had cleared the head of the torch. The freshness
of this mark drew his attention to the fall
of earth, and though he was not able to
distinguish whether this fall was of recent or old
date, he pointed it out to others, and they
determined to clear it away, that my body, if it
were beneath it, might receive Christian burial.
The next day the director gave them a fete in
return for their entertainment, and the following
day being Sunday, it was not till the succeeding
day they began digging for me, which was
the twelfth day of my imprisonment. On that
evening I was released and carried out of the
mine.

"My appearance at this time was frightful.
Every hair had fallen from me, my eyes had
disappeared, and my body, from head to foot,
was covered with crystals of salt. I was laid in
warm water and kept there: warm and cold
water was given me to drink as often as I could
swallow it, and my sufferings soon began to
diminish. In time they became endurable, but
they have never left me altogether, and I shall
always be a poor, blind, suffering creature such
as I am now."

The next case had something of the supernatural
in it. " The narrative of Thomas Whitmead
and Joseph Anscombe, who, with Henry Aldham,
were buried in a chalk-pit on the 16th April,
1802; and of the apparition of the latter to
above nine persons at one time after his death."

"These three persons lived at Stratford, in the
county of Wiltshire, in England, and worked a
chalk-pit on Salisbury Plain for their joint benefit.
This so-called pit was in the form of a crescent,
the excavation having been begun at the foot of a
large mound, so that the entrance should be on
a level with the adjoining plain. After the
excavation had been carried on for some time, they
cut out a chamber in the chalk for the purpose
of shelter in storms, and for holding tools,
wheelbarrows, and other things. On the 16th of
April a terrific storm arose, the wind blowing
with peculiar violence on this plain owing to its
great extent and the few obstacles which exist
there to impede its progress. The rain fell in
torrents, and the flashes of lightning succeeded
each other so rapidly that the air seemed all
a-blaze. The three men sat down in their nook
to wait till the storm had passed over. Whitmead
and Anscombe struck a light and began
smoking, but Aldham, who was a man of an
unusually serious turn of mind, and much given to
the study of religious subjects, sat down a little
within the entrance, just out of reach of the
driving rain, and began reading the Pilgrim's
Progress, the numbers of which were left at the
pit by a book-hawker who crossed the plain at
regular intervals during the year. Being asked
by his partners to read aloud, he commenced
with the account of Christian's journey through
the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The
exciting character of the narrative, combined with
the awe inspired by the raging storm, caused
the other two to listen with such breathless
interest that their pipes were forgotten and the
light died out. Just as Aldham was reading
the passage—'The flames would be reaching
towards him; also, he heard doleful voices and
rushings to and fro, so that sometimes he thought
he should be torn in pieces, or trodden down
like mire in the streets. This frightful sight
was seen, and these dreadful noises were heard
by him for several miles together; and coming
to a place where he thought he heard a company
of fiends coming forward to meet him, he stopped
and began to muse what he had best to do'—a
more furious blast came, the howling and roaring
of which drowned the reader's voice, and
almost overpowered the sound of the falling
of a large fir-tree, several of which grew
within a few paces of the top of the cave.
This tree fell over the entrance, and its
matted roots tore up a large portion of the
earth which formed the roof of the cavern, and
to this circumstance the two men were probably
indebted for their escape from instant
suffocation from the consequence of what followed
almost immediately afterwards. They were still
trembling from the fright when the lightning
[thunderbolt in narrative] descended upon the
fallen tree, tearing it into fragments, and from
thence passed into the earth, rending it, and
causing the chalk to fall into the cavern, where
they had sheltered themselves, and burying them
therein. Anscombe and Whitmead being at the
bottom of the excavation, happened to be under
that part of the surface from which the earth
had been torn up by the roots of the tree, and
were able to breathe with 'tolerable facility,
though unable to extricate themselves from the
mass of chalk which surrounded them; their
position being still further aggravated by the rain
which, continuing to pour without slackening
for some time, trickled through the mass and
streamed down their faces, and saturated them
to the skin. After a night passed in this position,
during which they could hear the groans of
their unfortunate companion, they were rescued
by their fellow-villagers, without other injuries
than a few bruises of no importance. As for
poor Aldham, his case was much worse. Having
been seated near the entrance of the cave, under
the roof from which no portion of the earth had
been removed, he had been completely buried in
the chalk, the pressure being to some extent
increased by the body of the tree. To the
circumstance that chalk fractures in pieces and not in
powder it was owing that he was dug out alive;
had it been earth he must have been stifled.
Though, however, he was yet alive when he was
placed on a hurdle and carried to his cottage, he
had received such severe internal injuries that
the doctor, who had been sent for in anticipation,
after a very brief examination, pronounced his
case hopeless. Still, he lingered on day after
day, with the shadow of the hand of death on
his face and the point of his dart pressing
against his breast. Meanwhile, his partners
had recovered their health and strength and
were able to work again.

"I have now to relate a very extraordinary
occurrence which forms part of this painful his-