and met Her Majesty, as she thought, three or four chambers off, Alarmed at the thoughts of being discovered in the act of leaving the royal patient alone, she hurried forward in some trepidation, in order to excuse herself, when the apparition vanished away. "Lady Guildford," says Lady Southwell, "returned terrified to her chamber, but there lay Queen Elizabeth, still in the same lethargic, motionless slumber in which she had left her.”

"The Queen kept her bed fifteen days," continues Lady Southwell, "besides the three days she sate upon a stool, and one day when being pulled up by force, she obstinately stood on her feet for fifteen hours. When she was near her end, the Council sent to her the Archbishop of Canterbury and other prelates, at the sight of whom she was much offended, bidding them be packing, saying she was no Atheist, but she knew full well they were but hedge-priests. About six at night she made signs for the Archbishop of Canterbury and her chaplain to come to her, 'at which time,' says Carey, 'I went in with them and sat upon my knees, full of tears to see that heavy sight. The Bishop kneeled by her, and examined her of her faith, Then the good man told her plainly what she was come to, and though she had been long a great queen upon earth, yet shortly she was to yield an account of her stewardship to the great King of Kings."" The spirit of the mighty Elizabeth, after all, passed away so quietly that the vigilance of the self-interested spies by whom she was surrounded was baffled, and no one knew the moment of her departure. Exhausted by her devotions she had, after the Archbishop left her, sunk into a deep sleep, from which she never awoke, and about three in the morning it was found she had ceased to breathe.

We will conclude with an extract from Masson's "Life of Milton," relating to a singular dream of Mr. Herbert (attendant on Charles I.), during the night before the King's execution. "Late into the night of the 29th, accordingly the Bishop (Juxon) remained with the King in private. After he had gone, Charles spent about two hours more in reading and praying, and then lay down to sleep, Mr. Herbert lying in the pallet-bed close to his. For about four hours he slept soundly; but very early in the morning, when it was dark, he awoke, opened the curtain of his bed, and called Mr. Herbert. The call disturbed Herbert suddenly from a dreamy doze into which he had fallen, after a very restless night; and when he got up, and was assisting the King to dress by the light of the wax-cake that had been kept burning in the chamber as usual, the King observed a peculiarly scared look on his face. Herbert, on being asked the cause, told His Majesty he had had an extraordinary dream. The King desiring to know what it was, Herbert related it.

"In his doze (he said), he had heard some one knock at the chamber-door. Thinking it might be Colonel Hooker, and not willing to disturb the King till he himself heard the knock, he had lain still.

A second time, however, the knock came; and this time he thought His Majesty had heard the knock, and told him to open the door and see who it was. He did go to the door, and on opening it, was surprised to see a figure standing there in pontifical habits, whom he knew to be the late Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Laud. He knew him well, having often seen him in his life. The figure said he had something to say to the King, and desired to enter. Then, as Herbert thought, the King having been told who it was, and having given permission, the Archbishop had entered, making a profound obeisance to the King in the middle of the room, a second on coming nearer, and at last falling on his knees as the King gave him his hand to kiss. Then the King raised him, and the two went to the window together, and discoursed there, Herbert keeping at a distance, and not knowing of what they talked, save that he noticed the King's face to be very pensive, and heard the Archbishop give a deep sigh. After a little they ceased to talk, and the Archbishop, again kissing the King's hand, retired slowly, with his face to the King, making three reverences as before. The third reverence was so low, that, as Herbert thought, the Archbishop had fallen prostrate on his face, and he had been in the act of stepping to help him up, when he had been awakened by the King's call. The impression had been so lively that he had still looked about the room as if all had been real. Herbert' having thus told his dream, the King said it was remarkable, the rather because, if Laud had been alive, and they had been talking together as in the dream, it was likely, albeit, he loved the Archbishop well, he might have said something to him that would have occasioned his sigh." Herbert only mentioned the fact of his dream in the body of his memoir; but the detailed account of it in his own words, written in 1680, is given in the appendix, 217-222, and in a note to Wood's Ath. (respecting Herbert), IV. 32-36.

PSYCHOGRAPHY AMONG THE CHINESE.

The Chinese have for ages believed in the existence of spirits, and in the possibility of communication between the natural and spiritual worlds. This belief has been over and over again exemplified by various writers who, however, in relating the phenomena attributed to spiritual agency, have simply regarded them as the tricks of jugglers or the impositions of lying priests. It is, of course, probable that false pretenders to spiritual power exist in Eastern as well as in Western Spiritualism; but there is no reason to suppose that the sweeping relegations to the limbo of fraud and delusion that the majority of witnesses of Chinese psychological phenomena indulge in, are any nearer the truth than similar lucubrations by those who, without knowledge and investigation, oppose and denounce similar manifestations in our own country. The usual course in both cases is to jump to the conclusion that the occurrences are due to trick and imposture. It is easy to do that; but it can scarcely be said to show any great discrimination on the part of those who adopt such a procedure.

The foregoing remarks have been called forth by reading a short account of a native séance in Mrs. Gray's "Fourteen Months in Canton." Mrs. Gray is the wife of an English clergyman resident there, and I have already given in this magazine* a short account of a native séance extracted from the above named book. 112 she narrates her further experiences as follows

On pages 109

"One morning we went in our sampan to the Wong-Sha suburb to the temple of Loi-Sun-Yaong, as it is there that devotees resort to receive from Loi-Sun-Yaong communications through the medium of spiritualistic writing. We were asked to walk into the reception-room, and were supplied with tea, but before we had time to drink it a monk came in to say that the devotee was impatient to ask the gods for some information he much required. We therefore went at once into the shrine, and saw the monk and the petitioner kneeling before the altar. The monk was kneeling in front of the devotee. Wax tapers were already lighted, and burning joss sticks were in the incense burners. These were gifts from the votary. Both priest and petitioner seemed very earnest in their supplications. Three minutes, perhaps, were occupied by these prayers, then both men rose from their knees.

"Our attention now became absorbed in another monk, who had before him on a table a large wooden board covered with sand. He was standing by the altar. A second monk was by his side, with pen and paper, to write down the message supposed to be delivered by the god whose image stood on the altar. A third monk joined the other two, whose duty, we learned, was to explain the message when written. As a spiritualistic language is the medium employed, it requires to be translated. This language is supposed not to be understood by the other two assistants at this strange ceremony. The chief performer now took his instrument, which was a piece of stick about a foot in length, into his hand, or rather he balanced it on his two forefingers. It resembles a long pen handle, and is made of white wood. From the centre below projects a small piece of wood which writes on the sanded board. It altogether reminded me of the planchettes, so much in fashion a few years ago in England. In a few minutes the wooden instrument began to move, as was supposed, without the help of the monk who held it. It moved up and down on the board, tracing large characters on it; and when the board was marked all over, that part of the message was transcribed on paper by the monk, the sand was shaken, and the board placed again on the table ready for the continuation of the writing. This happened three times, the petitioner looking on all the while with rapt attention. The fourth time the lightly-balanced wooden instrument refused to move, and the monk said the god had retired. When the writing was translated by the third monk, it was found to be a message for the foreigners, and not a word was addressed to the poor devotee.

* "Psychological Phenomena amongst the Chinese”—Psychological Review, July 1881, pp. 42.

The paper was handed to us, and was translated as follows-'The god is very much pleased that the foreigners are present; he holds communication with their god, and he knows that they have come to China on a good errand.'

"Is it not difficult to come to a conclusion about it? The monk who acted the chief part did not certainly appear to move a muscle of his hand or arm. If it be a fraud wilfully committed, it seems incredible that men should give up the world and practice such deceit."

PASSING AWAY OF MR. H. D. JENCKEN.

Though Spiritualism removes the sting of death, and banishes its terror and misery, it is not in human nature to be wholly unmoved by the passing onwards of those whose names have become almost as household words amongst us, and more especially when the transition is as sudden as was that of Mr. H. D. Jencken on Saturday, Nov. 26th. I heard the news with much regret. It will be remembered that Mr. Jencken in the year 1873 married Miss Kate Fox, the medium through whom Modern Spiritual manifestations first began in America. He was a sincere spiritualist, and one of the few who publicly testified to the truth of Spiritualism at a time when such a course drew nothing but ridicule and obloquy upon the heads of those who had anything to say in its favour.

* I beg to call special attention to the fact that the Editorial and Publishing Offices of the PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW are now located at 4 New Bridge Street, Ludgate Circus, E.C. All communications should therefore now be sent there.

J. S. FARMER.

SPIRITUALISM is, above all, a science of observation, and its conclusions are proved in a rational and natural manner, viz., by an appeal to hard and stubborn facts, the evidence of which cannot be denied. Opinions and theories may be annulled by time, but not so any fact which has once been found to be true after fair and partial examination. Thus, Spiritual phenomena having been tried and tested by thousands of individuals in all countries, the only logical conclusion at which we can arrive is, that no matter how long and strenuously they may be denied on à priori ground, sooner or later, they will, in spite of all opposition and ridicule, come to be universally acknowledged as true. It required but extended knowledge of natural laws to establish the truth of Galileo's proposition concerning the motion of the earth. Had he given no proof of his assertion, it might still have been disbelieved, but all denial falls before a knowledge of the principle. So it is with Spiritualism. It requires but a recognition of its absolute foundation upon facts governed by natural laws to render it capable of universal acceptance. Those who deny the possibility of spiritual phenomena are in the same false position as those who denied the motion of the earth. They prejudge and declare them absurd, even as a belief in the Antipodes was once held in light esteem.-A New Basis of Belief.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

OF

CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUAL OPINION.

"LIGHT" (LONDON).

(October 29-November 19.)

It is not easy to direct attention to all that is worthy in a journal from which unimportant matter is carefully excluded. If we except, perhaps, some reports of local societies, to which disproportionate space is given, all is of interest and value.We ventured last month on an expression of wonder as to Dr. Davey's exact position. It turns out that he has had some considerable opportunity of forming an opinion on the phenomena rightly called spiritual, and that he illogically refers them "to a decidedly physical basis." Mr. Beattie, who has known him for thirty years, says of him that he is transparently truthful, yet unable to expand. He is where he was, and has "not made one step ahead for thirty years: root-bound, as if growing in a pot." His is one of those minds in which is no niche into which these things will fit. He will get his growth hereafter."Student" recounts some interesting experiences respecting clairvoyant vision of what may possibly be the Nature-spirits, or Theosophical Elementals. Mrs. A. J. Penny contributes to the discussion some interesting evidence from the writings of Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Lake Harris, and J. Böhme. But it seems by no means certain that "Student" did not simply see the spirit-form of animals that had once lived here, and were waiting for re-embodiment. There would be an appreciable time before the spirit-form would be entirely dissipated, and "Student's" opened vision probably saw these evanescent spiritual entities. "Umbra" gives a personal record of mediumship which is of great interest.—"The Apparition to Dean Donne," very imperfectly narrated in the Argosy, is correctly and fully reproduced from Izaak Walton's "Life of Donne," by Mr. P. P. Alexander, whose cautious comments on the occurrence are destructive, though the writer admits that, taken in conjunction with other like stories, he is "inclined to believe in the reality of such apparitions"-a statement which does not err on the side of excess. The evidence is overwhelming.—Mr. H. Wedgwood, who has paid great attention to the subject of Hauntings, gives an excellent account of a haunted chateau at Baden-Baden, which must be read in entirety.--Mr. R. Cooper gives valuable evidence as to the passage of matter through matter (loosely so-called): a