Miss C., a lady of excellent sense, religious but not bigoted, livedbefore her marriage in the house of her uncle D., a celebratedphysician, and member of the Institute. Her mother at this time wasseriously ill in the country. One night the girl dreamed that she sawher mother, pale and dying, and especially grieved at the absence oftwo of her children: one a cure in Spain, the other--herself--inParis. Next she heard her own Christian name called, "Charlotte!"and, in her dream, saw the people about her mother bring in her ownlittle niece and god-child Charlotte from the next room. The patientintimated by a sign that she did not want _this_ Charlotte, but herdaughter in Paris. She displayed the deepest regret; her countenancechanged, she fell back, and died.Next day the melancholy of Mademoiselle C. attracted the attention ofher uncle. She told him her dream; he pressed her to his heart, andadmitted that her mother was dead.Some months later Mademoiselle C., when her uncle was absent, arrangedhis papers, which he did not like any one to touch. Among these was aletter containing the story of her mother's death, with all thedetails of her own dream, which D. had kept concealed lest they shouldimpress her too painfully.Boismont is staggered by this circumstance, and inclined to accountfor it by "still unknown relations in the moral and physical world"."Mental telegraphy," of course, would explain all, and even chancecoincidence is perfectly conceivable.The most commonly known of dreams prior to, or simultaneous with anhistorical occurrence represented in the vision, is Mr. Williams'sdream of the murder of Mr. Perceval in the lobby of the House ofCommons, May 11, 1812. Mr. Williams, of Scorrier House, near Redruth,in Cornwall, lived till 1841. He was interested in mines, and a manof substance. Unluckily the versions of his dream are full ofdiscrepancies. It was first published, apparently, in The Timesduring the "silly season" of 1828 (August 28). According to TheTimes, whose account is very minute, Mr. Williams dreamed of themurder thrice before 2 a.m. on the night of May 11. He told Mrs.Williams, and was so disturbed that he rose and dressed at two in themorning. He went to Falmouth next day (May 12), and told the tale toevery one he knew. On the evening of the 13th he told it to Mr. andMrs. Tucker (his married daughter) of Tremanton Castle. Mr. Williamsonly knew that the _chancellor_ was shot; Mr. Tucker said it must bethe Chancellor of the Exchequer. From the description he recognisedMr. Perceval, with whom he was at enmity. Mr. Williams had never beeninside the House of Commons. As they talked, Mr. William's songalloped up from Truro with news of the murder, got from a travellerby coach. Six weeks later, Mr. Williams went to town, and in theHouse of Commons walked up to and recognised the scene of the variousincidents in the murder.So far The Times, in 1828. But two forms of a version of 1832 exist,one in a note to Mr. Walpole's Life of Perceval (1874), "an attestedstatement, drawn up and signed by Mr. Williams in the presence of theRev. Thomas Fisher and Mr. Charles Prideaux Brune". Mr. Brune gave itto Mr. Walpole. With only verbal differences this variant correspondsto another signed by Mr. Williams and given by him to his grandson,who gave it to Mr. Perceval's great-niece, by whom it was lent to theSociety for Psychical Research.These accounts differ toto coelo from that in The Times of 1828. Thedream is _not_ of May 11, but "about" May 2 or 3. Mr. Williams is_not_ a stranger to the House of Commons; it is "a place well known tome". He is _not_ ignorant of the name of the victim, but "understoodthat it was Mr. Perceval". He thinks of going to town to givewarning. We hear nothing of Mr. Tucker. Mr. Williams does _not_verify his dream in the House, but from a drawing. A Mr. C. R. Fox,son of one to whom the dream was told _before_ the event, was then aboy of fourteen, and sixty-one years later was sure that he himselfheard of Mr. Williams's dream _before_ the news of the murder arrived.After sixty years, however, the memory cannot be relied upon.One very curious circumstance in connection with the assassination ofMr. Perceval has never been noticed. A rumour or report of the deedreached Bude Kirk, a village near Annan, on the night of Sunday, May10, a day before the crime was committed! This was stated in theDumfries and Galloway Courier, and copied in The Times of May 25. OnMay 28, the Perth Courier quotes the Dumfries paper, and adds that"the Rev. Mr. Yorstoun, minister of Hoddam (ob. 1833), has visitedBude Kirk and has obtained the most satisfactory proof of the rumourhaving existed" on May 10, but the rumour cannot be traced to itssource. Mr. Yorstoun authorises the mention of his name. The Timesof June 2 says that "the report is without foundation". If Williamstalked everywhere of his dream, on May 3, some garbled shape of it mayconceivably have floated to Bude Kirk by May 10, and originated therumour. Whoever started it would keep quiet when the real newsarrived for fear of being implicated in a conspiracy as accessorybefore the fact. No trace of Mr. Williams's dream occurs in thecontemporary London papers.The best version of the dream to follow is probably that signed by Mr.Williams himself in 1832. {39a}It may, of course, be argued by people who accept Mr. Williams's dreamas a revelation of the future that it reached his mind from the_purpose_ conceived in Bellingham's mind, by way of "mentaltelegraphy". {39b}
