has any moment of brilliancy irradiated the
lethargic state of this unfortunate female.
Her proceedings are in accordance with those
of most of the dreariest somnambulists of
whom we have a reliable record. She will
get up and dress herself, and go to Mr. Bull's
Treasury, or take her seat on her usual
Bench in the Upper Servants' Hall, avoiding
on the way the knocking of her head against
walls and doors, but giving no other sign of
intellectual vigour. She will sometimes sit
up very late at night, moaning and muttering,
and occasionally rising on her legs to
complain of being attacked by enemies. (The
common delusion that people are conspiring
against her, is, as might naturally be
expected, a feature of her disease.) She will
frequently cram into her pockets a large
accumulation of Mr. Bull's bills, plans for the
improvement of his estate, and other
documents of importance, and will drop the same
without any reason, and refuse to take them
up again when they are offered to her. Other
similar papers she will hide in holes and
corners, quickly forgetting what she has done
with them. Sometimes, she will fall to
wringing her hands in the course of her
wanderings in the House, and to declaring that
unless she is treated with greater deference
she will "go out." But, it is a curious
illustration of the cunning often mingled with
this disorder that she has never stirred an
inch beyond the door; having, evidently, some
latent consciousness in the midst of her
stupor, that if she once went out, no earthly
consideration would prevail on Mr. Bull to
let her in again.

Her eyes are invariably open in the sleep-
waking state, but their power of vision is
much contracted. It has long been evident
to all observers of her melancholy case, that she
is blind to what most people can easily see.

The circumstance which I consider special
to the case of Abby Dean, and greatly
augmentive of its alarming character, I now
proceed to mention. Mr. Bull has in his possession
a Cabinet, of modern manufacture and
curious workmanship, composed of various
pieces of various woods, inlaid and dovetailed
with tolerable ingenuity considering their
great differences of grain and growth; but,
it must be admitted, clumsily put together
on the whole, and liable, at any time, to
fall to pieces. It contains, however, some
excellent specimens of English timber, that
have, in previous pieces of furniture, been
highly serviceable to Mr. Bull: among which
may be mentioned a small though tough and
sound specimen of genuine pollard oak, which
Mr. Bull is accustomed to point out to his
friends by the playful name of "Johnny."
This Cabinet has never been altogether pleasing
to Mr. Bull; but when it was sent home
by the manufacturer, he consented to make
use of it in default of a better. With a little
grumbling he entrusted his choicest possessions
to its safe-keeping, and placed it, in
common with the rest of his worldly goods,
under the care of Abby Dean. Now, I
am not at the present moment prepared
with a theory of the means by which this
ill-starred female is enable to exercise a
subtle influence on inert matter; but, it is
unquestionably a fact, known to many
thousands of credible persons who have watched
the case, that she has paralysed the whole
Cabinet! Miraculous as it may appear, the
Cabinet has derived infection from her
somnambulistic guardianship. It is covered
with dust, full of moth, gone to decay, and all
but useless. The hinges are rusty, the locks
are stiff, the creaking doors and drawers will
neither open nor shut, Mr. Bull can
insinuate nothing into it, and can get nothing out
of it but office paper and red tape—of which
article he is in no need whatever, having a vast
supply on hand. Even Johnny is not
distinguishable, in the general shrinking and
warping of its ill-fitted materials; and I doubt
if there ever were such a rickety piece of
furniture beheld in the world!

Mr. Bull's distress of mind is so difficult
to separate from his housekeeper's somnambulism,
that I cannot present anything like a
popular account of the old woman's disorder,
without frequently naming her unfortunate
master. Mr. Bull, then, has fallen into
great trouble of late, the growth of which he
finds it difficult to separate from his
somnambulist. Thus. One Nick, a mortal enemy
of Mr. Bull's—and possessing so much family
resemblance to his spiritual enemy of the
same name, that if that Nick be the father of
lies, this Nick is at least the uncle—became
extremely overbearing and aggressive, and,
among other lawless proceedings, seized a
Turkey which was kept in a Crescent in Mr.
Bull's neighbourhood. Now, Mr. Bull,
sensible that if the plain rules of right and
wrong were once overborne, the security of
his own possessions was at an end, joined
the Crescent in demanding that the Turkey
should be restored. Not that he cared
particularly about the bird itself, which was quite
unfit for Christmas purposes, but, because
Nick's principles were of vital importance to
his peace. He therefore instructed Abby
Dean to represent, with patience, but with
the utmost resolution and firmness, that there
must be no stealing of Turkeys, or anything
else, without punishment; and that if this Nick
conducted himself in a felonious way, he (Mr.
Bull) would feel constrained to chastise him.
What does the old woman in pursuance of these
instructions, but begin gabbling in a manner
so drowsy, heavy, halting, and feeble, that the
more Nick treats with her, the more
persuaded he becomes—and naturally too—that
Mr. Bull is a coward, who has no earnestness
in him! Consequently, he sticks to his
wicked intents, which there is a great
probability he might otherwise have abandoned,
and Mr. Bull is obliged to send his beloved
children out to fight him.