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PROPHECIES, AERIAL VISIONS, ASTROLOGY, ETC. JOSEPH MASTERS, ALDERSGATE STREET, AND NEW BOND STREET. |
Night I. The subject proposed. The symbolism of external nature
Night II. Of aerial apparitions
Night III. Of warnings of approaching death or danger, and of dreams
Night IV. Of family apparitions, and of apparitions in fulfilment of a promise
Night V. Of places said to be haunted, and of revealed secrets
Night VI. Of the alleged uselessness of apparitions, and of their possibility
Night VII. Of wraiths, or apparitions at the moment of death
Night VIII. Of fetches and doubles, and of second sight
Night IX. Of intercourse with good and evil spirits
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The following little work was, I believe, the first which, of late years, maintained the supernatural view of the subject of which it treats.
Since the publication of the First Edition, Mrs. Crowe's Nightside of Nature has appeared. Those who differ as entirely as I do from its religious theories, must yet cheerfully own its deep interest, its extended research, and its great ability. As it is so easily procurable, I have contented myself with here and there referring to it, instead of quoting from it.
Nov. 11, 1853.
The following little book makes no pretence at being a systematic treatise on the subject on which it treats; its aim is to set forth Christian views on a point of popular belief which writers have generally considered worthy of ridicule or pity, or at least susceptible of a natural explanation.
With respect to stories hitherto unpublished, the writer has related none which he has not good grounds for believing; and he has endeavoured to state, in each particular account, the degree of evidence by which it is supported.
He ought, perhaps, to state, that he never saw Mr. Dendy's very interesting Philosophy of Mystery till he had almost concluded his own work. He has inserted, in different places, a few striking relations from it.