en actually does when she Dreams that she is
in such a Solitude?

'--Semperque relinqui
Sola sili, semper longam incomitata videtur
Ire viam--'

Virg.

But this Observation I only make by the way. What I would here remark,
is that wonderful Power in the Soul, of producing her own Company on
these Occasions. She converses with numberless Beings of her own
Creation, and is transported into ten thousand Scenes of her own
raising. She is herself the Theatre, the Actors, and the Beholder. This
puts me in mind of a Saying which I am infinitely pleased with, and
which _Plutarch_ ascribes to _Heraclitus, That all Men whilst they are
awake are in one common World; but that each of them, when he is asleep,
is in a World of his own_. [2] The waking Man is conversant in the World
of Nature, when he sleeps he retires to a private World that is
particular to himself. There seems something in this Consideration that
intimates to us a natural Grandeur and Perfection in the Soul, which is
rather to be admired than explained.

I must not omit that Argument for the Excellency of the Soul, which I
have seen quoted out of _Tertullian_, [3] namely, its Power of divining
in Dreams. That several such Divinations have been made, none can
question, who believes the Holy Writings, or who has but the least
degree of a common Historical Faith; there being innumerable Instances
of this nature in several Authors, both Antient and Modern, Sacred and
Profane. Whether such dark Presages, such Visions of the Night proceed
from any latent Power in the Soul, during this her state of Abstraction,
or from any Communication with the Supreme Being, or from any operation
of Subordinate Spirits, has been a great Dispute among the Learned; the
matter of Fact is, I think, incontestable, and has been looked upon as
such by the greatest Writers, who have been never suspected either of
Superstition or Enthusiasm.

I do not suppose, that the Soul in these Instances is entirely loose and
unfettered from the Body: It is sufficient, if she is not so far sunk,
and immersed in Matter, nor intangled and perplexed in her Operations,
with such Motions of Blood and Spirits, as when she actuates the Machine
in its waking Hours. The Corporeal Union is slackned enough to give the
Mind more Play. The Soul seems gathered within herself, and recovers
that Spring which is broke and weakned, when she operates more in
concert with the Body.

The Speculations I have her