Part II: a choice collection of modern relations, part 7 of 12

RELAT. IX. Which is a Relation of Thomas Goddard of Marlbrough, in the County of Wilts, Weaver, made the 23. Nov. 1674.

VVHo saith, That on Monday the Ninth of this Instant, as he was going to Ogborn at a Style on the Highway near Mr. Goddards ground, about Nine in the Morning, he met the Apparition of his Father in Law, one Edward Avon of this Town Glover, who dyed in May last, having on, to his appearance, the same Clothes, Hat, Stockings and Shoes he did usually wear when he was living, standing by, and leaning over that Style. Which when he came near, the Apparition spake to him with an audible voice these words, Are you afraid? To which he answered, I am, thinking on one who is dead and buried, whom you are like. To which the Apparition replyed with the like voice, I am he that you were thinking on, I am Edward Avon your Father in Law, come near to me, I will do you no harm. To which Goddard answered, I trust in him who hath bought my Soul with his precious Blood, you shall do me no harm. Then the Apparition said, How stand cases at home? Goddard askt what cases? Then it askt him how do William and Mary, meaning as he conceived, his Son William Avon a Shoemaker here, and Mary his Daughter the said Goddards Wife. Then, it said, What! Taylor is dead, meaning, as he thought, one Taylor of London, who Married his Daughter Sarah, which Taylor dyed about Michaelmas last. Then the Apparition held out its hand, and in it, as Goddard conceived, twenty or thirty shillings in silver, and then spake with a loud voice: Take this Money and send it to Sarah, for I shut up my Bowels of compassion toward her in the time of my life, and now here is somewhat for her. And then said, Mary (meaning his the said Goddards Wife as he conceived) is troubled for me. But tell her, God hath shewed mercy to me contrary to my deserts. But the said Goddard answered, In the Name of Jesus Christ, I refuse all such Money. Then the Apparition said, I perceive you are afraid. I will meet you some other time. And immediately it went up the Lane to his appearance. So he went over the same Style, but saw it no more that day.

He saith, The next night about seven of the Clock, it came and opened his shop Window, and stood in the like Clothes, looked him in the face, but said nothing to him. And the next night after, as Goddard went forth into his Backside with a Candle light in his hand, it appeared to him again in the same shape, but he being in fear ran into his house, and saw it no more then.

But he saith, That on Thursday the twelfth instant, as he came from Chilton, riding down the Hill between the Mannor-house and Axford-Farm-field, he saw somewhat like a Hare crossed his way, at which his Horse frighted threw him in the dirt, and as soon as he could recover on his feet, the same Apparition there met him again in the same habit, and there standing about eight foot directly before him in the way, spake again to him with a loud voice, Source (a word he commonly used when living) you have stayed long, and then said to him, Thomas, bid William Avon take the Sword that he had of me, which is now in his house, and carry it to the Wood as we go to Alton, to the upper end of the Wood by the ways side. For with that Sword I did wrong above Thirty years ago, and he never prospered since he had that Sword. And bid William Avon give his Sister Sarah twenty shillings of the money which he had of me. And do you talk with Edward Lawrence, for I borrowed twenty shillings of him several years ago, and did say I had paid him, but I did not pay it him, and I would desire you to pay him twenty shillings out of the money which you had from James Elliot at two payments. Which money the said Goddard now saith was five pounds, which James Elliot a Baker here owed the said Avon on Bond, and which he the said Goddard had received from the said Elliot since Michaelmas at two payments, viz. 35 s. at one, and 3 l. 5 s. at another payment. And it further said to him, Tell Margaret (meaning his own Wise as he conceived) that I would desire her to deliver up the little which I gave to little Sarah Taylor to the Child, or to any one she will trust for it. But if she will not, speak to Edward Lawrence to perswade her. But if she will not then, tell her that I will see her very suddenly. And see that this be done within a Twelve-moneth and a day after my decease, and peace be with you. And so it went away over the Rails into the Wood there in the like manner as any Man would go over a Style to his apprehension, and so he saw it no more at that time. And he saith, that he paid the twenty shillings to Edward Lawrence of this Town, who being present now doth remember he lent the said Avon twenty shillings about twenty years ago, which none knew but himself and Wife, and Avon and his Wife, and was never paid it again before now by this Goddard.

And this said Goddard further saith, That this very day by Mr. Majors order, he with his Brother in Law William Avon went with the Sword, and about Nine a Clock this Morning, they laid down the Sword in the Copse near the place the A[…]parition had appointed Goddard to carry it, and then coming away thence, Goddard looking back, saw the same Apparition again in the like habit as before. Whereupon he called to his Brother in Law, and said, Here is the Apparition of our Father, Who said I see nothing. Then Goddard fell on his Knees and said, Lord open his Eyes that he may see it. But he replyed, Lord grant I may not see it, if it be thy blessed Will. And then the Apparition to Goddards appearance, beckned with his hand to him to come to it. And then Goddard said, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what would you have me to do? Then the Apparition said to him, Thomas, Take up the Sword and follow me. To which he said, should both of us come, or but one of us? To which it answered, Thomas, do you take up the Sword. And so he took up the Sword and followed the Apparition about Ten Lugs (that is Poles) further into the Copse, and then turning back, he stood still about a Lug and a half from it, his Brother in Law staying behind at the place where they first laid down the Sword. Then Goddard laying down the Sword upon the ground, saw something stand by the Apparition like a Mastiff Dog of a brown colour. Then the Apparition coming towards Goddard, he stept back about two steps, and the Apparition said to him, I have a permission to you, and commission not to touch you, and then it took up the Sword, and went back to the place at which before it stood, with a Mastiff Dog by it as before, and pointed the top of the Sword into the ground and said. In this place lyes buried the Body of him which I murdered in the year 1635. which is now rotten and turned to dust. Whereupon Goddard said, I do adjure you in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, wherefore did you do this murder? And it said, I took money from the Man, and he contended with me, and so I murdered him. Then Goddard askt him, who was consederate with him in the said murder? and it said, none but my self. Then Goddard said, What would you have me to do in this thing? And the Apparition said, This is that the World may know that I murdered a Man, and buried him in this place in the year 1635.

Then the Apparition laid down the Sword on the bare ground there, whereon grew nothing, but seemed to Goddard to be as a Grave sunk in. And then the Apparition rushing further into the Copse vanished, and he saw it no more. Whereupon Goddard and his Brother in Law Avon, leaving the Sword there and coming away together, Avon told Goddard he heard his voice, and understood what he said, and heard other words distinct from his, but could not understand a word of it, nor saw any Apparition at all. Which he now also present affirmeth, and all which the said Goddard then attested under his hand, and affirmed he will depose the same when he shall be thereto required.

In the presence of Christ. Lypyatt Major, Rolf Bayly Town-Clerk, Joshuah Sacheverell Rector of St. Peters in Malebrough,

Examined by me

Will. Bayly.

ADVERTISEMENT.

That Tho. Goddard saw this Apparition, sesms to be a thing indubitable; but whether it was his Father in Law's Ghost, that is more questionable. The former is confirmed from an hand at least impartial, if not disfavourable to the story. The party in his Letter to Mr. G—writes briefly to this effect. 1. That he does verily think that this Tho. Goddard does believe the story most strongly himself. 2. That he cannot imagine what interest he should have in raising such a story, he bringing Infamy on his Wives Father, and obliging himself to pay twenty shillings debt, which his poverty could very ill spare. 3. That his Father in Law Edward Avon, was a resolute sturdy fellow in his young years, and many years a Bailiff to Arrest people. 4. That Tho. Goddard had the repute of an honest Man, knew as much in Religion as most of his rank and breeding, and was a constant frequenter of the Church, till about a year before this happened to him, he fell off wholly to the Non-Conformists.

All this hitherto, save this laft of all, tends to the Confirmation of the story. Therefore this last shall be the first Allegation against the credibility thereof. 2. It is further alledged, that possibly the design of the story may be to make him to be accounted an extraordinary some-body amongst the dissenting party. 3. That he is sometimes troubled with Epileptical fits. 4. That the Major sent the next Morning to digg the place where the Spectre said the Murdered Man was Buried, and there was neither bones found nor any difference of the Earth in that place from the rest.

But we answer briefly to the first, That his falling off to the Non-Conformists though it may argue a vacillancy of his judgment, yet it does not any defect of his external senses, as if he were less able to discern when he saw or heard any thing than before: To the second, That it is a perfect contradiction to his strong belief of the truth of his own story, which plainly implies that he did not feign it to make himself an extraordinary some-body: To the third, That an Epileptical Person when he is out of his fits, hath his external senses as true and entire, as a Drunken Man has when his Drunken fit is over, or a Man awake after a night of sleep and dreams. So that this argument has not the least shew of force with it, unless you will take away the authority of all Mens senses, because at sometimes they have not a competent use of them, namely in sleep, drunkenness or the like. But now lastly for the fourth which is most considerable, it is yet of no greater force than to make it questionable whether this Spectre was the Ghost of his Father, or some ludicrous Goblin that would put a trick upon Thomas Goddard, by personating his Father-in-Law, and by a false pointing at the pretended grave of the Murdered make him ridiculous. For what Porphyrius has noted, 1. doubt not but is true, That Daemons sometimes personate the Souls of the deceased. But if an uncossined body being laid in a ground exposed to wet and dry, the Earth may in 30 years space consume the very bones and assimilate all to to the rest of the mold, when some Earths will do it in less than the fifteenth part of that space: Or if the Ghost of Edward Avon might have forgot the certain place (it being no grateful object of his memory) where he buried the murdered Man, and only guessed that to be it because it was something sunk, as if the Earth yielded upon the wasting of the Buried body, the rest of the story will still naturally import that it was the very Ghost of Edward Avon. Besides, himself expresly declares, as that the body was Buried there, so that by this time it was all turn'd into dust.

But whether it was a ludicrous Daemon or Edward Avons Ghost, concerns not our scope. It is sufficient that it is a certain instance of a real Apparition, and I thought sit as in the former story, so here to be so faithful as to conceal nothing that any might pretend to lessen the credibility thereof. Stories of the appearing of Souls departed are not for the tooth of the Non-conformists, who, as it is said, if they generally believe this, it must be from the undeniable evidence thereof nor could Thomas Goddard gratifie them by inventing of it. And that it was not a phansy the knowledge of the 20 Shillings debt imparted to Thomas Goddard ignorant thereof before, and his Brother Avon's hearing a voice distinct from his in his discourse with the Apparition, does plainly enough imply. Nor was it Goddard's own phansy, but that real Spectre that opened his shop-window. Nor his imagination, but something in the shape of an Hare that made his Horse start and cast him into the dirt; The Apparition of Avon being then accompanied with that Hare, as after with the Mastiff-Dog. And lastly the whole frame of the story, provided the Relator does verily think it true himself (as Mr. S. testifies for him in his Letter to Mr. Glanvil, and himself profest he was ready at any time to swear to it) is such, that it being not a voluntary invention, cannot be an imposing phansy.

RELAT. X. The Apparition of the Ghost of Major George Sydenham, to Captain William Dyke, taken out of a Letter of Mr. James Douch of Mongton, to Mr. Jos. Glanvil.

COncerning the Apparition of the Ghost of Major George Sydenham (late of Dulverton in the County of Somerset,) to Captain William Dyke (late of Skilgate in this County also, and now likewise deceased) be pleased to take the Relation of it as I have it from the Worthy and Learned Dr. Tho. Dyke, a near Kinsman of the Captains, Thus: Shortly after the Major's Death, the Doctor was desired to come to the House to take care of a Child that was there sick, and in his way thither he called on the Captain, who was very willing to wait on him to the place, because he must, as he said, have gone thither that Night, though he had not met with so encouraging an opportunity. After their arrival there at the House and the civility of the People shewn them in their Entertainment, they were seasonably conducted to their Lodging, which they desired might be together in the same bed, Where, after they had lain a while, the Captain knockt and bids the Servant bring him two of the largest and biggest Candles lighted that he could get. Whereupon the Doctor enquires what he meant by this? The Captain answers, you know Cousin what disputes my Major and I have had touching the being of a God, and the Immortality of the Soul. In which points we could never yet be resolved, though we so much sought for and desired it. And therefore it was at length fully agreed between us, That he of us that dyed first should the third night after his Funeral, between the hours of Twelve and One come to the little house that is here in the Garden and there give a full account to the surviver touching these matters, who should be sure to be present there at the set time and so receive a full satisfaction. And this, says the Captain, is the very Night, and I am come on purpose to fulfill my promise.

The Doctor disswaded him, minding him of the danger of following those strange Counsels, for which we could have no warrant, and that the Devil might by some cunning device make such an advantage of this rash attempt, as might work his utter ruine. The Captain replies, that he had solemnly engaged, and that nothing should discourage him: and adds, That if the Doctor would wake a while with him, he would thank him, if not, he might compose himself to his rest; but for his own part he was resolved to watch, that he might be sure to be present at the hour appointed. To that purpose he sets his Watch by him, and as soon as he perceived by it that it was half an hour past Eleven, he rises, and taking a Candle in each hand, goes out by a back Door of which he had before gotten the Key, and walks to the Garden-house, where he continued two hours and an half, and at his return declared that he neither saw nor heard any thing more than was usual. But I know, said he, that my Major would surely have come, had he been able.

About six weeks after the Captain rides to Eaton to place his Son a Scholar there, when the Doctor went thither with him. They Lodged there at an Inn, the Sign was the Christopher, and tarried two or three Nights, not lying together now as before at Dulverton, but in two several Chambers. The Morning before they went thence the Captain stayed in his Chamber longer than he was wont to do before he called upon the Doctor. At length he comes into the Doctors Chamber, but in a visage and form much differing from himself[…], with his Hair and Eyes staring, and his whole body shaking and trembling. Whereat the Doctor wondering, presently demanded, What is the matter, Cousin Captain? The Captain replies, I have seen my Major. At which the Doctor seeming to smile, the Captain immediately confirms it, saying; If ever I saw him in my life I saw him but now. And then he related to the Doctor what had passed, Thus: This Morning after it was light, some one comes to my beds side and suddainly drawing back the Curtains calls Cap. Cap. (which was the term of familiarity that the Major used to call the Captain by) to whom I replied, What my Major? To which he returns, I could not come at the time appinted, but I am now come to tell you, That there is a God and a very just and terrible one, and if you do not turn over a new leaf (the very expression as is by the Doctor punctually remembred) you will find it so. (the Captain proceeded) On the Table by, there lay a Sword which the Major had formerly given me. Now after the Apparition had walked a turn or two about the Chamber he took up the Sword, drew it out, and finding it not so clean and bright as it ought, Cap. Cap. says he, this Sword did not use to be kept after this manner when it was mine. After which words he suddainly disappeared.

The Captain was not only throughly perswaded of what he had thus seen and heard, but was from that time observed to be very much affected with it. And the humour that before in him was brisk and jovial, was then strangely altered. Insomuch as very little meat would pass down with him at Dinner, though at the taking leave of their Friends there was a very handsome Treat provided. Yea it was observed that what the Captain had thus seen and heard had a more lasting influence upon him, and it is judged by those who were well acquainted with his Conversation, that the remembrance of this passage stuck close to him, and that those words of his dead Friend were frequently sounding fresh in his Ears, during the remainder of his Life, which was about two years.

ADVERTISEMENT.

For a further assurance of the truth of the story, it will not be amiss to take notice what Mr. Douch writes in his second Letter to Mr. Glanvil, touching the Character of the Major and the Captain. They were both, saith he, of my good acquaintance, Men well bred, and of a brisk humour and jolly conversation, of very quick and keen parts, having also been both of them University and Inns of Court Gentlemen. The Major I conceive was about forty five years old when he dyed, and I believe the Captain might then be fifty or somewhat more. I cannot understand that the Doctor and the Captain had any discourse concerning the former engagement to meet, after the disappointment at that time and place, or whether the Captain had after that any expectation of the performance of the promise which the Major had made him. Thus far Mr. Douch. And truly one would naturally think, that he failing the solemn appointed time, the Captain would consequently let go all hopes and expectation of his appearing afterward. Or if he did, that it would be at such-time of the night as was first determined of, and not at the morning light. Which season yet is less obnoxious to the Impostures of Fancy and Melancholy, and therefore adds some weight to the assurance of the truth of the Apparition. I will only add one clause more out of that second Letter that makes to the point. This story, saith he, has and doth still obtain credit from all that knew the Captain, who it seems was not at all shie or scrupulous to relate it to any one that askt him concerning it, though it was observed he never mentioned it, but with great terrour and trepidation.

RELAT. XI. Being a Postscript of the first Letter of Mr. Douch, concerning the appearing of the Ghost of Sir George Villiers, Father to the first Duke of Buckingham.

SIR,

SInce the writing of the premisses, a passage concerning an Apparition of Sir George Villiers, giving warning of his Son's (the Duke of Buckingham's) Murther is come into my Mind, which hath been assured by a Servant of the Dukes to be a great truth. Thus: Some few days before the Dukes going to Portsmouth (where he was stabbed by Felton) the Ghost of his Father Sir George Villiers appeared to one Parker (formerly his own Servant, but then Servant to the Duke) in his Morning Chamber Gown; charged Parker to tell his Son that he should decline that Employment and design he was going upon, or else he would certainly be murthered. Parker promised the Apparition to do it, but neglected it. The Duke making preparations for his Expedition, the Apparition came again to Parker, taxing him very severely for his breach of Promise, and required him not to delay the acquainting his Son of the danger he was in. Then Parker the next day tells the Duke, that his Fathers Ghost had twice appeared to him, and had commanded him to give him that warning. The Duke slighted it, and told him he was an old Doting Fool. That night the Apparition came to Parker a third time, saying, Parker thou hast done well in warning my Son of his danger, but though he will not yet believe thee, Go to him once more however, and tell him from me by such a Token (naming a private Token) which no body knows, but only he and I, that if he will not decline this voyage, such a Knife as this is (pulling a long Knife out from under his Gown) will be his death. This Message Parker also delivered the next day to the Duke, who when he heard the private Token believed that he had it from his Fathers Ghost, yet said that his honour was now at stake, and he could not go back from what he had undertaken, come life come death. This passage Parker after the Duke's murther communicated to his fellow Servant one Henry Ceeley, who told it to a reverend Divine a Neighbour of mine, from whose mouth I have it. This Henry Ceeley has not been dead above Twenty years, and his habitation for several years before his death was at North-Currey but three Miles from this place. My Friend the Divine aforesaid was an intimate acquaintance of this Henry Ceeley's, and assures me he was a person of known truth and integrity.

ADVERTISEMENT.

This story I heard (but another name put for Parker) with great assurance and with larger circumstances from a Person of Honour, but I shall content my self to note onely what I find in a Letter of Mr. Timothy Locket of Mongton, to Mr. Glanvil, That this Apparition to Mr. Parker was all three times towards midnight when he was reading in some Book, and he mentions that the Dukes Expedition was for the relief of Rochel. The rest is muchwhat as Mr. Douch has declared. But I will not omit the close of Mr. Lockets Letter. I was confirmed in the truth of the premisses, saith he, by Mr. Henry Ceeley, who was then a Servant with this Mr. Parker, to the Duke, and who told me that he knew Mr. Parker to be a Religious and sober Person, and that every particular related was to his knowledge true.