or to some such purpose; but her very
[i.e., precise] words I forgot. The appellers
did touch the dead body; whereupon, the
brow of the dead, which was of a livid or
carrion colour (that was the verbal expression
in the terms of the witness) began to
have a dew or gentle sweat, which ran down
in drops on the face, and the brow turned
and changed to a lively and fresh colour, and
the dead opened one of her eyes, and shut it
again; and this opening the eye was done
three several times. She likewise thrust out
the ring or marriage-finger three times, and
pulled it in again; and the finger dropt
blood from it on the grass." * This being
confirmed by the witness's brother, also a
clergyman; and other evidence (of a more
human character, but, as it appears to us,
very insufficient) having been adduced; Okeman
was acquitted, and the three other
prisoners were found guilty: a result which
there can be little question was mainly
brought about by the monstrous story of the
scene at the exhumation.† That the details of
that story were exaggerated, according to the
superstitious habit of the times, seems obvious;
but the query arises, whether the body of the
woman might not really have been alive.
It is true that thirty days had elapsed since
her apparent death; but some of the alleged
Vampyres supposed by Dr. Mayo to have
been buried alive had been in their graves
three months when their condition was
inspected. Not being possessed of the requisite
medical knowledge, we will forbear to
pronounce whether or not life could be sustained,
under such circumstances, for so great a
length of time; but what seems fatal to the
supposition, in the last instance, is the fact of
the woman having had her throat cut.

Vampyres have often been introduced into
romance. There is an old Anglo-Saxon poem
on the subject of a Vampyre of the Fens;
and the Baron von Haxthausen, in his work
on Transcaucasia, has told a story of one of
these gentry, which may be here appended as
a sort of pleasant burlesque after the foregoing
tragedies:—"There once dwelt in a
cavern in Armenia a Vampyre, called
Dakhanavar, who could not endure any one to
penetrate into the mountains of Ulmish
Altötem, or count their valleys. Every one
who attempted this had, in the night, his
blood sucked by the monster from the soles
of his feet, until he died. The Vampyre was,
however, at last outwitted by two cunning
fellows. They began to count the valleys,
and when night came on they lay down to
sleep,—taking care to place themselves with
the feet of the one under the head of the
other." (How both could have managed to do
this, we leave to the reader's ingenuity to
explain.) "In the night, the monster came,
felt as usual, and found a head; then he felt
at the other end, and found a head there also.
'Well,' cried he, 'I have gone through the
whole three hundred and sixty-six valleys of
these mountains, and have sucked the blood
of people without end; but never yet did I
find any one with two heads and no feet!'
So saying, he ran away, and was never more
seen in that country; but ever after the
people have known that the mountain has
three hundred and sixty-six valleys."

In South America, a species of bat is found,
which sucks the blood of people while asleep
(lulling them with the fanning of its wings
during the operation), and which is called the
Vampyre bat from that circumstance. If
this creature belonged to Europe, we should
be inclined to regard it as the origin of the
Vampyre fable.

* The bleeding of the dead body of a murdered
person upon the approach of the murderer is an old
opinion, to which Bacon, in his Natural History,
seems inclined to give some weight.

† The notes from which this story is derived, were
made by the Serjeant from what he himself heard on
the trial. (See the Gentleman's Magazine for July,
1851.)

               MR. POPE'S FRIEND.

THERE is a custom, I have been told,
prevalent among the junior officers on board some
of her Majesty's ships of war, and by means
of which the monotony of cockpit life is
agreeably diversified, called "swop." When
a swop takes place, the contents of the
youngsters' sea-chest are strewn on the
cabin table, and an ingenious and
exciting scene of barter ensues, of gold-laced
bands against jars of mixed pickles;
supplies of stationery against razor-strops and
shaving-brushes; cornets-à-piston against
quadrants; and locks of sweethearts' hair
against clasp-knives—a flageolet, a clothes-
brush, or a cake of chocolate, being
occasionally thrown into a bargain by way of
ballast or make-weight. Swop may also,
perhaps, be recognised by some of my young
friends now or lately at home for the Christmas
vacation as a favourite half-holiday
pastime at the establishments where they
receive their education, and where (it is to be
hoped) none but the sons of gentlemen are
received. I retain, myself, lively reminiscences
of my school swops. In these the
chief articles quoted were toffy, plum-cake,
peg-tops, marbles, pocket-combs, jew's-harps,
slate-pencil, white mice, silk-worms, trowser-
straps  (much coveted, these), common prayer-
books, and illustrated copies of the Adventures
of Philip Quarll, together with twopenny
cakes of water-colours, of which dragon's
blood and saturnine red were most in
demand: chiefly, I think, by reason of their
romantic and adventurous names, and not
with any reference to their artistic uses.
At a large public school, also, of which I
know something so large that its conductors
had quite failed in keeping pace with the
requirements of the boys, and in the endeavour