428 D. The following account (taken from Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii. p. 154) was received through the kindness of the late Mr. G. J. Romanes, F.R.S., who was well acquainted with the narrator.

March 18th, 1883. On the night of the 26th of October 1872, I suddenly felt very unwell, and went to bed about half-past nine, an hour earlier than usual, and fell asleep almost immediately, when I had a very vivid dream, which impressed me greatly; so much so, that I remarked to my wife, on waking, that I feared we should shortly receive bad news. I imagined I was sitting in the drawing-room near a table, reading, when an old lady suddenly appeared seated on the opposite side, close to the table. She neither spoke nor moved much, but gazed very intently on me, and I on her, for at least 20 minutes. I was much struck by her appearance, she having white hair, very dark eyebrows, and penetrating eyes. I did not recognise her at all, but thought she was a stranger. My attention was then directed to the door, which opened, and my aunt entering and seeing me and the old lady staring at each other in this extraordinary way, with much surprise and in a tone of reproach exclaimed, "John! don't you know who this is ? " and without giving me time to reply said, "Why, this is your grandmother," whereupon my ghostly visitor suddenly rose from her chair, embraced me, and vanished. At that moment I awoke.

Such was the impression it made on my mind, that I got my note-book and made a note of this strange dream,believing that it foreboded bad tidings. However, several days passed without bringing any dreaded intelligence, when one night I received a letter from my father, announcing the rather sudden death of my grandmother, which took place on the very night and hour of my dream, half-past ten.

About four months after her death, I went to the Isle of Wight, where she lived, to get information from my relatives as to what my grandmother was really like. My aunt and cousin described her in every particular, and their descriptions of her coincided most marvellously with the figure and face that appeared to me, the white hair and dark eyebrows being a peculiarity in her. This I particularly observed in my dream. I learnt, too, that she was extremely fussy in the arrangement of her cap, always being anxious that no part, even the strings, should be out of place, and curious to relate, I noticed in my dream that she was nervously touching her cap-strings, now and again, for fear they should be out of place. My cousin, who was with her when she died, told me that my grandmother had been delirious for some time previous to her departure; and for a moment, when in that state, she suddenly put her arms round my cousin's neck, and on opening her eyes and regaining consciousness, she said with a look of surprise, "Oh, Polly, is it you? I thought it was somebody else." This seems to me very curious, as it was just what she did before she vanished from me in the drawing-room. I must add that I had not seen my grandparent for at least 14 years, and the last time I saw her she had dark hair, but this had gradually changed to white, leaving her eyebrows dark, and I am positive that nobody ever mentioned this peculiarity to me.1

J. H. W.

Mrs. W. says: -

July 1st, 1885. I quite remember my husband telling me, on my going to my room on the evening of the 26th October, of a remarkable dream he had just had, and also his making an entry in the pocket-book on the following morning. F. W.

We find from the Register of Deaths that Jane W. died at the age of 72, on Oct. 26, 1870 [see below], at Brixton, Isle of Wight. Mr. Podmore says: -

I called on Mr. J. H. W. to-day (July 4th, 1884), and heard the account from him viva voce. His cousin's corroboration, for a reason which he explained to me, cannot be obtained. But he explained to me that he went to see his cousin within three months of the death, and received full particulars of the death-scene from her then.. I asked him if he stood by] the phrase "at least 20 minutes," pointing out that it was difficult to attach any precise meaning to these words; if they were a correct description of his impressions, a grotesque incident must have been interpolated in the midst of an otherwise realistic dream. He maintains that the words are correct; it seemed to him that he and the old lady sat staring at each other across the table for a very long time. Mr. W. told me that he dreams very little; and that he has never had another dream which he thought worth noting. He has never dreamt of death.

After a second call Mr. Podmore writes: -

I received an account from Mrs. W. of her husband's dream, as she remembered to have heard it within an hour of its occurrence and subsequently, which tallied precisely with the account here given. I saw also the note made on the following morning. It occurs at the head of the first page of a small pocket sketch-book, the rest of the page being occupied with pen or pencil memoranda of accounts, etc. The entry is " Odd dream, night of October 26th, 1870." The last numeral, which is very indistinct, is apparently o. Mr. W., in writing his original account in March 1883, had referred to this note and read the final numeral as 2. Hence the discrepancy. He has no other memorandum of the death.

1 In respect of this last feature, the case may be classed with those of [Phantasms] chap. xii. § 8. The nervous fidgeting with the cap-strings may possibly be regarded as a distinctive habit, sufficiently deeply organised to be a feature in the person's latent representation of her own physique. - E. Gurney.

I pressed him as far as I could, but he still declines to give his name, fearing that he might acquire the reputation of being "ghostly" and fanciful, and thus injure his professional prospects.