entered
his apartment. The brave Schomberg, to whom De Thou related this
adventure, some days after, confessed, that in such a case he should
not have shewn so much courage. The King also, who was informed of it by
Schomberg, made the same acknowledgment.

SUPPOSED

SUPERNATURAL APPEARANCE.

Some few years since, before ghosts and spectres were commonly
introduced among us by means of the pantomimes and novels of the day, a
gentleman of a philosophical turn of mind, who was hardy enough to deny
the existence of any thing supernatural, happened to pay a visit at an
old house in Gloucestershire, whose unfortunate owner had just become a
bankrupt, with a view to offer such assistance and consolation as he
could bestow: when, in one rainy dull evening in the month of March, the
family being seated by the kitchen fire-side, the conversation turned on
supernatural appearances. The philosopher was endeavouring to convince
his auditors of the folly and absurdity of such opinions, with rather an
unbecoming levity, when the wife left the party and went up stairs; but
had hardly quitted the kitchen three minutes, before a dreadful noise
was heard, mingled with horrid screams. The poor maid changed
countenance, and her red hair stood erect, in every direction; the
husband trembled in his chair; and the philosopher began to look
serious. At last, the husband rose from his seat, and ascended the
stairs in search of his wife, when a second dreadful scream was heard:
the maid mustered resolution to follow her master, and a third scream
ensued. The philosopher, who was not quite at ease, now thought it high
time for him to set out in search of a _cause_: when, arriving at the
landing-place, he found the maid in a fit; the master lying flat, with
his face upon the floor, which was stained with blood; and, on advancing
a little farther, the mistress in nearly the same condition. To the
latter the philosopher paid immediate attention; and, finding she had
only swooned away, brought her in his arms down stairs, and placed her
on the floor of the kitchen. The pump was at hand, and he had the
presence of mind to run to it to get some water in a glass; but what was
his astonishment, when he found that he pumped only copious streams of
blood! which extraordinary appearance, joined to the other
circumstances, made the unbeliever tremble in every limb: a sudden
perspiration overspread the surface of his skin; and the supernatural
pos