Page:Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders.djvu/69

Rh to get out of his way. Then she remembered he was ill in bed and could not possibly be there, so she went home much alarmed, and found he had just died.

Again, one William Elliott, of the same place, saw his neighbour Mary Brown cross the fold-yard and disappear in a straw-house. Knowing her to be very ill, he made instant inquiries, and discovered that she had died at the moment of his seeing her.

Mr. Robinson, of Hill House, Reeth, writes thus on the subject: “We have in Wensleydale frequent instances of second sight, the people so gifted foretelling the deaths of their neighbours. For instance, some years back a man told me that he had met Mr. —— (a respectable inhabitant of the next village, and then in perfect health) walking on the road; ‘but,’ added he ‘it was nobbut his shadow, and I don’t think he’ll live long.’ He died within a short time. This is only one instance of many.”

These Yorkshire stories recall to my memory an incident in which the “waff” was no prophet of death, but an instrument for saving life. The musician Gluck, Piccini’s rival in Paris about 100 years ago, made some stay in one of the Belgian cities—Ghent, I believe. While there he was accustomed to spend the evening with friends, and, returning late to his lodging, to let himself in with a key. One moonlight evening, while going home as usual, he observed before him a figure resembling himself. It took every turn through the streets which he was accustomed to take, and finally, on reaching the door, drew out a key, opened it, and entered. On this the musician turned round in some perturbation, went back to his friends, and begged to be taken in for the night. The next morning they accompanied him to his lodging, and found that the heavy wooden roof of Gluck’s sleeping-room had fallen down in the night and covered the floor. It was plain that had he passed the night there he must have been killed.

My own county furnishes a story of a similar character, which was thus related by the late Canon Humble: “I have heard a Durham story of a farmer going home at night after having sold his corn, with a considerable sum of money in his pocket. After