central inn in the town, because it is clofe to the fpot where their ancestor was executed. Some of thefe tranfactions are recorded in the following curious infcription upon a grave-ftone in the church-yard at Bolton:

"John Okey, the fervant of God, was born in London 1608; came into this town, 1620, married Mary, the daughter of James Crompton, of Breightmet, 1635, with whom he lived comfortably 20 years, and had four fons and fix daughters. Since then he lived fole till the day of his death. In his time were many great changes and terrible alterations; 18 years civil wars in England, befides many dreadful fea-fights; the crown and command of England changed eight times; epifcopacy laid afide 14 years; London burnt by Papifts, and more stately built again; Germany wafted 300 miles; 200,coo Proteftants murdered in Ireland by the Papifts: this town thrice ftormed; once taken and plundered. He went through many troubles and divers conditions; found reft, joy and happinefs only in holiness, the faith, fear and love of God in Jefus Chrift. He died the 29th of April, and lieth here buried, 1684.-Come, Lord Jefus, come quickly!"

The inhabitants of Bolton have not been in the best repute for their ufage of ftrangers; but the evil has probably arifen from fuch rude waffailers (fee Milton's Comus) as are found almost in every place, who have reforted to the inns frequented by travellers, whom they have deceived and irritated by their impudent compofure in telling falfehoods, in order to cheat them of their money by laying wagers with them in oppofition to the plaineft matters of fact. These wagers being decided by the company, who are all in the fecret, and engaged in a confpiracy against the un- fufpecting ftranger, he is bound by the decifion to treat them, as they exprefs them felves, with glaffes round. The natives of Bolton, though not diftinguished for polifhed behaviour, have, I am perfuaded from experience, as much genuine benevolence as any of their neighbours; and I am happy to inform the public, that the above mentioned practice is dying away, and confined to a very few individuals.

Yet of late years, unfortunately, party fpirit has raged in this town with uncommon bittterness; though it appears, from the report of the Secret Committee of the Houle of Commons, that thofe called democrats here have had the wisdom, or the good fortune, not to have entered into any political affociations, which irritate rather than convince, and only lead their op. ponents to attempt to exceed them in numbers.

About 12 or 14 years ago, a library was founded upon the moft liberal bafis. Perfons of all, parties and denominations fubfcribed to it, and books in favour of any sentiments, political or religious, were not exempted from being voted into it. After the difcuffions occafioned by the attempts made to procure the repeal of the teft-laws, the diffenters were voted out of the committee. Still this felect committee was not at that time fufficiently fcrupulous as to reject fuch works as the Rights of Man, or other books of a like kind. But previously to the commencement of hoftilities with the French nation, when an effigy of Thomas Paine was burned, fuch of thefe books as could be found, belonging to the public library, were thrown, by the vote only of a majority of the fubfcribers, into the flames. Against this deftruction of common property many protefted. The parties divided, the reft of the books were fold by public auction, and furnished the groundwork of two other libraries. Thefe tranfactions reminded many of the barbarous Mahometan, who ordered the Alexandrian library to be burned, on the principle, that if it contained no more than the Koran, it was unneceffary; if more, it was pernicious; and that in either cafe it ought to be deftroyed.

The fociety of Proteftant Diffenters, improperly called Prefbyterians, have alfo a library called The Veftry; which contains many theological books on different controverfial doctrines, besides feveral volumes of fcarce and curious tracts, and a good collection for the inftruction of young perfons in art and science, in natural and revealed religion. In the account of the country round Manchester, the Methodists of this place are mentioned as active in the management of their Sunday School, in which more than 1000 children are inftructed, gratis, in reading and writing. The followers of Swedenborg, animated by the zeal of a benevolent gentleman, named Dawes, have alfo exerted them-` felves in the fame good caufe, and not only provide about 300 children in this neighbourhood with the means of good inftruction on the Lord's day, but have founded what they call the Economists' Library; from which they who fubfcribe only one penny every week, or 2s. per year, may receive fuch information as it is fitted to afford.

As in many other towns, fince the alarm of the French invafion was firft raifed, there have not been wanting perfons in Bolton who have united to form corps

both

both of infantry and cavalry. The former, which confift of more than 200, have now moftly been raised feveral years. The latter, confifting of 69, and formed in 1798, had their ftandards prefented to them in the month of July, in the prefent year. One of the ftandards has the king's arms, the other their major's upon it, with the motto, Pro aris et focis.

The creft of the latter reprefents a mower with a fcythe in the right hand, which reprefentation is founded upon the traditionary tale, that, after the battle of Haftings, one of the Pilkington family (the major's name) who had taken the part of Harold, was obliged to affume the habit of a mower, but was difcovered by his unskilfulness in handling the fcythe. On the arms of the Pilkingtons in Yorkshire, the mower, I am told, holds the fcythe in

the left hand.

Thus, Mr. Editor, I have endeavoured to fhew, that the town and neighbourhood of Bolton prefent fome objects worthy the attention of the curious.

It lies with you to decide, whether my communication is fufficiently interefting for infertion. As the first tribute of efteem and approbation, it is offered to your excellent magazine*,

By your conftant reader,

Bolton,-1799.

For the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

J. H.

ERTAIN as it is that the apparition of ghofts and fpectres militates against all known laws of nature, yet inftances of this kind are related by men, who neither can be fufpected of having had the leaft inclination to impofe upon the world, nor be fuppofed to have fuffered themselves to be impofed upon by others. How are we to reconcile fuch accounts to found reafon and the established laws of nature? Let us inquire whether it be not poffible to affign fome natural reafon for apparitions related by refpectable and creditable perfons, without giving countenance to fuperftition. The eafieft way to account for fuch fingular inftances will be to prove, that the form which fometimes appears to people who imagine they fee ghosts and Spirits, does not exist externally, but that the idea of fuch apparitions is produced bym·

We fhall be glad to receive from other equally intelligent correfpondents fimilar communications relative to the ftate of fociety, manners, &c. in all the large cities and towns in the kingdom,

preffions made on the ophthalmic nerves of the brain.

up

Our nerves are the inftruments of fenfation. They originate in the brain, where they receive a very fine fluid, fecreted from the moft fubtile parts of the blood, and conveyed by the nerves to all parts of the body, for the performance of every. animal function. This fluid is called nervous fluid. The nerves fpread from the medulla of the brain through the whole body, and are connected with the upper furface of the fkin, where they conftitute the general fenfe of feeling. When a nerve receives an impreffion, this impreffion is communicated to the brain by the motion of the nervous fluid, which produces in our foul a perception of its prefence, and we then fay that we feel. Amongst other nerves, two pair proceed from the medulla of the brain, which are called the optic nerves. The rays of light reflecting from every object that prefents itfelf to our view, fall on the retina, which is an expansion of the optic nerve at the bottom of the eye, where they caufe an impreffion, producing a miniature picture of the object in fight, which is conveyed to the brain, and caufes the foul to form an idea of the fhape and colour of bodies, which is called vifion. Every one, who will confider what we now are going to fay, will easily comprehend tlit thefe optic nerves can represent an object to our foul, although there should be no external caufe producing it. Every ob. ject which we fee affects our optic nerves in a different manner by the diverfity of its shape and colour. One impreffion is produced when we fee a steeple, another when we perceive a tree, and another when we perceive an human form; and the notions which our foul receives are as different as thefe impreffions differ. Therefore, when just fuch an impreffion takes place in our optic nerves, by means of the motion produced in the nervous fluid, as would be caufed by the real appearance of a perfon; this fenfation produces in our foul an image of fuch a perfon, and we believe we fee it, although it actually is not prefent. An example will render this more intelligible. Mr. HENNINGS, a celebrated practical philofopher in Germany, quotes in his excellent work Ueber Abndungen und Vifionen, page 55. the following

remarkable inftance from the Tranfactions of the Royal Society of Sciences at Paris : "Mr. POUPART mentions a woman who had loft one half of her cranium. The dura mater was therefore uncovered, and being touched one time by fome perfon with the finger, the woman fcreamed vio

lently

lently, and faid: 'that she had seen an immenfe number of lights. A certain preffure and a motion in the nervous fluid of this woman produced therefore in her foul the idea of an immenfe number of lights, none of which exifted externally. We experience the fame thing on receiving a violent blow in the face, when we imagine we see a great number of fparks before our eyes. Thus different preffures and motions may also produce different notions, which have no external efficient object. The author of thefe obfervations experienced a moft striking inftance of this kind. He dined once with an old gentleman who was a great natural philofopher, and still poffeffed of the complete ufe of his intellectual faculties, notwithstanding his advanced age. While the glass circulated cheerfully, and rational mirth prevailed in the focial circle, the company was fuddenly ftartled by the unexpected question of the old gentleman'; what girl that was who ftood by the fide of his chair? The guests protefted they faw no girl. However, he perfifted in his affertion, and even began to give a minute defcription of her.-The image which the old gentleman thought he faw, could not poffibly be a body really exifting out of his imagination, as, in that cafe, it must have been vifible to the whole company; because every body reflects rays of light on our eyes, which produces the fenfe of vifion. Certain impreffions or motions must therefore have taken place in the fibres of the brain, or the optic nerves of this old gentleman, like those which are connected with the image of a girl.

Another inftance of this kind happened to a friend of the writer of this article, which admits of a fimilar explanation. This gentleman, a profeffor of mathema tics at an univerfity in Germany, in whofe house he lived, came one evening to the writer's apartment, and related the following fingular circumftance: He had gone, late in the evening, into the garden adjoining his houfe, to look at the ftars. When he left his apartment, he faw his maid-fei vant fitting upon a chair, fpinning. Having contemplated the ftarry heavens fome time, he went back again to his apart.

renovated vibration of the optic nerves, which was fimilar to that fenfative impreffion which had been produced in his brains, when, on quitting his room, the rays reflecting from that perfon fell upon his eyes. This is the more probable, as he had trained his optic nerves in contemplating the ftars. Apparitions are therefore poffible; but they are not what they commonly are fuppofed to be. They are mere illufions of the fenfes, and of imagination: but not images, the object of which exifts EXTERNALLY.

The principles with which we have fet out in the beginning of thefe obfervations, might easily be applied in explaining the numerous instances of fecond fight, related of the Scotch iflanders, and of the inhabitants of North Wales. However, I fhall endeavour to do this in a different way, and apply principles which will unfold the natural caufe of thefe phenomena in a more fatisfactory manner.

In attempting to point out a natural caufe of the numerous inftances of fecond fight, related of the inhabitants of North Wales and the Scotch islanders, it will be neceffary we fhould obferve above all things, that Smoke and misty vapours are fufceptible of the reflexion of the rays of light, and capable of producing fhadowy images, representing figures of human beings, of animals, caffles, &c. &c.

In autumn and in spring a thick fog lies frequently towards night, on rivers, bogs, moraffes, lakes and damp diftricts. If now a perfon go towards fuch a place covered with mifty vapours, particularly in an easterly direction, the fhadow of fuch a perfon, or of other objects behind him, may be reflected by fuch vapours, as by a mirror, which will make him imagine that a black man or any other object is coming towards him, and which fuddenly difappears when he comes too near the place whence this phantom is formed by reflection. We may fee the fame phenomenon in a darkened apartment, which is trongly fumigated, fo as to be entirely filled with the fmoke as with a fog. If feveral perfons, the hindmoft of whom carries a lighted taper in his hand, enter fuch an apartment, the fhadows of the foremost will be reflected by the smoke, and several black men will feem to be ftanding in the room. This apparition diffolves as foon as the foremost perion takes the candle in his hand, because the efficient caufe of the reflection of the fhade ceafes.

Watery vapours form a mirror-like fu perficies, which, if backed by a dark body, reprefents a kind of looking glafs that re5 H

flects

flects the image of a perfon ftanding in front. Such vapours collect frequently in cloath-preffes which stand in damp places. Now if they be opened by fome perfon, he may easily happen to fee his own image by the reflection of thefe vapours. The fhadowy image difappears however inftantly again, because the draught of air which is produced by the opening of these preffes, changes the fituation of the vapours, and thereby deftroys their power of reflection.

The fame may happen in thick forefts which are interfected by moraffes, fwamps, &c. &c. particularly on clear days, when the air is calm,

A creditable perfon told the writer of thefe obfervations that he once faw his own picture on opening a cloath-prefs, by which he was terrified fo much as to drop faint ing on the ground. This apparition was probably the effect of the above-mentioned natural caufe.

Every one knows what aftonishing phenomena can be produced by an optical and catoptrical apparatus. However, nature, who in her operations furpaffes the greatest artists, is no lefs capable of effecting most wonderful phenomena by a fimi. lar process.

SCHOTT, a learned German writer, fpeaking, in his Magica Optica, of the famous Morgana at Rhegio, in the Mamertinian Sound, in Italy, fays: "This wonderful phenomenon fhows itself (according to the accounts of the Jefuit ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, lib. x. p. z. cap. 1. paraft. 1. of his Ars magna Lucis et Umbra) principally when the heat of the fun is moft violent, and, as it fhould feem, makes the Mamertinian lake boil up; when a copious mafs of vapours rifes from its furface, which produces the moft fingular phenomena. The beholder imagines he fees fortreffes, palaces, and houfes, in regular order, fufpended in the air. Thefe difappear gradually, and make room for an immense number of columns, which also vanish again in a fhort time, to be fucceed ed by an equally fplendid and aftonishing fpectacle, large forefts, and whole alleys of cypreffes and other trees present themfelves, as well as large fields, covered with a great number of people, with small and large flocks of cattle, and fimilar objects in their natural colours. This phenomenon is called by the inhabitants of Rhegio the fay Morgana.

KIRCHER, who in the year 1636 was at Rhegio with Frederic, Landgrave of Heffe, inquired carefully into the particulars of that fingular phenomenon, and converfed about it with the oldest and most expe

rienced people of the place; however he could not fee it himself, because it happens very rarely. Father ANGELUCH, who faw it feveral times, gives a most interesting account of it, which is to be found in Kircher's Ars magna Lucis et Umbra.

Kircher accounts for the physical causes of the Morgana in the following manner: He observes, that the mountain, which is fituated oppofite Rhegio, extends from Calabria towards Pelofo. The fhores of the lake, as well as the bed of it, are covered with a great quantity of very fmall pellucid mineral particles, which are drawn up by the intense heat of the fun along with the vapours of the lake, and form in the air a perfect fpeculum of an immenfe number of angles. In this fpeculum, the back ground of which is formed by the mountain, are reprefented images of diftant objects, which differ according to the point of view in which the beholder's eyes are directed towards that airy mirror. For the appearance of the above-mentioned row of columns Kircher accounts by obferving, that a column ftood at the fhore of the lake, which multiplied itself in the facets of that fpeculum, in the fame manner in which an image, which is placed between two correfponding mirrors, can be multiplied. Thus a fingle warrior, if his image be reflected by the clouds, may represent a whole numerous army. As for the poffibility of fmall mineral particles being drawn up into the air with watery vapours, it is generally acknowledged in our times: for all obfervers of nature agree, that the fun attracts, along with the vapours, a great number of various fmall bodies, a proof of which are the hairs, chaff, fand and other particles, which fometimes are found inclofed in large hail-ftones.

DAMASCIUS mentions fimilar phenomena, in the life of ISIDORE, the philofopher: We recollect, fays he, to have heard of creditable people, that in hot fummer days armed horsemen have been seen suspended in the air, in Sicily, in a field, which is caled Tetraphyrgion (the four towers), and in other places.

SCIPIO MARCELLUS fays in his De fcription of Naples, that fimilar phenomena are frequently feen at Nerito in Apulia. And CORNELIUS AGRIPPA mentions inftances of the fame kind, in his Philofophia occulta.

HERRERA, a Spanish Hiftorian, mentions another phenomenon, arifing from fimilar caufes, which was feen formerly in the kingdom of Guatimala, in South America. The heathenish inhabitants of that country frequently faw their idol suspended

in