Cassius of Parma, who had espoused the cause of Marc Anthony, fled to Athens after the battle of Actium. While sleeping in his apartments there, he saw a man enter his chamber, an individual with dark complexion and dishevelled hair, very tall and stout. Cassius demanded who he was; to which the phantom replied, “I am your evil genius.” The dreamer arose in a fright, and seeing no one present, summoned his slaves, inquiring if any among them had seen a stranger enter the appartment. An examination showed the doors of the house to have been firmly closed, so that it was impossible for any one to enter. Cassius persuaded that he had been the victim of some chemical illusion, again went to sleep, but the same vision presented itself a second time, addressing him with the same words. Cassius, troubled, arose from his couch and summoned lights. At early day-break he was assassinated by order of the Emperor Augustus.
Two Arcedian friends, journeying together, arrived at Megara, at which place the one took lodgings at the house of a friend, while his companion put up at a public tavern. The traveler lodging at his friend’s, was visited in a dream by his comrade, who supplicated him to come and extricate him from a trap set for him by the innkeeper. He awoke suddenly, arose, dressed and hastened himself towards the tavern, when an afterthought impelled him to return, and he again undressed and went to sleep. Again his comrade presented himself, but this time covered with blood, and beseeching him to avenge his murder. The phantom informed his fellow traveler that he had been treacherously assassinated by the tavern keeper, and his body concealed beneath a dunghill outside the city gates. Terrified at this second appiration, the Arcadian hesitated no longer, but going to the place designated, he discovered his friend’s corpse, and was therefore enabled to bring the murderer to justice.
A tradesman of Paris, sleeping in bed with his wife, dreamed that he heard the voice exclaiming to him: “I have now finished forty years, seven months, and twenty-nine days of labor, and I am happy.” The wife, sleeping by her husband’s side, had the same dream and upon awakening in the morning went forth, and without mentioning the occurrence, procured a lottery-ticket bearing the numbers 40-7-29. The same day the numbers came out, and the tradesman lamented his indiscretion in not taking the advice of his nocturnal visitor. His sorrow was turned into joy when he learned that his wife, profiting by her dream, had drawn the grand prize in the Royal Lottery.
An old lady of Paris was in the habit of encouraging her niece by promises of wealth, which she never fulfilled; extenuating her procrastination from year to year, by recourse of ingenious expedients, and she finally died. Shortly afer her decease, the aunt appeared during the night-time and instructed her niece to remove the centre tile of their hearth, where she would discover the oft promised treasure. The young girl obeyed the injunction, but discovered in the cavity nothing save a heap of cinders. In vexation of spirit, the niece railled vehemently against the duplicity of a relative deceiving her after death. On the following night, however, the phantom again appeared, and without saying a word, designated four numbers apparently on the wall. Although placing little reliance upon the injunction which she conceived to relate to a lottery (then the town talk), the niece resolved to try her luck, especially as the ticket offered for her purchase by the dealer bore the same numbers designated by the apparition. Subsequently, these numbers came out in the order indicated, and the girl came into possession of four hundred thousand francs.
FOLK-LORE OF PINS.
Popular Superstitions.—Why, however, north country people are so persistent in their refusal to give one another a pin it is not easy to discover, as even they themselves cannot give the origin and reason of this superstition. When asked for a pin they invariably say, “You may take one, but mind, I do not give it.” It may, perhaps, have some connection with the vulgar prejudice against giving a knife or other sharp instrument, as mentioned by Gay in his “Shepherd’s Week.”
But woe is me! such presents luckless prove,