of things, or a lawful search 
 into the workings of nature itself, by which means 
 many things are foretold long before they come to 
 pass, as eclipses and the like, which astrologers 
 successfully do, whose art has been in all ages held 
 in so great esteem that the first monarchs of the 
 East made it their peculiar study, by which means 
 they deservedly acquired to themselves the name of 
 Magi, or wise men ; but, on the contrary, were pro- 
 vided against persons profligate and loose, who, 
 under a pretence and mask of science, commit vile 
 and roguish cheats ; and this will the more plainly 
 appear, if we consider the letter and express meaning 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 233 
 
 of the following acts, wherein the persons I am 
 speaking of, are described by such characters, which 
 sufficiently prove the assertion ; for in the 39 of 
 Elizabeth 4. it was enacted, That all persons calling 
 themselves scholars, going about begging, seafaring 
 men pretending losses of their ships and goods at sea, 
 and going about the country begging, or using any 
 subtle craft, feigning themselves to have knowledge 
 in physiognomy, palmistry, or any other the like 
 crafty science, or pretending that they can tell 
 destinies, fortunes, or such like fantastical imagina- 
 tions, shall be taken and deemed rogues, vagabonds, 
 sturdy beggars, and shall be stripped naked from 
 the middle upwards, and whipped till his or her 
 body be bloody. And by the 1 James I. 12. for 
 the better restraining of the said offences, and for 
 the further punishing the same, it was further 
 enacted, That any person or persons using witch- 
 craft, sorcery, &c, and all their aiders, abettors, and 
 counsellors, being convicted, and attainted of the 
 same offences, shall suffer pain of death, as felons, 
 without the benefit of clergy ; or to tell and declare 
 in what place any treasure of gold and silver should 
 or might be found in the earth, or other secret 
 places ; or where goods or things lost or stolen 
 should be found or become ; or to provoke any 
 person to unlawful love, such offender to suffer im- 
 prisonment for one whole year without bail or main- 
 prise, and once in every quarter of the said year 
 shall in some market-town, or upon the market-day, 
 or at any such time as any fair shall be kept there, 
 stand openly in the pillory by the space of six hours, 
 and there shall openly confess his or their offence ; 
 and for the second offence shall suffer death as felons, 
 without the benefit of clergy. 
 
 That these laws were made against a set of vil- 
 lains, whose natural antipathy to honesty and la- 
 
234 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 bour furnished them with pretensions to an un- 
 common skill, thereby the more easily to gull and 
 cheat the superstitiously credulous, and by that 
 means discover from them some such secrets that 
 might further them in perpetrating the more con- 
 summate villany, is plain from the very words and 
 expressions of the very acts themselves, and the 
 description of the persons they are made against ; 
 and not, as I before observed, to prevent and hin- 
 der men from the lawful inquiry after useful; de- 
 lightful, and profitable knowledge. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, who has been long a settled and 
 reputable inhabitant in many eminent parts of 
 the city of London, cannot, I am sure, be looked 
 upon as one of those these acts of parliament were 
 made against, unless we first strip the acts them- 
 selves of their own natural, express, and plain mean- 
 ing, and clothe them with that which is more ob- 
 scure, unnatural, forced, and constrained a practice ; 
 which, if allowed, would make them wound the in- 
 nocent and clear the guilty, and render them not 
 our defence but our greatest evil; they would, by 
 that means, become a perfect enigma, and be so far 
 from being admired for their plainness, that they 
 would be even exploded like the oracles of the hea- 
 then for their double meaning. 
 
 If Mr. Campbell has the second-sight, as is un- 
 questionable, from the allowed maxim, that what 
 has been may be again, and by that means can 
 take a view of contingences and future events ; so 
 long as he confines these notices of approaching 
 occurrences to a good purpose, and makes use of 
 them only innocently and charitably to warn per- 
 sons from doing such things, that according to his 
 conceptions would lead them into misfortune, or 
 else in putting them upon such arts that may be of 
 use and benefit to themselves and posterity, always 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL,. 235 
 
 having a strict regard to morality and religion, to 
 which he truly adheres ; certainly, I think, he 
 ought so much the more to be admired for the 
 same, by how much the more this his excellent 
 knowledge is surpassing that of other men, and not 
 be therefore unjustly upbraided with the injurious 
 character of a cheat, or an ill man : however, this 
 I will presume to affirm, and I doubt not but to 
 have my opinion confirmed by the learned sages of 
 the law, that this his innocent practice, and I ven- 
 ture to add, honest one too, doth by no means enti- 
 tle him to the penalties of the before-mentioned 
 laws made against fortune-tellers, and such sort of 
 profligate wretches ; which it is as great an ab- 
 surdity to decry, as it would be to call him, who is 
 a settled and reputable inhabitant, a stroller or 
 wandering beggar. 
 
 Again ; it is true that Mr. Campbell has relieved 
 many that have been supposed to have been be- 
 witched, as is related and well attested in the book 
 of his life ; but will any one from thence argue that 
 he himself is a real conjurer, or wizard, because he 
 breaks the chains by which those unhappy wretches 
 were bound ? No, surely ; for if that were the case, 
 we might then as well indict the physician who 
 drives away a malignant distemper, and roots out 
 its latent cause by his mysterious skill in plants and 
 drugs ; or conclude that the judge, who condemns a 
 criminal, is for the same reason guilty of the self- 
 same crime for which the offender is so by him 
 condemned. Persons who delight in such unnatu- 
 ral conclusions, must certainly be in love with the 
 greatest absurdities, and must entirely abandon 
 their natural reason before they can be brought to 
 conclude that the Prince of Darkness would assist 
 men in destroying his own power. 
 
 The best answer I can afford those men is silence ; 
 
236 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 for if they will not argue upon the principles of rea- 
 son, or be guided by her dictates, I think them no 
 more fit to be contended with in a rational and 
 decent manner than bedlamites, and such who are 
 bereft of all understanding. A rod is the best ar- 
 gument for the back of a fool, and contempt the 
 best usage that ought to be shown to every head- 
 strong and ignorant opponent. 
 
 In a word, I know of no branch of Mr. Campbell's 
 practice that bears the least resemblance to those 
 crimes mentioned in the foregoing acts. That he 
 can and doth tell people's names at first sight, 
 though perfect strangers to him, is confessed by all 
 who have made the curious inquiry at his hands ; 
 but what part of the acts, I would fain know, is that 
 against ? Knowledge, and a clear sight into things 
 not common, is not only an allowable, but a com- 
 mendable qualification ; and whether this know- 
 ledge in him be inherent, accidental, or the result 
 of a long study, the case is still the same ; since we 
 are assured he doth it by no unlawful intelligence, 
 or makes use of the same to any ill purpose, and 
 therefore is undoubtedly as lawful as to draw natu- 
 ral conclusions from right premises. Hard is the 
 fate of any man to be ignorant, but much harder 
 would his lot be if he were to be punished for being 
 wise ; and, like Mr. Campbell, excelling others in 
 this kind of knowledge. 
 
 Much more might be said in defence of Mr. 
 Campbell and the art he professeth, but as the ar- 
 guments which are brought against him by his ene- 
 mies on the one hand, are trivial and ill-grounded, 
 I therefore think they deserve no further refu- 
 tation ; so on the other, his innocency is too clear 
 to require it. 
 
 After having thus taken a survey of Mr. Camp- 
 bell's acts, with regard to their legality according 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 287 
 
 to the statutes and the laws of the nation wherein 
 he lives, we will consider next, whether, according 
 to the stated rules of casuistry, among the great 
 divines eminent for their authority, it may be law- 
 ful for Mr. Campbell to predict, or for good Christian 
 persons to visit his house, and consult him about 
 his predictions. I have upon this head examined 
 all the learned casuists I could meet with in ancient 
 times, for I cannot meet, in my reading, with any 
 moderns that treat thoroughly upon this case, or I 
 should rather have chosen them, because, perhaps, 
 the second-sight was less known in those ancient 
 days than it has been since, and so might escape 
 their notice. 
 
 My design is first to give the reader a distinct 
 summary of all that has been said of this matter, 
 and to do it as succinctly and briefly as possible, 
 and then to argue myself from what they agree 
 upon as to this man's particular case. 
 
 That the reader may have recourse to the authors 
 themselves, if they have a curiosity, and find that I 
 do not go about to impose upon their judgments, I 
 will here tell the reader where he may find the 
 whole contents of the following little abstract of 
 divinity and casuistry, because it would be a tedious 
 piece of work to set down the words of each of 
 them distinctly, and quote them every one round at 
 the end of their several different sentences, which 
 tend to the same meaning, but I will strictly keep 
 to the sense of them all ; and I here give the reader 
 their names, and the places, that he may consult 
 them himself, if his inclination leads him to be so 
 curious : Thomas Aquinas, iv. Distin. 34. Qucestio. 
 1. Art. 3 ; Bona, ii. Dist 7. Art. 2. Qucest. 1 ; 
 Joannes Major, iv. Dist 34. Qucest 2 ; Sylvester, 
 Verbo Malefico. Qucest. 8 ; Rosella, Verb. Impedi- 
 mentum, xv. cap. 18 ; Tabiena, Verb. Impedimen- 
 
238 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 turn, 12 vers. ; Cajetan, torn. ii. Opusc. 12. de Ma- 
 lefic ; Alphonsus, a Cast lib. x. de Justa Hceretieo- 
 rum Punitione, cap. 1 5 ; Cosmus Philiarchus, de 
 Ojffic. Sacerdot p. 2. lib. iii. cap. 11 ; Toletus, in 
 Summa. lib. iv. cap. 16 ; Spineus, in Tract, de 
 Strigibus ; Petrus Binsfield, in Tract, de Confes- 
 sionibus Maleficorum. 
 
 These divines have generally written upon impi- 
 ous arts of magic, which they call by the name of 
 divination ; and this divination, as they term it, 
 they divide into two kinds ; the one, in which the 
 devil is expressly invoked, to teach hidden and oc- 
 cult things ; the other, in which he is tacitly called 
 upon to do the same. An express invocation is by 
 word or deed, by which a real pact is actually made 
 with the devil, and that is a sin that affects the 
 death of the soul, according to the laws of theology, 
 and ought to affect the death of the body, accord- 
 ing to civil and political laws. The tacit invoca- 
 tion of demons is then only, when a man busies 
 himself so far with such persons, that it is meet and 
 just that the devil should be permitted to have to 
 do with him, though it was opposite to the intention 
 of the man. 
 
 But then this express invocation is again subdi- 
 vided into several species, according to the di- 
 vers manners by which the devil instructs these 
 men. 
 
 The first is enchantment, which I need not de- 
 scribe, and of which I will speak no more, because 
 it is what everybody knows to be detestable, and 
 nobody ought to know the art thereof. 
 
 The second is divination by dreams, when any 
 instructions are expected from the devil by way of 
 dream, which is a capital crime. 
 
 The third is called necromancy, which is, when 
 by the use of blood and writing, or speaking cer- 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 239 
 
 tain verses, the dead seem to rise again, and speak 
 and teach future things. For though the devil 
 cannot recall a soul departed, yet he can, as some 
 have thought, take the shape of the dead corpse, 
 himself actuate it by his subtlety, as if it was in- 
 formed with a soul. And some affirm, that by the 
 divine permission the devil can do this, and spake 
 so in the case of Samuel and Saul. But divines of 
 a more solid genius attribute that power only to the 
 deity, and say, with reason, that it is beyond the 
 devil's capacity. But it is certain this was a divi- 
 nation done in dead animals by the use of their 
 blood, and therefore the word is derived from the 
 Greek veKplv, which signifies dead, and Mavi^a, 
 which signifies divination. 
 
 The fourth species is called divination by the 
 Pythians, which was taken from Apollo, the first 
 diviner, as Thomas Aquinas says in his Secunda 
 Secundce, Qucest. 95. Art. 3. 
 
 The fifth is called geomancy, which is when the 
 devil teaches anything by certain signs appearing 
 in the earthly bodies, as in wood, iron, or polished 
 stones, beryls, or glass. 
 
 The sixth is named hydromancy, as when a de- 
 mon teaches anything by appearances in the water. 
 
 The seventh is styled aeromancy ; and it is when 
 he informs people of such things by figures in the 
 air. 
 
 The eighth is entituled pyromancy ; that is, 
 when it instructs people by forms appearing in the 
 fire. 
 
 The ninth is termed aruspicy ; which is when by 
 signs appearing in the bowels of sacrificed animals 
 the demon predicts at altars. 
 
 Thus far as to express divination, or invocation of 
 the devil, which is detestable ; and the very con- 
 
240 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 suiting of persons that use such unlawful means is, 
 according to the judgment of all casuists, the high 
 road to eternal damration. 
 
 Now as to tacit divination, or invocation of the 
 devil, that is divided into two subaltern kinds* 
 The first kind is, when for the sake of knowing 
 hidden things, they make use of a vain and super- 
 stitious disposition existing in things to judge from ; 
 which disposition is not of a sufficient virtue to lead 
 them to any real judgment. The second kind of 
 tacit divination is, when that knowledge is sought 
 by the disposition of those things which men effect 
 on purpose and of their own accord, in order to 
 come by and acquire that knowledge. 
 
 Both these kinds of tacit divination are again 
 subdivided into several species, as are particularly 
 mentioned by St. Thomas, Secunda Secundce, 
 Qucest 95. Art 3 ; Gregory de Valentine, torn. iii. 
 Disput 6. Qucest. 12. Puncto 2 ; Toletus, in 
 Summa. lib. iv. cap. 15 ; and Michael Medina, lib. 
 ii. de Recta in Deumfide : post Sanctum Augusti- 
 num. lib. ii. de Doct Christ cap. 19. et seq. 
 
 The first of these kinds of tacit divination con- 
 tains under it the following several species : — 
 
 The first species is called Genethliacal, which is 
 when from the movement or situation of the stars, 
 men's nativities are calculated and inquired into so 
 far, as that from such a search they pretend to de- 
 duce the knowledge of human effects, and the con- 
 tingent events that are to attend them. This Tho- 
 mas Aquinas and Sixtus Quintus condemns ; but 
 I shall, with humility and submission to greater 
 judgments, inquire hereafter into their reasons, and 
 give my opinion why I think this no evil art ; but 
 I submit my opinion, if, after it is given, it is 
 thought erroneous. 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 241 
 
 The second is augury, when anything is predicted 
 from the chattering of birds, or the voice of ani- 
 mals, and this may be either lawful or unlawful. If 
 it comes from natural instinct, for brutes having 
 only a sensitive soul, have their organs subject to 
 the disposition of the greater bodies in which they 
 are contained, and principally of all to the celestial 
 bodies, his augury is not amiss. For if when crows 
 are remarked to caw, as the vulgar phrase is, more 
 than ordinary, it is, judging according to the in- 
 stinct of their nature, if we expect rain, and we may 
 reasonably depend upon it, we shall be right if we 
 foretell rain to be at hand. But sometimes the 
 devils actuate those brute animals to excite vain 
 ideas in men, contrary to what the instinct of their 
 nature compels them to. This is superstitious and 
 unlawful, and forbid in holy writ. 
 
 The third is aruspicy, when from the flight of 
 birds, or any other motion of any animals whatso- 
 ever, persons pretend to have an insight and a pe- 
 netrative knowledge into occult and hidden matters. 
 
 The fourth consists in omens, when, for example, 
 a man from any words which others may have 
 spoken on purpose, or by accident, pretends to 
 gather a way of looking into and knowing any- 
 thing of futurity. 
 
 The fifth is chiromancy, which consists in mak- 
 ing a pretence to the knowledge of future things 
 by the figures and the lines of the hands ; and if it 
 be by consulting the shoulder-bones of any beast, 
 it goes by the name of spatulamancy. 
 
 As the first kind of divination, by a tacit invoca- 
 tion of the devil, is divided into the five species 
 above mentioned; so also is the second kind of 
 tacit divination, or invocation of the devil, divided 
 into two species by St. Thomas of Aquin. Secunda 
 
 d. c. R 
 
242 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Secundce, questione nonagesima quinta articulo 
 tertio, and too tedious to insert here. 
 
 Now all these ways are by these divines counted 
 wicked, and I set them down that people may avoid 
 them. For how many gipsies and pretenders to 
 chiromancy have we in London and in the country ? 
 How many that are for hydromancy, that pretend 
 in water to show men mighty mysteries? And 
 how many in geomancy, with their beryls and 
 their glasses, that, if they are not under the insti- 
 gation of the devil, propagate the scandal at least 
 by being cheats, and who ought to be punished to 
 the utmost severity, as our English laws enact ? 
 Mr. Campbell, who hates, contemns, and abhors 
 these ways, ought, methinks, to be encouraged by 
 their being restrained ; and people of curious tem- 
 pers, who always receive from him moral and good 
 instructions, which make them happy in the con- 
 duct of life, should be animated in a public manner 
 to consult him, in order to divert the curious itch 
 of their humours from consulting such wicked im- 
 postors, or diabolical practisers, as too frequently 
 abound in this nation, by reason of the inquisitive 
 vulgar, who are more numerous in our climate, 
 than any I ever read of. 
 
 But now to argue the case of conscience with 
 regard to his particular practice by way of the se- 
 cond-sight, whether, in foro conscientice, it is law- 
 ful for him to follow it, or others to consult him ? 
 The divines above mentioned having never had any 
 notice of that faculty in all likelihood, or if they 
 had, never mentioning it, makes it a point more 
 difficult for me to discuss ; but I think they have 
 stated some cases, by the making of which my pre- 
 mises, I can deduce from all the learned men I have 
 above quoted, a conclusion in favour of our Mr. 
 Duncan Campbell, and of those who consult him ; 
 
OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 243 
 
 but my opinion shall be always corrected by those 
 who are wiser than myself, and to whom I owe en- 
 tire submission. I take leave to fix these premises 
 from them first, and to form my argument from 
 them afterwards in the following manner : — 
 
 First, It is allowed by all these divines, that a 
 knowledge which one may have of future things 
 within the order of nature, is and may be lawful. 
 
 Secondly, They imply, that where justice is not 
 violated, it is lawful both to predict and to consult. 
 
 Thirdly, 3Iany of them, but particularly Aureolus, 
 puts this question : Is it lawful to go to one that 
 deals in the black art, to persuade them to cure 
 any innocent body that another necromancer or 
 dealer in the black art may have maliciously af- 
 flicted and tormented with pains ? And some 
 of these casuists, particularly Aureolus, say, it is 
 lawful on such an occasion to go to such a con- 
 jurer, because the end is not conjuration, but free- 
 ing a person from it. x 
 
 But I take leave to dissent from these great men, 
 and think they are in a double mistake ; first, in 
 stating the question, and then in making such an 
 answer, provided the question had been stated 
 right. 
 
 The question is founded upon this supposition, 
 which is passed by as granted, viz., that one necro- 
 mancer could release a person bewitched by an- 
 other, which is absolutely false ; for it is against 
 the nature of the devil to be made an instrument to 
 undo his own works of impiety. But admitting 
 and not granting this to be possible, and the ques- 
 tion to be rightly stated, why still these casusits are 
 out in their answer ? It is lawful, reply they, be- 
 cause the end of going to the conjurers, is not con- 
 juration, but freeing a good person from it ; but 
 the end is not the point here to be considered, it is 
 
244 THE LIFE OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 the medium, which is bad, that is to be considered. 
 It is by conjuration, according to their hypothesis, 
 the other conjuration is to be dissolved ; and does 
 not the common rule, that a man must not do evil 
 that good may come of it, forbid this practice ? 
 And to speak my opinion plainly in that case, the 
 friend that should consult a conjurer for that end, 
 would be only so kind to put his own soul in dan- 
 ger of being guilty of hell torment's, to relieve his 
 afflicted friend from some bodily pains, which it 
 would be a virtue in him to suffer with patience 
 and resignation. 
 
 Others, almost all divines, indeed, agree, that it is 
 and may be lawful to go to a conjurer that torments 
 another, and give him money not to afflict the pa- 
 tient any longer ; because that is only feeing him 
 to desist from acting after his conjuring manner. 
 
 These premises thus settled, if we allow the se- 
 cond-sight to be inborn and inbred, and natural 
 and common to some families, which is proved in 
 the book ; and if all that Mr. Campbell has pre- 
 dicted in that second-sighted way terminates with 
 moral advice, and the profit of the consulter, and 
 without the violation of justice to others, as the book 
 shows all throughout ; if he can relieve from witch- 
 craft, as it seems oath is to be had he can, which 
 no one that deals in black art can do, why then I 
 need not draw the conclusion, every reader will do 
 it naturally ; they will avow all the strictest laws 
 of casuistry and morality to be in favour of Mr. 
 Campbell and his consulters. 
 
VERSES 
 
 TO MR. CAMPBELL, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES. 
 
 I codrt no muse amidst the tuneful throng, 
 
 Thy genii, Campbell, shall inspire my song ; 
 
 The gentle summons every thought obeys, 
 
 Wakens my soul, and tunes it all to lays. 
 
 Among the thousand wonders thou hast shown, 
 
 I, in a moment, am a poet grown ; 
 
 The rising images each other meet, 
 
 Fall into verse, and dance away with feet ; 
 
 Now with thy Cupid and thy lamb I rove % 
 
 Through ev'ry bloomy mead and fragrant grove. 
 
 A thousand things I can myself divine, 
 
 Thy little genii whispers them to mine ; 
 
 Beyond the grave I see thy deathless fame, 
 
 The fair and young all singing Campbell's name ; 
 
 And Love himself — for Love and thou art friends, 
 
 He joins the chorus, and his dart defends. 
 
 What noisy talker can thy magic boast ? 
 
 Let those dull wretches try who scorn thee most. 
 
 a See Mr. Campbell's Life, p. 54. 
 
246 VERSES 
 
 O, sacred silence ! let me ever dwell, 
 With the sweet muses, in thy lonely cell ! 
 Or else bind up, in thy eternal chain, 
 Scandal and noise, and all that talk in vain. 
 
 M. Fowke. 
 
 TO MRS. FOWKE, 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE FOREGOING VERSES. 
 
 Sweet nightingale ! whose artful numbers show, 
 Expressive eloquence to silent woe, 
 Sing on, and in thy sex's power presume, 
 By praising Campbell, to strike nations dumb 
 
 Whene'er you sing, silent, as he, they'll stand, 
 Speak by their eyes, grow eloquent by hand : 
 Tongues are confusion, but as learnt by you, 
 All but Pythagoras's doctrine's true ; 
 Campbell and he taught silence — had he heard 
 How much thy lays to silence were preferr'd, 
 He had recanted from thy powerful song, 
 And justly wish'd each organ had a tongue. 
 
 But could he see, what you, in every line, 
 Prophetic tell of Campbell's sight divine, 
 Like Croesus's sons his loosened nerves must break, 
 And ask the cause — or make his Campbell speak. 
 
 G. S. 
 
TO MR. CAMPBELL. 247 
 
 TO MR. CAMPBELL. 
 
 Milton's immortal wish a you sure must feel, 
 To point those fates which you to all reveal ; 
 If second-sight so much alarms mankind, 
 What transports must it give to know thy mind ? 
 Thy book is but the shadow of thy worth, 
 Like distant lights, which set some picture forth. 
 But if the artist's skill we nearer trace, 
 And strictly view each feature of the face, 
 We find the charm that animates the whole, 
 And leave the body to adore the soul. 
 Milton's immortal wish you sure must feel, 
 To point those fates which you to all reveal. 
 
 I. Philips. 
 
 a To see and tell 
 Of things invisible to mortal sight. 
 
 Paradise Lost. 
 
248 
 
 VERSES 
 
 THE PARALLEL 
 
 TO MR. CAMPBELL. 
 
 As Denham sings, mysterious 'twas, the same 
 Should be the prophet's and the poet's name a ; 
 But while the sons of genius join to praise, 
 What thine presaging dictates to their lays, 
 The things they sweetly sing, and you foreshow, 
 Open the Sampson riddle to our view ; 
 Strong are thy prophecies, their numbers sweet, 
 And with the lion combs of honey meet. 
 
 Late on fantastic cabalistic schemes, 
 Of waking whimsies, or of feverish dreams, 
 New cobweb threads of poetry were spun, 
 In gaudy snares, like flies, were witlings won, 
 Their brains entangled, and our art undone. 
 
 Pope, first, descended from a monkish race, 
 Cheapens the charms of art, and daubs her face ; 
 
 a (Vates) See the Progress of Learning. 
 
TO MR. CAMPBELL. 249 
 
 From Gabalis b his mushroom fictions rise, 
 Lop off his sylphs — and his Belinda dies ; 
 The attending insects hover in the air, 
 No longer than they're present is she fair ; 
 Some dart those eyebeams, which the youths be- 
 guile, 
 And some sit conquering in a dimpling smile. 
 Some pinch the tucker, and some smooth the 
 
 smock, 
 Some guard an upper, some a lower lock ; 
 But if these truant body-guards escape, 
 In whip the gnomes and strait commit a rape ; 
 The curling honours of her head they seize, 
 Hairs less in sight, or any hairs they please ; 
 But if to angry frowns her brow she bends, 
 Upon her front some sullen gnome descends, 
 Whisks through the furrows with its airy form, 
 Bristles her eyebrows and ' directs the storm.' 
 
 As wide from these are Addisonian themes, 
 As angels' thoughts are from distempered dreams ; 
 Spenser and he, to image nature, knew, 
 Like living persons, vice and virtue drew : 
 At once instructed and well pleas'd we read, 
 While in sweet morals these two poets lead, 
 No less to wisdom than to wit pretence, 
 They led by music, but they led to sense. 
 
 But Pope scarce ever force to fancy joins, 
 With dancing-master's feet equips his lines, 
 Plumes empty fancy, and in tinsel shines. 
 Or if by chance his judgment seems to lead, 
 Where one poor moral faintly shows its head, 
 
 b See the History of the Count de Gabalis, from whence 
 he has taken the machinery of his Rape of the Lock. 
 c Mrs. F — m-r. 
 
250 VERSES 
 
 'Tis like a judge, that reverently drest, 
 Peeps through the pageants at a lord may Ys feast ; 
 By starts he reasons, end seems wise by fits, 
 Such wit's call'd wisdom, that has lost its wits. 
 
 Unnam'd by me this witling bard had been, 
 Had not the writer's caused the reader's sin ; 
 But less by comedies and lewd romances, 
 Are ruin'd, less by French lascivious dances, 
 Than by such rhymers' masqueraded fancies. 
 
 From such the root of superstition grew, 
 Whose old charms fertile, daily branch'd in new ; 
 From such chimeras first inspired, the fair 
 The conj'rer's ring approach'd, and Jesuit's chair ; 
 Throng'd to the doors where magic rogues divin'd, 
 And sold out ignesfatui to the mind. 
 
 Wizards and Jesuits differ but in name, 
 Both demon's envoys, and their trade the same ; 
 Weak wills they lead, and vapour'd minds command, 
 And play the game into each others' hand ; 
 Like spiritual jugglers at the cup and ball, 
 Rising by foolish maids, that long to fall. 
 Some into love they damn, and some they pray, 
 For greensick minds are caught a different way ; 
 To the same end, tho' several paths, they run, 
 Priests to undo, and maids to be undone ; 
 Some blacker charms, some whiter spells cajole, 
 As some lick wall and some devour a coal. 
 Here ladies, strong in vapours, see men's faces 
 Imprinted in the conjurer's dazzling glasses, 
 There, when, in spring time, the too praying priest, 
 Toasts, and does something better, — to the best 
 A spouse is promised on next Baptist's d feast. 
 
 d See the Dedication of Mr. Campbell's Life. 
 
TO MH. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 251 
 
 First some young contrite rake's enjoined to marry, 
 Lest — madam's forc'd to squeak for't — or, mis- 
 carry : 
 In June, the lass does to the fields repair, 
 Where good sir Domine just took the air. 
 When, O strange wonder ! near a plaintain root, 
 She finds a coal — and so a spouse to boot. 
 She longs to dream — and to secure the sport 
 That very day the youth design'd — must court, 
 He does — she struck with rapture and delight. 
 Bespeaks her fancy — strongly — dreams at night. 
 The yielding fair, the ravish'd youth obtains, 
 A maid she passes — so his child's free gains, 
 He has the pleasure, yet is sav'd the pains. 
 Thus when priest's wench — to cure the growing 
 
 evil 
 Poor St. John Baptist must forerun the devil. 
 
 But if the ladies fall, at fall of leaf, 
 Or in the winter — still there's fresh relief ; 
 Let her lace close four months, and if she can, 
 St. Agnes e heals the breach and brings the man. 
 Thus a lewd priest to vapour'd virgins cants, 
 And into pimps reverts his vestal saints. 
 
 O ! dire effects of mask'd impiety ! 
 And shall they, Christian muse ! have aids from 
 
 thee ; 
 Wilt thou, like witty heathens, lewdly given, 
 To a Gehenna metamorphose Heaven? 
 Wilt thou ? — O no — forbid th' unhallow'd song, 
 Such profanations to Rome's bard belong. 
 Let one, who gods and goddesses adores, 
 Paint them like rakes and bullies, bawds, and 
 
 whores. 
 
 c See Mr. Campbell's Dedication. 
 
252 VERSES 
 
 Our genii, Campbell, shall be all divine, 
 Shall high o'er theirs as much distinguish' d shiae, 
 As o'er such priests or chiromancers, thine. 
 Thine, which does future time's events command 
 To leap to sight, and in thy presence stand; 
 Thine, whose eyes glowing with a gifted ray, 
 New roads of life o'er wisdom's Alps survey, , 
 And guide benighted travellers to day. 
 Let me, for once, a daring prophet be, 
 Mark from this hour — and poetry thoul't see 
 Date a new era from thy book and thee ; 
 Thy book, where, thro' the stories, thou hast laid, 
 All moral wisdom's to the mind convey'd ; 
 And thus far prophecies each page, that all 
 Must rise by virtues, or by vices fall. 
 
 Poets shall blush to see their wit outdone, 
 Resume their reason and assert its throne, 
 Shall fables still for virtue's sake commend, 
 And wit the means, shall wisdom make its end. 
 
 Who hopes to please, shall strive to please bv 
 pains, 
 Shall gaining fame, earn hard whate'er he gains 
 And Denham's morals join to Denham's strains. 
 Here paint the Thames f i when running to the sea 
 Like mortal life to meet eternity.' 
 There show both kings and subjects 'one excess, 
 Makes both, by striving to be greater, less.' 
 Shall climb and sweat, and falling, climb up still, 
 Before he gains the height of Cooper's Hill. 
 
 In Windsor Forest, if some trifling grace 
 Gives, at first blush, the whole a pleasing face, 
 'Tis wit, 'tis true ; but then 'tis common-place. 
 
 f See Cooper's Hill. 
 
TO MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 253 
 
 The landscape-writer branches out a wood, 
 Then digging hard fort, finds a silver flood. 
 Here paints the woodcock quiv'ring in the air, 
 And there, the bounding stag and quaking hare. 
 Describes the pheasants scarlet-circled eye, 
 And next the slaught'ring gun that makes him die. 
 From common epithets that fame derives, 
 By which his most uncommon merit lives. 
 Tis true ! if finest notes alone could show, 
 (Tun'd justly high or regularly low,) 
 That we should fame to these mere vocals give, 
 Pope more, than we can offer, should receive. 
 For, when some gliding river is his theme, 
 His lines run smoother than the smoothest stream ; 
 Not so, when thro' the trees fierce Boreas blows, 
 The period blust'ring with the tempest grows. 
 But what fools periods read, for periods' sake ? 
 Such chimes improve not heads, but make 'em 
 
 ache; 
 Tho' strict in cadence on the numbers rub, 
 Their frothy substance is whip-syllabub ; 
 With most seraphic emptiness they roll, 
 Sound without sense, and body without soul. 
 
 Xot such the bards that give you just applause, 
 Each, from intrinsic worth, thy praises draws, 
 florals, in ev'ry page, where'er they look, 
 They find divinely scatter'd thro' thy book : 
 They find thee studious with praiseworthy strife, 
 To smooth the future roads of human life, 
 To help the weak, and to confirm the strong, 
 Make our griefs vanish, and our bliss prolong, 
 With Phineus' equal find thy large desert, 
 And in thy praise would equal Milton's art. 
 
 Some fools, we know, in spite of nature born, 
 Would make thee theirs, as they are mankind's 
 scorn, 
 
254 VERSES 
 
 For still 'tis one of truth's unerring rules, 
 
 No sage can rise without a host of fools. 
 
 Coxcombs, by whose eternal din o'ercome, 
 
 The wise, in just revenge, might wish them dumb, 
 
 Say, on the world your dumbness you impose, 
 
 And give you organs they deserve to lose. 
 
 Impose, indeed, on all the world you would, 
 
 If you but held your tongue, because you could ; 
 
 Tis hard to say, if keeping silence still, 
 
 In one, who, could he speak, would speak with skill, 
 
 Is worse, or talk in these, who talk so ill. 
 
 Why on that tongue should purposed silence dwell, 
 
 Whence every word would drop an oracle ? 
 
 More fools of thy known foresight make a jest, 
 
 For all hate greatest gifts who share the least, 
 
 (As Pope calls Dry den often to the tests) 
 
 Such from thy pen, should Irwin's sentence 11 wait, 
 
 And at the gallows own the judge of fate. 
 
 Or, while with feeble impotence they rail, 
 
 Write wonders on, and with the wise prevail. 
 
 Sooner shall Denham cease to be renown'd, 
 Or Pope for Denham's sense quit empty sound, 
 To Addison's immortal heights shall rise, 
 Or the dwarf reach him in his native skies. 
 Sooner shall real gipsies grow most fair, 
 Or false ones mighty truths like thine declare, 
 Than these poor scandal-mongers hit their aim, 
 And blemish thine or Curll's acknowledg'd fame. 
 
 Great Nostradamus thus, his age advis'd, 
 The mob his counsels jeer'd, some bards ! despis'd 
 
 s See many places of his notes on Homer. 
 h See Mr. Campbell's Life, page 106. 
 1 Alluding to this verse, " sed cum falsa Damus, nil 
 nisi Nostra Damus." 
 
TO MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. 255 
 
 Him still, neglecting these his genius fir'd, 
 A king encourag'd, and the world admir'd ; 
 Greater (as times great tide increas'd) he grew, 
 When distant ages proved what truths he knew ; 
 Thy nobler book a greater king received, 
 Whence 1 predict, and claim to be believ'd, 
 That by posterity, less fame shall be 
 To Nostradamus granted, than to thee ; 
 Thee ! whom the best of Kings does so defend, 
 And (myself barring) the best bards commend. 
 
 H. Stanhope. 
 
 Whitehall, 
 June 6th, 1720. 
 
A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 OF AN 
 
 APPARITION. 1665. 
 
 In the beginning of this year, a disease happened in 
 this town of Launceston, and some of my scholars 
 died of it. Among others who fell under the ma- 
 lignity then triumphing, was John Eliot, the eldest 
 son of Edward Eliot of Treberse, esq., a stripling 
 of about sixteen years of age, but of more than 
 common parts and ingenuity. At his own particular 
 request I preached at the funeral, which happened 
 on the 20th day of June, 1665. In my discourse 
 (ut mos reiq ; lociq ; postulabai) I spake some words 
 in commendation of the young gentleman ; such as 
 might endear his memory to those that knew him, 
 and withal tended to preserve his example to the 
 fry which went to school with him, and were to 
 continue there after him. An ancient gentleman, 
 who was then in the church, was much affected with 
 the discourse, and was often heard to repeat the 
 same evening, one expression I then used out of 
 Virgil ; 
 
 Et puer ipsefuit cantari dignus. — 
 
 The reason why this grave gentleman was so con- 
 cerned at the character, was a reflection he made 
 upon a son of his own, who being about the same 
 age, and but a few months before not unworthy of 
 
 d. c. s 
 
258 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 the like character I gave of the young Mr. Eliot, 
 was now, by a strange accident, quite lost, as to his 
 parents' hopes, and all expectations of any further 
 comfort by him. 
 
 The funeral rites being over, I was no sooner 
 come out of the church, but I found myself most 
 courteously accosted by this old gentleman; and 
 with an unusual importunity, almost forced against 
 my humour to see his house that night ; nor could 
 I have rescued myself from his kindness, had not 
 Mr. Eliot interposed and pleaded title to me for the 
 whole day, which, as he said, he would resign to no 
 man. Hereupon I got loose for that time, but was 
 constrained to leave a promise behind me, to wait 
 upon him at his own house the Monday following. 
 This then seemed to satisfy, but before Monday came 
 I had a new message to request me that if it were 
 possible I would be there the Sunday. The second 
 attempt I resisted, by answering that it was against 
 my convenience, and the duty which mine own 
 people expected from me. Yet was not the gentle- 
 man at rest, for he sent me another letter the Satur- 
 day, by no means to fail the Monday, and so to 
 order my business as to spend with him two or three 
 days at least. I was indeed startled at so much 
 eagerness, and so many dunnings for a visit, without 
 any business ; and began to suspect that there must 
 needs be some design in the bottom of all this excess 
 of courtesy. For I had no familiarity, scarce com- 
 mon acquaintance with the gentleman, or his family ; 
 nor could I imagine whence should arise such a 
 flush of friendship on the sudden. 
 
 On the Monday I went and paid my promised 
 devoir, and met with entertainment as free and 
 plentiful, as the invitation was importunate. There 
 also I found a neighbouring minister, who pretended 
 to call in accidentally, but by the sequel I suppose 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 259 
 
 it otherwise. After dinner this brother of the coat 
 undertook to show me the gardens, where as we 
 were walking, he gave me the first discovery of 
 what was mainly intended in all this treat and com- 
 plement. 
 
 First he began to tell the infortunity of the family 
 in general, and then gave instance in the youngest 
 son. He related what a hopeful sprightly lad he 
 lately was, and how melancholic and sottish he was 
 now grown. Then did he with much passion lament 
 that his ill-humour should so incredibly subdue his 
 reason ; for, said he, the poor boy believes himself 
 to be haunted with ghosts, and is confident that he 
 meets with an evil spirit in a certain field, about half 
 a mile from this place, as often as he goes that way 
 to school. In the midst of our twattle, the old 
 gentleman and his lady, as observing their cue most 
 exactly, came up to us. Upon their approach, and 
 pointing me to the arbour, the parson renews the 
 relation to me, and they, the parents of the youth, 
 confirmed what he said, and added many minute 
 circumstances, in a long narrative of the whole ; in 
 fine, they all three desired my thoughts and advice 
 in the affair. 
 
 I was not able to collect thoughts enough on the 
 sudden, to frame a judgment upon what they had 
 said. Only I answered, that the thing which the 
 youth reported to them, was strange, yet not incre- 
 dible, and that I knew not then what to think or say 
 of it, but if the lad would be free to me in talk, and 
 trust me with his counsels, I had hopes to give them 
 a better account of my opinion the next day. 
 
 I had no sooner spoken so much, but I perceived 
 myself in the springle their courtship had laid for 
 me ; for the old lady was not able to hide her im- 
 patience, but her son must be called immediately ; 
 this I was forced to comply with, and consent to, so 
 
 s2 
 
260 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 that drawing off from the company to an orchard 
 near by, she went herself, and brought him to me, 
 and left him with me. 
 
 It was the main drift of all these three to persuade 
 me, that either the boy was lazy, and glad of any 
 excuse to keep from the school, or that he was in 
 love with some wench, and ashamed to confess it ; 
 or that he had a fetch upon his father to get money 
 and new clothes, that he might range to London 
 after a brother he had there ; and therefore they 
 begged of me to discover the root of the matter ; 
 and accordingly to dissuade, advise, or reprove him ; 
 but chiefly by all means to undeceive him as to the 
 fancy of ghosts and spirits. 
 
 J soon entered a close conference with the youth, 
 and at first was very cautelous not to displease him, 
 but by smooth words to ingratiate myself and get 
 w r ithin him, for I doubted he would be too distrust- 
 ful, or too reserved. But we had scarce passed the 
 first situation, and began to speak to the business, 
 before I found that there needed no policy to screw 
 myself into his heart ; for he most openly, and with 
 all obliging candour, did aver, that he loved his book, 
 and desired nothing more than to be bred a scholar; 
 that he had not the least respect for any of woman- 
 kind, as his mother gave out ; and that the only re- 
 quest he would make to his parents was, that they 
 would but believe his constant assertions, concern- 
 ing the woman he was disturbed with in the field, 
 called the Higher-Broom-Quartils. He told me 
 with all naked freedom, and a flood of tears, 
 that his friends were unkind and unjust to him, 
 neither to believe nor pity him : and that if any man, 
 making a bow to me, would but go with him to the 
 place, he might be convinced that the thing was 
 real, &c. 
 
 By this time he found me apt to compassionate 
 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 261 
 
 his condition, and to be attentive to his relation of 
 it ; and therefore he went on in this manner. 
 
 This woman, which appears to me, said he, lived 
 a neighbour here to my father; and died about 
 eight years since ; her name Dorothy Dingley, of 
 such a stature, such age, and such complexion. 
 She never speaks to me, but passeth by hastily, and 
 always leaves the footpath to me ; and she commonly 
 meets me twice or three times in the breadth of the 
 field. 
 
 It was about two months before 1 took any notice 
 of it, and though the shape of the face was in my 
 memory, yet I could not recall the name of the 
 person ; but without more thoughtf illness, I did 
 suppose it was some woman who lived thereabout, 
 and had frequent occasion that way. Nor did I 
 imagine anything to the contrary, before she began 
 to meet me constantly morning and evening, and 
 always in the same field, and sometimes twice or 
 thrice in the breadth of it. 
 
 The first time t took notice of her, was about a 
 year since ; and when I first began to suspect and 
 believe it to be a ghost, I had courage enough not 
 to be afraid ; but kept it to myself a good while, and 
 only wondered very much at it. I did often speak 
 to it, but never had a word in answer. Then I 
 changed my way, and went to school the under 
 horse road, and then she always met me in the 
 narrow lane, between the quarry park and the 
 nursery, which was worse. 
 
 At length I began to be terrified at it, and prayed 
 continually that God would either free me from it, 
 or let me know the meaning of it. Night and day, 
 sleeping and waking, the shape was ever running in 
 my mind; and I often did repeat these places of 
 scripture; with that he takes a small Bible out of his 
 pocket, Job. vii. 14; Thou scarest me with dreams, 
 
262 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 and terrifiest me through visions ; and Deut. xxviii. 
 67 ; In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were 
 evening; and at evening thou shalt say, would God it 
 were morning, for the fear of thine heart, whereivith 
 thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which 
 thou shalt see. I was very much pleased with the 
 lad's ingenuity, in the application of these pertinent 
 scriptures to his condition, and desired him to 
 proceed. Thus, said he, by degrees, I grew very 
 pensive, insomuch that it was taken notice of by all 
 our family ; whereupon being urged to it, I told my 
 brother William of it ; and he privately acquainted 
 my father and mother ; and they kept it to them- 
 selves for some time. 
 
 The success of this discovery was only this ; they 
 did sometimes laugh at me ; sometimes chide me, 
 but still commanded me to keep my school, and put 
 such fopperies out of my head. 1 did accordingly 
 go to school often, but always met the woman in the 
 way. _ 
 
 This and much more to the same purpose, yea, 
 as much as held a dialogue of near two hours, was 
 our conference in the orchard ; which ended with 
 my proffer to him, that, without making any privy 
 to our intents, I would next morning walk with him 
 to the place, about six o'clock. He was even trans- 
 ported with joy at the mention of it, and replied, 
 But will you sure, sir ? will you sure, sir ? thank 
 God, now I hope I shall be believed. From this 
 conclusion we retired into the house. 
 
 The gentleman, his wife, and Mr. Sam, were im- 
 patient to know the event, insomuch that they came 
 out of the parlour into the hall to meet us ; and 
 seeing the lad look cheerfully, the first compliment 
 from the old man was, Come, Mr. Ruddle, you have 
 talked with Sam, I hope now he will have more 
 wit ; an idle boy, an idle boy. At these words the 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 263 
 
 lad ran up the stairs to his chamber, without reply- 
 ing ; and I soon stopped the curiosity of the three 
 expectants, by telling them I had promised silence, 
 and was resolved to be as good as my word ; but 
 when things were riper they might know all ; at 
 present, I desired them to rest in my faithful pro- 
 mise, that I would do my utmost in their service, 
 and for the good of their son. With this they were 
 silenced, I cannot say satisfied. 
 
 The next morning, before five o'clock, the lad 
 was in my chamber, and very brisk ; I arose and 
 went with him. The field he led me to I guessed 
 to be twenty acres, in an open country, and about 
 three furlongs from any house. We went into 
 the field, and had not gone above a third part, 
 before the spectrum, in the shape of a woman, with 
 all the circumstances he had described her to me 
 in the orchard the day before, (as much as the sud- 
 denness of its appearance and evanition would per- 
 mit me to discover,) met us and passed by. I was 
 a little surprised at it ; and though I had taken up 
 a firm resolution to speak to it, yet I had not the 
 power, nor indeed durst I look back, yet I took care 
 not to show any fear to my pupil and guide, and 
 therefore only telling him that I was satisfied in the 
 truth of his complaint, we walked to the end of the 
 field and returned, nor did the ghost meet us at 
 that time above once. I perceived in the young 
 man a kind of boldness mixed with astonishment ; 
 the first caused by my presence, and the proof he 
 had given of his own relation, and the other by the 
 sight of his persecutor. 
 
 In short, we went home ; I somewhat puzzled, 
 he much animated. At our return, the gentle- 
 woman (whose inquisitiveness had missed us) 
 watched to speak with me; I gave her a conve- 
 nience, and told her that my opinion was, that her 
 
264 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 son's complaint was not to be slighted nor altogether 
 discredited, yet that my judgment in his case was 
 not settled. I gave her caution, moreover, that the 
 thing might not take wind, lest the whole country 
 should ring with what we yet had no assurance of. 
 
 In this juncture of time I had business which 
 would admit no delay, wherefore I went for Laun- 
 ceston that evening, but promised to see them again 
 next week ; yet I was prevented by an occasion 
 which pleaded a sufficient excuse, for my wife was 
 that week brought home from a neighbour's house 
 very ill. However, my mind was upon the ad- 
 venture ; I studied the case ; and about three 
 weeks after went again, resolving by the help of 
 God to see the utmost. 
 
 The next morning, being the 27th day of July, 
 1665, I went to the haunted field by myself, and 
 walked the breadth of it without any encounter ; 
 I returned, and took the other walk, and then the 
 spectrum appeared to me, much about the same place 
 I saw it before, when the young gentleman was with 
 me. In my thoughts it moved swifter than the 
 time before, and about ten feet distant from me on 
 my right hand, insomuch that I had not time to 
 speak, as I determined with myself beforehand. 
 
 The evening of this day, the parents, the son, 
 and myself, being in the chamber where I lay, I 
 propounded to them our going altogether to the 
 place next morning, and some asseveration that 
 there was no danger it, we all resolved upon it. 
 The morning being come, lest we should alarm the 
 family of servants, they went under the pretence of 
 seeing a field of wheat, and I took my horse and 
 fetched a compass another way, and so met at the 
 stile we had appointed. 
 
 Thence we all four walked leisurely into the 
 quartils, and had passed above half the field before 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 265 
 
 the ghost made appearance. It then came over the 
 stile just before us, and moved with that swiftness, 
 that by the time we had gone six or seven steps 
 it passed by. I immediately turned head and 
 ran after it, with the young man by my side ; we 
 saw it pass over the stile at which we entered, but 
 no further ; I stepped upon the hedge at one place, 
 he at another, but could discern nothing ; whereas 
 I dare aver that the swiftest horse in England 
 could not have conveyed himself out of sight in that 
 short space of time. Two things I observed in this 
 day's appearance. 
 
 1. That a spaniel dog, who followed the company 
 unregarded, did bark and run away as the spectrum 
 passed by ; whence it is easy to conclude that it 
 was not our fear or fancy which made the appa- 
 rition. 
 
 2. That the motion of the spectrum was not gra- 
 datim, or by steps and moving of the feet, but a 
 kind of gliding, as children upon the ice, or a boat 
 down a swift river, which punctually answers the 
 descriptions the ancients gave of the motion of their 
 Lemures, which was, 
 
 Kara pv^v aepiov kou oq[at}v airapavoSio-TGv. 
 
 Heliodor. 
 
 But to proceed ; this ocular evidence clearly 
 convinced, but withal strangely affrighted, the old 
 gentleman and his wife, who knew this Dorothy 
 Dingley in her lifetime, were at her burial, and now 
 plainly saw her features in this present apparition. 
 I encouraged them as well as I could ; but after 
 this they went no more. However, I was resolved 
 to proceed, and use such lawful means as God hath 
 discovered, and learned men have successfully 
 practised, in these unvulgar cases. 
 
266 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 The next morning, being Thursday, I went out 
 very early by myself, and walked for about an 
 hours space in meditation and prayer in the field 
 next adjoining to the quartils. Soon after five, I 
 stepped over the stile into the disturbed field, and 
 had not gone above thirty or forty paces before the 
 ghost appeared at the further stile. I spake to it 
 with a loud voice, in some such sentences as the 
 way of these dealings directed me, whereupon it 
 approached but slowly, and when I came near, it 
 moved not. I spake again, and it answered in a 
 voice neither very audible nor intelligible. I was 
 not in the least terrified, and therefore persisted 
 until it spake again and gave me satisfaction. But 
 the work could not be finished at this time ; where- 
 fore, the same evening, an hour after sunset, it met 
 me again near the same place, and after a few 
 words of each side it quietly vanished, and neither 
 doth appear since, nor ever will more, to any man's 
 disturbance. The discourse in the morning lasted 
 about a quarter of an hour. 
 
 These things are true, and I know them to be 
 so with as much certainty as eyes and ears can 
 give me, and until I can be persuaded that my 
 senses do deceive me about their proper object ; 
 and by that persuasion deprive myself of the 
 strongest inducement to believe the Christian re- 
 ligion, I must and will assert that these things in 
 this paper are true. 
 
 As for the manner of my proceeding, I find no 
 reason to be ashamed of it, for I can justify it to 
 men of good principles, discretion, and recondite 
 learning, though in this case I choose to content 
 myself in the assurance of the thing, rather than be 
 at the unprofitable trouble to persuade others to 
 believe it, for I know full well with what difficulty 
 relations of so uncommon a nature and practice, 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 267 
 
 obtain belief. He that tells such a story, may ex- 
 pect to be dealt withal as a traveller in Poland by 
 the robbers, viz., first murdered and then searched ; 
 first condemned for a liar, or superstitious, and 
 then (when it is too late) have his reasons and 
 proofs examined. This incredulity may be at- 
 tributed, 
 
 1. To the infinite abuses of the people, and im- 
 positions upon their faith by the cunning monks and 
 friars, &c., in the days of darkness and popery, for 
 they made apparitions as often as they pleased, and 
 got both money and credit by quieting the terricu- 
 lamenti vulgi, which their own artifice had raised. 
 
 2. To the prevailing of Somatism and the Hob- 
 bean principle in these times, which is a revival of 
 the doctrine of the Sadducees, and as it denies the 
 nature, so cannot consist with the apparition of 
 spirits ; of which see, Leviath. P. I. c. 12. 
 
 3. To the ignorance of men in our age, in this 
 peculiar and mysterious part of philosophy and 
 religion, namely, the communication between spirits 
 and men. Not one scholar of ten thousand (though 
 otherwise of excellent learning) knows anything of 
 it, or the way how to manage it. This ignorance 
 breeds fear, and abhorrence of that which other- 
 wise might be of incomparable benefit to mankind. 
 
 But I being a clergyman, and young, and a 
 stranger in these parts, do apprehend silence and 
 secrecy to be my best security. 
 
 In rebus abstrusissimis abundam cautela non nocet, 
 
 September 4th, 1665. 
 
268 A REMARKABLE PASSAGE 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 It is possible that the unacquaintedness of some 
 men with church history, and the writings of the 
 ancient fathers, may be one cause of their prejudice 
 against things and narratives of this nature ; I could 
 cite out of them hundreds of passages in confirma- 
 tion, a pari, of what I have now done and written. 
 But a single testimony shall serve to fill up this 
 page. 
 
 Saint Cyprian a was a father of the third cen- 
 tury, contemporary with Origen, Tertullian, Lac- 
 tantius, Clem. Alexand., and other learned men. 
 Observe his words : — 
 
 S. Cypriani Epist. ad Demetrium Ethnicum, p. 328. 
 
 Si audire velles et videre quando spiritus mali 
 a nobis adjurantur et torquentur spiritualibus Jia- 
 gris ; quando dcemones ejulantes et gementes humana 
 voce venturum judicium confitentur : videbis nos 
 rogari ab Us quos tu rogas, et tamen ab lis quos tu 
 adoras : videbis sub manu nostra stare vinctos et 
 tremere captivos, quos tu veneraris ut dominos, 
 Certe vel sic in erroribus tuis confundi poteris, cum 
 conspexeris et audieris deos, tuos quid sint, nostra 
 interrogatione, statim prodere, tyc. 
 
 See Pamelius's Notes on Tertullian, n. 64. 
 
 " If you would hear and see, when evil spirits 
 are by us adjured and put to spiritual torture ; 
 
 a St. Cyprianus Episcopus Carthagin. Martirio hono- 
 ratus An. Dom. 250. 
 
OF AN APPARITION. 269 
 
 when the very devils, groaning and lamenting with 
 a human voice, confess a future judgment ; you 
 shall hear us entreated by those whom you entreat, 
 and by those whom you adore ; you shall see those 
 stand fettered as it were under our hands, and 
 tremble like captive slaves, whom you worship as 
 deities. Certainly you must be thus confounded in 
 your errors, when you shall see and hear your gods, 
 upon questions we put to them, immediately betray 
 what they are.'' 
 
THE 
 
 DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 OK 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN'S WONDER ; 
 
 CONTAINING : 
 
 I. A faithful and very surprising Account how Dickory 
 Cronke, a Tinner's son, in the County of Cornwall, was 
 born Dumb, and continued so for Fifty-eight Years ; and 
 how, some days before he died, he came to his Speech ; 
 with Memoirs of his Life, and the Manner of his Death. 
 
 II. A Declaration of his Faith and Principles in Reli- 
 gion; with a Collection of Select Meditations, com- 
 posed in his Retirement. 
 
 III. His Prophetical Observations upon the Affairs of 
 Europe, more particularly of Great Britain, from 1720 to 
 1729. The whole extracted from his Original Papers, 
 and confirmed by unquestionable Authority. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ANNEXED HIS ELEGY, 
 
 WRITTEN BY A YOUNG CORNISH GENTLEMAN, OF 
 EXETER COLLEGE IN OXFORD. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN EPITAPH BY ANOTHER HAND. 
 
 6 Non quis, sed quid." 
 
 L ND ON: 
 
 Printed for and Sold by Thomas Bickerton, at 
 the Crown, in Paternoster Row. 1719. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The formality of a preface to this little book might 
 have been very well omitted, if it were not to gratify 
 the curiosity of some inquisitive people, who, I 
 foresee, will be apt to make objections against the 
 reality of the narrative. 
 
 Indeed the public has too often been imposed 
 upon by fictitious stories, and some of a very late 
 date, so that I think myself obliged by the usual 
 respect which is paid to candid and impartial 
 readers, to acquaint them, by way of introduction, 
 with what they are to expect, and what they may 
 depend upon, and yet with this caution too, that it 
 is an indication of ill nature or ill manners, if not 
 both, to pry into a secret that is industriously con- 
 cealed. 
 
 However, that there may be nothing wanting on 
 my part, I do hereby assure the reader, that the 
 papers from whence the following sheets were ex- 
 tracted, are now in town, in the custody of a person 
 of unquestionable reputation, who, I will be bold to 
 say, will not only be ready, but proud, to produce 
 them upon a good occasion, and that I think is as 
 much satisfaction as the nature of this case requires. 
 
 d. c. T 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 As to the performance, it can signify little now 
 to make an apology upon that account, any further 
 than this, that if the reader pleases he may take 
 notice that what he has now before him was col- 
 lected from a large bundle of papers, most of which 
 were writ in shorthand, and very ill-digested. 
 However, this may be relied upon, that though the 
 language is something altered, and now and then a 
 word thrown in to help the expression, yet strict 
 care has been taken to speak the author's mind, 
 and keep as close as possible to the meaning of the 
 original. For the design, I think there is nothing 
 need be said in vindication of that. Here is a 
 dumb philosopher introduced to a wicked and de- 
 generate generation, as a proper emblem of virtue 
 and morality ; and if the world could be persuaded 
 to look upon him with candour and impartiality, 
 and then to copy after him, the editor has gained 
 his end, and would think himself sufficiently re- 
 compensed for his present trouble. 
 
THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 OR 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN'S WONDER 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Among the many strange and surprising events 
 that help to fill the accounts of this last century, 
 I know none that merit more an entire credit, or 
 are more fit to be preserved and handed to pos- 
 terity than those I am now going to lay before the 
 public. 
 
 Dickory Cronke, the subject of the following 
 narrative, was born at a little hamlet, near St. Co- 
 lumn, in Cornwall, on the 29th of May, 1660, being 
 the day and year in which king Charles the Second 
 was restored. His parents were of mean extraction, 
 but honest, industrious people, and well beloved in 
 their neighbourhood. His father's chief business 
 was to work at the tin mines ; his mother stayed at 
 home to look after the children, of which they had 
 several living at the same time. Our Dickory was 
 the youngest, and being but a sickly child, had 
 always a double portion of her care and tender- 
 ness. 
 
 It was upwards of three years before it was dis- 
 covered that he was born dumb, the knowledge of 
 
 t2 
 
b THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 which at first gave his mother great uneasiness, but 
 finding soon after that he had his hearing, and all 
 his other senses to the greatest perfection, her grief 
 began to abate, and she resolved to have him 
 brought up as well as their circumstances and his 
 capacity would permit. 
 
 As he grew, notwithstanding his want of speech, 
 he every day gave some instance of a ready 
 genius, and a genius much superior to the country 
 children, insomuch that several gentlemen in the 
 neighbourhood took particular notice of him, and 
 would often call him Restoration Dick, and give 
 him money, &c. 
 
 When he came to be eight years of age, his mo- 
 ther agreed with a person in the next village, to 
 teach him to read and write, both which, in a very 
 short time, he acquired to such perfection, especially 
 the latter, that he not only taught his own brothers 
 and sisters, but likewise several young men and 
 women in the neighbourhood, which often brought 
 him in small sums, which he always laid out in such 
 necessaries as he stood most in need of. 
 
 In this state he continued till he was about 
 twenty, and then he began to reflect how scan- 
 dalous it was for a young man of his age and cir- 
 cumstances to live idle at home, and so resolves to 
 go with his father to the mines, to try if he could 
 get something towards the support of himself and 
 the family ; but being of a tender constitution, and 
 often sick, he soon perceived that sort of business 
 was too hard for him, so was forced to return home 
 and continue in his former station ; upon which he 
 grew exceeding melancholy, which his mother ob- 
 serving, she comforted him in the best manner she 
 could, telling him that if it should please God to 
 take her away, she had something left in store for 
 him, which would preserve him against public want. 
 
OR GREAT BRITAIN S WONDER. 7 
 
 This kind assurance from a mother whom he so 
 dearly loved gave him some, though not an entire 
 satisfaction ; however he resolves to acquiesce un- 
 der it till Providence should order something for 
 him more to his content and advantage, which, in a 
 short time happened according to his wish. The 
 manner was thus : — 
 
 One Mr. Owen Parry, a Welsh gentleman of 
 good repute, coming from Bristol to Padstow, a 
 little seaport in the county of Cornwall, near the 
 place where Dickory dwelt, and hearing much of 
 this dumb man's perfections, would needs have him 
 sent for ; and finding, by his significant gestures 
 and all outward appearances that he much exceeded 
 the character that the country gave of him, took a 
 mighty liking to him, insomuch that he told him, if 
 he would go with him into Pembrokeshire, he would 
 be kind to him, and take care of him as long as he 
 lived, 
 
 This kind and unexpected offer was so welcome 
 to poor Dickory, that without any further consider- 
 ation, he got a pen and ink and writ a note, and in 
 a very handsome and submissive manner returned 
 him thanks for his favour, assuring him he would do 
 his best to continue and improve it ; and that he 
 would be ready to wait upon him whenever he 
 should be pleased to command. 
 
 To shorten the account as much as possible, all 
 things were concluded to their mutual satisfaction, 
 and in about a fortnight's time they set forward for 
 Wales, where Dickory, notwithstanding his dumb- 
 ness, behaved himself with so much diligence and 
 affability, that he not only gained the love of the 
 family where he lived, but of everybody round him. 
 
 In this station he continued till the death of his 
 master, which happened about twenty years after- 
 wards ; in all which time, as has been confirmed by 
 
8 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 several of the family, he was never observed to be 
 any ways disguised by drinking, or to be guilty of 
 any of the follies and irregularities incident to ser- 
 vants in gentleman's houses. On the contrary, 
 when he had any spare time, his constant custom 
 was to retire with some good book into a private 
 place within call, and there employ himself in read- 
 ing, and then writing down his observations upon 
 what he read. 
 
 After the death of his master, whose loss afflicted 
 him to the last degree, one Mrs. Mary Mordant, a 
 gentlewoman of great virtue and piety, and a very 
 good fortune, took him into her service, and carried 
 him with her, first to Bath, and then to Bristol, 
 where, after a lingering distemper, which continued 
 for about four years, she died likewise. 
 
 Upon the loss of his mistress, Dickory grew again 
 exceeding melancholy and disconsolate; at length, 
 reflecting that death is but a common debt which 
 all mortals owe to nature, and must be paid sooner 
 or later, he became a little better satisfied, and so 
 determines to get together what he had saved in 
 his service, and then to return to his native coun- 
 try, and there finish his life in privacy and retire- 
 ment. 
 
 Having been, as has been mentioned, about 
 twenty-four years a servant, and having, in the in- 
 terim, received two legacies, viz., one of thirty 
 pounds, left him by his master, and another of fif- 
 teen pounds by his mistress, and being always very 
 frugal, he had got by him in the whole upwards of 
 sixty pounds. This, thinks he, with prudent manage- 
 ment, will be enough to support me as long as I 
 live, and so I'll e'en lay aside all thoughts of future 
 business, and make the best of my way to Cornwall, 
 and there find out some safe and solitary retreat, 
 where I may have liberty to meditate and make my 
 
OE GREAT BRITAIN S WONDER. 9 
 
 melancholy observations upon the several occur- 
 rences of human life. 
 
 This resolution prevailed so far, that no time was 
 let slip to get everything in readiness to go with 
 the first ship. As to his money, he always kept 
 that locked up by him, unless he sometimes lent it 
 to a friend without interest, for he had a mortal 
 hatred to all sorts of usury or extortion. His books, 
 of which he had a considerable quantity, and some 
 of them very good ones, together v/ith his other 
 equipage, he got packed up, that nothing might be 
 wanting against the first opportunity. 
 
 In a few days he heard of a vessel bound to Pad- 
 stow, the very port he wished to go to, being within 
 four or five miles of the place where he was born. 
 When he came thither, which was in less than a 
 week, his first business was to inquire after the 
 state of his family. It was some time before he 
 could get any information of them, until an old man 
 that knew his father and mother, and remembered 
 they had a son was born dumb, recollected him, and 
 after a great deal of difficulty, made him understand 
 that all his family except his youngest sister were 
 dead, and that she was a widow, and lived at a little 
 town called St. Helen's, about ten miles further in 
 the country. 
 
 This doleful news, we must imagine, must be ex- 
 tremely shocking, and add a new sting to his former 
 affliction ; and here it was that he began to exercise 
 the philosopher, and to demonstrate himself both a 
 wise and a good man. All these things, thinks he, 
 are the will of Providence, and must not be dis- 
 puted ; and so he bore up under them with an en- 
 tire resignation, resolving that, as soon as he could 
 find a place where he might deposit his trunk and 
 boxes with safety, he would go to St. Helen's in 
 quest of his sister. 
 
10 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 How his sister and he met, and how transported 
 they were to see each other after so long an interval, 
 I think is not very material. It is enough for the 
 present purpose that Dickory soon recollected his 
 sister, and she him ; and after a great many en- 
 dearing tokens of love and tenderness, he wrote to 
 her, telling her that he believed Providence had 
 bestowed on him as much as would support him as 
 long as he lived, and that if she thought proper he 
 would come and spend the remainder of his days 
 with her. 
 
 The good woman no sooner read his proposal 
 than she accepted it, adding, withal, that she could 
 wish her entertainment was better ; but if he would 
 accept of it as it was, she would do her best to 
 make everything easy, and that he should be wel- 
 come upon his own terms, to stay with her as long 
 as he pleased. 
 
 This affair being so happily settled to his full 
 satisfaction, he returns to Padstow to fetch the 
 things he had left behind him, and the next day 
 came back to St. Helen's, where, according to his 
 own proposal, he continued to the day of his death, 
 which happened upon the 29th of May, 1718, 
 about the same hour in which he was born. 
 
 Having thus given a short detail of the several 
 periods of his life, extracted chiefly from the papers 
 which he left behind him, I come in the next place 
 to make a few observations how he managed him- 
 self and spent his time toward the latter part of it. 
 
 His constant practice, both winter and summer, 
 was to rise and set with the sun ; and if the weather 
 would permit, he never failed to walk in some un- 
 frequented place, for three hours, both morning and 
 evening, and there it is supposed he composed the 
 following meditations. The chief part of his suste- 
 nance was milk, with a little bread boiled in it, of 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 1 1 
 
 which in the morning, after his walk, he would 
 eat the quantity of a pint, and sometimes more. 
 Dinners he never eat any ; and at night he would 
 only have a pretty large piece of bread, and drink 
 a draught of good spring water ; and after this me- 
 thod he lived during the whole time he was at St. 
 Helen's. It is observed of him that he never slept 
 out of a bed, nor never lay awake in one ; which I 
 take to be an argument, not only of a strong and 
 healthful constitution, but of a mind composed and 
 calm, and entirely free from the ordinary disturb- 
 ances of human life. He never gave the least signs 
 of complaint or dissatisfaction at anything, unless it 
 was when he heard the tinners swear, or saw them 
 drunk ; and then, too, he would get out of the way 
 as soon as he had let them see, by some significant 
 signs, how scandalous and ridiculous they made 
 themselves ; and against the next time he met 
 them, would be sure to have a paper ready written, 
 wherein he would represent the folly of drunken- 
 ness, and the dangerous consequences that gene- 
 rally attended it. 
 
 Idleness was his utter aversion, and if at any 
 time he had finished the business of the day, and 
 was grown weary of reading and writing, in which 
 he daily spent six hours at least, he would cer- 
 tainly find something either within doors or with- 
 out, to employ himself. 
 
 Much might be said both with regard to the wise 
 and regular management, and the prudent methods 
 he took to spend his time well towards the declen- 
 sion of his life ; but, as his history may perhaps be 
 shortly published at large by a better hand, I shall 
 only observe in the general, that he was a person 
 of great wisdom and sagacity. He understood 
 nature beyond the ordinary capacity, and, if he had 
 had a competency of learning suitable to his genius, 
 
12 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 neither this nor the former ages would have produced 
 a better philosopher or a greater man. 
 
 I come next to speak of the manner of his death 
 and the consequences thereof, which are, indeed, 
 very surprising, and, perhaps, not altogether un- 
 worthy a general observation. I shall relate them 
 as briefly as I can, and leave every one to believe or 
 disbelieve as he thinks proper. 
 
 Upon the 26th of May, 1718, according to his 
 usual method, about four in the afternoon, he went 
 out to take his evening walk ; but before he could 
 reach the place he intended, he was seized with an 
 apoplectic fit, which only gave him liberty to sit 
 down under a tree, where, in an instant, he was de- 
 prived of all maimer of sense and motion, and so he 
 continued, as appears by his own confession after- 
 wards, for more than fourteen hours. 
 
 His sister, who knew how exact he was in all his 
 methods, finding him stay a considerable time be- 
 yond the usual hour, concludes that some misfortune 
 must needs have happened to him, or he would cer- 
 tainly have been at home before. In short, she 
 went immediately to all the places he was wont to 
 frequent, but nothing could be heard or seen of him 
 till the next morning, when a young man, as he was 
 going to work, discovered him, and went home and 
 told his sister that her brother lay in such a place, 
 under a tree, and, as he believed, had been robbed 
 and murdered. 
 
 The poor woman, who had all night been under 
 the most dreadful apprehensions, was now frightened 
 and confounded to the last degree. However, re- 
 collecting herself, and finding there was no remedy, 
 she got two or three of her neighbours to bear her 
 company, and so hastened with the young man to 
 the tree, where she found her brother lying in the 
 same posture that he had described. 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 13 
 
 The dismal object at first view startled and sur- 
 prised everybody present, and filled them full of 
 different notions and conjectures. But some of the 
 company going nearer to him, and finding that he 
 had lost nothing, and that there were no marks of 
 any violence to be discovered about him, they con- 
 clude that it must be an apoplectic or some other 
 sudden fit that had surprised him in his walk, upon 
 which his sister and the rest began to feel his hands 
 and face, and observing that he was still warm, and 
 that there were some symptoms of life yet remaining, 
 they conclude that the best way was to carry him 
 home to bed, which was accordingly done with the 
 utmost expedition. 
 
 When they had got him into the bed nothing was 
 omitted that they could think of to bring him to 
 himself, but still he continued utterly insensible for 
 about six hours. At the sixth hour's end he began 
 to move a little, and in a very short time was so far 
 recovered, to the great astonishment of everybody 
 about him, that he was able to look up, and to make 
 a sign to his sister to bring him a cup a water. 
 
 After he had drunk the water he soon perceived 
 that all his faculties were returned to their former 
 stations, and though his strength was very much 
 abated by the length and rigour of the fit, yet his 
 intellects were as strong and vigorous as ever. 
 
 His sister observing him to look earnestly upon 
 the company, as if he had something extraordinary 
 to communicate to them, fetched him a pen and ink 
 and a sheet of paper, which, after a short pause, he 
 took, and wrote as follows : — 
 
 "Dear sister, 
 "I have now no need of pen, ink, and paper, to tell 
 you my meaning. I find the strings that bound up 
 my tongue, and hindered me from speaking, are un- 
 
14 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 loosed, and I have words to express myself as freely 
 and distinctly as any other person. From whence 
 this strange and unexpected event should proceed, 
 I must not pretend to say, any further than this, that 
 it is doubtless the hand of Providence that has done 
 it, and in that I ought to acquiesce. Pray let me 
 be alone for two or three hours, that I may be at li- 
 berty to compose myself, and put my thoughts in 
 the best order I can before I leave them behind me." 
 
 The poor woman, though extremely startled at 
 what her brother had written, yet took care to con- 
 ceal it from the neighbours, who, she knew, as well 
 as she, must be mightily surprised at a thing so ut- 
 terly unexpected. Says she, my brother desires to 
 be alone ; I believe he may have something in his 
 mind that disturbs him. Upon which the neigh- 
 bours took their leave and returned home, and his 
 sister shut the door, and left him alone to his private 
 contemplations. 
 
 After the company were withdrawn he fell into a 
 sound sleep, which lasted from two till six, and his 
 sister, being apprehensive of the return of his fit, 
 came to the bedside, and, asking softly if he wanted 
 anything, he turned about to her and spoke to this 
 effect : Dear sister, you see me not only recovered 
 out of a terrible fit, but likewise that I have the li- 
 berty of speech, a blessing that I have been deprived 
 of almost sixty years, and I am satisfied you are 
 sincerely joyful to find me in the state I now am in; 
 but, alas! it is but a mistaken kindness. These 
 are things but of short duration, and if they were to 
 continue for a hundred years longer, I can't see how 
 I should be anyways the better. 
 
 I know the world too well to be fond of it, and am 
 fully satisfied that the difference between a long and 
 a short life is insignificant, especially when I con- 
 
or great Britain's wonder lo 
 
 sider the accidents and company I am to encounter. 
 Do but look seriously and impartially upon the as- 
 tonishing notion of time and eternity, what an im- 
 mense deal has run out already, and how infinite it 
 is still in the future ; do but seriously and delibe- 
 rately consider this, and you will find, upon the whole, 
 that three days and three ages of life come much to 
 the same measure and reckoning. 
 
 As soon as he had ended his discourse upon the 
 vanity and uncertainty of human life, he looked 
 steadfastly upon her. Sister, says he, I conjure you 
 not to be disturbed at what I am going to tell you, 
 which you will undoubtedly find to be true in every 
 particular. I perceive my glass is run, and I have 
 now more to do in this world but to take my leave 
 of it ; for to-morrow about this time my speech will 
 be again taken from me, and, in a short time, my 
 fit will return ; and the next day, which I under- 
 stand is the day on which I came into this trouble- 
 some world, I shall exchange it for another, where, 
 for the future, I shall for ever be free from all 
 manner of sin and sufferings. 
 
 The good woman would have made him a reply, 
 but he prevented her by telling her he had no time 
 to hearken to unnecessary complaints or animad- 
 versions. I have a great many things in my mind, 
 says he, that require a speedy and serious considera- 
 tion. The time I have to stay is but short, and I 
 have a great deal of important business to do in it. 
 Time and death are both in my view, and seem both 
 to call aloud to me to make no delay. I beg of 
 you, therefore, not to disquiet yourself or me. What 
 must be, must be. The decrees of Providence are 
 eternal and unalterable ; why, then, should we tor- 
 ment ourselves about that which we cannot remedy? 
 
 I must confess, my dear sister, I owe you many 
 obligations for your exemplary fondness to me, and 
 
16 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 do solemnly assure you I shall retain the sense of them 
 to the last moment. All that I have to request of 
 you is, that I may be alone for this night. I have 
 it in my thoughts to leave some short observations 
 behind me, and likewise to discover some things of 
 great weight which have been revealed to me, which 
 may perhaps be of some use hereafter to you and 
 your friends. What credit they may meet with I 
 cannot say, but depend the consequence, according 
 to their respective periods, will account for them, 
 and vindicate them against the supposition of falsity 
 and mere suggestion. 
 
 Upon this, his sister left him till about four in the 
 morning, when coming to his bedside to know if he 
 wanted anything, and how he had rested, he made 
 her this answer ; I have been taking a cursory view 
 of my life, and though I find myself exceedingly de- 
 ficient in several particulars, yet I bless God I cannot 
 find I have any just grounds to suspect my pardon. 
 In short, says he, I have spent this night with more 
 inward pleasure and true satisfaction than ever I 
 spent a night through the whole course of my life. 
 
 After he had concluded what he had to say upon 
 the satisfaction that attended an innocent and well- 
 spent life, and observed what a mighty consolation 
 it was to persons, not only under the apprehension, 
 but even in the very agonies of death itself, he de- 
 sired her to bring him his usual cup of water, and 
 then to help him on with his clothes, that he might 
 sit up, and so be in a better posture to take his leave 
 of her and her friends. 
 
 When she had taken him up, and placed him at 
 a table where he usually sat, he desired her to bring 
 him his box of papers, and after he had collected 
 those he intended should be preserved, he ordered 
 her to bring a candle, that he might see the rest 
 burnt. The good woman seemed at first to oppose 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 17 
 
 the burning of his papers, till he told her they were 
 only useless trifles, some unfinished observations 
 which he had made in his youthful days, and were 
 not fit to be seen by her or anybody that should 
 come after him. 
 
 After he had seen his papers burnt, and placed 
 the rest in their proper order, and had likewise 
 settled all his other affairs, which was only fit to be 
 done between himself and his sister, he desired her 
 to call two or three of the most reputable neigh- 
 bours, not only to be witnesses of his will, but like- 
 wise to hear what he had further to communicate 
 before the return of his fit, which he expected very 
 speedily. 
 
 His sister, who had beforehand acquainted two or 
 three of her confidants with all that had happened, 
 was very much rejoiced to hear her brother make 
 so unexpected a concession ; and accordingly, with- 
 out any delay or hesitation, went directly into the 
 neighbourhood and brought home her two select 
 friends, upon whose secrecy and sincerity she knew 
 she might depend upon all accounts. 
 
 In her absence he felt several symptoms of the ap- 
 proach of his fit, which made him a little uneasy, 
 lest it should entirely seize him before he had per- 
 fected his will, but that apprehension was quickly 
 removed by her speedy return. After she had in- 
 troduced her friends into his chamber, he proceeded 
 to express himself in the following manner ; Dear 
 sister, you now see your brother upon the brink of 
 eternity; and as the words of dying persons are com- 
 monly the most regarded, and make deepest impres- 
 sions, I cannot suspect but you will suffer the few I 
 am about to say to have always some place in your 
 thoughts, that they may be ready for you to make 
 use of upon any occasion. 
 
 Do not be fond of anything on this side of eternity, 
 
18 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 or suffer your interest to incline you to break your 
 word, quit your modesty, or to do anything that will 
 not bear the light, and look the world in the face. 
 For be assured of this ; the person that values the 
 virtue of his mind and the dignity of his reason, is 
 always easy and well fortified both against death 
 and misfortune, and is perfectly indifferent about the 
 length or shortness of his life. Such a one is soli- 
 citous about nothing but his own conduct, and for 
 fear he should be deficient in the duties of religion, 
 and the respective functions of reason and prudence. 
 
 Always go the nearest way to work. Now, the 
 nearest way through all the business of human life, 
 are the paths of religion and honesty, and keeping 
 those as directly as you can, you avoid all the 
 dangerous precipices that often lie in the road, and 
 sometimes block up the passage entirely. 
 
 Remember that life was but lent at first, and that 
 the remainder is more than you have reason to ex- 
 pect, and consequently ought to be managed with more 
 than ordinary diligence. A wise man spends every 
 day as if it were his last ; his hourglass is always in 
 his hand, and he is never guilty of sluggishness or 
 insincerity. 
 
 He was about to proceed when a sudden symptom 
 of the return of his fit put him in mind that it was 
 time to get his will witnessed, which was no sooner 
 done but he took it up and gave it to his sister, 
 telling her that though all he had was hers of right, 
 yet he thought it proper, to prevent even a possibility 
 of a dispute, to write down his mind in the nature 
 of a will, wherein I have given you, says he, the 
 little that I have left, except my books and papers, 
 which, as soon as I am dead, I desire may be deli- 
 vered to Mr. Anthony Barlow, a near relation of my 
 worthy master, Mr. Owen Parry. 
 
 This Mr. Anthonv Barlow was an old contem- 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 19 
 
 plative Welsh gentleman, who, being under some 
 difficulties in his own country, was forced to come 
 into Cornwall and take sanctuary among the tin- 
 ners. Dickory, though he kept himself as retired 
 as possible, happened to meet him one day upon his 
 walks, and presently remembered that he was the 
 very person that used frequently to come to visit his 
 master while he lived in Pembrokeshire, and so 
 went to him, and by signs made him understand 
 who he was. 
 
 The old gentleman, though at first surprised at 
 this unexpected interview, soon recollected that he 
 had formerly seen at Mr. Parry's a dumb man, 
 whom they used to call the dumb philosopher, so 
 concludes immediately that consequently this must 
 be he. In short, they soon made themselves known 
 to each other ; and from that time contracted a 
 strict friendship and a correspondence by letters, 
 which for the future they mutually managed with 
 the greatest exactness and familiarity. 
 
 But to leave this as a matter not much material, 
 and to return to our narrative. By this time 
 Dickory's speech began to falter, which his sister 
 observing, put him in mind that he would do well 
 to make some declaration of his faith and principles 
 of religion, because some reflections had been made 
 upon him upon the account of his neglect, or rather 
 his refusal, to appear at any place of public wor- 
 ship. 
 
 " Dear sister," says he, " you observe very well, 
 and I wish the continuance of my speech for a few 
 moments that I might make an ample declaration 
 upon that account. But I find that cannot be ; my 
 speech is leaving me so fast that I can only tell you 
 that I have always lived, and now die, an unworthy 
 member of the ancient catholic and apostolic 
 church ; and as to my faith and principles, I refer 
 
 d. c. u 
 
20 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 you to my papers, which, I hope, will in some 
 measure vindicate me against the reflections you 
 mention." 
 
 He had hardly finished his discourse to his sister 
 and her two friends, and given some short directions 
 relating to his burial, but his speech left him ; and 
 what makes the thing the more remarkable, it went 
 away, in all appearance, without giving him any 
 sort of pain or uneasiness. 
 
 When he perceived that his speech was entirely 
 vanished, and that he was again in his original state 
 of dumbness, he took his pen as formerly and wrote 
 to his sister, signifying that whereas the sudden 
 loss of his speech had deprived him of the oppor- 
 tunity to speak to her and her friends what he in- 
 tended, he would leave it for them in writing, and 
 so desired he might not be disturbed till the return 
 of his fit, which he expected in six hours at farthest. 
 According to his desire they all left him, and then, 
 with the greatest resignation imaginable, he wrote 
 down the meditations following : 
 
 PART II. 
 
 An Abstract of his Faith, and the Principles of his 
 Religion, fyc, ichich begins thus : 
 
 Dear Sister ; I thank you for putting me in mind 
 to make a declaration of my faith, and the principles 
 of my religion. I find, as you very well observe, I 
 have been under some reflections upon that account, 
 and therefore I think it highly requisite that I set 
 that matter right in the first place. To begin, 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 21 
 
 therefore, with my faith, in which I intend to be as 
 short and as comprehensive as I can : 
 
 1. I most firmly believe that it was the eternal 
 will of God, and the result of his infinite wisdom, 
 to create a world, and for the glory of his majesty 
 to make several sorts of creatures in order and 
 degree one after another ; that is to say, angels, or 
 pure immortal spirits ; men, consisting of immortal 
 spirits and matter, having rational and sensitive 
 souls ; brutes, having mortal and sensitive souls ; 
 and mere vegetatives, such as trees, plants, &c. ; 
 and these creatures so made do, as it were, clasp 
 the higher and lower world together. 
 
 2. I believe the holy Scriptures, and everything 
 therein contained, to be the pure and essential word 
 of God ; and that, according to these sacred writings, 
 man, the lord and prince of the creation, by his 
 disobedience in Paradise, forfeited his innocence 
 and the dignity of his nature, and subjected himself 
 and all his posterity to sin and misery. 
 
 3. I believe and am fully and entirely satisfied, 
 that God the Father, out of his infinite goodness 
 and compassion to mankind, was pleased to send 
 his only Son, the second person in the holy and un- 
 divided Trinity, to mediate for him, and to procure 
 his redemption and eternal salvation. 
 
 4. I believe that God the Son, out of his infinite 
 love, and for the glory of the Deity, was pleased 
 voluntarily and freely to descend from heaven, and 
 to take our nature upon him, and to lead an exem- 
 plary life of purity, holiness, and perfect obedience, 
 and at last to suffer an ignominious death upon the 
 cross, for the sins of the whole world, and to rise 
 again the third day for our justification. 
 
 5. I believe that the Holy Ghost out of his in- 
 finite goodness was pleased to undertake the office 
 of sanctifying us with his divine grace, and thereby 
 
 u2 
 
22 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 assisting us with faith to believe, will to desire, and 
 power to do all those things that are required of us 
 in this world, in order to entitle us to the blessings 
 of just men made perfect in the world to come. 
 
 6. I believe that these three persons are of equal 
 power, majesty, and duration, and that the God- 
 head of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost is all one, and that they are equally uncreate, 
 incomprehensible, eternal, and almighty ; and that 
 none is greater or less than the other, but that 
 every one hath one and the same divine nature and 
 perfections. 
 
 These, sister, are the doctrines which have been 
 received and practised by the best men of every 
 age, from the beginning of the Christian religion to 
 this day, and it is upon this I ground my faith and 
 hopes of salvation, not doubting but, if my life and 
 practice have been answerable to them, that I shall 
 be quickly translated out of this kingdom of dark- 
 ness, out of this world of sorrow, vexation, and con- 
 fusion, into that blessed kingdom, where I shall 
 cease to grieve and to suffer, and shall be happy to 
 all eternity. 
 
 As to my principles in religion, to be as brief as 
 I can, I declare myself to be a member of Christ's 
 church, which I take to be a universal society of all 
 Christian people, distributed under lawful governors 
 and pastors into particular churches, holding com- 
 munion with each other in all the essentials of the 
 Christian faith, worship, and discipline ; and among 
 these I look upon the Church of England to be the 
 chief and best constituted. 
 
 The Church of England is doubtless the great 
 bulwark of the* ancient Catholic or Apostolic faith 
 all over the world ; a church that has all the 
 spiritual advantages that the nature of a church is 
 capable of. From the doctrine and principles of 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 23 
 
 the Church of England, we are taught loyalty to 
 our prince, fidelity to our country, and justice to 
 all mankind ; and therefore, as I look upon this to 
 be one of the most excellent branches of the Church 
 Universal, and stands, as it were, between super- 
 stition and hypocrisy, I therefore declare, for the 
 satisfaction of you and your friends, as I have always 
 lived so I now die, a true and sincere, though a 
 a most unworthy member of it. And as to my dis- 
 continuance of my attendance at the public worship, 
 I refer you to my papers, which I have left with my 
 worthy friend, Mr. Barlow. And thus, my dear 
 sister, I have given you a short account of my faith, 
 and the principles of my religion. I come, in the 
 next place, to lay before you a few meditations and 
 observations I have at several times collected to- 
 gether, more particularly those since my retirement 
 to St. Helen's. 
 
 Meditations and Observations relating to the Con- 
 duct of Human Life in general. 
 
 1. Remember how often you have neglected the 
 great duties of religion and virtue, and slighted the 
 opportunities that Providence has put into your 
 hands ; and, withal, that you have a set period as- 
 signed you for the management of the affairs of 
 human life ; and then reflect seriously that, unless 
 you resolve immediately to improve the little re- 
 mains, the whole must necessarily slip away insen- 
 sibly, and then you are lost beyond recovery. 
 
 2. Let an unaffected gravity, freedom, justice, 
 and sincerity, shine through all your actions, and 
 let no fancies and chimeras give the least check to 
 those excellent qualities. This is an easy task, if 
 
24 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 you will but suppose everything you do to be your 
 last, and if you can keep your passions and appetites 
 from crossing your reason. Stand clear of rashness, 
 and have nothing of insincerity or self-love to in- 
 fect you. 
 
 3. Manage all your thoughts and actions with 
 such prudence and circumspection as if you were 
 sensible you were just going to step into the grave. 
 A little thinking will show a man the vanity and 
 uncertainty of all sublunary things, and enable him 
 to examine maturely the manner of dying ; which, 
 if duly abstracted from the terror of the idea, will 
 appear nothing more than an unavoidable appendix 
 of life itself, and a pure natural action. 
 
 4. Consider that ill-usage from some sort of 
 people is in a manner necessary, and therefore do 
 not be disquieted about it, but rather conclude that 
 you and your enemy are both marching off the 
 stage together, and that in a little time your very 
 memories will be extinguished. 
 
 5. Among your principal observations upon 
 human life, let it be always one to take notice what 
 a great deal both of time and ease that man gains 
 who is not troubled with the spirit of curiosity, who 
 lets his neighbour's affairs alone, and confines his 
 inspections to himself, and only takes care of 
 honesty and a good conscience. 
 
 6. If you would live at your ease, and as much 
 as possible be free from the incumbrances of life, 
 manage but a few things at once, and let those, too, 
 be such as are absolutely necessary. By this rule 
 you will draw the bulk of your business into a 
 narrow compass, and have the double pleasure of 
 making your actions good, and few into the bargain. 
 
 7. He that torments himself because things do 
 not happen just as he would have them, is but a sort 
 of ulcer in the world ; and he that is selfish, narrow- 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 25 
 
 souled, and sets up for a separate interest, is a kind 
 of voluntary outlaw, and disincorporates himself from 
 mankind. 
 
 8. Never think anything below you which reason 
 and your own circumstances require, and never 
 suffer yourself to be deterred by the ill-grounded 
 notions of censure and reproach ; but when honesty 
 and conscience prompt you to say or do anything, 
 do it boldly ; never balk your resolution or start 
 at the consequence. 
 
 9. If a man does me an injury, what is that to 
 me ? It is his own action, and let him account for 
 it. As for me, I am in my proper station, and only 
 doing the business that Providence has allotted ; 
 and withal, I ought to consider that the best way to 
 revenge, is not to imitate the injury. 
 
 10. When yon happen to be ruffled and put out 
 of humour by any cross accident, retire immediately 
 into your reason, and do not suffer your passion to 
 overrule you a moment ; for the sooner you recover 
 yourself now, the better you will be able to guard 
 yourself for the future. 
 
 11. Do not be like those ill-natured people that, 
 though they do not love to give a good word to 
 their contemporaries, yet are mighty fond of their 
 own commendations. This argues a perverse and 
 unjust temper, and often exposes the authors to 
 scorn and contempt. 
 
 12. If any one convinces you of an error, change 
 your opinion and thank him for it : truth and in- 
 formation are your business, and can never hurt 
 anybody. On the contrary, he that is proud and 
 stubborn, and wilfully continues in a mistake, it is 
 he that receives the mischief. 
 
 13. Because you see a thing difficult, do not in- 
 stantly conclude it to be impossible to master it. 
 Diligence and industry are seldom defeated. Look, 
 
26 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 therefore, narrowly into the thing itself, and what 
 you observe proper and practicable in another, con- 
 clude likewise within your own power. 
 
 14. The principle business of human life is run 
 through within the short compass of twenty-four 
 hours ; and when you have taken a deliberate view 
 of the present age, you have seen as much as if you 
 had begun with the world, the rest being nothing 
 else but an endless round of the same thing over 
 and over again. 
 
 15. Bring your will to your fate, and suit your 
 mind to your circumstances. Love your friends and 
 forgive your enemies, and do justice to all mankind, 
 and you will be secure to make your passage easy, 
 and enjoy most of the comforts that human life is 
 capable to afford you. 
 
 16. When you have a mind to entertain yourself 
 in your retirements, let it be with the good qualifica- 
 tions of your friends and acquaintance. Think with 
 pleasure and satisfaction upon the honour and 
 bravery of one, the modesty of another, the gene- 
 rosity of a third, and so on ; there being nothing 
 more pleasant and diverting than the lively images 
 and the advantages of those we love and converse with. 
 
 17. As nothing can deprive you of the privileges 
 of your nature, or compel you to act counter to your 
 reason, so nothing can happen to you but what 
 comes from Providence, and consists with the in- 
 terest of the universe. 
 
 18. Let people's tongues and actions be what 
 they will, your business is to have honour and 
 honesty in your view. Let them rail, revile, cen- 
 sure, and condemn, or make you the subject of their 
 scorn and ridicule, what does it all signify? You 
 have one certain remedy against all their malice and 
 folly, and that is, to live so that nobody shall believe 
 them. 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 27 
 
 19. Alas, poor mortals ! did we rightly consider 
 our own state and condition, we should find it would 
 not be long before we have forgot all the world, and 
 to be even, that all the world will have forgot us 
 likewise. 
 
 20. He that would recommend himself to the 
 public, let him do it by the candour and modesty of 
 his behaviour, and by a generous indifference to ex- 
 ternal advantages. Let him love mankind, and re- 
 sign to Providence, and then his works will follow 
 him, and his good actions will praise him in the gate. 
 
 21. When you hear a discourse, let your under- 
 standing, as far as possible, keep pace with it, and 
 lead you forward to those things which fall most 
 within the compass of your own observations. 
 
 22. When vice and treachery shall be rewarded, 
 and virtue and ability slighted and discountenanced; 
 when ministers of state shall rather fear man than 
 God, and to screen themselves run into parties and 
 factions ; when noise and clamour, and scandalous 
 reports shall carry everything before them, it is na- 
 tural to conclude that a nation in such a state of in- 
 fatuation stands upon the brink of destruction, and 
 without the intervention of some unforeseen ac- 
 cident, must be inevitably ruined. 
 
 23. When a prince is guarded by wise and honest 
 men, and when all public officers are sure to be re- 
 warded if they do well, and punished if they do evil, 
 the consequence is plain; justice and honesty will 
 flourish, and men will be always contriving, not for 
 themselves, but for the honour and interest of their 
 king and country. 
 
 24. Wicked men may sometimes go unpunished 
 in this world, but wicked nations never do ; because 
 this world is the only place of punishment for 
 wicked nations, though not for private and particular 
 persons. 
 
28 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 25. An administration that is merely founded 
 upon human policy must be always subject to human 
 chance; but that which is founded on the divine 
 wisdom can no more miscarry than the government 
 of heaven. To govern by parties and factions is the 
 advice of an atheist, and sets up a government by 
 the spirit of Satan. In such a government the 
 prince can never be secure under the greatest pro- 
 mises, since, as men's interest changes, so will their 
 duty and affections likewise. 
 
 26. It is a very ancient observation, and a very 
 true one, that people generally despise where they 
 natter, and cringe to those they design to betray ; 
 so that truth and ceremony are, and always will be, 
 two distinct things. 
 
 27. When you find your friend in an error, un- 
 deceive him with secrecy and civility, and let him 
 see his oversight first by hints and glances ; and if 
 you cannot convince him, leave him with respect, 
 and lay the fault upon your own management. 
 
 28. When you are under the greatest vexations, 
 then consider that human life lasts but for a moment; 
 and do not forget but that you are like the rest of 
 the world, and faulty yourself in many instances ; 
 and withal, remember that anger and impatience 
 often prove more mischievous than the provocation. 
 
 29. Gentleness and good humour are invincible, 
 provided they are without hypocrisy and design; 
 they disarm the most barbarous and savage tempers, 
 and make even malice ashamed of itself. 
 
 30. In all the actions of life let it be your first 
 and principal care to guard against anger on the one 
 hand, and flattery on the other, for they are both 
 unserviceable qualities, and do a great deal of mis- 
 chief in the government of human life. 
 
 31. When a man turns knave or libertine, and 
 gives way to fear, jealousy, and fits of the spleen ; 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 29 
 
 when his mind complains of his fortune, and he 
 quits the station in which Providence has placed him, 
 he acts perfectly counter to humanity, deserts his 
 own nature, and, as it were, runs away from himself. 
 
 32. Be not heavy in business, disturbed in con- 
 versation, nor impertinent in your thoughts. Let 
 your judgment be right, your actions friendly, and 
 your mind contented ; let them curse you, threaten 
 you, or despise you ; let them go on ; they can never 
 injure your reason or your virtue, and then all the 
 rest that they can do to you signifies nothing. 
 
 33. The only pleasure of human life is doing the 
 business of the creation ; and which way is that to 
 be compassed very easily? Most certainly by the 
 practice of general kindness, by rejecting the im- 
 portunity of our senses, by distinguishing truth from 
 falsehood, and by contemplating the works of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 34. Be sure to mind that which lies before you, 
 whether it be thought, word, or action ; and never 
 postpone an opportunity, or make virtue wait for you 
 till to-morrow. 
 
 35. Whatever tends neither to the improvement 
 of your reason nor the benefit of society, think it 
 below you ; and when you have done any consider- 
 able service to mankind, do not lessen it by your folly 
 in gaping after reputation and requital. 
 
 36. When you find yourself sleepy in a morning, 
 rouse yourself, and consider that you are born to 
 business, and that in doing good in your generation, 
 you answer your character and act like a man ; 
 whereas sleep and idleness do but degrade you, and 
 sink you down to a brute. 
 
 37. A mind that has nothing of hope, or fear, or 
 aversion, or desire, to weaken and disturb it, is the 
 most impregnable security. Hither we may with 
 safety retire and defy our enemies; and he that sees 
 
30 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 not this advantage must be extremely ignorant, and 
 he that forgets it unhappy. 
 
 31. Do not disturb yourself about the faults of 
 other people, but let everybody's crimes be at their 
 own door. Have always this great maxim in your 
 remembrance, that to play the knave is to rebel 
 against religion ; all sorts of injustice being no less 
 than high treason against Heaven itself. 
 
 39. Do not contemn death, but meet it with a 
 decent and religious fortitude, and look upon it as 
 one of those things which Providence has ordered. 
 If you want a cordial to make the apprehensions of 
 dying go down a little the more easily, consider 
 what sort of world and what sort of company you 
 will part with. To conclude, do but look seriously 
 into the world, and there you will see multitudes of 
 people preparing for funerals, and mourning for 
 their friends and acquaintances ; and look out again 
 a little afterwards, and you will see others doing the 
 very same thing for them. 
 
 40. In short, men are but poor transitory things. 
 To-day they are busy and harassed with the affairs 
 of human life; and to-morrow life itself is taken from 
 them, and they are returned to their original dust 
 and ashes. 
 
To face page 30. 
 
OR GREAT BRITIAN'S WONDER. 31 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Containing prophetic observations relating to the 
 affairs of Europe and of Great Britain, more par- 
 ticularly from 1720 to 1729. 
 
 1. In the latter end of 1720, an eminent old lady 
 shall bring forth five sons at a birth ; the youngest 
 shall live and grow up to maturity, but the four 
 eldest shall either die in the nursery, or be all carried 
 off by one sudden and unexpected accident. 
 
 2. About this time a man with a double head 
 shall arrive in Britain from the south. One of these 
 heads shall deliver messages of great importance to 
 the governing party, and the other to the party that is 
 opposite to them. The first shall believe the monster, 
 but the last shall discover the impostor, and so 
 happily disengage themselves from a snare that was 
 laid to destroy them and their posterity. After this 
 the two heads shall unite, and the monster shall ap- 
 pear in his proper shape. 
 
 3. In the year 1721, a philosopher from lower 
 Germany shall come, first to Amsterdam in Holland, 
 and afterwards to London. He will bring with him 
 a world of curiosities, and among them a pretended 
 secret for the transmutation of metals. Under the 
 umbrage of this mighty secret he shall pass upon the 
 world for some time ; but at length he shall be 
 detected, and proved to be nothing but an empiric 
 and a cheat, and so forced to sneak off, and leave 
 the people he has deluded, either to bemoan their 
 loss, or laugh at their own folly. N. B. This will be 
 
32 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, 
 
 the last of his sect that will ever venture in this part 
 of the world upon the same errand. 
 
 4. In this year great endeavours will be used for 
 procuring a general peace, which shall be so near a 
 conclusion that public rejoicings shall be made at 
 the courts of several great potentates upon that ac- 
 count; but just in the critical juncture, a certain 
 neighbouring prince shall come to a violent death, 
 which shall occasion new war and commotion all 
 over Europe; but these shall continue but for a 
 short time, and at last terminate in the utter de- 
 struction of the first aggressors. 
 
 5. Towards the close of this year of mysteries, a 
 person that was born blind shall have his sight re- 
 stored, and shall see ravens perch upon the heads of 
 traitors, among which the head of a notorious pre- 
 late shall stand upon the highest pole. 
 
 6. In the year 1722, there shall be a grand con- 
 gress, and new overtures of peace offered by most 
 of the principal parties concerned in the war, which 
 shall have so good effect that a cessation of arms 
 shall be agreed upon for six months, which shall be 
 kept inviolable till a certain general, either through 
 treachery or inadvertency, shall begin hostilities be- 
 fore the expiration of the term ; upon which the 
 injured prince shall draw his sword, and throw the 
 scabbard into the sea, vowing never to return it till 
 he shall obtain satisfaction for himself, and done 
 justice to all that were oppressed. 
 
 7. At the close of this year, a famous bridge shall 
 be broken down, and the water that runs under it 
 shall be tinctured with the blood of two notorious 
 malefactors, whose unexpected death shall make 
 mighty alterations in the present state of affairs, 
 and put a stop to the ruin of a nation, which must 
 otherwise have been unavoidable. 
 
 8. 1723 begins with plots, conspiracies, and in- 
 
or great Britain's wonder. 33 
 
 testine commotions in several countries ; nor shall 
 Great Britain itself be free from the calamity. 
 These shall continue till a certain young prince shall 
 take the reins of government into his own hands ; 
 and after that, a marriage shall be proposed, and an 
 alliance concluded between two great potentates, 
 who shall join their forces, and endeavour, in good 
 earnest, to set all matters upon a right foundation. 
 
 9. This year several cardinals and prelates shall 
 be publicly censured for heretical principles, and 
 shall narrowly escape from being torn to pieces by 
 the common people, who still look upon them as the 
 grand disturbers of the public tranquillity, perfect in- 
 cendiaries, and the chief promoters of their former, 
 present, and future calamities. 
 
 10. In 1724-5 there will be many treaties and ne- 
 gotiations, and Great Britain, particularly, will be 
 crowded with foreign ministers and ambassadors 
 from remote princes and states. Trade and com- 
 merce will begin to flourish and revive, and every- 
 thing will have a comfortable prospect, until some 
 desperadoes, assisted by a monster with many heads, 
 shall start new difficulties, and put the world again 
 into a flame ; but these shall be but of short dura- 
 tion. 
 
 11. Before the expiration of 1725, an eagle from 
 the north shall fly directly to the south, and perch 
 upon the palace of a prince, and first unravel the 
 bloody projects and designs of a wicked set of people, 
 and then publicly discover the murder of a great 
 king, and the intended assassination of another 
 greater than he. 
 
 12. In 1726, three princes will be born that will 
 grow up to be men, and inherit the crowns of three 
 of the greatest monarchies in Europe. 
 
 13. About this time the pope will die, and after 
 
34 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, OR 
 
 a great many intrigues and struggles, a Spanish 
 cardinal shall be elected, who shall decline the dig- 
 nity, and declare his marriage with a great lady, 
 heiress of one of the chief principalities in Italy, 
 which may occasion new troubles in Europe, if not 
 timely prevented. 
 
 14. In 1727, new troubles shall break out in the 
 north, occasioned by the sudden death of a certain 
 prince, and the avarice and ambition of another. 
 Poor Poland seems to be pointed at ; but the princes 
 of the south shall enter into a confederacy to pre- 
 serve her, and shall at length restore her peace, and 
 prevent the perpetual ruin of her constitution. 
 
 15. Great endeavours will be used about this 
 time for a comprehension in religion, supported by 
 crafty and designing men, and a party of mistaken 
 zealots, which they shall artfully draw in to join with 
 them ; but as the project is ill-concerted, and will 
 be worse managed, it will come to nothing; and 
 soon afterwards an effectual mode will be taken to 
 prevent the like attempt for the future. 
 
 16. 1728 will be a year of inquiry and retro- 
 spection. Many exorbitant grants will be re- 
 assumed, and several persons who thought them- 
 selves secure will be called before the senate, and 
 compelled to disgorge what they have unjustly pil- 
 laged either from the crown or the public. 
 
 17. About this time a new scaffold will be erected 
 upon the confines of a certain great city, where an 
 old count of a new extraction, that has been of all 
 parties and true to none, will be doomed by his 
 peers to make his first appearance. After this an 
 old lady who has often been exposed to danger and 
 disgrace, and sometimes brought to the very brink of 
 destruction, will be brought to bed of three daughters 
 at once, which they shall call Plenty, Peace, and 
 
great Britain's wonder. 35 
 
 Union ; and these three shall live and grow up to- 
 gether, be the glory of their mother, and the com- 
 fort of posterity for many generations. 
 
 This is the substance of what he either writ or 
 extracted from his papers in the interval between 
 the loss of his speech and the return of his fit, 
 which happened exactly at the time he had com- 
 puted. 
 
 Upon the approach of his fit, he made signs to 
 be put to bed, which was no sooner done but he 
 was seized with extreme agonies, which he bore 
 up under with the greatest steadfastness, and after 
 a severe conflict, that lasted near eight hours, he ex- 
 pired. 
 
 Thus lived and thus died this extraordinary 
 person ; a person, though of mean extraction and 
 obscure life, yet when his character comes to be 
 fully and truly known, it will be read with pleasure, 
 profit, and admiration. 
 
 His perfections at large would be the work of a 
 volume, and inconsistent with the intention of these 
 papers. I will therefore only add, for a conclusion, 
 that he was a man of uncommon thought and judg- 
 ment, and always kept his appetites and inclinations 
 within their just limits. 
 
 His reason was strong and manly, his under- 
 standing sound and active, and his temper so easy, 
 equal, and complaisant, that he never fell out, 
 either with men or accidents. He bore all things 
 with the highest affability, and computed justly 
 upon their value and consequence, and then ap- 
 plied them to their proper uses. 
 
 D. C. 
 
36 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, OR 
 
 A LETTER FROM OXFORD. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Being informed that you speedily intend 
 to publish some memoirs relating to our dumb 
 countryman, Dickory Cronke, I send you herewith 
 a few lines, in the nature of an elegy, which I leave 
 you to dispose of as you think fit. I knew and ad- 
 mired the man ; and if I were capable, his cha- 
 racter should be the first thing I would attempt. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
great Britain's wonder. 37 
 
 AN ELEGY, 
 
 IN MEMORY OF DICKORY CRONKE, 
 
 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 Vitiis nemo sine nascitur ; optimus ille est, 
 Qui minimus urgetur. — Horace. 
 
 If virtuous actions emulation raise, 
 Then this good man deserves immortal praise. 
 When nature such extensive wisdom lent, 
 She sure designed him for our precedent. 
 Such great endowments in a man unknown, 
 Declare the blessings were not all his own ; 
 But rather granted for a time to show 
 What the wise hand of Providence can do. 
 In him we may a bright example see 
 Of nature, justice, and morality ; 
 A mind not subject to the frowns of fate, 
 But calm and easy in a servile state. 
 He always kept a guard upon his will, 
 And feared no harm because he knew no ill. 
 A decent posture and an humble mien, 
 In every action of his life were seen. 
 Through all the different stages that he went, 
 He still appeared both wise and diligent : 
 Firm to his word, and punctual to his trust, 
 Sagacious, frugal, affable, and just. 
 No gainful views his bounded hopes could sway, 
 No wanton thought led his chaste soul astray. 
 
 x2 
 
38 THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, OR 
 
 In short, his thoughts and actions both declare, 
 Nature designed him her philosopher ; 
 That all mankind, by his example taught, 
 Might learn to live, and manage every thought. 
 Oh ! could my muse the wondrous subject grace, 
 And, from his youth, his virtuous actions trace ; 
 Could I in just and equal numbers tell 
 How well he lived, and how devoutly fell, 
 I boldly might your strict attention claim, 
 And bid you learn, and copy out the man. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 Exeter College, 
 August 25th, 1719. 
 
great Britain's wonder. 39 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 The occasion of this epitaph was briefly thus : — A 
 gentleman, who had heard much in commendation 
 of this dumb man, going accidentally to the church- 
 yard where he was buried, and finding his grave 
 without a tombstone, or any manner of memoran- 
 dum of his death, he pulled out his pencil, and 
 writ as follows : — 
 
 pauper ubique jacet. 
 
 Near to this lonely unfrequented place, 
 
 Mixed with the common dust, neglected lies 
 
 The man that every muse should strive to grace, 
 
 And all the world should for his virtue prize. 
 
 Stop, gentle passenger, and drop a tear, 
 
 Truth, justice, wisdom, all lie buried here. 
 
 What, though he wants a monumental stone, 
 The common pomp of every fool or knave, 
 Those virtues which through all his actions shone 
 Proclaim his worth, and praise him in the grave. 
 His merits will a bright example give, 
 Which shall both time and envy too outlive. 
 
 Oh, had I power but equal to my mind, 
 
 A decent tomb should soon this place adorn, 
 With this inscription : Lo, here lies confined 
 A wondrous man, although obscurely born ; 
 A man, though dumb, yet he was nature's care, 
 WTio marked him out her own philosopher. 
 
EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS 
 
 IS 
 
 NOBODY'S BUSINESS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PRIVATE ABUSES, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES: 
 
 EXEMPLIFIED 
 
 In the Pride, Insolence, and exorbitant Wages of 
 our Women Servants. Footmen. &c. 
 
 A Proposal for Amendment of the same ; as also 
 for clearing the Streets of those Vermin called 
 Shoe-Cleaners, and substituting in their stead 
 many Thousands of industrious Poor, now ready- 
 to starve. With divers other Hints of great Use 
 to the Public. 
 
 Humbly submitted the Consideration Qf our Legis- 
 lature, and the careful Perusal of all Masters and 
 Mistresses of Families. 
 
 By Andrew Moreton, Esq. 
 The Fifth Edition, with the Addition of a Preface. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for W. Meadows, in Cornhill; and sold by 
 T. Warner, at the Black Boy in Pater-Noster 
 Row ; A. Dodd, without Temple Bar ; and E. 
 Nutt, at the Royal Exchange. 1725. 
 [Price Six Pence. ~\ 
 
THE PREFACE. 
 
 Since this little book appeared in print, it has had 
 no less than three answers, and fresh attacks are 
 daily expected from the powers of Grub-street ; 
 but should threescore antagonists more arise, un- 
 less they say more to the purpose than the fore- 
 mentioned, they shall not tempt me to reply. 
 
 Nor shall I engage in a paper war, but leave my 
 book to answer for itself, having advanced nothing 
 therein but evident truths, and incontestible mat- 
 ters of fact. 
 
 The general objection is against my style ; I do 
 not set up for an author, but write only to be un- 
 derstood, no matter how plain. 
 
 As my intentions are good, so have they had the 
 good fortune to meet with approbation from the 
 sober and substantial part of mankind ; as for the 
 vicious and vagabond, their ill-will is my ambition. 
 
 It is with uncommon satisfaction I see the magis- 
 tracy begin to put the laws against vagabonds in 
 force with the utmost vigour, a great many of those 
 vermin, the japanners, having lately been taken 
 up and sent to the several workhouses in and about 
 this city ; and indeed high time, for they grow 
 every day more and more pernicious. 
 
IV THE PREFACE. 
 
 My project for putting watchmen under commis- 
 sioners, will, I hope, be put in practice ; for it is 
 scarce safe to go by water unless you know your 
 man. 
 
 As for the maid -servants, if I undervalue myself 
 to take notice of them, as they are pleased to say, it 
 is because they overvalue themselves so much they 
 ought to be taken notice of. 
 
 This makes the guilty take my subject by the 
 wrong end, but any impartial reader may find, I 
 write not against servants, but bad servants ; not 
 against wages, but exorbitant wages, and am en- 
 tirely of the poet's opinion, 
 
 The good should meet with favour and applause, 
 The wicked be restrain'd by wholesome laws. 
 
 The reason why I did not publish this book till 
 the end of the last sessions of parliament, was be- 
 cause I did not care to interfere with more mo- 
 mentous affairs ; but leave it to the consideration of 
 that august body during this recess, against the 
 next sessions, when I shall exhibit another com- 
 plaint against a growing abuse, for which I doubt 
 not but to receive their approbation and the thanks 
 of all honest men. 
 
EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS 
 
 NOBODY'S BUSINESS. 
 
 This is a proverb so common in everybody's mouth, 
 that I wonder nobody has yet thought it worth 
 while to draw proper inferences from it, and expose 
 those little abuses, which, though they seem tri- 
 fling, and as it were scarce worth consideration, 
 yet, by insensible degrees, they may become of in- 
 jurious consequence to the public ; like some dis- 
 eases, whose first symptoms are only trifling dis- 
 orders, but by continuance and progression, their 
 last periods terminate in the destruction of the 
 whole human fabric. 
 
 In contradiction therefore to this general rule, 
 and out of sincere love and well meaning to the 
 public, give me leave to enumerate the abuses in- 
 sensibly crept in among us, and the inconveniences 
 daily arising from the insolence and intrigues of 
 •our servant-wenches, who, by their caballing toge- 
 ther, have made their party so considerable, that 
 everybody cries out against them ; and yet, to ve- 
 rify the proverb, nobody has thought of, or at least 
 proposed a remedy, although such an undertaking, 
 mean as it seems to be, I hope will one day be 
 thought worthy the consideration of our king, 
 lords, and commons. 
 
D EVERYBODY S BUSINESS 
 
 Women servants are now so scarce, that from 
 thirty and forty shillings a year, their wages are in- 
 creased of late to six, seven, nay, eight pounds per 
 annum, and upwards ; insomuch that an ordinary 
 tradesman cannot well keep one ; but his wife, who 
 might be useful in his shop or business, must do 
 the drudgery of household affairs ; and all this be- 
 cause our servant-wenches are so puffed up with 
 pride nowadays, that they never think they go fine 
 enough : it is a hard matter to know the mistress 
 from the maid by their dress ; nay, very often the 
 maid shall be much the finer of the two. Our 
 woollen manufacture suffers much by this, for no- 
 thing but silks and satins will go down with our 
 kitchen-wenches; to support which intolerable 
 pride, they have insensibly raised their wages to 
 such a height as was never known in any age or 
 nation but this. 
 
 Let us trace this from the beginning, and suppose 
 a person has a servant-maid sent him out of the coun- 
 try, at fifty shillings, or three pounds a year. The girl 
 has scarce been a week, nay, a day in her service, 
 but a committee of servant-wenches are appointed 
 to examine her, who advise her to raise her wages, 
 or give warning ; to encourage her to which, the 
 herb-woman, or chandler-woman, or some other old 
 intelligencer, provides her a place of four or five 
 pounds a year ; this sets madam cock-a-hoop, and 
 she thinks of nothing now but vails and high wages, 
 and so gives warning from place to place, till she 
 has got her wages up to the tip-top. 
 
 Her neat's leathern shoes are now transformed into 
 laced ones with high heels ; her yarn stockings are 
 turned into fine woollen ones, with silk clocks ; and 
 her high wooden pattens are kicked away for lea- 
 thern clogs ; she must have a hoop too, as well as 
 her mistress ; and her poor scanty linsey-woolsey 
 
IS NOBODY S BUSINESS. 7 
 
 petticoat is changed into a good silk one, for four 
 or five yards wide at the least. Not to carry the 
 description further, in short, plain country Joan is 
 now turned into a fine London madam, can drink 
 tea, take snuff, and carry herself as high as the best. 
 
 If she be tolerably handsome, and has any share 
 of cunning, the apprentice or her master's son is 
 enticed away and ruined by her. Thus many good 
 families are impoverished and disgraced by these 
 pert sluts, who taking the advantage of a young 
 man's simplicity and unruly desires, draw many 
 heedless youths, nay, some of good estates, into 
 their snares; and of this we have but too many 
 instances. 
 
 Some more artful shall conceal their condition, 
 and palm themselves off on young fellows for gen- 
 tlewomen and great fortunes. How many families 
 have been ruined by these ladies ? when the father 
 or master of the family, preferring the flirting airs of 
 a young prinked up strumpet, to the artless sincerity 
 of a plain, grave and good wife, has given his de- 
 sires aloose, and destroyed soul, body, family, and 
 estate. But they are very favourable if they whee- 
 dle nobody into matrimony, but only make a pre- 
 sent of a small live creature, no bigger than a bas- 
 tard, to some of the family, no matter who gets it ; 
 when a child is born it must be kept. 
 
 Our sessions' papers of late are crowded with in- 
 stances of servant-maids robbing their places, this 
 can be only attributed to their devilish pride ; for 
 their whole inquiry nowadays, is how little they 
 shall do, how much they shall have. 
 
 But all this while they make so little reserve, 
 that if they fall sick the parish must keep them, if 
 they are out of place, they must prostitute their 
 bodies, or starve ; so that from chopping and chang- 
 ing, they generally proceed to whoring and thiev- 
 
8 everybody's business 
 
 ing, and this is the reason why our streets swarm 
 with strumpets. 
 
 Thus many of them rove from place to place, 
 from bawdyhouse to service, and from service to 
 bawdyhouse again, ever unsettled and never easy, 
 nothing being more common than to find these 
 creatures one week in a good family, and the next 
 in a brothel. This amphibious life makes them fit 
 for neither, for if the bawd uses them ill, away they 
 trip to service, and if their mistress gives them a wry 
 word, whip they are at a bawdyhouse again, so that 
 in effect they neither make good whores nor good 
 servants. 
 
 Those who are not thus slippery in the tail, are 
 light of finger ; and of these the most pernicious 
 are those who beggar you inchmeal. If a maid is a 
 downright thief she strips you at once, and you 
 know your loss ; but these retail pilferers waste 
 you insensibly, and though you hardly miss it, yet 
 your substance shall decay to such a degree, that 
 you must have a very good bottom indeed not to 
 feel the ill effects of such moths in your family. 
 
 Tea, sugar, wine, &c, or any such trifling com- 
 modities, are reckoned no thefts, if they do not di- 
 rectly take your pewter from your shelf, or your 
 linen from your drawers, they are very honest : 
 What harm is there, say they, in cribbing a little 
 matter for a junket, a merry bout or so? Nay, 
 there are those that when they are sent to market 
 for one joint of meat, shall take up two on their 
 master's account, and leave one by the way, for 
 some of these maids are mighty charitable, and can 
 make a shift to maintain a small family with what 
 they can purloin from their masters and mistresses. 
 
 If you send them with ready money, they turn 
 factors, and take threepence or fourpence in the 
 shilling brokerage. And here let me take notice of 
 
IS NOBODY S BUSINESS. ^ 
 
 one very heinous abuse, not to say petty felony, 
 which is practised in most of the great families 
 about town, which is, when the tradesman gives 
 the housekeeper or other commanding servant a 
 penny or twopence in the shilling, or so much in 
 the pound, for everything they send in, and which, 
 from thence, is called poundage. 
 
 This, in my opinion, is the greatest of villanies, 
 and ought to incur some punishment, yet nothing 
 is more common, and our topping tradesmen, who 
 seem otherwise to stand mightily on their credit, 
 make this but a matter of course and custom. If I 
 do not, says one, another will, (for the servant is 
 sure to pick a hole in the person's coat, who shall 
 not pay contribution.) Thus this wicked practice 
 is carried on and winked at, while receiving of 
 stolen goods, and confederating with felons, which 
 is not a jot worse, is so openly cried out against, 
 and severely punished, witness Jonathan Wild. 
 
 And yet if a master or mistress inquire after any 
 thing missing, they must be sure to place their 
 words in due form, or madam huffs and flings about 
 at a strange rate, What, would you make a thief of 
 her ? Who would live with such mistrustful folks ? 
 Thus you are obliged to hold your tongue, and sit 
 down quietly by your loss, for fear of offending your 
 maid, forsooth ! 
 
 Again, if your maid shall maintain one, two, or 
 more persons from your table, whether they are her 
 poor relations, country folk, servants out of place, 
 shoecleaners, charwomen, porters, or any other 
 of her menial servants, who do her ladyship's 
 drudgery and go of her errands, you must not com- 
 plain at your expense, or ask what has become of 
 such a thing, or such a thing ? although it might 
 never so reasonably be supposed that it was altoge- 
 ther impossible to have so much expended in your 
 
10 everybody's business 
 
 family ; but hold your tongue for peace sake, or 
 madam will say, You grudge her victuals ; and ex- 
 pose you to the last degree all over the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 Thus have they a salve for every sore, cheat you 
 to your face, and insult you into the bargain ; nor 
 can you help yourself without exposing yourself, or 
 putting yourself into a passion. 
 
 Another great abuse crept in among us, is the 
 giving of vails to servants ; this was intended ori- 
 ginally as an encouragement to such as were willing 
 and handy, but by custom and corruption it is now 
 grown to be a thorn in our sides, and, like other 
 good things, abused, does more harm than good ; 
 for now they make it a perquisite, a material part of 
 their wages, nor must their master give a supper, 
 but the maid expects the guests should pay for it, 
 nay, sometimes through the nose. Thus have they 
 spirited people up to this unnecessary and burthen- 
 some piece of generosity unknown to our fore- 
 fathers, who only gave gifts to servants at Christ- 
 mas-tide, which custom is yet kept up into the 
 bargain ; insomuch that a maid shall have eight 
 pounds per annum in a gentleman's or merchant's 
 family. And if her master is a man of free spirit, 
 who receives much company, she very often dou- 
 bles her wages by her vails ; thus having meat, 
 drink, washing, and lodging for her labour, she 
 throws her whole income upon her back, and by 
 this means looks more like the mistress of the 
 family than the servant-wench. 
 
 And now we have mentioned washing, I would 
 ask some good housewisely gentlewoman, if servant- 
 maids wearing printed linens, cottons, and other 
 things of that nature, which require frequent washing, 
 do not, by enhancing the article of soap, add more 
 to housekeeping, than the generality of people 
 
is nobody's business. 1 1 
 
 would imagine ? And yet these wenches cry out 
 against great washes, when their own unnecessary 
 dabs are very often the occasion. 
 
 But the greatest abuse of all, is, that these crea- 
 tures are become their own lawgivers ; nay, I think 
 they are ours too, though nobody would imagine that 
 such a set of slatterns should bamboozle a whole 
 nation ; but it is neither better nor worse, they hire 
 themselves to you by their own rule. 
 
 That is, a month's wages, or a month's warning ; 
 if they don't like you they will go away the next 
 day, help yourself how you can ; if you don't like 
 them, you must give them a month's wages to get 
 rid of them. 
 
 This custom of warning, as practised by our maid- 
 servants, is now become a great inconvenience to 
 masters and mistresses. You must carry your dish 
 very upright, or miss, forsooth, gives you warning, 
 and you are either left destitute, or to seek for a 
 servant ; so that, generally speaking, you are seldom 
 or never fixed, but always at the mercy of every 
 new comer to divulge your family affairs, to inspect 
 your private life, and treasure up the sayings of 
 yourself and friends. A very great confinement, 
 and much complained of in most families. 
 
 Thus have these wenches by their continual 
 plotting and cabals, united themselves into a formi- 
 dable body, and got the whip hand of their betters; 
 they make their own terms with us ; and two ser- 
 vants now, will scarce undertake the work which 
 one might perform with ease ; notwithstanding 
 which, they have raised their wages to a most exor- 
 bitant pitch ; and, I doubt not, if there be not a 
 stop put to their career, but they will bring wages 
 up to 20/. per annum in time, for they are much 
 about half way already. 
 
 It is by these means they run away with a great 
 
 D. C. Y 
 
12 everybody's business 
 
 part of our money, which might be better employed 
 in trade, and what is worse, by their insolent be- 
 haviour, their pride in dress, and their exorbitant 
 wages, they give birth to the following incon- 
 veniences. 
 
 First, They set an ill example to our children, our 
 apprentices, our covenant servants, and other de- 
 pendants, by their saucy and insolent behaviour, 
 their pert, and sometimes abusive answers, their 
 daring defiance of correction, and many other inso- 
 lencies which youth are but too apt to imitate. 
 
 Secondly, By their extravagance in dress, they 
 put our wives and daughters upon yet greater 
 excesses, because they will, as indeed they ought, go 
 finer than the maid ; thus the maid striving to outdo 
 the mistress, the tradesman's wife to outdo the 
 gentleman's wife, the gentleman's wife emulating the 
 lady, and the ladies one another ; it seems as if the 
 whole business of the female sex were nothing but 
 an excess of pride, and extravagance in dress. 
 
 Thirdly, The great height to which women- ser- 
 vants have brought their wages, makes a mutiny among 
 the men-servants, and puts them upon raising their 
 wages too ; so that in a little time our servants will 
 become our partners ; nay, probably, run away with 
 the better part of our profits, and make servants of 
 us vice versa. But yet with all these inconveniences, 
 we cannot possibly do without these creatures ; let 
 us therefore cease to talk of the abuses arising from 
 them, and begin to think of redressing them. I do 
 not set up for a lawgiver, and therefore shall lay 
 down no certain rules, humbly submitting in all 
 things to the wisdom of our legislature. What I 
 offer shall be under correction; and upon conjecture, 
 my utmost ambition being but to give some hints to 
 remedy this growing evil, and leave the prosecution 
 to abler hands. 
 
is nobody's business. 13 
 
 And first it would be necessary to settle and limit 
 their wages, from forty and fifty shillings to four 
 and five pounds per annum, that is to say, according 
 to their merits and capacities ; for example, a young 
 unexperienced servant should have forty shillings 
 per annum, till she qualifies herself for a larger sum ; 
 a servant who can do all household work, or, as the 
 good women term it, can take her work and leave 
 her work, should have four pounds per annum ; and 
 those who have lived seven years in one service, 
 should ever after demand five pounds per annum, for I 
 would very fain have some particular encouragements 
 and privileges given to such servants who should 
 continue long in a place ; it would incite a desire to 
 please, and cause an emulation very beneficial to the 
 public. 
 
 I have heard of an ancient charity in the parish 
 of St. Clement's Danes, where a sum of money, or 
 estate, is left, out of the interest or income of which 
 such maid-servants, who have lived in that parish 
 seven years in one service, receive a reward of ten 
 pounds apiece, if they please to demand it. 
 
 This is a noble benefaction, and shows the public 
 spirit of the donor ; but everybody's business is no- 
 body's ; nor have I heard that such reward has been 
 paid to any servant of late years. A thousand 
 pities a gift of that nature should sink into oblivion, 
 and not be kept up as an example to incite all 
 parishes to do the like. 
 
 The Romans had a law called Jus Trium Libe- 
 rorum, by which every man who had been a father 
 of three children, had particular honours and privi- 
 leges. This incited the youth to quit a dissolute 
 single life and become fathers of families, to the 
 support and glory of the empire. 
 
 In imitation of this most excellent law, I would 
 have such servants, who should continue many years 
 
 t2 
 
14 everybody's business 
 
 in one service, meet with singular esteem and re- 
 ward. 
 
 The apparel of our women-servants should be 
 next regulated, that we may know the mistress from 
 the maid. I remember I was once put very much 
 to the blush, being at a friend's house, and by him 
 required to salute the ladies, I kissed the chamber- 
 jade into the bargain, for she was as well dressed as 
 the best. But I was soon undeceived by a general 
 titter, which gave me the utmost confusion ; nor 
 can I believe myself the only person who has made 
 such a mistake. 
 
 Things of this nature would be easily avoided, if 
 servant-maids were to wear liveries, as our footmen 
 do; or obliged to go in a dress suitable to their 
 station. What should ail them, but a jacket and 
 petticoat of good yard-wide stuff, or calimanco, 
 might keep them decent and warm. 
 
 Our charity children are distinguished by their 
 dress, why then may not our women-servants ? why 
 may they not be made frugal per force, and not 
 suffered to put all on their backs, but obliged to save 
 something against a rainy day? I am, therefore, 
 entirely against servants wearing of silks, laces, and 
 other superfluous finery ; it sets them above them- 
 selves, and makes their mistresses contemptible in 
 their eyes. I am handsomer than my mistress, says 
 a young prinked up baggage, what pity it is I should 
 be her servant, I go as well dressed, or better than 
 she. This makes the girl take the first offer to be 
 made a whore, and there is a good servant spoiled ; 
 whereas were her dress suitable to her condition, it 
 would teach her humility, and put her in mind of 
 her duty. 
 
 Besides the fear of spoiling their clothes makes 
 them afraid of household-work ; so that in a little 
 time we shall have none but chambermaids and 
 
is nobody's business. lo 
 
 nurserymaids ; and of this let me give one instance ; 
 my family is composed of myself and sister, a man 
 and a maid ; and, being without the last, a young 
 wench came to hire herself. The man was gone 
 out, and my sister above stairs, so I opened the door 
 myself, and this person presented herself to my view, 
 dressed completely, more like a visitor than a ser- 
 vant-maid ; she, not knowing me, asked for my 
 sister ; pray, madam, said I, be pleased to walk into 
 the parlour, she shall wait on you presently. Ac- 
 cordingly I handed madam in, who took it very 
 cordially. After some apology, I left her alone for 
 a minute or two ; while I, stupid wretch ! ran up to 
 my sister, and told her there was a gentlewoman 
 below come to visit her. Dear brother, said she, 
 don't leave her alone, go down and entertain her 
 while I dress myself. Accordingly, down I went, 
 and talked of indifferent affairs ; meanwhile my 
 sister dressed herself all over again, not being willing 
 to be seen in an undress. At last she came down 
 dressed as clean as her visitor ; but how great was 
 my surprise when I found my fine lady a common 
 servant-wench. 
 
 My sister understanding what she was, began to 
 inquire what wages she expected? She modestly 
 asked but eight pounds a year. The next question 
 was, what work she could do to deserve such wages? 
 to which she answered, she could clean a house, or 
 dress a common family dinner. But cannot you 
 wash, replied my sister, or get up linen? she 
 answered in the negative, and said, she would under- 
 take neither, nor would she go into any family that 
 did not put out their linen to wash, and hire a 
 charwoman to scour. She desired to see the 
 house, and having carefully surveyed it, said, the 
 work was too hard for her, nor could she undertake 
 it. This put my sister beyond all patience, and 
 
16 everybody's business 
 
 me into the greatest admiration. Young woman, 
 said she, you have made a mistake, I want a house- 
 maid, and you are a chambermaid. No, madam, re- 
 plied she, I am not needlewoman enough for that. 
 And yet you ask eight pounds a year, replied my 
 sister. Yes, madam, said she, nor shall I bate a 
 farthing. Then get you gone for a lazy impudent 
 baggage, said I, you want to be a boarder not a 
 servant ; have you a fortune or estate that you dress 
 at that rate ? No, sir, said she, but I hope I may 
 wear what I work for without offence. What you 
 work, interrupted my sister, why you do not seem 
 willing to undertake any work ; you will not wash 
 nor scour ; you cannot dress a dinner for company ; 
 you are no needlewoman ; and our little house, of 
 two rooms on a floor, is too much for you. For God's 
 sake what can you do ? Madam, replied she pertly ; 
 I know my business ; and do not fear a service ; 
 there are more places than parish churches ; if you 
 wash at home, you should have a laundry maid; if you 
 give entertainments, you must have a cook maid ; 
 if you have any needlework, you should have a 
 chambermaid ; and such a house as this is enough 
 for a housemaid in all conscience. 
 
 I was pleased at the wit, and astonished at the 
 impudence of the girl, so dismissed her with thanks 
 for her instructions, assuring her that when I kept 
 four maids she should be housemaid if she pleased. 
 
 Were a servant to do my business with cheerful- 
 ness, I should not grudge at five or six pounds per 
 annum ; nor would I be so unchristian to put more 
 upon any one than they can bear ; but to pray and 
 pay too, is the devil. It is very hard, that I must 
 keep four servants or none. 
 
 In great families, indeed, where many servants 
 are required, those distinctions of chambermaid, 
 housemaid, cookmaid, laundrymaid, nurserymaid, 
 
is nobody's business. 17 
 
 &c., are requisite, to the end that each may take 
 her particular business, and many hands may make 
 the work light ; but for a private gentleman, 
 of a small fortune, to be obliged to keep so many 
 idle jades, when one might do the business, is into- 
 lerable, and matter of great grievance. 
 
 I cannot close this discourse without a gentle 
 admonition and reproof to some of my own sex, I 
 mean those gentlemen who give themselves unne- 
 cessary airs, and cannot go to see a friend, but they 
 must kiss and slop the maid ; and all this is done 
 with an air of gallantry, and must not be resented. 
 Tsay, some gentlemen are so silly, that they shall 
 carry on an underhand affair with their friend's 
 servant-maid, to their own disgrace, and the ruin 
 of many a young creature. Nothing is more base 
 and ungenerous, yet nothing more common, and 
 withal so little taken notice of. D — n me, Jack, 
 says one friend to another, this maid of yours is a 
 pretty girl, you do so and so to her by G — d. This 
 makes the creature pert, vain, and impudent, and 
 spoils many a good servant. 
 
 What gentleman will descend to this low way of 
 intrigue, when he shall consider that he has a foot- 
 boy or an apprentice for his rival, and that he is 
 seldom or never admitted, but when they have been 
 his tasters ; and the fool of fortune, though he 
 comes at the latter end of the feast, yet pays the 
 whole reckoning : and so indeed would I have all 
 such silly cullies served. 
 
 If I must have an intrigue, let it be with a wo- 
 man that shall not shame me. I would never go 
 into the kitchen, when the parlour door was open. 
 We are forbidden at Highgate, to kiss the maid 
 when we may kiss the mistress ; why then will gen- 
 tlemen descend so low, by too much familiarity with 
 these creatures, to bring themselves into contempt ? 
 
18 everybody's business 
 
 I have been at places where the maid has been 
 so dizzied with these idle compliments that she has 
 mistook one thing for another, and not regarded her 
 mistress in the least ; but put on all the flirting 
 airs imaginable. This behaviour is nowhere so 
 much complained of as in taverns, coffeehouses, 
 and places of public resort, where there are hand- 
 some barkeepers, &c. These creatures being puffed 
 up with the fulsome flattery of a set of flesh-flies, 
 which are continually buzzing about them, carry 
 themselves with the utmost insolence imaginable ; 
 insomuch, that you must speak to them with a 
 great deal of deference, or you are sure to be 
 affronted. Being at a coffeehouse the other day, 
 where one of these ladies kept the bar, I had be- 
 spoke a dish of rice tea ; but madam was so taken 
 up with her sparks, she had quite forgot it. I 
 spake for it again, and with some temper, but was 
 answered after a most taunting manner, not with- 
 out a toss of the head, a contraction of the nostrils, 
 and other impertinences, too many to enumerate. 
 Seeing myself thus publicly insulted by such an 
 animal, I could not choose but show my resent- 
 ment. Woman, said I, sternly, I want a dish of rice 
 tea, and not what your vanity and impudence may 
 imagine ; therefore treat me as a gentleman and a 
 customer, and serve me with what I call for : keep 
 your impertinent repartees and impudent behaviour 
 for the coxcombs that swarm round your bar, and 
 make you so vain of your blown carcase. And in- 
 deed I believe the insolence of this creature will 
 ruin her master at last, by driving away men of so- 
 briety and business, and making the place a den of 
 vagabonds and rakehells. 
 
 Gentlemen, therefore, ought to be very circum- 
 spect in their behaviour, and not undervalue them- 
 selves to servant-wenches, who are but too apt to 
 
is nobody's business. 19 
 
 treat a gentleman ill whenever he puts himself into 
 their power. 
 
 Let me now beg pardon for this digression, and 
 return to my subject by proposing some practicable 
 methods for regulating of servants, which, whether 
 they are followed or not, yet if they afford matter of 
 improvement and speculation, will answer the height 
 of my expectation, and I will be the first who shall 
 approve of whatever improvements are made from 
 this small beginning. 
 
 The first abuse I would have reformed, is, that 
 servants should be restrained from throwing them- 
 selves out of place on every idle vagary. This 
 might be remedied were all contracts between 
 master and servant made before a justice of peace, 
 or other proper officer, and a memorandum thereof 
 taken in writing. Nor should such servant leave 
 his or her place (for men and maids might come 
 under the same regulation) till the time agreed on 
 be expired, unless such servant be misused or 
 denied necessaries, or show some other reasonable 
 cause for their discharge. In that case, the master 
 or mistress should be reprimanded or fined. But 
 if servants misbehave themselves, or leave their 
 places, not being regularly discharged, they ought 
 to be amerced or punished. But all those idle, 
 ridiculous customs, and laws of their own making, 
 as a month's wages, or a month's warning, and such- 
 like, should be entirely set aside and abolished. 
 
 When a servant has served the limited time duly 
 and faithfully, they should be entitled to a cer- 
 tificate, as is practised at present in the wool- 
 combing trade ; nor should any person hire a 
 servant without a certificate or other proper se- 
 curity. A servant without a certificate should be 
 deemed a vagrant ; and a master or mistress ought 
 to assign very good reasons indeed when they 
 
20 everybody's business 
 
 object against giving a servant his or her cer- 
 tificate. 
 
 And though, to avoid prolixity, I have not men- 
 tioned footmen particularly in the foregoing dis- 
 course, yet the complaints alleged against the maids 
 are as well masculine as feminine, and very appli- 
 cable to our gentlemen's gentlemen ; I would, there- 
 fore, have them under the very same regulations, 
 and, as they are fellow servants, would not make 
 fish of one and flesh of the other, since daily ex- 
 perience teaches us, that " never a barrel the 
 better herring/' 
 
 The next great abuse among us, is, that under 
 the notion of cleaning our shoes, above ten thousand 
 wicked, idle, pilfering vagrants are permitted to 
 patrol about our city and suburbs. These are called 
 the black-guard, who black your honour's shoes, 
 and incorporate themselves under the title of the 
 Worshipful Company of Japanners. 
 
 Were this all, there were no hurt in it, and the 
 whole might terminate in a jest ; but the mischief 
 ends not here, they corrupt our youth, especially 
 our men-servants ; oaths and impudence are their 
 only flowers of rhetoric ; gaming and thieving are 
 the principal parts of their profession ; japanning 
 but the pretence. For example, a gentleman keeps 
 a servant, who among other things is to clean his 
 master's shoes ; but our gentlemen's gentlemen are 
 above it nowadays, and your man's man performs 
 the office, for which piece of service you pay double 
 and treble, especially if you keep a table, nay, 
 you are well off if the japanner has no more than 
 his own diet from it. 
 
 I have often observed these rascals sneaking 
 from gentlemen's doors with wallets or hats' full of 
 good victuals, which they either carry to their trulls, 
 or sell for a trifle. By this means, our butcher's, 
 
is nobody's business. 21 
 
 our baker's, our poulterer's, and cheesemonger's bills 
 are monstrously exaggerated ; not to mention can- 
 dles just lighted, which sell for fivepence a pound, 
 and many other perquisites best known to them- 
 selves and the pilfering villains their confederates. 
 
 Add to this, that their continual gaming sets 
 servants upon their wits to supply this extravagance, 
 though at the same time the master's pocket pays 
 for it, and the time which should be spent in a 
 gentleman's service is loitered away among these 
 rakehells, insomuch that half our messages are in- 
 effectual, the time intended being often expired 
 before the message is delivered. 
 
 How many and frequent robberies are committed 
 by these japanners ? And to how many more are 
 they confederates ? Silver spoons, spurs, and other 
 small pieces of plate, are every day missing, and 
 very often found upon these sort of gentlemen ; yet 
 are they permitted, to the shame of all our good 
 laws, and the scandal of our most excellent govern- 
 ment, to lurk about our streets, to debauch our 
 servants and apprentices, and support an infinite 
 number of scandalous, shameless trulls, yet more 
 wicked than themselves, for not a Jack among them 
 but must have his Gill. 
 
 By whom such indecencies are daily acted, even 
 in our open streets, as are very offensive to the eyes 
 and ears of all sober persons, and even abominable 
 in a Christian country. 
 
 In any riot, or other disturbance, these sparks 
 are always the foremost ; for most among them can 
 turn their hands to picking of pockets, to run away 
 with goods from a fire, or other public confusion, to 
 snatch anything from a woman or child, to strip a 
 house when the door is open, or any other branch 
 of a thief's profession. 
 
 In short, it is a nursery for thieves and villains ; 
 
22 everybody's business 
 
 modest women are every day insulted by them and 
 their strumpets ; and such children who run about 
 the streets, or those servants who go on errands, do 
 but too frequently bring home some scraps of their 
 beastly profane wit ; insomuch, that the conver- 
 sation of our lower rank of people runs only upon 
 bawdy and blasphemy, notwithstanding our societies 
 for reformation, and our laws in force against pro- 
 faneness ; for this lazy life gets them many pro- 
 selytes, their numbers daily increasing from run- 
 away apprentices and footboys, insomuch that it is 
 a very hard matter for a gentleman to get him a 
 servant, or for a tradesman to find an apprentice. 
 
 Innumerable other mischiefs accrue, and others 
 will spring up from this race of caterpillars, who 
 must be swept from out our streets, or we shall be 
 overrun with all manner of wickedness. 
 
 But the subject is so low, it becomes disagreeable 
 even to myself ; give me leave, therefore, to propose 
 a way to clear the streets of these vermin, and to 
 substitute as many honest industrious persons in 
 their stead, who are now starving for want of bread, 
 while these execrable villains live, though in rags 
 and nastiness, yet in plenty and luxury. 
 
 I, therefore, humbly propose that these vagabonds 
 be put immediately under the command of such 
 taskmasters as the government shall appoint, and 
 that they be employed, punished, or rewarded, ac- 
 cording to their capacities and demerits ; that is to 
 say, the industrious and docible to woolcombing, 
 and other parts of the woollen manufacture, where 
 hands are wanted, as also to husbandry and other 
 parts of agriculture. 
 
 For it is evident that there are scarce hands 
 enow in the country to carry on either of these 
 affairs. Now, these vagabonds might not only by 
 this means be kept out of harm's way, but be ren- 
 
is nobody's business. 23 
 
 dcred serviceable to the nation. Nor is there any 
 need of transporting them beyond seas, for if any 
 are refractory they should be sent to our stannaries 
 and other mines, to our coal works and other places 
 where hard labour is required. And here I must 
 offer one thing never yet thought of, or proposed 
 by any, and that is, the keeping in due repair the 
 navigation of the river Thames, so useful to our 
 trade in general ; and yet of late years such vast 
 hills of sand are gathered together in several parts 
 of the river, as are very prejudicial to its navigation, 
 one which is near London bridge, another near 
 Whitehall, a third near Battersea, and a fourth near 
 Fulham. These are of very great hindrance to the 
 navigation ; and indeed the removal of them ought 
 to be a national concern, which I humbly propose 
 may be thus effected. 
 
 The rebellious part of these vagabonds, as also 
 other thieves and offenders, should be formed into 
 bodies under the command of proper officers, and 
 under the guard and awe of our soldiery. These 
 should every day at low water carry away these 
 sandhills, and remove every other obstruction to 
 the navigation of this most excellent and useful 
 river. 
 
 It may be objected that the ballast men might 
 do this ; that as fast as the hills are taken away 
 they would gather together again, or that the 
 watermen might do it. To the first, I answer, that 
 ballast men, instead of taking away from these hills, 
 make holes in other places of the river, which is the 
 reason so many young persons are drowned when 
 swimming or bathing in the river. 
 
 Besides, it is a work for many hands, and of long 
 continuance ; so that ballast men do more harm 
 than good. The second objection is as silly, as if I 
 should never wash myself, because I shall be dirty 
 
24 everybody's business 
 
 again, and I think needs no other answer. And as 
 to the third objection, the watermen are not so 
 public-spirited, they live only from hand to mouth, 
 though not one of them but finds the inconvenience 
 of these hills, every day being obliged to go a great 
 way round about for fear of running aground ; in- 
 somuch that in a few years the navigation of that 
 part of the river will be entirely obstructed. Ne- 
 vertheless every one of these gentlemen -watermen 
 hopes it will last his time, and so they all cry, The 
 devil take the hindmost. But yet I judge it highly 
 necessary that this be made a national concern, like 
 Dagenham breach, and that these hills be removed 
 by some means or other. 
 
 And now I have mentioned watermen give me 
 leave to complain of the insolences and exactions 
 they daily commit on the river Thames, and in parti- 
 cular this one instance, which cries aloud for jus- 
 tice. 
 
 A young lady of distinction, in company with her 
 brother, a little youth, took a pair of oars at or near 
 the Temple, on April day last, and ordered the 
 men to carry them to Pepper Alley Stairs. One of 
 the fellows, according to their ususal impertinence, 
 asked the lady where she was going ? She an- 
 swered, near St. Olave's church. Upon which he 
 said, she had better go through the bridge. The 
 lady replied she had never gone through the bridge 
 in her life, nor would she venture for a hundred 
 guineas ; so commanded him once more to land 
 her at Pepper Alley Stairs. Notwithstanding 
 which, in spite of her fears, threats, and commands ; 
 nay, in spite of the persuasion of his fellow, he 
 forced her through London -bridge, which fright- 
 ened her beyond expression. And to mend the 
 matter, he obliged her to pay double fare, and 
 mobbed her into the bargain. 
 
IS NOBODY S BUSINESS. 20 
 
 To resent which abuse, application was made to 
 the hall, the fellow summoned^ and the lady or- 
 dered to attend, which she did, waiting there all 
 the morning, and was appointed to call again in 
 the afternoon. She came accordingly, they told 
 her the fellow had been there, but was gone, and 
 that she must attend another Friday. She attended 
 again and again, but to the same purpose. Nor 
 have they yet produced the man, but tired out the 
 lady, who has spent above ten shillings in coach- 
 hire, been abused and baffled into the bargain. 
 
 It is pity, therefore, there are not commissioners 
 for watermen, as there are for hackney coachmen ; 
 or that justices of the peace might not inflict bo- 
 dily penalties on watermen thus offending. But 
 while watermen are watermen's judges, I shall 
 laugh at those who carry their complaints to the 
 hall. 
 
 The usual plea in behalf of abusive watermen is, 
 that they are drunk, ignorant, or poor ; but will 
 that satisfy the party aggrieved, or deter the 
 offender from reoffending ? Whereas were the 
 offenders sent to the house of correction, and there 
 punished, or sentenced to work at the sandhills 
 afore-mentioned, for a time suitable to the nature 
 of their crimes, terror of such punishments would 
 make them fearful of offending, to the great quiet 
 of the subject. 
 
 Now it may be asked, How shall we have our 
 shoes cleaned, or how are these industrious poor to 
 be maintained ? To this I answer that the places 
 of these vagabonds may be very well supplied by 
 great numbers of ancient persons, poor widows, and 
 others, who have not enough from their respective 
 parishes to maintain them. These poor people I 
 would have authorised and stationed by the justices 
 of the peace or other magistrates. Each of these 
 
26 everybody's business 
 
 should have a particular walk or stand, and 
 no other shoecleaner should come into that walk, 
 unless the person misbehave and be removed. Nor 
 should any person clean shoes in the streets, but 
 these authorised shoecleaners, who should have 
 some mark of distinction, and be under the imme- 
 diate government of the justices of the peace. 
 
 Thus would many thousands of poor people be 
 provided for, without burdening their parishes. 
 Some of these may earn a shilling or two in the 
 day, and none less than sixpence or thereabouts. 
 And lest the old japanners should appear again, in 
 the shape of linkboys, and knock down gentlemen 
 in drink, or lead others out of the way into dark 
 remote places, where they either put out their 
 lights, and rob them themselves, or run away and 
 leave them to be pillaged by others, as is daily 
 practised, I would have no person carry a link for 
 hire but some of these industrious poor, and even 
 such, not without some ticket or badge, to let 
 people know whom they trust. Thus would the 
 streets be cleared night and day of these vermin ; 
 nor would oaths, skirmishes, blasphemy, obscene 
 talk, or other wicked examples, be so public and 
 frequent. All gaming at orange and gingerbread 
 barrows should be abolished, as also all penny and 
 halfpenny lotteries, thimbles and balls, &c., so fre- 
 quent in Moorfields, Lincoln-inn fields, &c, where 
 idle fellows resort, to play with children and ap- 
 prentices, and tempt them to steal their parents' 
 or master's money. 
 
 There is one admirable custom in the city of 
 London, which I could wish were imitated in the 
 city and liberties of Westminster, and bills of mor- 
 tality, which is, no porter can carry a burden or 
 letter in the city, unless he be a ticket porter ; 
 whereas, out of the freedom-part of London, any 
 
is nobody's business 27 
 
 person may take a knot and turn porter, till he be 
 entrusted with something of value, and then you 
 never hear of him more. This is very common, and 
 ought to be amended. I would, therefore, have all 
 porters under some such regulation as coachmen, 
 chairmen, carmen, &c. ; a man may then know 
 whom he entrusts, and not run the risk of losing 
 his goods, &c. Nay, I would not have a person 
 carry a basket in the markets, who is not subject to 
 some such regulation ; for very many persons often- 
 times lose their dinners in sending their meat home 
 by persons they know nothing of. 
 
 Thus would all our poor be stationed, and a man 
 or woman, able to perform any of these offices, must 
 either comply or be termed an idle vagrant, and 
 sent to a place where they shall be forced to work. 
 By this means industry will be encouraged, idleness 
 punished, and we shall be famed, as well as happy 
 for our tranquillity and decorum. 
 
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