316.
It was at Sunderland and not at Newcastle where the scene was laid.
The ghost did not prophesy ill of the attorney. On the contrary, it said
to the girl:--'Go to Durham, employ an attorney there, and the house
will be recovered.' She went to Durham, 'and put the affair into Mr.
Hugill the attorney's hands.' 'A month after,' according to the girl,
'the ghost came about eleven. I said, "Lord bless me! what has brought
you here again?" He said, "Mr. Hugill has done nothing but wrote one
letter."' On this Wesley writes by way of comment:--'So he [the ghost]
had observed him [the attorney] narrowly, though unseen.' See _post_,
under May 3, 1779.
[875] Johnson, with his horror of annihilation, caught at everything
which strengthened his belief in the immortality of the soul. Boswell
mentions _ante_, ii. 150, 'Johnson's elevated wish for more and more
evidence for spirit,' and records the same desire, _post_, June 12,
1784. Southey (_Life of Wesley_, i. 25) says of supernatural
appearances:--'With regard to the good end which they may be supposed to
answer, it would be end sufficient if sometimes one of those unhappy
persons, who looking through the dim glass of infidelity see nothing
beyond this life, and the narrow sphere of mortal existence, should,
from the established truth of one such story (trifling and objectless as
it might otherwise appear), be led to a conclusion that there are more
things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in their philosophy.
Pages:
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875