Page:Wonderful conferences which passed between the ghost of Mr. Maxwell of Cool, and the Rev. Mr. Ogilvy of Innerwick (NLS104185476).pdf/5

 cannot anſwer; and there are a great many queſtions and things that you may ſtart, of which the laſt is one, that I will not anſwer.

Ogil.] Then I know not how to manage our converſation, for whatever I ſhall enquire of you, I ſee you can eaſily ſhift me, ſo that I might profit more by converſing by myſelf.

Cool.] You may try,

Ogil.] Well, then, what loſt of a body is it that you appear in, and what ſort of a horſe is it that you ride upon, that appears ſo full of mettle?

Cool.] You may depend upon it, it is not the ſame body that I was witneſs to your marriage in, nor in which I died, for that is in the grave rotten; but it is ſuch a body as ſerves me in a moment, for I can fly as fleet with it, as my ſoul can be without it; ſo that I can go to Dumfries and return again, before you can ride twice the length of your horſe; yay, if I have a mind to go to London, or Jeruſalem, or to the moon if you pleaſe, I can perform all theſe journies equally ſoon, for it coſts me nothing but a thought, or wiſh; for this body is as fleet as your thought, for in the moment of time that you can turn your thought to Rome, I can go there in perſon: and as for my horſe, it is much like myſelf, for it is Andrew Johnſton my tenant who died 48 hours before me.

Ogil.] So it ſeems when Andrew Johnſton inclines to ride, you muſt ſerve him in the quality of a horſe as he does you now.

Cool.] You are miſtaken.

Ogil.] I thought that all diſtinction between miſtreſſes and maids, lairds and tenants had been done away at death.

Cool.] True, it is, but you do not take up the matter.

Ogil.] This then is one of the queſtions you will not anſwer.

Cool.] You are ſtill miſtaken, for that queſtion I can anſwer, and after this you may underſtand it. Ogil.]