SECOND-SIGHT, or "FAISCH in Galic, is the name given to one of the superstitions of our countrymen in the Highlands of Scotland.
The person who possesses this extraordinary facul ty is supposed to see, in his mind's eye, events which are taking place at a distance, and even those which are to take place at some remote period.
The visions which are thus presented to the eye, or to the imagination, relate to subjects of all degrees of importance, from the most trifling to the most inte resting; and sometimes they are so truly ludicrous that a person who is disposed even to be credulous, cannot fail to regard them as the inventions either of weak or of wicked minds.
Disposed as we are to consider the second sight as a gross superstition, we should not have deemed it necessary to occupy our pages with any account of it, had it not had its peculiar locality in our own coun try. In a Scottish work, however, foreigners may expect to find some notice of a Scottish superstition, and, on this ground, we have ventured to give our readers some idea of its nature and pretensions. It appears to us that many of the facts which have been brought forward in support of the existence of a may be simply admitted without adopt ing the conclusion to which they are supposed to lead. There are few men of warm imaginations and con templative natures, who are not in the habit of seeing in their mind's eye vivid dramatic representations, in which their relations and friends generally perform the most conspicuous parts. Without being able to trace the association, how often do we see a friend or a relation sinking beneath the wave, falling in battle, suffering under the hands of the executioner, or stretched a lifeless corpse on a bed of sickness. These pictures are often presented to us in all the freshness of reality, but frequently in the most mutilated and imperfect state. We cannot tell how the drowning man fell into the sea, in what battle the victim bleeds; for what crime our friend has suffered, or of what disease he has died. We merely see him in one or other of these distressing situations, and so singular is the ambiguity which accompanies these visions, that the person thus seen may be one of two friends; he may bear the name of one and yet have the appear ance of another; lie may stand to us in the relation of a parent or a child, and yet some circumstance may attend the vision which proves that he is neither. The mind, in short, of an idle, dreaming, and fanciful man, who is not engrossed by the cares and active business of life, is continually at exercise, roaming wherever it listeth, and covering its track with crea tions and visions of all kinds. When a friend suffers or dies, he can scarcely fail to have anticipated his agonies; when an unexpected event occurs, he must have encountered something convertible into it among his day dreams. When au enemy lands on his coasts, he is likely to have seen him in the offing during his nocturnal cruises. If our _Highland seers had put on record all their visions, and given us an account of those which were not realized, as well as of those which appeared to them true, we should doubtless have been able to explain their second-sight by the ordinary doctrine of probabilities.
Although we do not think that any other explana tion of second-sight is necessary than the above, yet we doubt not our readers may be gratified with the following observations on the subject by Dr. Beattie and Dr. Johnson, on the opposite sides of the ques tion.
" The Highlands of Scotland," says Dr. Beattie, 44 are a picturesque but a melancholy country, having long tracts of mountainous desert covered with dark heath, and often obscured by misty weather; narrow valleys thinly inhabited, and bounded by precipices resounding with the fall of torrents; a soil so rugged, and a climate so dreary, as in many parts to admit neither the amusements of pasturage nor the labours of agriculture; the mournful dashing of waves along the friths and the lakes that intersect the country; the portentous noises which every change of the wind, and every increased diminution of the waters, is apt to raise in a lonely region full of echoes, and rocks, and caverns; the grotesque and ghastly appearance of such a landscape by the light of the moon; objects like these diffuse a gloom over the fancy, which may be compatible enough with occasional and social mer riment, but cannot fail to tincture the thoughts of a native in the hour of silence and solitude. If these people, notwithstanding their reformation in religion, and more frequent intercourse with strangers, do still retain many of their old superstitions, we need not doubt but in former times they must have been much more enslaved to the horrors of imagination when beset by the bugbears of popery and paganism. Most of their superstitions are of a melancholy cast. That of second-sight, by which some are still supposed to be haunted, is considered by themselves as a misfor tune, on account of the many dreadful images it is said to obtrude upon the fancy. It is said that some of the Alpine regions do likewise lay claim to a sort of second-sight. Nor is it wonderful if a lively im agination, immured in deep solitude, and surrounded with the stupendous scenery of clouds, precipices, and torrents, should dream (even when they think themselves awake) of those few striking ideas with which their lonely lives are diversified; of corpses, funeral processions, and other subjects of terror; or of marriages, and the arrival of strangers, and such like matters of more agreeable curiosity. Let it be
observed also, that the ancient Highlanders of Scot land had hardly any other way of supporting them selves than by hunting, fishing, or war—professions that are continually exposed to fatal accidents. And hence, no doubt, additional horrors would often haunt their solitude, and a deeper gloom overshadow the imagination even of the hardiest native. That any of these visionaries are apt to be swayed in their decla rations by sinister views we will not say; but this may be said with confidence, that none but ignorant people pretend to he gifted in this way. And in them it may be nothing more, perhaps, than short fits of sudden sleep or drowsiness, attended with lively dreams, and arising from some bodily disorder, the effect of idle ness, low spirits, or a gloomy imagination. For it is admitted even by the most credulous Highlanders, that as knowledge and industry are propagated in their country, the second sight disappears in propor tion; and nobody ever laid claim to the faculty who was much employed in the intercourse of social life. Nor is it at all extraordinary that one should have the appearance of being awake, and should even think one's self so, during those fits of dosing, that they should come on suddenly, and while one is engaged in some business. The same thing happens to per sons much fatigued, or long kept awake, who fre quently fall asleep for a moment, or for a long space, while they are standing, or walking, or riding on horseback. Add but a lively dream to this slumber, and (which is the frequent effect of disease,) take away the consciousness of having been asleep, and -a superstitious man may easily mistake his dream for a waking vision; which, however, is soon forgotten when no subsequent occurrence recals it to his memo ry; but which, if it shall be thought to resemble any future event, exalts the poor dreamer into a Highland prophet. This conceit makes him more recluse and more melancholy than ever, and so feeds his disease, and multiplies his visions, which, if they are not dis sipated by business or society, may continue to haunt him as long as he lives, and which, in their progress through the neighbourhood, receive some new tinc tures of the marvellous from every mouth that pro motes their circulation. As to the prophetical nature of this second-sight, it cannot be admitted at all. That the Deity should work a miracle, in order to give intimation of the frivolous things that these tales are made up of, the arrival of a stranger, the nailing of a coffin, or the colour of a suit of clothes; and that these intimations should be given for no end, and to those persons only who are idle and solitary, who speak Gaelic, or who live among mountains and de serts, is like nothing in nature or providence that we are acquainted with, and must therefore, unless it were confirmed by satisfactory proof (which is not the case), be rejected as absurd and incredible. These visions, such as they are, may reasonably enough be ascribed to a distempered fancy, and that in them, as well as in our ordinary dreams, certain appearances should, on some rare occasions, resemble certain events, is to be expected from the laws of chance; and seems to have in it nothing more marvellous or super natural, than the parrot, who deals out his scurrilities at random, should sometimes happen to salute the passenger by his right appellation." To these objections Dr. Johnson replies, that by presuming to determine what is fit, and what is bene ficial, they presuppose more knowledge of the univer sal system than man has attained; and therefore de pend upon principles too complicated and extensive for our comprehension; and that there can be no se curity on the consequence when the premises are not understood; that the second-sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular exercise of the cogitative faculty; that a gene ral opinion of communicative impulses, or visionary representations, has prevailed in all ages and all na tions; that particular instances have been given with such evidence, as neither Bacon nor Boyle has been able to resist; that sudden impressions, which the event has verified, have been felt by more than own or publish them; that the second sight of the Hebrides, implies only the local frequency of a power, which is nowhere totally unknown; and that when we arc un able to decide by antecedent reason, we must be con tent to yield to the force of testimony. By pretension to second sight no profit was ever sought or gained. It is an involuntary affection, in which neither hope nor fear are known to have any part. Those who pro fess to feel it do not boast of it as a privilege; nor are they considered by others as advantageously dis tinguished. They have no temptation to feign, and their hearers have no motive to encourage the impos ture."