s of the bed, and, with a
look of the utmost mildness, informed her that he had been slain in
battle, desiring her, at the same time, to comfort herself, and not take
his death too seriously to heart. It is needless to say what influence
this vision had upon a mind so replete with woe. It withered it
entirely, and the poor girl died a few days afterward, but, not without
desiring her parents to note down the day of the month on which it
happened, and see if it would not be confirmed, as she confidently
declared it would. Her anticipation was correct, for accounts were
shortly afterward received that the young man was slain at the battle of
Corunna, which was fought on the very day of the night of which his
betrothed had beheld the vision. It is certainly very natural to suppose
that there must be some mysterious connection between such a dream and
the event which appears to have simultaneously taken place--but, upon
reflecting further upon the subject, we shall find that the co-existence
is purely accidental. If, as Sir Walter Scott observed, any event, such
as the death of the person dreamt of, chance to take place, so as to
correspond with the nature and time of the apparition, the circumstance
is conceived to be supernatural, although the coincidence is one which
must frequently occur, since our dreams usually refer to the
accomplishment of that which haunts our minds when awake, and often
presage the most probable events. Such a concatenation, therefore, must
often take place when it is considered "of what stuff dreams are made,"
and how naturally they turn upon those who occupy our mind when awake.
When a soldier is exposed to death in battle; when a sailor is incurring
the dangers of the sea; when a beloved wife or relative is attacked by
disease, how readily our sleeping imagination rushes to the very point
of alarm which, when waking, it had shuddered to anticipate. Considering
the many thousands of dreams which must, night after night, pass
through the imagination of individuals, the number of coincidences
between the vision and the event are fewer and less remarkable than a
fair calculation of chance would warrant us to expect.

In addition to these, we sometimes hear of dreams which appear to reveal
the secrets of futurity; and which may be designated PROPHETIC
Dreams--unvailing, as they are supposed to do, the destiny which awaits
particular individuals. The prophetic dream of Cromwell, that he should
live t