Where through groves deep and high Sounds the far billow, Where early violets die Under the willow, Soft shall be his pillow. There, through the summer day Cool streams are laving, There while the tempests sway, Scarce are boughs waving. There shall thy body lie False wert thou never, Meet will your souls on high, Never, O never.1 The following story was related to me by the present vicar of Llan. g. It occurred about forty years ago. A young man of some landed property in Lleyn, in the county of Carnarvon, a few years ago gained the affections of a young woman in a lower grade of life than his own. He forsook her, and she died within a twelvemonth afterwards. Subsequently he paid his addresses to a young lady in the same county, and was accepted. However, before the marriage could take place, he was taken very seriously ill. One day, his intended bride, who was in the habit of going to visit him, was sitting at the foot of the bed, when suddenly the apparition of a young woman, in white garments, with a child in her arms, came and stood close to the side of the bed. Presently the sick man saw her, and ordered her to leave him; but it was useless, for there she remained, with her eyes fixed glaring upon him. Horror-stricken, he turned his head the other way, so as not to see her, crying out, "O Dduw! gwared fi rhag yr ysprydion tywyllwch" (O God! deliver me from the spirits of darkness), and immediately expired. His 1 Adapted from the song of Fitz Eustace in Marmion. fiancée, who witnessed this fearful termination of the life of her lover, is still living in Lleyn, a widow. Where is the friendship, the love for whose spell The dove has its mate, and the engle his home; Where friendship 's undying, omnipotent love.1 All that is earthly fadeth away." About four years ago, I was staying on a visit with the Rev. G. G., at Llan... . g. in North Wales. Mrs. G. was accustomed to have an afternoon tea in the drawing room. In one of the corners of this room, between the door and the fireplace, was a bracket of three shelves, with various ornaments upon them. Among them was the couchant figure of a greyhound, beautifully executed in white Parian china. We were all sitting round the table, when suddenly we heard something fall and break. Mrs. G. immediately went to the spot, to see what had happened, and found that the figure of the greyhound had fallen, and was broken to pieces. The good lady was much distressed at what had occurred, as the ornament was the parting gift of her oldest and dearest friend, whom she had left behind her, in the Isle of M., when she came to Llan....g. For some reason or another, some one happened to look at their watch, and found that it was just half-past four. The next morning Mrs. G. got a letter to say that her friend had died at that very time the previous afternoon. What, then, was the power that lifted the inanimato figure of the dog from its place in the centre of the second shelf of the bracket, and then let it fall and break--apparently, too, at the very time when the spirit of the lady had just freed itself from its body in the city of C- in England. J. E. Carpenter, Esq. The cases where the spirits of those who have been slain in battle abroad, or drowned at sea, have appeared at the moment of death to those they loved best at home are innumerable. A spirit must be where its affections. are. During the latter part of the month of October 1880, a Mr. de C. was spending a short time in the parish of Llangurig. On the night of Monday the 26th, he had the following dream or vision. He observed that he was in bed, as usual, and that the corpse of a tall man, whom he did not know, with nothing on but a flannel shirt, was stretched out on the outside of the quilt alongside of him. He looked at it with great attention for some time, when presently the corpse appeared to be lying in a coffin with no lid on, so that the naked body was as visible as before. After a short time, it appeared as if a pall had been placed over it, the edge of which came down to the counterpane. Whilst Mr. de C. was looking at this, he observed his mother, who died in 1856, enter the room, apparently through the side wall, at the opposite corner, and stand in the middle of the apartment. Although she died when about seventy, she did not appear to be more than thirty years of age. Mr. de C., perceiving his mother was in the room, got out of bed, went up to her, and asked why that strange corpse should be placed on his bed. His mother replied, "It is my wish that it should be done", and then vanished. Mr. de C. then returned to bed, and, after looking for some time at the coffin and its sable covering, lying beside him, he went to sleep. The next morning (Tuesday), Mr. de C. told his servant of the extraordinary dream he had had. The man said that it must have been caused by indigestion, and Mr. de C., concurring in this view of the matter, thought no more about it. About three o'clock that afternoon, Mr. de C.'s servant came to tell him that a young man from Llanidloes, named Dafydd R., wanted particularly to see him, as his father had died on the previous afternoon. The young man, Dafydd R..s was admitted, and told Mr. de Č. that 232 HISTORY OF POWYS FADOG. his father had died of inflammation of the lungs, at two o'clock on the previous day; but just before he died, he called his son to him, and told him that, as soon as he was dead, he was to go to Mr. de C., and tell him that he was the nearest relation that Mr. de C. had in Llanidloes. Dafydd, as soon as his father was dead, instead of going up to Mr. de C., as his father had told him, went to an undertaker, to order a shroud and coffin for his father, but he was refused both unless he brought ready money with him. This he could not do, for there was no ready money in the house. So the father had to lie the next night and the next day without anything on but his flannel shirt, exactly as he appeared on that identical night to Mr. de C. On Tuesday morning Dafydd went to those farmers in the neighbourhood who owed him money, but could not get one sixpence. He then, half broken-hearted, went to Mr. de C., and told his story, and his poor father's body was decently buried in Llanidloes churchyard. Knowing that his son had not gone to Llangurig to see Mr. de C., the father of Dafydd went himself in the night, to show Mr. de C. the state his body was lying in. This man's mother was Eleanor Owen, one of the family of Owen, who once owned Llwyn Gwyn and Glyn Gynwydd, mentioned in the History of Llangurig. A lady of the name of Ll. had been suffering from a long and painful illness. During the last week of her sickness she observed that her mother, who had been dead for five and twenty years, was constantly in the room, watching her, and either standing at the foot of the bed, or sitting on a vacant chair at the bedside, when no one else was at the time sitting by her. Although her mother was nearly seventy years of age when she died, she said that her mother appeared to be about thirty-five, and that her hair was of a beautiful glossy raven hue. The morning of her death, on the 27th of April 1880, the doctor, her brother, and two servants were standing round the bed, talking with her, not eeting that she would go so soon, when suddenly ace beamed with joy, and she exclaimed, "Oh, my darling sister, Julia! My darling sister! I shall not be long now before I shall be with you", and in a few minutes after she expired. Her sister Julia died in 1845. The remains of this family are interred at Llangurig. "The soul's dark cottage, battered and betrayed, Let's in fresh light through chinks that time has made."1 If, then, those who loved us while on earth still watch over and cling to us in our hour of trouble, should we, when praying for our own wants, forget to pray for those who, though now for the present lost to sight, may still, for all that, be near to very many of us. They have still to make progress to still higher regions, till they reach the beatific vision of the Author of their existence, from whom they came. "If men are traced back to their first origin, all alike come from the Gods." "The human mind is descended from the great celestial Spirit." "The human mind, a detached part of Divine Intelligence, can be compared with nothing else but with God Himself." "Our natures are parts of the universe." "We have all the same Father, we are born of heavenly seed." The appearance of the Duchess of Mazarine to Madame de Beauclair.-(By an eye-witness.) It is well known to most people acquainted with English history, that the celebrated Duchess of Mazarine was one of the most lovely of the many beautiful women attached to the Court of King Charles II. Mr. Waller particularly takes notice of her in the following lines: "When through the world fair Mazarine had run, Hither at last the Roman eagle flies, As the last triumph of her conquering eyes." 1 Waller. 3 Ibid. 5 Diog. Laert., vii. 2 Senec., Epist., 44. 4 Cicero, Tusc. Disp. Lucretius, ii, 991, 992. |