Mary, the wife of John Goffe, of Rochester, being afflicted with a long illness, removed to her father's house at WestMulling, which is about nine miles distant from her own; there she died, June the 4th, 1691.

The day before her departure, she grew impatiently desirous to see her two children, whom she had left at home to the care of a nurse. She prayed her husband to hire a horse, for she must go home, and die with her children. When they persuaded her to the contrary, telling her she was not fit to be taken out of her bed, nor able to sit on horseback, she intreated them however to try: "If I cannot sit," said she, "I will lie all along upon the horse, for I must go to see my poor babes."

A minister who lives in the town was with her at ten o'clock that night, to whom she expressed good hopes in the mercies of God, and a willingness to die; but," said she, "it is my misery that I cannot see my children.'

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Between one and two o'clock in the morning, she fell into a trance. One Widow Turner, who watched with her that night, says, that her eyes were open and fixed, and her jaw fallen she put her hand upon her mouth and nostrils, but could perceive no breath; she thought her to be in a fit, and doubted whether she were alive or dead.

The next day, this dying woman told her mother that she had been at home with her children. "That is impossible," said the mother, "for you have been here in bed all the while." "Yes," replied the other, "but I was with them last night when I was asleep."

The nurse at Rochester, Widow Alexander by name, affirms, and says she will take her oath of it before a magistrate, and receive the sacrament upon it, that a little before two o'clock that morning she saw the likeness of the said Mary Goffe come out of the next chamber (where the elder child lay in a bed by itself, the door being left open), and stood by her bed-side for about a quarter of an hour; the younger child was there lying by her; her eyes moved, and her mouth went, but she said nothing. The nurse, moreover, says, that she was perfectly awake; it was then daylight, being one of the longest days in the year. She sat up in her bed, and looked steadfastly upon the apparition; in that time she heard the bridge clock strike two, and a while

after, said, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, what art thou ?" Thereupon the appearance removed and went away; she slipped on her clothes and followed, but what became of it she cannot tell. Then, and not before, she began to be grievously affrighted, and went out of doors and walked upon the wharf (the house is just by the river side) for some hours, only going in now and then to look at the children. At five o'clock she went to a neighbour's house, and knocked at the door, but they would not rise; at six she went again, then they rose and let her in. She related to them all that had passed: they would persuade her she was mistaken, or dreamt; but she confidently affirmed, "If ever I saw her in all my life, I saw her this night."

One of those to whom she made the relation, Mary, the wife of Mr. J. Sweet, had a messenger who came from Mulling that forenoon, to let her know her neighbour Goffe was dying, and desired to speak with her; she went over the same day, and found her just departing. The mother, amongst other discourse, related to her how much her daughter had longed to see her children, and said she had seen them. This brought to Mrs. Sweet's mind what the nurse had told her that morning; for, till then, she had not thought fit to mention it, but disguised it rather as the woman's disturbed imagination.

The substance of this I had related to me by John Carpenter, the father of the deceased, next day after the burial. July 2, I fully discoursed the matter with the nurse and two neighbours, to whose house she went that morning.

Two days after, I had it from the mother, the minister that was with her in the evening, and the woman who sat up with her that last night they all agree in the same story, and every one helps to strengthen the other's testimony.

They all appear to be sober, intelligent persons, far enough from designing to impose a cheat upon the world, or to manage a lie, and what temptation they should be under for so doing, I cannot conceive.

Your most faithful friend and humble servant,
THOMAS TILSON.

-Signs before Death.

REPLIES TO DR. BRAID'S QUERIES REGARDING THE FAKEER WHO BURIED HIMSELF ALIVE AT LAHORE IN 1837.

I was present [says Sir Claude Wade] at the Court of Runjeet Singh when the Fakeer mentioned by the Honourable Captain Osborne was buried alive for six weeks; and, although I arrived a few hours after his actual interment, and did not, consequently, witness that part of the phenomenon, I had the testimony of Runjeet Singh himself, and others the most credible witnesses of his Court, to the truth of the Fakeer having been so buried before them; and, from my having myself been present when he was disinterred, and restored to a state of perfect vitality, in a position so close to him as to render any deception impossible, it is my firm belief that there was no collusion in producing the extraordinary fact which I have related. Captain Osborne's book is not at present before me, that I might refer to such parts of his account as devolve the authenticity of the fact on my authority. I will therefore briefly state what I saw, to enable others to judge of the weight due to my evidence, and whether any proofs of collusion can, in their opinion, be detected.

On the approach of the appointed time, according to invitation, I accompanied Runjeet Singh to the spot where the Fakeer had been buried. It was in a square building, called a barra durra, in the middle of one of the gardens adjoining the palace at Lahore, with an open verandah all round, having an enclosed room in the centre. On arriving there, Runjeet Singh, who was attended on the occasion by the whole of his Court, dismounting from his elephant, asked me to join him in examining the building to satisfy himself that it was closed as he had left it. We did so; there had been a door on each of the four sides of the room, three of which were perfectly closed with brick and mortar, the fourth had a strong door, which was also closed with mud up to the padlock, which was sealed with the private seal of Runjeet Singh in his own presence when the Fakeer was interred. Indeed, the exterior of the building presented no aperture by which air could be ad

mitted, or any communication held by which food could be conveyed to the Fakeer. I may also add, that the walls closing the doorway bore no mark whatever of having been recently disturbed or removed.

Runjeet Singh recognised the seal as the one which he had affixed, and as he was as sceptical as any European could be of the success of such an enterprise, to guard as far as possible against any collusion, he had placed two companies from his own personal escort near the building, from which four sentries were furnished and relieved every two hours, night and day, to guard the building from intrusion. At the same time, he ordered one of the principal officers of his Court to visit the place occasionally, and to report the result of his inspection to him, while he himself, or his minister, kept the seal which closed the hole of the padlock, and the latter received the report, morning and evening, from the officer on guard.

After our examination we seated ourselves in the verandah opposite the door, while some of Runjeet Singh's people dug away the mud wall, and one of his officers broke the seal and opened the padlock. When the door was thrown open, nothing but a dark room was to be seen. Runjeet Singh and myself then entered it, in company with the servant of the Fakeer; and a light being brought, we descended about three feet below the floor of the room into a sort of cell, where a wooden box, about four feet long by three broad, with a sloping roof, containing the Fakeer, was placed upright, the door of which had also a padlock and seal similar to that on the outside. On opening it, we saw a figure enclosed in a bag of white linen, fastened by a string over the head-on the exposure of which a grand salute was fired, and the surrounding multitude came crowding to the door to see the spectacle. After they had gratified their curiosity, the Fakeer's servant, putting his arms into the box, took the figure out, and closing the door, placed it with its back against it, exactly as the Fakeer had been squatted (like a Hindoo idol) in the box itself.

Runjeet Singh and myself then descended into the cell, which was so small that we were only able to sit on the

ground in front of the body, and so close to it as to touch it with our hands and knees.

The servant then began pouring warm water over the figure; but, as my object was to see if any fraudulent practices could be detected, I proposed to Runjeet Singh to tear open the bag and have a perfect view of the body before any means of resuscitation were employed. I accordingly did so; and may here remark, that the bag when first seen by us looked mildewed, as if it had been buried some time. The legs and arms of the body were shrivelled and stiff, the face full, the head reclining on the shoulder like that of a corpse. I then called to the medical gentleman who was attending me to come down and inspect the body, which he did, but could discover no pulsation in the heart, the temples, or the arm. There was, however, a heat about the region of the brain, which no other part of the body exhibited.

The servant then recommenced bathing him with hot water, and gradually relaxing his arms and legs from the rigid state in which they were contracted, Runjeet Singh taking his right and I his left leg, to aid by friction in restoring them to their proper action; during which time the servant placed a hot wheaten cake, about an inch thick, on the top of the head,-a process which he twice or thrice renewed. He then pulled out of his nostrils and ears the wax and cotton with which they were stopped; and after great exertion opened his mouth by inserting the point of a knife between his teeth, and, while holding his jaws open with his left hand, drew the tongue forward with his right,-in the course of which the tongue flew back several times to its curved position upwards, in which it had originally been, so as to close the gullet.

He then rubbed his eyelids with ghee (or clarified butter) for some seconds, until he succeeded in opening them, when the eyes appeared quite motionless and glazed. After the cake had been applied for the third time to the top of his head, the body was violently convulsed, the nostrils became inflated, respiration ensued, and the limbs began to assume a natural fulness; but the pulsation was still faintly perceptible. The servant then