Part 1

Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

SECOND EDITION

OF A

DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS:

WITH A RAP AT THE "SPIRIT-RAPPERS."

BY

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.

Illustrated with Cuts.

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A FEW PARTING RAPS AT THE "RAPPERS,"

AND QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS, AND ADVICE

TO THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS.

DEDICATED TO THE "GHOST CLUB."

PRICE ONE SHILLING.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE, WARNE, AND ROUTLEDGE, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1864.

HARRILD, PRINTER, LONDON.

I think it a duty to inform the Public that I have a Nephew whose _Christian_ name is PERCY. He is employed by a person of the name of "READ," a Publisher, of Johnson's Court, Fleet Street; who, in Advertising any work executed by my _Nephew_, announces it as by "_Cruikshank_," instead of (as it ought to be) _illustrated_ by "PERCY CRUIKSHANK." And having been informed by numerous persons that they have purchased these publications under the impression that they were works executed by me, I hereby caution the Public against buying any work as mine with the name of READ, of Johnson's Court, upon it as Publisher. I never _did anything for that person_, and never shall; and I beg the Public to understand that these observations are not directed against my _Nephew_, to whom I wish every good, but that they are against the said READ, who, by leaving out my Nephew's Christian name, PERCY, deprives him of whatever credit he may deserve for his literary and artistic productions, and thereby creating a confusion of persons, which, if not done for the purpose of DECEIVING THE PUBLIC, appears to be very much like it.

A DISCOVERY CONCERNING GHOSTS.

HAMLET.--"Thou com'st in such a _questionable_ shape."--

SHAKESPEARE.

Questionable!--ay; so _very_ questionable, in my opinion, is the fact of their coming at all, that I am now going to question whether they ever _did_, or _can_ come. This opinion I know is opposed to a very general, a long-established, and with some a deeply-rooted belief in supernatural appearances, and is opposed to what may be _almost_ considered as well-authenticated _facts_, which neither the repeated exposure of very many "ghost tricks," and clearly-proved imposture, nor sound philosophical arguments, have been able to set aside altogether. Most persons, therefore, will no doubt consider that the task of "laying" all the ghosts that _have_ appeared, and putting a stop to any others ever making an appearance, is a most difficult task. This is granted; and although I do not believe, like Owen Glendower, that I can "call the spirits from the vasty deep," but on the contrary agree in this respect with Hotspur, if I did call that they would not come, I nevertheless, although no conjuror, do conjure up for the occasion hosts of ghosts which I see I have to contend against. Yes, I do see before me, "in my mind's eye"--

A vast army, composed of ghost, goblin, and sprite! With their eyes full of fire, all gleaming with spite! All lurking about in the "dead of the night" With their faces so pale and their shrouds all so white! Or hiding about in dark holes and corners, To fright grown-up folk, or little "Jack Horners." But though they all stand in this fierce grim array, Armed with pen and with pencil, "I'll drive them away."

It is not only, however, against these horrible and ghastly-looking cloud of flimsy foes that one has to deal with in a question like this, but there are numbers of respectable and respected authors, and highly respectable witnesses, on the side of the ghosts; and it must be admitted that it is no easy matter to put aside the testimony of all these respectable persons. They may have thought, and some may still think, that they have done, and are doing, _good_, by supporting this belief; but I _know_ on the contrary that they have done, and are doing, great _harm_; and I, therefore, stand forth in the hope of "laying" _all_ the ghosts, and settling this long-disputed question for ever.

The belief in ghost, or apparition, is of course of very early date, originating in what are called the "dark ages," and _dark_ indeed those ages were! as a reference to the early history of the world will show; and although we have in these days a large diffusion of the blessed light of intelligence, nevertheless there is still existing, even amongst civilized people, a fearful amount of ignorance upon the subject of Ghosts, Witchcraft, Fortune-telling, and "Ruling the Stars," besides a vast amount of this sort of imaginary and mischievous nonsense. Now it will be as well here to inquire what good has ever resulted from this belief in what is commonly understood to be a ghost? None that I have ever heard of, and I have been familiar with all the popular ghost stories from boyhood, and have of late waded through almost all the works produced in support of this spiritual visiting theory, but in _no one instance_ have I discovered where any beneficial result has followed from the supernatural or rather unnatural supposed appearances; whereas, on the other hand, we do find unfortunately a large and serious amount of suffering and injury arising from this belief in ghosts, and which I shall have occasion to refer to further on; but I will now proceed to bring forward some of the evidences which have been adduced from time to time, all pretty much in the same style, in support of the probability and truth of the appearance of ghosts--first, in fact, to call up the ghosts, in order that I may put them down.

All the ghost story tellers, or writers upon this subject, seem to consider that one most important point in the appearance of apparitions is, that the ghost should be a MOST PERFECT AND EXACT RESEMBLANCE, IN EVERY RESPECT, to the deceased person--the spirit of whom they are supposed to be. Their faces appear the same, except in some cases where it is described as being rather paler than when they were alive, and the general expression is described as "more in sorrow than in anger," but this varies in some instances according to circumstances; but in all these appearances the countenances are so precisely similar, so minutely so, that in one case mentioned by Mrs. Crowe in her "Night-side of Nature," the very "pock-pits" or "pock-marks" on the face were _distinctly_ visible. The narrators also all agree that the spirits appear in similar, or the same dresses which they were accustomed to wear during their lifetime (please to observe that this is very important), so exactly alike that the ghost-seer could not possibly be mistaken as to the identity of the individual, in _face_, _figure_, _manner_, and _dress_; and on the same authority in some cases the _same spirit_ has appeared at the _same moment_ to _different persons_ in _different places_, although perhaps 15,000 miles apart, in _precisely_ the _same dress_.

In referring to the play of "Hamlet," it will be found that Shakespeare has been _most particular_ in describing the general appearance of the Ghost of Hamlet's father, who was

"Doomed for a certain time to walk by night."

For instance, when Marcellus says to Horatio,

"Is it not like the king?"

Horatio replies--

"As thou art to thyself: Such was the very _armour_ he had on, When he the ambitious Norway combated; So _frown'd_ he once, when, in angry parle, He smote the sledded Polack on the ice."

Horatio also, in describing the Ghost to Hamlet, says--

"A figure like your father, _Armed_ at all points, _exactly_, _cap-a-pe_."

And, in further explanation, it is stated that the Ghost was _armed_ "from top to toe," "from head to foot," that "he wore his beaver up," with "a countenance more in sorrow than in anger," and was "very pale." Then, again, when Hamlet sees his father's spirit, he exclaims--

"What may this mean, That thou, dead corse, again, in _complete steel_, Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon."

So also in the play of "Macbeth," when the Ghost of Banquo rises, and takes a seat at the table, Macbeth says to the apparition--

"Never shake Thy _gory_ locks at me."

And further on he says--

"Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with!"

Daniel de Foe also insists upon, and goes into the most _minute_ details as to the _person_ and _dress_ of a Ghost; and in a work which he published upon apparitions,[1] we may see how careful and circumstantial the author is in his descriptions of apparitions, whose appearance he vouches for in his peculiar narrative and matter-of-fact style. One of these ghost stories is of some robbers who broke into a mansion in the country, and whilst ransacking one of the chambers, they saw, sitting in a chair, "a grave, ancient man, with a long full-bottomed wig and a rich brocaded gown," etc. One of the robbers threatened to tear off his "rich brocaded gown;" another hit at him with a fuzee, and was instantly alarmed at finding it passed through air; and then the old gentleman "changed into the most horrible monster that ever was seen, with eyes like two fiery daggers red hot." They then rushed into another room, and found the same "grave, ancient man" seated _there_! and so also in another chamber; and he was seen by different robbers in _three different rooms at the same moment_! Just at this time the servants, who were at the top of the house, threw some "hand grenades" down the chimneys of these rooms. The result altogether was that some of the thieves were badly wounded, the others driven away, and the mansion saved from being plundered. What a capital thing it would be surely, if the police could attach some of these spirits to their force!

[1] "An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions; being an account of what they are and what they are not, when they come and when they come not; as also how we may distinguish between Apparitions of Good and Evil Spirits, and how we ought to behave to them; with a variety of surprising and diverting examples never published before." London, 1727.

Another case, a clergyman (the Rev. Dr. Scot) was seated in his library, _with the door closed_, when he suddenly saw "an ancient, grave gentleman, in a black _velvet_ gown"--very particular, you observe, as to the _material_--"and a long wig." This ghost was an entire stranger to Dr. Scot, and came to ask the doctor to do him a favour--asking a favour under such circumstances of course amounts to a command--which was to go to another part of the country, to a house where the ghost's son resided, and point out to the son the place where an important family document was deposited. Dr. Scot complied with this request, and the family property was secured to the son of the ghost in the "black velvet gown and the long wig."

Now one naturally asks here, why did not this old ghost go and point the place out to his son himself? And so also with the _well-authenticated_ story of the ghost of Sir George Villars, who wanted to give a warning to his son, the Duke of Buckingham; which warning, if properly delivered and properly acted upon, _might_ have saved the duke's life; but instead of warning his son himself (take notice), he appeared to one of the duke's domestics, "_in the very clothes he used to wear_," and commissioned him to deliver the message. After all, this warning was of no use, so this ghost might have saved himself the trouble of coming; but spirits are indeed strange things, and of course act in strange ways.

About the year 1700, a translation from a French book was brought out in London, entitled "Drelincourt on Death;" and after it had been published for some time, Daniel Defoe, at the request of Mr. Midwinter, the publisher, wrote a preface to the work, and therein introduced a short story about the ghost of a lady appearing to her friend. It was headed thus:--"A true Relation of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal, next day after her death, to one Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, on the 8th of September, 1705; which Apparition recommends the perusal of Drelincourt's book of Consolation against the Fears of Death. (Thirteenth edition.)"

Mrs. Veal and Mrs. Bargrave, it appears, were intimate friends. One day at twelve o'clock at noon, when Mrs. B. was sitting alone, Mrs. Veal entered the room, dressed in a "riding habit," hat, etc., as if going a journey. Mrs. Bargrave advanced to welcome her friend, and was going to salute her, and their lips _almost touched_, but Mrs. V. held back her head and passing her hand before her face, said, "I am not very well to-day;" and avoided the salute. In the course of a long talk which they had, _Mrs. Veal strongly recommends Drelincourt's Book on Death to Mrs. Bargrave, and occasionally "claps her hand upon her knee, in great earnestness."_ Mrs. Veal had been, subject to fits, and she asks if Mrs. Bargrave does not think she is "mightily impaired by her fits?" Mrs. B.'s reply was, "No! I think you look _as well as ever I knew you_;" and during the conversation she _took hold of Mrs. Veal's gown several times_, and commended it. Mrs. V. told her it was a "scoured silk" and newly made up. Mrs. Veal at length took her departure, but stood at the street door some short time, in the face of the beast market; this was Saturday the market-day. She then went from Mrs. B., who saw her walk in her view, till a turning interrupted the sight of her; this was three quarters after one o'clock. _Mrs. Veal had died that very day at noon!!!_ at Dover, which is about twenty miles from Canterbury.

Some surprise was expressed to Mrs. Bargrave, about the fact of her _feeling_ the gown, but she said she was _quite sure_ that she felt the gown. It was a striped silk, and Mrs. Veal had never been seen in such a dress; but such a one was found in her wardrobe after her decease.

This story made a great sensation at the time it was published; and "Drelincourt on Death," with the Preface and Defoe's tale, became exceedingly popular.[2]

[2] The introduction runs thus:--"This relation is a matter of fact, and attended with such circumstances as may induce any reasonable man to believe it. It was sent by a gentleman, a justice of peace, in MAIDSTONE in KENT, and a very intelligent person, to his friend in LONDON, as it is here worded; which discourse is attested by a sober and understanding gentlewoman, a kinswoman of the said gentleman's, who lives at CANTERBURY within a few doors of the house in which the within-named Mrs. Bargrave lives; who believes his kinswoman to be of so discerning a spirit as not to be put upon by fallacy, and who positively assured him that the whole matter as related and laid down is really true; and what she herself had in the same words (as near as may be) from Mrs. Bargrave's own mouth; who she knows had no reason to invent and publish such a story; or design to forge and tell a lie, being a woman of much honesty and virtue, and her whole life a course as it were of piety. The use which we ought to make of it is, that there is a life to come after this, and a just GOD, who will retribute to every one according to the deeds done in the body, and therefore to reflect upon our past course of life we have lead in the world--that our time is short and uncertain; if we would escape the punishment of the ungodly and receive the reward of the righteous, which is the laying hold of eternal life, we ought for the time to come to turn to GOD, by a speedy repentance, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well, to seek after GOD early, if haply he may be found of us, and lead such lives for the future as may be well pleasing in his sight."

The absurdities and impossibilities of the foregoing narrative of this apparition of Mrs. Veal need not be pointed out; but the story is introduced here for two reasons; one of which will be explained further on, and the other is to show how the public have been imposed upon with these short stories.

It has all along been known to the literary world that this "_true_ Relation" was a _falsehood_, and brought forward under the following circumstances:--

Mr. Midwinter, who published the translation of "Drelincourt on Death," finding that the work did not sell, complained of this to Defoe, and asked him if he could not write some preface or introduction to the work for the purpose of calling the attention of the public to this rather uninviting subject. Defoe undertook to do so, and produced this story about the ghost of Mrs. Veal. The gullibility of the public was much greater at that time than now, and they would then swallow anything in the shape of a ghost; a great sensation was created, and the publisher's purpose was answered, as the work had an extraordinary sale; but one cannot help expressing a very deep regret that the author of "Robinson Crusoe" should have so degraded his talent, by thus deliberately foisting upon the public a gross and mischievous falsehood as a veritable truth; and, worse than this, guilty of bringing in the most sacred names upon one of the most solemn subjects which the mind of man can contemplate, for the purpose of supporting and propagating a falsehood for a mercenary purpose.

As the belief in ghosts has long been popular, and considered as an established fact, it may be quite allowable for an author to introduce a ghost into his romance; and it may be argued that authors have thus been enabled "to point a moral" as well as to "adorn a tale," by using this poetical license, or spiritual medium; but in these cases the tales or poems were given out to the world as inventions of the author to amuse the public, or to convey a moral lesson, and were accepted by the public as such.

We find in these foregoing examples that apparitions do appear sometimes to strangers, and sometimes in the dresses in which they had not been seen when alive; but these dresses have been afterwards discovered or accounted for, and it has also been discovered who these _strange_ spirits represented. But it will be seen by the cases cited, and others which are to follow, that this EXACT appearance, this _Vraisemblance_ is _essential_, nay, INDISPENSABLE, in order that there shall be "no mistake;" for should mistakes be made, it would, in some cases, be perhaps a very serious matter. I fully assent to all this, and to show that I wish to do battle in all fairness, that it shall be a "fair fight and no favour," I am willing even to illustrate my opponents' statements in these particulars, and to do this I here introduce--don't start, reader! not a ghost, but a figure of Napoleon the First, but without a head; not that I mean to imply thereby that this military hero had no head. No, no! quite the contrary, but I have omitted this head and the head of the ghost of Hamlet's father for an especial purpose, as will be explained further on, when I shall have occasion to touch upon these _heads_ again. But if this cut is held at a distance, by any one at all familiar with the portraits or statues of "Napoleon le Grand" in this costume, they will at once recognize who the figure is intended to represent.

Let us now turn to "The Night-side of Nature," and through the dismal gloom which surrounds these apparitions, call up some more spirits, who, according to Mrs. Crowe, and, indeed, on the authority of all other authors who support the ghost doctrine, "generally come in their habits as they lived;" and it appears that there is no difference in this respect between the beggar and the king, for they come

"Some in rags, and some in jags, and some in silken gowns."

At page 289 of this exceedingly cleverly written but most ghastly collection of ghost stories, it is related that the ghost of a beggar-man appeared at the _same time in two different_ apartments (all in his _dirty_ rags, of course), to a young man and a young woman who had allowed this beggar to sleep in their master's barn (unbeknown to their master), where he died in the night, but could not rest after his death until some money of his was found by these young people, who had both suffered in their health in consequence of these visits of the beggar's ghost. They at length consulted and explained all this to a priest, who advised them to distribute the money they had found under the straw (where the beggar had slept and died) between _three_ churches, which advice was accordingly acted upon, and this settled the business, for the _dirty_ ragged ghost never troubled them again.

In contrast to this we have the story of the ghost of a lady of title, who had been in her lifetime Princess Anna of Saxony. She came decked out in "silks and satins," gold lace, embroidery, and jewels, all so grand, and appeared to one of the descendants of her family, Duke Christian of Saxe Eisenburg, requesting him to be so kind as to try and "make it up" between her and her ghost husband, who, it seems, was a bad-tempered man, had quarrelled with her, and had died without being reconciled.

Duke Christian consented to do this. She had walked into the duke's presence, although all the doors were _shut_, and one day after their first interview she brought her husband to their relative in the same unceremonious manner. Her ghost husband, who had been the Duke Casimer, appeared dressed in his royal robes. They each told their story (these, you will observe were _talking_ ghosts as well as _stalking_ ghosts). Duke Christian most gallantly decided in favour of the lady, and the ghost duke very properly acquiesced in the justice of the decision. Duke Christian then took the "icy cold hand" of the ghost-duke and placed it in the hand of the ghost-wife, whose hand felt of a "_natural_ heat." It appears to be the opinion of the advocates of apparitions that _naughty_ ghosts have _cold_ hands. In this case the husband was the offending party, and was very naughty, and therefore his hands were very cold. It seems strange that his hands should have been cold, for, being naughty, one would suppose he would come from the same place that Hamlet's father did; and from what _he_ said we should conclude that there was a roaring fire there, where the duke might have _warmed_ his cold hands. It further appears that these parties all "_prayed_ and _sung_ together!" after which the now happy ghosts disappeared _sans ceremonie_, without troubling the servants to open the doors, or allowing Duke Christian to "show them out." One remarkable fact in connection with this story is, that, upon referring to the portraits of these ghosts which hung in the castle, was, that they had appeared in exactly the same dresses which they had on, when these portraits were painted--one hundred years before this time.

Duke Christian died two years after the ghosts' visits, and by his own orders was buried in "quicklime," to prevent, it is supposed, _his_ ghost from walking the earth! He must indeed have been a poor ignorant creature, although a duke, to suppose that "quicklime," or "slow lime," or any other kind of lime, or anything else that would destroy the _body_, could make any difference with respect to the appearance of the _spirit_.