Page:Works of Charles Dickens, ed. Lang - Volume 29.djvu/454

424 NIGHT WALKS.

"The chopped-up murdered man."

Remains of a corpse were found deposited on a pier of one of the bridges. No discovery as to their provenance was ever made; and as, if a murder had been done, it would have been easy to sink the fragments in the river, another theory was popular. The affair was supposed to be a practical joke, by some successors of Messrs. Sawyer and Allen.

"Sir, I can frequently fly."

This subjective impression, in dreams and lunacy, might be the origin of the world-wide tales of "levitation." Witnesses, however, have deposed on oath (chiefly at trials for witchcraft, and in processes of canonisation) to having observed the phenomenon. The Acta Sanctorum are full of cases. See, too, "Recueil de Documents relatifs à la Lévitation du Corps Humain," by M. Albert de Rochas, Leymarie. Paris, 1897.

CHAMBERS.

" Entering my friend's rooms."

The sentence is destitute of an apodosis. By deleting "and " in the last line, a semblance of construction may be restored to the text. NURSE'S STORIES.

"Never involved any ghostly fancies."

This omission, on the part of De Foe, may seem singular to others, as it did to Dickens, for no author ever dealt more freely in ghosts than De Foe. But his always were, or were thought to be, "evidential," and it has lately been proved that Mrs. Yeal's was a real "case," not an ingenious fiction. De Foe seems only to have handled ghosts as matters of recorded observation, not as materials of romance.

"Captain Murderer." This appears to be a decorated variant of "The Robber Bridegroom" (Grimm, xl.). For an English version alluded to by Shakespeare, see Mr. Hunt's Grimm, vol. i. p. 389. Dickens, or his nurse, greatly improved upon the original donnée, as it exists in printed collections. THE CALAIS NIGHT MAIL. "Rich and rare were the gems she wore."

Perhaps no author but Dickens has observed how a refrain of a song is apt to haunt the sufferer from sea-sickness.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS. "It is unnecessary to name Her." Here is Dora or Flora again. This passion flourished when Dickens was about twenty-one.