n part I was somewhat anxious and out of
cheer. For aught I knew this might be a _daemonium meridianum_, the most
stubborn spirit to govern and guide that any man can meet, and the most
perilous withal. We had hardly reached the accustomed spot, when we both
saw her at once gliding towards us; punctually as the ancient writers
describe the motion of their 'lemures, which swoon along the ground,
neither marking the sand nor bending the herbage.' The aspect of the
woman was exactly that which had been related by the lad. There was the
pale and stony face, the strange and misty hair, the eyes firm and
fixed, that gazed, yet not on us, but something that they saw far, far
away; one hand and arm stretched out, and the other grasping the girdle
of her waist. She floated along the field like a sail upon a stream, and
glided past the spot where we stood, pausingly. But so deep was the awe
that overcame me, as I stood there in the light of day, face to face
with a human soul separate from her bones and flesh, that my heart and
purpose both failed me. I had resolved to speak to the spectre in the
appointed form of words, but I did not. I stood like one amazed and
speechless, until she had passed clean out of sight. One thing
remarkable came to pass. A spaniel dog, the favourite of young Master
Bligh, had followed us, and lo! when the woman drew nigh, the poor
creature began to yell and bark piteously, and ran backward and away,
like a thing dismayed and appalled. We returned to the house, and after
I had said all that I could to pacify the lad, and to soothe the aged
people, I took my leave for that time, with a promise that when I had
fulfilled certain business elsewhere, which I then alleged, I would
return and take orders to assuage these disturbances and their cause.

"January 7, 1665.--At my own house, I find, by my books, what is
expedient to be done; and then, Apage, Sathanas!

"January 9, 1665.--This day I took leave of my wife and family, under
pretext of engagements elsewhere, and made my secret journey to our
diocesan city, wherein the good and venerable bishop then abode.

"January 10.--_Deo gratias_, in safe arrival at Exeter; craved and
obtained immediate audience of his lordship; pleading it was for counsel
and admonition on a weighty and pressing cause; called to the presence;
made obeisance; and then by command stated my case--the Botathen
perplexity--which I moved with strong and earnest instances and solemn
a