D. D. HOME 
 
 HIS LIFE AND MISSION
 
 D. D. HOME 
 
 HIS LIFE AND MISSION 
 
 BY 
 
 MME. DUNGLAS HOME 
 
 Edited, with an Introduction, by 
 
 SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 
 
 "La raiaon ne prescrlt jamaia; elle 6clire." 
 
 LONDON 
 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD., 
 
 MANCHESTER: THE TWO WORLDS PUBLISHING CO., LTD. 
 
 NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON * CO. 
 
 1921
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR ARTHUR CON AN DOYLE 
 
 I have felt it to be an honour to be allowed to edit 
 this new Edition of the Life of D. D. Home. The 
 book is so vital that it went much against the grain to 
 excise any part of it, but our first task is to make it easy 
 for the public to get the information which they need, 
 and in its original form the book was a little difficult 
 on account of occasional redundancy and repetition. 
 This I have endeavoured to correct, but I foresee the 
 time when the full text will be restored and I censured 
 for having tampered with what is a very valuable record. 
 Meanwhile this shorter version gives the reader all that 
 is essential. 
 
 Home has himself left three books to the world, the 
 first and second series of Incidents of my Life and 
 Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism. The latter contains 
 the most earnest protest against the abuse either of 
 mediumship or of Spiritualism which the most 
 conservative critic could utter. Personally I am of 
 opinion that Home took a somewhat narrow view of 
 mediumship, failing to realise its protean aspects, so 
 that when he found any which differed from his own he 
 was inclined to put it down to bad observation or to 
 fraud. At the same time he sets us an example of that 
 alert and critical intelligence which every spiritualist 
 should cultivate. In Incidents of my Life will be 
 found a most interesting autobiography including his 
 controversy with Sir David Brewster from which the 
 man of Science emerged so badly. Very especially the 
 second series is commended to the student of Home, 
 because in it will be found all the actual papers dealing 
 with the Home-Lyon lawsuit, showing conclusively how 
 honourable was the action of Home, in spite of the 
 severe remarks by Lord Gifford, which were the result 
 of his own ignorance and prejudice. To quote them 
 against Home's character is like quoting the remarks 
 
 iii
 
 iv INTRODUCTION 
 
 of a Roman judge upon an early Christian. A spectator 
 has told me that Gifford asked Home's counsel : " Do 
 I understand that your client claims to have been 
 levitated ?" Upon the counsel assenting, Lord Gifford 
 made a wild gesture of his arms, very much as the High 
 Priest rent his garment of old. The reader who 
 consults the evidence for levitation given in this volume 
 will certainly have no doubt as to Home's power or as 
 to Gifford's bumptious ignorance. 
 
 Home is a man to whom the human race, and 
 especially the British public, owes a deep apology. He 
 was most shamefully used by them. He came as one 
 of the first and most powerful missionaries who have set 
 forth upon the greatest of human tasks, to prove 
 immortality, to do away with the awful mystery of death, 
 to found religion upon positive knowledge, and to break 
 down the dense materialism which was as great within 
 the Christian Churches as outside them. All this he 
 felt that he could do by those same personal demonstra- 
 tions of spiritual power which were used for the same 
 ends in the early age of the Church, before form and 
 ritual smothered the living reality. He devoted his life 
 to this end in spite of failing health and comparative 
 poverty. Never did he receive any reward for his 
 splendid, self-sacrificing work save indeed those 
 personal souvenirs from Royalties which were given not 
 in payment but in friendship. He left a trail of 
 religious conviction and of human consolation behind 
 him wherever he went. He was admirable in every 
 relation of life, a good husband, a devoted father, a 
 beloved friend, a charitable helper, a worker upon the 
 battle-fields, a lover of art and of all that is beautiful. 
 And yet when he died worn out at the age of 51 there 
 was hardly a paper in Great Britain which did not speak 
 of him as if he had been a Cagliostro, who had spent a 
 life of intrigue and deception. Those who read this life 
 will surely echo my words that we owe him a deep 
 apology, and recognise that in this Spiritual tide which 
 flows so strongly to-day we find much which un- 
 doubtedly found its spring in his unselfish labours. His 
 influence was admirably summed up by Mrs. Webster, a
 
 INTRODUCTION v 
 
 well-known resident of Florence, when she wrote : " He 
 is the most marvellous missionary of modern times, and 
 the good that he has done cannot be reckoned. Where 
 Mr. Home passes he bestows around him the greatest of 
 all blessings, the certainty of a future life." 
 
 One or two of Home's aphorisms may be quoted to 
 show the mind of this man who is even now hounded 
 down by ignorant traducers, especially Materialists who 
 cannot forgive the shattering blow which he inflicted 
 upon their whole philosophy a death-blow, as it will 
 prove. ' Follow Christ's teaching and carry out His 
 mission." " Religion is to worship something outside 
 and beyond yourself." ' Try all communications by 
 the help of your conscience and your reason." The 
 sanity as well as the essential piety of the man shines 
 through such sayings. Surely it is the outworn case 
 of a beautiful soul which lies under the slab in Paris on 
 which is carved the words : " To another, discerning of 
 spirits." Cor. xii. 10. 
 
 A. C. D. 
 
 March, 1921. 
 
 NOTE. In reading this edition of " D. D. 
 His Life and Mission" it is necessary to remember that 
 the book was originally written nearly forty years ago. 
 It is thus necessary to make allowance for dates and 
 occurrences referred to as of comparatively recent 
 occurrence the original language being retained.
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 IN the realm of Spirit as well as in the exact sciences, our 
 age demands facts that can be verified. I reproduce, in all its 
 authenticity, as much as possible of the testimony that has 
 been borne to the phenomena investigated in the presence of D. 
 D. Home. A crowd of theories, more or less ingenious but 
 none satisfactory, have been created to explain away the 
 facts, without explaining them in the least. The perverted 
 understanding which takes that which is not for the reality, 
 and the reality for a chimera, can alone lead men into this 
 singular denial of the possibility of a truth that, by their own 
 avowal, it would give them the greatest happiness to recog- 
 nise. Undoubtedly the most hideous cancer of our age is its 
 materialism, that, eating constantly deeper, leads men more 
 and more into the denial of their immortality. Spiritualism 
 was not regarded by Home as a fantastic or poetic reverie. 
 He suffered cruelly for his mission, without having any other 
 object in view than to give an irresistible impulse to the 
 consoling belief in a future life. A multitude of irrefutable 
 facts were demonstrated in his presence which science tested 
 and admitted. By sacrificing himself to every description of 
 research, he enabled scientific investigators to establish the 
 existence of forces that until his day had remained unknown; 
 and he founded belief in a spirit-world on those remarkable 
 evidences of identity that will remain the bases of the true 
 modern Spiritualism. No sophistry can avail to show that 
 the well-established and well-attested facts contained in this 
 work have had no existence. It will be seen how great a 
 number of well-known personages have investigated the sub- 
 ject, and have been convinced. The fact that many of these 
 names are now for the first time published, will prove to what 
 degree Home carried his consideration for others, suppress- 
 ing their names in order to spare them from ignorant abuse, 
 and tranquilly encountering the host of calumnies that were 
 directed against him in consequence. Where is there another 
 man, who, with the means in his possession of proving how 
 false were the assertions made concerning him, would have 
 thought of others, rather than of himself? There are very 
 few celebrated men whose real character has been so strangely 
 misunderstood, and concerning whom false reports have more 
 persistently been spread abroad. The extensive correspond- 
 ence he has left even the small portion of it I have found 
 space to print proves how blameless his life must have been, 
 how irreproachable his honour, and how elevated his sentiments. 
 No one was ever more happy in doing good, or was more 
 beloved. In every coimtry persons who were not Spiritualists 
 
 vii
 
 PROLOGUE viii 
 
 pronounced his name with respect; and the social position he 
 occupied in the world is the best proof of the estimation in 
 which he was held. 
 
 Spiritualism, as demonstrated by Home, gives a serenity 
 of mind that death cannot destroy. The edifying proofs of 
 identity contained in the communications received through 
 him tend to change our life and modify our actions, by giving 
 fresh strength to love and charity. The Spiritualism which 
 is incapable of being investigated under scientific, or, at least, 
 trustworthy conditions, and confers no moral benefit, is not 
 Spiritualism. If tokens of spirit-identity and phenomena 
 established under such conditions as are described in this 
 volume can rarely be met with, and the truth is, in conse- 
 quence, derided as fiction, this only illustrates a fact estab- 
 lished by the history of humanity in every age that the 
 possessors of such a diversity of gifts as were bestowed on 
 Home are makers of epochs. Home never had the ambition to 
 create a sect, although nothing would have been easier to him. 
 For him who understood the teaching of the Saviour, there 
 could be no question of honour and prominence ; and the acts 
 of his life show that he was a Christian in the full acceptation 
 of the word. His aim was the propagation of Spiritualism, 
 especially among those who have lost the innate perception of 
 spiritual things, that inner light whose revelations all Nature 
 confirms. He sought to save us from the emptiness of a selfish 
 life, and to give us in this world less of suffering and more of 
 joy. 
 
 D. D. Home did not teach; he proved.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PACE 
 
 I. SCOTLAND AND AMERICA ... ... ... ... i 
 
 II. ENGLAND AND ITALY .. 23 
 
 III. ITALY AND FRANCE ... ... ... ... ... 40 
 
 IV. FRANCE AND RUSSIA ... ... ... ... 56 
 
 V. ENGLAND 69 
 
 VI. ENGLAND ... ... ... ... ... ... 91 
 
 VII. ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS ... ... ... 107 
 
 VIII. AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND ... ... 129 
 
 IX. ENGLAND 152 
 
 X. PUBLIC READINGS SCOTLAND FRANCE ... 173 
 
 XI. ENGLAND SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 185 
 
 XII. RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 206 
 
 XIII. 1876-1886 216
 
 D. D. HOME 
 HIS LIFE AND MISSION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 
 
 DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME was born near Edinburgh, March 20, 1833. 
 His parents both came of ancient Scottish families. Through his 
 mother, whose maiden name was McNeill, he was descended from a 
 Highland family in which the traditionary Scottish gift of the 
 " second-sight " had been preserved. Mrs. Home possessed it 
 herself; and while her son was still an infant she had a vision con- 
 cerning him that found fulfilment more than twenty years later at 
 Fontainebleau. 
 
 An aunt, who had no children of her own, adopted Home ; and his 
 infancy was passed in her care at Portobello. When he was nine 
 years old, she and her husband emigrated to America, and took with 
 them the boy whose life was destined to be so wonderful. He was a 
 sensitive, delicate child, of a highly nervous temperament, and" of such 
 weak health from his infancy that he had not been expected to live. 
 His frail health, however, no more affected his natural sweetness of 
 temper and gaiety of spirits than did the bitter trials of after years. 
 " I remember him," writes to me a schoolfellow of his, Mr. J. W. 
 Carpenter, Mayor of Norwich, Connecticut, " as one of the most 
 joyous, affectionate, and whole-souled boys among my whole circle 
 of acquaintances, always ready to do a kind act. He was fond of 
 his studies ; but when out of the schoolroom spent all his time in the 
 wood and beside the streams, with one or two chosen companions. 
 His nature was very sensitive, and he was easily grieved at any act of 
 unkindness done to others or to himself. 
 
 "I never saw anything of Spiritualism," adds Mr. Carpenter, 
 " and am therefore a disbeliever myself; but I know that my old 
 friend was thoroughly honest and sincere in his belief. I know of 
 no one of my many schoolmates whose career I have more carefully 
 followed, and whom I have been more proud to call my friend, than 
 D. D. Home." 
 
 Greeneville, Connecticut, where Home received his first impressions 
 of America, has been swallowed up in the growth of the adjoining 
 city of Norwich. Forty years ago, when he lived there with his 
 uncle and aunt, Greeneville existed as a separate village; and close 
 at hand were the woods to which he escaped at every opportunity, 
 spending there hours in that study of nature which always charmed
 
 2 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 him. Isiothing escaped his observation and his prodigious memory. 
 He always looked back on those days as the happiest of his boyhood. 
 His studious and dreamy habits separated him from most other children 
 of his age ; but he had a chosen companion in these rambles, a school- 
 tellow a little older than himself, of the name of Edwin. A strong 
 friendship grew up between the two; and they were always together, 
 until Home went with his relatives to live at Troy, in the State of New 
 York, some three hundred miles from Norwich. 
 
 A few weeks before this separation, Home was, as usual, with his 
 friend Edwin in the woods. The two boys were both great readers ; 
 and when either of them had found anything in a book that interested 
 him, it was sure to be communicated to the other. On this occasion 
 it was in April, 1845 or 1846 Edwin was full of a ghost-story 
 that he had just read. The event it related to is associated with the 
 history of a noble English family ; and I am told that it furnished Sir 
 Walter Scott with the groundwork of one of his ballads. A lady 
 and her lover had mutually agreed that, if there were a life beyond 
 this, the one who died first should appear to the survivor. In 
 pursuance of his vow, the lover, within a few days of his death, 
 presented himself to his mistress. She treated the vision as a 
 delusion of her senses; on which the spirit stretched forth his hand 
 and laid it on hers, leaving there a mark that was ineffaceable. 
 Many years after lie had listened to this legend in the woods of 
 Norwich, Home met in England a member of the family to which 
 it related ; and was assured that the history was well authenticated, 
 and that a portrait of its heroine still existed, known in the family 
 as " the lady with the black ribbon," from a covering she had always 
 worn on her wrist, to conceal the mark. 
 
 When Edwin's story was told, the two boys set themselves to discuss 
 it, and also the possibility of such apparitions of departed spirits 
 appearing to those whom they had loved on earth. With the romance 
 of their age, they ended by agreeing to bind themselves by the same 
 promise that the two lovers in the legend had taken ; and exchanged 
 vows on the spot, in the most solemn manner they could devise. A 
 few weeks later, Home went to live at Troy. He was then about 
 thirteen years of age. 
 
 In the month of June following, he had been spending the evening 
 at a friend's house, and on returning to that of his aunt, found that 
 she had already retired to rest. Fearing to be scolded for being late, 
 her nephew hastened to follow her example. It was a lovely 
 summer's night, and the moon, shining through the curtainless window 
 of his room, rendered a candle unnecessary ; but at the moment when 
 the boy, having finished his prayers, was slipping into bed, her light 
 was suddenly darkened. Startled by the phenomenon, Home looked 
 up, and beheld a vision that he has described in the opening chapter 
 of his Incidents in My Life, published in the year 1863 by Messrs. 
 Longman : 
 
 " I was about to draw the sheet over me," he writes, " when a sudden 
 darkness seemed to pervade the room. This surprised me, inasmuch as I had 
 not seen a cloud in the sky ; and on looking up I saw the moon still shining,
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 3 
 
 but it was on the other side of the darkness, which still grew more dense 
 until through the darkness there seemed to be a gleam of light, which I cannot 
 describe; but it was similar to those which I and many others have since 
 seen when the room has been illuminated by spiritual presence. This light 
 increased ; and my attention was drawn to the foot of my bed, where stood my 
 friend Kdwin. He appeared as in a cloud of brightness, illuminating his face 
 with a distinctness more than mortal. . . . He looked on me with a smile of 
 ineffable sweetness, then, slowly raising the right arm, he pointed upward; 
 and making with it three circles in the air, the hand began slowly to disappear. 
 Then the arm, and finally the whole body, melted away. The natural light 
 of the room was then again apparent. I was speechless, and could not move, 
 though I retained all my reasoning faculties. As soon as the power of movement 
 xvas restored I rang the hell, and the family, thinking I was ill, came to my 
 room, when my first words were * I have seen Edwin he died three days 
 ago.' ' 
 
 A day or two afterwards a letter was received, announcing the death 
 of Edwin after a very short illness. 
 
 The second such vision that befell Home was in the year 1850. By 
 this time his aunt had returned to Norwich ; and at Waterford, some 
 twelve miles off, were settled his father and mother, who had followed 
 their relatives to America. One day Mrs. Home, when alone with 
 her son, told him that she would leave him in four months' time. 
 " Your little sister Mary," she went on, " came to me in a vision, 
 holding four lilies in her hand ; and allowing them to slip through her 
 lingers one after the other, till the last one had fallen, she said 
 ' And then you will come to me.' I asked her whether the four 
 lilies signified years, months, weeks, or days, and she told me 
 'months.' " 
 
 The death of little Mary had taken place under the saddest of 
 circumstances. The mother went out for a few hours, leaving the 
 child at home. On returning, she had to cross a small stream near 
 the house; and while on the bridge, saw what seemed to be some 
 loose clothes floating in the stream. She ran down the bank, and 
 drew from the water the body of her child. 
 
 In the fourth month after her vision, Mrs. Home was called away 
 to visit some persons at a distance ; and when her family were expecting 
 her return, they received instead a telegram announcing her serious 
 illness. Her husband started at once on its receipt ; her son could 
 not accompany his father, for he was himself confined to bed in the 
 house of his adopted parents by an affection of the lungs. The same 
 evening, nis aunt heard the boy calling loudly for her ; and on hurrying 
 to his sickroom, found him in the greatest distress and agitation. 
 " Auntie," he said, " mother died to-day at twelve o'clock, because 
 I have seen her, and she told me so." 
 
 His aunt, as most persons would have done in her place, thought 
 her nephew delirious. " Nonsense, child," she said, " you are in, 
 and this is the effect of a fevered brain." 
 
 It proved to be sad reality. Mrs. Home had died that day at 
 twelve o'clock, without one of her family near her even as she 
 had predicted to her son four months before. 
 
 After the loss of his mother, Home's thoughts occupied themselves
 
 4 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 more and more with the life beyond this; and he was constant in 
 attending the religious exercises of the body to which he belonged. 
 Much to the displeasure of his aunt, who was a member of the 
 Kirk of Scotland, he had joined the Wesleyan communion; but her 
 opposition to this step was so persistent and violent, that her nephew 
 finally compromised matters by leaving the Wesleyans for the Con- 
 gregationalists, whom she regarded with less dislike. 
 
 One night, on going to bed, he heard three loud blows struck at the 
 head of the bedstead. Thinking some one was hidden there and 
 trying to frighten him, he rose and searched, but found nobody. 
 While he could still hardly realise that he was actually the only person 
 in the room, the three blows sounded again in the same place, 
 and then, after a moment's pause, they came a third time. 
 The listener spent a sleepless night in watching for their recurrence 
 and in repeating to himself that the phenomenon was a something 
 not of earth; but the strange sounds were heard no more by him. 
 In the morning he came down to breakfast pale and fatigued ; and 
 his tired looks were noticed by his aunt, who set them down to 
 the account ot a prayer-meeting he had attended the evening before, 
 and began to lecture on the evil results of religious excitement. She 
 was interrupted by a volley of raps on the table at which the two were 
 seated. 
 
 " What is this? " was her astonished demand. 
 
 Her nephew, almost as startled as herself, could not answer; but 
 if he had no interpretation of the marvel to furnish, his aunt soon 
 found one. " So," she exclaimed, drawing away from him in horror, 
 " you have the devil in you too, have you? and you have brought 
 him to my house ! '" 
 
 About two years earlier, the knockings at Rochester had attracted 
 public attention. Home's aunt had heard of them from some of her 
 neighbours, and believed them to be works of the Evil One. She 
 put the same construction on the strange sounds now heard in her 
 own presence, and considered her nephew to be possessed. It was 
 some hours before she could get over the shock of having, as she 
 fancied, entertained one or more fallen angels unawares ; but in the 
 afternoon she began taking steps to drive the visitors from her house. 
 
 There were three pastors in the village of Greeneville, a Congrega- 
 tionalist, a Baptist, and a Wesleyan. Forgetting for the moment 
 her prejudices against one and the other persuasion, she sent for 
 all three, and requested their advice and ministrations. Two of the 
 three were perfectly of her opinion as to the source of the phenomena ; 
 and one of these two, the Baptist, proceeded to question Home. 
 
 "It is Satan who possesses you," he began. " What have you 
 done to bring him to you ? ' ' 
 
 His catachumen could only protest that it was out of his power 
 to give any explanation of the mysterious sounds; and seeing his 
 agitation, the Congregationalist minister interposed. "Don't be 
 frightened," he said kindly; " if this is the work of Satan, it is your 
 misfortune and not your fault." 
 
 " In any case," said the Baptist, " let us seek to drive him forth by
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 5 
 
 our prayers " ; and he proceeded to offer up a supplication in which 
 he desired Home to join. 
 
 " Whilst we were thus engaged in prayer," writes Home, " there came 
 gentle taps on his chair and in different parts of the room ; while at every 
 expression of a wish for God's loving mercy to be shown to us and our fellow- 
 creatures, there were loud rappings as if joining in our heartfelt prayers. ^ 
 was so struck and so impressed by this, that there and then, upon my knees, 
 1 resolved to place myself entirely at God's disposal, and to follow the leadings 
 of that which I then felt must be only good and true, else why should it have 
 signified its joy at those special portions of the prayer? This was, in fact, 
 the turning-point of my life ; and I have never had cause to regret for one 
 instant my determination, though I have been called on for many years to- 
 suffer deeply in carrying it out." 
 
 Astonished and perplexed by the result of their prayers, the three 
 ministers departed. The Congregationalist offered no opinion as to 
 the origin of the phenomena ; saying only that he did not see why this 
 young member of his flock should be persecuted for what he was 
 unable either to prevent or cause. The Baptist a Mr. Mussey 
 shook his head, but was so bewildered by the thought that his 
 prayers had seemed to call forth the sounds, instead of silencing 
 them, that he had little to say ; and only the Methodist remained firm 
 in his first belief, declaring that these wonders were the work of 
 Satan, and telling Mrs. McNeill Cook that her nephew was a lost 
 sheep. " He was so unkind," says Home simply, " that I derived 
 no comfort from him." 
 
 From that day the rappings were heard frequently ; but familiarity 
 with the sounds had no effect in diminishing the terror with which the 
 aunt of Home regarded them. After a time the furniture began to 
 be moved about without visible agency. On one occasion, when 
 a table was moving across the room with no one near it, the aunt ran 
 tor the family Bible, and placed it on the table widi the triumphant 
 exclamation, " There ! that will drive the devils away ! " " To her 
 astonishment, ' ' writes Home, ' ' the table only moved in a more lively 
 manner." 
 
 As yet, no one seems to have thought of trying to ascertain whether 
 the sounds heard were controlled by intelligence. The first experi- 
 ment in this direction was made at the house of another relation of 
 Home's, a widow who lived near the aunt who had adopted him. One 
 evening, while with this second relative, raps were heard, and the 
 alphabet was called over. The letters indicated by the raps were 
 written down ; and in this way intelligent communications were 
 received, and replies obtained to questions put. 
 
 The people of Greeneville had heard by this time of what was 
 occurring. " They took to besieging the house," says Home, " in 
 a way that did not tend to soothe the religious susceptibilities of my 
 aunt." Among them came a Mrs. Force, in whose presence the 
 name of her mother was spelt out by the raps. A message followed, 
 reproaching her with having forgotten a sister who had gone West 
 with her husband some thirty years before, and had not since been 
 heard of. The name of the town where this long-lost relative lired
 
 6 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 was added; and on the astonished Mrs. Force writing there, she 
 received a letter from her sister in reply. 
 
 It has been objected ad nauseam that it is ridiculous to suppose that 
 a disembodied spirit would seek to communicate with us by sounds 
 made on a table or a wall. Why ridiculous? Contrary to the pre- 
 conceived opinions of many, it may be; but then, those opinions are 
 themselves based on no grounds but prejudice and sentiment, while 
 the assertion that spirits do thus seek to communicate is based on 
 evidence. The question was ably discussed in the year 1863, in a 
 preface contributed to Mr. Home's Incidents in My Life, by a dis- 
 tinguished man of letters, who, as a result of his investigations with 
 Home, had become a Spiritualist the late Dr. Robert Chambers. 
 It was in no credulous spirit that this well-known writer had com- 
 menced has inquiry. For a great part of his life Dr. Chambers was a 
 materialist of materialists, and was known among his friends to have 
 been the joint author with Leitch Ritchie of one of the most sceptical 
 works of the day, The Vestiges of Creation. 
 
 " There remains a great stumbling-block to many," wrote Chambers in his 
 anonymous preface to Home's book, " in the manner in which the 
 communications are most frequently made. It seems below the dignity of 
 a disembodied spirit to announce itself and speak by little pulsaiory noises on 
 a table, or wainscot. It might, however, be asked if it be not a mere prejudice 
 which leads us to expect that the spirit, on being disembodied, suddenly, and of 
 necessity, experiences a great exaltation. . . . We must, moreover, remember 
 that we know nothing of the conditions under which spirits can communicate. 
 This may be the most readily available mode in most instances. Beyond doubt, 
 in certain circumstances of difficulty, the most exalted of living persons might 
 be glad to resort to such a mode of telegraphy." 
 
 Home's aunt did not treat the phenomena in the spirit of those 
 critics to whom the remarks of Dr. Chambers were addressed. She saw 
 them to be real, she feared them to be unholy ; and, far from finding 
 in the sounds heard in the house and the sights seen there a matter 
 of ridicule, they distressed her mind beyond endurance. The siege 
 laid to her house by her neighbours was the last straw; and declaring 
 that, since the spirits of which she had such a horror would not go, 
 her nephew must, she turned him out of doors. 
 
 Home found a temporary refuge in the house of a friend in the 
 neighbouring town of Willimantic. In most natures, the cruelty of 
 such treatment as his aunt had dealt out to him under the impulse of 
 perverted religious feelings would have excited abiding resentment ; 
 but Home's temper was too sweet and generous not to forgive and 
 forget. He remembered only her kindness of former years ; and the 
 old age of his aunt was passed in a cottage that he bought for her. 
 brie died in 1876, of the shock caused' to her by reading in the 
 American papers a false report of his death. 
 
 While Home was at Willimantic, he was constantly beset by curious 
 intruders ; and offers of money were made to him, which he refused. 
 He felt that his mysterious gift was not a thing to be trafficked in, 
 and had already laid down the rule to which he adhered all his life, 
 that he would never take payment for a seance.
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 7 
 
 Much against his will, an account of some extraordinary phenomena 
 witnessed at Willimantic was contributed to the local newspaper. 
 Shrinking from the publicity thus forced on him, he cut short his 
 visit and went to Lebanon. "There," he writes in his Incidents 
 in My Life, " I was received in the family of an old resident." 
 
 Very few names are given in the Incidents, for Home's chivalrous 
 delicacy towards others made him prefer to suffer from the misconcep- 
 tion of the world himself, rather than expose a friend to ridicule or 
 abuse. This consideration for the feelings of others sometimes 
 led him to refrain from availing himself of the permission when granted, 
 especially in the case of ladies. His generosity was, as a rule, its 
 own reward. When a cry for more names of witnesses was raised by 
 the press on the publication of the Incidents, very few of those 
 witnesses had the courage of their opinions. 
 
 'i'he results of numerous applications made to the friends of Mr. 
 Home in both the Old and New Worlds, together with the corre- 
 spondence preserved by him, enable me to supply most of the names 
 omitted in the Incidents, and in various cases to add the personal 
 testimony of investigators concerning their experiences. In this 
 way I shall be able to render these pages a record of attested facts. 
 My only difficulty will be to contain the record of a life so full of 
 wonderful and varied incident within the limits of a single volume. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1851 that Home left Willimantic for 
 Lebanon, where he became the guest of a family named Ely, who had 
 a farm in the neighbourhood. Hist health was in a most delicate 
 state, and trying scenes through which he had just passed had inten- 
 sified the symptoms of lung disease ; but quiet and the healthy 
 influences of a country life wrought a change for the better. More 
 unselfish and considerate than some of his friends of later years, the 
 Ely family discouraged their young visitor from holding seances too 
 frequently. It was a fact of which Home soon became conscious, 
 that some power or force passed from him during the occurrence of 
 the phenomena ; or, as MV. Crookes put it in 1871, " The evolution of 
 psychic force is accompanied by a corresponding drain on vital force." 
 Repeated seances meant the serious injury of Home's health ; but for 
 that health the majority of his friends had very little consideration ; 
 and his unselfish good nature again and again led him to comply with 
 their entreaties for seances, when his vital force was already at the 
 lowest ebb from previous sittings. "Were I in Springfield, I should be 
 a very discordant element," writes one of the Ely family to him in 
 March, 1852, " if you continued verv long to sit in six circles a day, 
 you invariably pay the penalty fainting when you do so, and why 
 can you not say ' No ' ? " 
 
 Near Lebanon, in 1851, the first of many remarkable cures was 
 wrought through the agency of Home, the life saved being that of a 
 Mrs. Bill. The facts of this case are recorded in the Incidents, 
 without names being given. 
 
 In June, 1851, Home accepted the invitation to pay him a visit, of 
 Mr. W. Green, living at Boonton, New Jersey. While there, he had 
 frequent visions and trances, at which times he beheld the lost friends
 
 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 of many persons who were perfect strangers to him, and described 
 them with such accuracy that they were immediately recognised. 
 
 From .boonton, Home, about the middle of July, 1851, went on a 
 visit to Mr. J. W. Carrington, a resident (then and now) of Brooklyn, 
 -New York. During this visit he met Professor George Bush, a 
 distinguished theologian and Oriental scholar. Mr. Bush, who had 
 been educated with a view to taking orders in the Episcopal Church, 
 but had abandoned the design in consequence of the change wrought 
 in his views by an acquaintance with the works of Swedenborg, took 
 deep interest in observing the phenomena connected with Home. The 
 communications he received were of such a nature as to render him 
 assured that they proceeded from friends who had passed from earth. 
 I will give an instance of their character. 
 
 Home had one evening fallen into a trance. In this condition he 
 saw one who had been the schoolfellow of Professor Bush forty years 
 before. The name was given through Home, and the Professor 
 was reminded of a strange dream that he had had on the very night his 
 friend passed from earth. 
 
 " The spirit," writes Home, " now told through me the whole of the 
 Professor's dream, which was that, whilst they were playing together, he 
 suddenly saw his schoolfellow taken from him, and heard his voice saying, 
 ' I leave you, George, but not for ever." A dream of forty years previously was 
 thus brought to his remembrance. The Professor was so strongly impressed 
 with this that he called on me next day, and wished to have me reside with 
 him for the purpose of studying for the Swedenborgian ministry. I went to 
 his house with the intention of so doing ; but within forty-eight hours I saw 
 in my waking state the spirit of my mother, who said to me, ' My son, you 
 must not accept this kind offer, as your mission is a more extended one than 
 pulpit preaching.' On seeing the good Professor, I told him of this spirit 
 message. He expressed regret, but no surprise ; so I returned to my friend Mr. 
 
 C " (Carrington), " and remained with him till the end of August. 1 
 
 frequently afterwards saw Professor Bush, with whom the most kindly inter- 
 course was interchanged." 
 
 From Brooklyn, Home returned to Lebanon. The youngest of his 
 triends there, the Ely family, was a boy of about his own age, named 
 Ezra. In September, 1851, Ezra fell ill. The family were under no 
 alarm, the illness appeared so slight; but Home had a vision that 
 forewarned him his friend would be gone within three weeks. On 
 the nineteenth day of his illness Ezra passed from earth tranquilly 
 and happily. 
 
 " His extraordinary composure," records Home, " remained with him 
 throughout. I had told the family of my vision, which prepared them for 
 the coming change. About two days before his leaving us, the doctor asked 
 me to break it to him, when I informed him that Ezra had long been aware 
 of it. He doubted this, from seeing him so composed ; and I desired him to 
 stand at the door and hear what I would say to Ezra. I then went to his bed, 
 and told him that the doctor had left some news for him. He laughingly said, 
 ' I suppose it is to tell me that I am going. Little does he imagine that I 
 have already decided who my bearers are to be.' The doctor now came into 
 the room, and taking his hand, said, ' My dear boy, if I had not heard this, 
 I could not have believed it. You have everything to make life happy, 
 and yet you are so willing to leave it.' A few hours after this a deacon of 
 the church visited him. He argued with the dying boy, trying to take away 
 his happy belief, but fortunately without the slightest success."
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 9 
 
 Home remained at Lebanon till the end of January, 1852, and then 
 went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he became the guest of 
 one of the best known residents, Mr. Rufus Elmer. The Elmers, 
 unlike the Elys, took no account of the drain on the vital force of 
 Home that went on during seances. They threw open their house 
 to all inquirers, and urged him to sit morning, noon, and night. A 
 passage in Incidents in My Life indicates the exhausting and hurtful 
 nature of Home's surroundings at Springfield: 
 
 ' I stayed with them " (Mr. and Mrs. Elmer) " for some time," 
 he writes, " and great interest was excited by the accounts given by 
 the very numerous witnesses who came to see the manifestations. 
 Whilst here the power was very strong, and frequently 1 had seances 
 six or seven times a day. . . . The house was besieged by visitors, 
 and often outside in the street there was a concourse of anxious 
 inquirers. People came from a distance, even from the extreme west 
 and south of America, having seen the accounts given of me in the 
 newspapers of the previous year." 
 
 Among them came the celebrated American poet, Bryant, accom- 
 panied by Professor Wells of the University of Harvard, and two other 
 persons. They were, one and all, thorough sceptics as to the reality 
 of tae phenomena ; and their investigations, which extended over 
 several sittings with Home, were as searching as a determined in- 
 credulity could render them. Constrained at length to yield to the 
 testimony of their senses, Messrs. Bryant, Wells, and their coadjutors 
 had not only the candour to own that they had witnessed phenomena 
 which could not have been produced by trickery, but the fairness 
 to state so publicly. Their conduct might have been imitated with 
 advanta-ie by Lord Brougham, Mr. Ruskin, and many other subsequent 
 investigators, on whose lips timidity set a seal. 
 
 The narrative published by Bryant and his friends restricted itself 
 to the phenomena witnessed at a single seance with Home, the most 
 remarkable. I append it, with the exception of a passage I reserve 
 for another chapter, in which I shall have occasion to cite instances 
 of the particular phenomenon this passage attests : 
 
 " The undersigned, from a sense of justice to the parties referred to, 
 very cordially bear testimony to the occurrence of the following facts, 
 which we severally witnessed at the house of Rufus Elmer, in Springfield : 
 
 " The table was moved in every possible direction, and with great force, 
 when we could not perceive any cause of motion. 
 
 " It (the table) was forced against each one of us so powerfully as to move 
 us from our positions together with the chairs we occupied in all several 
 feet. 
 
 " Mr. Wells and Mr. Edwards took hold of the table in such a manner as to 
 exert their strength to the best advantage, but found the invisible power, 
 exercised in an opposite direction, to be quite equal to their utmost efforts. . . . 
 
 ' Mr. Wells seated himself on the table, which was rocked for some time 
 with great violence, and at length it poised itself on two legs, and remained 
 in this position for some thirty seconds, when no other person was in contact 
 with it. 
 
 " Three persons, Messrs. Wells, Bliss, and Edwards, assumed positions 
 on the table at the same time, and while thus seated, the table was moved 
 in various directions. 
 
 " Occasionally we were made conscious of the occurrence of a powerful
 
 10 
 
 shock, which produced a vibratory motion of the floor of the apartment in 
 which we were seated it seemed like the motion occasioned by distant thunder, 
 or the firing of ordnance far away causing the table, chairs, and other 
 inanimate objects, and all of us to tremble in such a manner that the effects 
 were both seen and felt. 
 
 " In the whole exhibition, which was far more diversified than the fore- 
 going specification would indicate, we were constrained to admit that there 
 was an almost constant manifestation of some intelligence which seemed, at 
 least, to be independent of the circle. 
 
 " In conclusion, we may observe that Mr. D. D. Home frequently urged 
 us to hold his hands and feet. During these occurrences the room was well 
 lighted, the lamp was frequently placed on and under the table, and every 
 possible opportunity was afforded us" for the closest inspection, and we admit 
 this one emphatic declaration We know that we were not imposed upon nor 
 deceived. 1 
 
 " WM. BRYANT, 
 B. K. BLISS, 
 WM. EDWARDS, 
 DAVID A. WELLS." 
 
 Similar, but still more striking phenomena were witnessed on the 
 28tn> of February, 1852, at the house of the Elmers, and attested in a 
 declaration signed by John D. Lord, Ruf us Elmer, Henry Foulds, and 
 eight other persons. 
 
 One evening a visitor from New York, Mr. S. B. Brittan, was at the 
 Elmer's residence. There was no thought of a seance, the party 
 were sitting talking to each other, when their conversation was 
 interrupted by a startling incident. The person most intimately con- 
 cerned, Mr. Brittan, subsequently published the following account of 
 his memorable experiences at Springfield : 
 
 " While spending a few days at the house of Mr. Ruf us Elmer, Springfield, 
 I became acquainted with Mr. Home. One evening Mr. Home, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Elmer, and I were engaged in general conversation, when suddenly, and most 
 unexpectedly to us all, Mr. Home was deeply entranced. A momentary silence 
 ensued, when he said, ' Hannah Brittan is here,' I was surprised at the 
 announcement ; for I had not even thought of the person indicated for many 
 days, or perhaps months, and we parted for all time when I was but a little 
 child. I remained silent, but mentally inquired how I might be assured of 
 her actual presence. 
 
 " Immediately Mr. Home began to exhibit signs of the deepest anguish. 
 Rising from his seat, he walked to and fro in the apartment, wringing his 
 hands? and exhibiting a wild and frantic manner and expression. He groaned 
 audibly, and often smote his forehead and uttered incoherent words of 
 prayer. . . . Ever and anon he gave utterance to expressions like the 
 following : 
 
 " 'Oh, how dark! What dismal clouds! What a frightful chasm! Deep 
 down far, far down, I see the fiery flood. Save them from the pit ! ... I 
 set no way out. There's no light ! The clouds roll in upon me, the darkness 
 deepens! My head is wriirling !' . . . 
 
 " During this exciting scene, which lasted perhaps half an hour, I remained 
 a silent spectator, Mr. Home was unconscious, and the whole was inexplicable 
 to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer. The circumstances occurred some twelve years before 
 the birth of Mr. Home. No person in all that region knew aught of the 
 history of Hannah Brittan, or that such a person ever existed. But to me the 
 scene was one of peculiar and painful significance. She was highly gifted by 
 nature, and endowed with the tenderest sensibilities. She became insane 
 
 1 Similarly italicised in the original.
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA n 
 
 from believing in the doctrine of endless punishment ; and when I last saw 
 her the terrible reality, so graphically depicted in the scene I have attempted 
 to describe, was present in all its mournful details before me. 
 
 " Thirty years have scarcely dimmed the recollection of the scene which was 
 thus re-enacted to assure me of the actual presence of the spirit. That spirit 
 has since informed me that her present life is calm, peaceful, and beautiful, 
 and that the burning gulf, with all its horrible imagery, existed only in the 
 traditions of men, and in the fitful wanderings of her distracted brain." 
 
 Home was now nineteen years of age. Since quitting his aunt's 
 house, he had been the guest of one or other friend ; but from the 
 suggestion of seeking to turn his gift to pecuniary account he invariably 
 recoiled, and was as poor as on the day when he began his wanderings. 
 Some extraordinary cures wrought through him at Springfield turned 
 his mind towards the medical profession. If he were to train himself 
 lor that profession by the usual course of study, the beings who guided 
 him would surely, he reasoned, be able to turn his training to account. 
 
 He spoke of his plan to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer, who, without entirely 
 disapproving of it, responded by an unexpected proposal. They had 
 learned to feel a great affection for their young guest, and they were 
 rich and childless. They offered to adopt Home and make him their 
 heir, on condition of his changing his name to that of Elmer. 
 
 It was a tempting prospect to be held forth to one who had neither 
 home nor means, but after anxious thought he decided to decline it. 
 Before doing so, he wrote to ask the advice of his friends, the Ely 
 family, who replied in a letter now before me: " You can never feel 
 anything but unbounded gratitude for Mr. Elmer's kindness still it 
 would be a pity to do anything hastily which might eventually become 
 irksome to either party. Your name is a very good one as it is, and 
 why not be distinguished by it? ;; The words echoed Home's own 
 thoughts. He was unwilling to change his name, and his sensitive 
 and independent nature had already pictured the offer of adoption as 
 .an impulse of which the Elmers might afterwards repent. The result 
 was that he gratefully refused the proffered adoption, and soon after- 
 wards left Springfield for New York. There was no break of friend- 
 ship between him and the Elmers ; he spent a few days with them the 
 following autumn, and, at their pressing invitation, paid them a long 
 visit in the spring of 1854. 
 
 In New York, Home met, among other distinguished Americans, Pro- 
 fessor Hare, the eminent chemist and electrician, inventor of the oxy- 
 hydrogen blowpipe; Professor Mapes, noted for his researches in 
 connection with the application of chemistry to agriculture; and Judge 
 "Edmonds, of the United States Supreme Court. All three investigated 
 the phenomena that occurred in Home's presence, and all three became 
 fully satisfied, not only of their genuineness, but of their spiritual 
 origin. Yet they had approached the subject as utter sceptics. 
 Judge Edmonds, who devoted three years to a painstaking 
 series of researches into Spiritualism, wrote in the New York Herald, 
 August 6, 1853 : " I went into the investigation originally thinking it a 
 deception, and intending to make public my exposure of it. Having 
 from my researches come to a different conclusion, I feel that the 
 obligation to make known the result is just as strong."
 
 12 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Professor Hare had accepted the experiments of Faraday as con- 
 clusive; but meeting with facts for which the explanations of the 
 English philosopher would not account, he set himself to devise more 
 ingenious apparatus than Faraday's, that should, as he expected, con- 
 clusively establish that no force was exerted during a seance but that of 
 the sitters present. The results of his manifold experiments he published 
 in a volume that passed through five editions. Vary the experiments 
 and apparatus as he might, he found it demonstrated that there was a 
 power at work not that of the human beings present, and that this 
 power was governed by intelligence. 
 
 Another inquirer who sought Mr. Home's acquaintance at New York 
 in 1852 was Dr. John Gray, a leading American physician. " For 
 Dr. Gray," wrote Home in his autobiography, " I have ever had the 
 deepest affection and esteem. He and his kind wife have given me 
 counsel and befriended me at all times and under all circumstances. 
 From his character and attainments he was eminently suitable as an 
 investigator of phenomena requiring a calm, dispassionate judgment. ' ' 
 
 Dr. Gray encouraged his young friend to carry out his plan of 
 entering on a course of medical study, but a chain of unforeseen cir- 
 cumstances for some time prevented Home from following the advice. 
 The first was a pressing invitation from a Dr. Hull, who had been 
 present at a seance in New York, to visit him at his residence on the 
 Hudson. Home accepted, and did not see New York again till the 
 autumn of 1853. 
 
 Dr. Hull lived at Newburgh on the Hudson. He had offered Mr. 
 Home a considerable remuneration in proposing the visit, which was, 
 of course, declined ; Home informing him that he had never been paid 
 and never would be, but that he should be happy to pay a visit t 
 Newburgh if all suggestions of payment were dropped. Some very 
 interesting seances were held there ; and the result was that Dr. Hull 
 and others of Home's new friends united in a kindly-meant project. 
 They proposed that, as his education had naturally been somewhat 
 neglected, he should place himself in their hands to go through a course 
 of ordinary study, before entering on the medical training that he had 
 in view. Home accepted the offer ; but having made promises to visit 
 numerous persons during that autumn and winter, he was obliged to 
 defer availing himself of it till the following year. 
 
 In August, 1852, after spending a week at Springfield, where he was 
 prostrated by severe illness, he went on a visit to Mr. Ward Cheney 
 of South Manchester, near Hartford, Connecticut, one of the most 
 eminent of American manufacturers. The Cheney family were soon 
 numbered among his fastest friends in America ; and when Home left 
 the States, one or other of its members was always among his corres- 
 pondents. In 1869, Ward Cheney, then a friend of seventeen years' 
 standing, visited him in England ; and manifestations occurred that 
 were recorded by Lord Dunraven. Those attending Home's intro- 
 duction to the Cheneys were somewhat remarkable. 
 
 As he entered the hall of their residence at South Manchester, a 
 sound resembling the rustling of a heavy silk dress attracted his atten- 
 tion. He looked round, and was surprised to see no one. A few
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 13 
 
 minutes later, when talking to Mr. Cheney in one of the sitting rooms, 
 Home again heard the rustling of the dress, and again sought in vain 
 tor anything that might account for such a sound. His host noticed 
 his startled look, and naturally asked him the reason of it. Home, 
 unwilling to make much of the matter, only replied that he had been 
 very ill, and his nervous system was probably out of order. He had 
 hardly spoken the words, when looking through the open door into the 
 hall, he saw standing there a little, active-looking elderly lady, clad in 
 a heavy dress of grey silk. The apparent mystery was explained ; 
 and as the thought passed through his mind, the dress again rustled. 
 
 This time Mr. Cheney also heard the sound. " What is that? " 
 he asked, looking towards the hall. " Oh," said Home, who, from 
 the life-like distinctness of the figure, had not the slightest thought 
 that it could be other than of flesh and blood, ' ' only the dress of that 
 elderly lady in the grey silk rustling." 
 
 Mr. Cheney made no response ; and his guest's thoughts were 
 diverted trom the subject by the entrance of the other members of the 
 family. The lady of the grey silk was not among them; nor, to his 
 surprise, did she appear at dinner. He expected that his host would 
 make some remark about her, but nothing was said ; and this singular 
 reserve naturally set the visitor wondering who she might be. 
 
 As he was leaving the dining-room, the dress again rustled, close to 
 him; and he heard a voice say very distinctly, " I am annoyed that 
 a coffin should have been placed above mine." 
 
 Astonished beyond expression, Home repeated this strange message 
 to Mr. and Mrs. Cheney, and related what he had previously seen and 
 heard. His listeners stared at him, and at each other in mute astonish- 
 ment, till finally Mr. Cheney broke silence. 
 
 " The style of dress," he said, " we perfectly recognise, even to the 
 peculiar colour and heavy texture ; but as for this story of a coffin 
 having been placed on hers, it is as incorrect as it's ridiculous." 
 
 Home did not know what to answer. Till he heard the words, 
 he had not for a moment suspected the visionary character of the 
 figure; and even now he was not aware what relationship existed 
 between the mysterious visitant and his hosts. He waited to see what 
 would happen next ; and what happened was that, an hour later, the 
 voice again sounded in his ear, uttering the self -same words. This 
 time, however, it added: " What is more, Seth had no right to cut 
 that tree down." 
 
 Home repeated the message from first to last. Mr. Cheney seemed 
 greatly perplexed. " Certainly," he said, " this is very strange. My 
 brother Seth did cut down a tree that rather obstructed the view from 
 the old homestead ; and we all said at the time that the one who 
 claims to speak to you would not have consented to his felling it had 
 she been on earth. As for the rest of the message, it is sheer 
 nonsense." 
 
 Just before the party separated for the night, the message was again 
 given, and again met by a point-blank contradiction. " I went to my 
 room," writes Home, " feeling greatly depressed. It was the first 
 time an untrue message had been received through me ; and even were
 
 14 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 it correct, it astonished me that a liberated spirit should occupy itself 
 with such a matter. I could not sleep for thinking of the occurrence. ' ' 
 In the morning he made known to his host how much the matter 
 had troubled him. " I am just as sorry about it," answered Mr. 
 Cheney ; and resumed ' ' I am now going to demonstrate to you that, 
 if it were the spirit it purports to be, it is sadly mistaken. We will 
 go together to the family vault, and you shall see for yourself that, 
 even had we desired to do so, it would be impossible to place another 
 coffin above hers." 
 
 The two went at once to the burying-ground. The person who had 
 the care of the vault was sent for, and its owner desired him to open 
 it. As he placed the key in the lock, the man seemed to recollect 
 something; and turning, said in a half-apologetic tone, " By the way, 
 Mr. Cheney, as there was just a little room above the coffin of Mrs. 
 
 " (the old lady in the grey silk), " I have placed the coffin of 
 
 Mrs. L 's baby there. I suppose it's all right, but perhaps I 
 
 ought to have asked you first about it. I only did it yesterday." 
 
 Mr. Cheney turned on his companion a look that Home could never 
 forget. " It's all true, then it's all true! " were the only words 
 he could utter. 
 
 Home related this strange incident in his Lights and Shadows of 
 Spiritualism, published in 1877. He gave the scene of its occurrence, 
 Hartford, Conn., but ommitted naming the Cheney family. 
 
 " The same evening," he writes, " the spirit once more made 
 known her presence. ' Think not,' ran the message now delivered, 
 ' that I would care were a pyramid of coffins to be piled on mine. I 
 was anxious to convince you of my identity, once and for ever. ' ' 
 
 Ward Cheney, Home's host of 1852, died at South Manchester in 
 1876. Shortly after his departure from earth, Home received a com- 
 munication that I shall give in a future chapter. 
 
 While staying with the Cheneys in 1852, the first instance of Home 
 being lifted in the air occurred. 
 
 " During these elevations or levitations," he wrote, " I feel no 
 hands supporting me, and since the first time, I have never felt fear ; 
 though, should I have fallen from the ceiling of some rooms in which 
 1 have been raised, I could not have escaped serious 1 injury. I am 
 generally lifted up perpendicularly ; my arms frequently become rigid, 
 and are drawn above my head, as if I were grasping the unseen power 
 which slowly raises me from the floor. ' ' 
 
 On taking leave of his new friends at South Manchester, Home 
 passed the remainder of the year 1852 in paying various visits he had 
 promised. It was at this time that he first saw Boston, where converts 
 to Spiritualism were becoming numerous. The manifestations 
 witnessed there were similar to those already recorded, with the 
 addition that on more than one occasion strains of music were heard 
 during a seance when no instrument was near, a phenomenon often 
 subsequently attested. 
 
 Early in the year 1853, Home returned to Newburgh to commence 
 the course of study proposed to him by Dr. Hull and his other friends 
 there. In this retired and beautiful spot, which lies among the
 
 SCOTLA'ND AND AMERICA 15 
 
 highlands of the Hudson and not far from West Point, the spring and 
 summer were tranquilly but laboriously spent. He had entered the 
 Theological Institute as a boarder, though he did not attend the 
 classes; and, under the direction of Dr. Hull, was commencing the 
 acquirement of the French and German languages. 
 
 " While here," wrote Home in 1863, " I had an extraordinary vision, which 
 is still "so vivid that 1 remember it in all its details. 
 
 " The Institute was built on an eminence commanding a view of peculiar 
 beauty ; below lay the city ; on the right the river was lost in its windings 
 among the rocky hills surrounding West Point ; on the left it lay in expanse, 
 and could be traced for a distance of many miles ; behind spread out the 
 country, with its pretty little farmhouses dotted here and there. I have sat 
 for hours of an evening watching their lights, and endeavouring to picture 
 the lives and emotions that crossed those thresholds. 
 
 " One evening I had been pondering deeply on that change which the world 
 calls death, and on the eternity that lies beyond, until, wearied, I found relief 
 in prayer, and then in sleep. It appeared to me that, as I closed my eyes 
 to earthly things, an inner perception was quickened within me, till at last 
 reason was as active as ' when I was awake. I, with vivid distinctness, 
 remember asking myself the question whether I were asleep or not? when, 
 to my amazement, 1 heard a voice" which seemed so natural that my heart 
 bounded with joy as I recognised it for the voice of one who, while 
 on earth, was far too pure for such a world as ours, and who, in passing to 
 that brighter home, had promised to watch over and protect me. And, 
 although I well knew she would do so, it was the first time I had heard 
 her voice with that nearness and natural tone. She said, ' Fear not, Daniel ; 
 I am near you : the vision you are about to have is that of death, yet you will 
 not die.' 
 
 " The Toice became lost; and I felt as one who at noonday is struck 
 blind. As he would cling even to the last memories of the sunlight, so I would 
 fain have clung to material existence not that I felt any dread of passing 
 away, nor that I doubted for an instant the words of my guardian angel ; but 
 I feared I had been over-presumptuous in desiring knowledge, the very 
 memory of which might disturb my future life. This was but momentary, for 
 almost instantaneously came rushing with a fearful rapidity memories of the 
 past ; my thoughts bore the semblance of realities, and every action appeared 
 as an eternity of existence. During the whole time I was aware of a 
 ^benumbing and chilling sensation which stole over my body ; but the more 
 inactive my nervous system became, the more active was my mind, till at 
 length I felt as if I had fallen from the brink of some fearful precipice ; and 
 as I fell, all became obscure, and my whole body one dizzy mass, only kept 
 alive by a feeling of terror, until sensation and thought simultaneously ceased, 
 and I knew no more. 
 
 " How long I had lain thus I know not ; but soon I felt that I was about 
 to awaken in a most dense obscurity. Terror had given place to a pleasurable 
 feeling, accompanied by a certitude of some one dearly loved being near me, 
 yet invisible. Instinctively I realised that beyond the surrounding obscurity 
 lay an ocean of silver-toned light. . . . 
 
 " I felt that thought and action were no longer connected with the earthly 
 tenement, but that they were in a spirit-body in every respect similar to the 
 body which I knew to have been mine, and which I now saw lying motionless 
 before me on the bed. The only link which held the two forms together seemed 
 to be a silvery light, which proceeded from the brain. As if it were a response 
 to my earlier waking thoughts, the same voice, only that it was now more 
 musical than before, said : ' Death is but a second birth, corresponding in 
 every respect to the natural birth ; and should the uniting link now be severed, 
 you could never again enter the body. As I told you, however, this will not 
 be. You did wrong to doubt, even for an instant, for this was the cause 
 of your having suffered ; and this very want of faith is the source of every
 
 16 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 evil on your earth. ... Be very calm, for in a few moments you will see us 
 all ; but do not touch us. Be guided by the one who is appointed to go with 
 you, for I must remain near your body.' 
 
 " It now appeared to me that 1 was waking from a dream of darkness 
 to a sense of light, but such a glorious light ! Never did earthly sun shed such 
 rays, strong in beauty, soft in love. This heavenly light came from those I 
 saw standing about me. Yet the light was not of their creating, but was 
 shed on them from a higher and purer source, which only seemed the more 
 adorably beautiful in the invisibility of its holy love and mercy thus to 
 shower every blessing on the creatures of its creation. And now I was bathed 
 in light, and about me were those for whom I had sorrowed. One that I had 
 never known on earth then drew near, and said, ' You will come with me, 
 Daniel? ' I could only reply that it was impossible to move, inasmuch as I 
 could not feel that my nature had a power over my new spirit-body. . . . 
 
 "I was wafted upward, until I saw the earth, as a vision, far, far below 
 us. Soon I found that we had drawn nearer, and were just hovering over a 
 cottage that I had nei*er seen ; and I also saw the inmates, but had never met 
 them in life. The walls of the cottage were not the least obstruction to my 
 sight ; they were only as if constructed of a dense body of air, yet perfectly 
 transparent ; and the same might be said of every article of furniture. I 
 perceived that the inmates were asleep ; and I saw the various Spirits who were 
 watching over the sleepers. . . . 
 
 " I was most deeply interested in all this, when my guide said, ' We must 
 now return.' When I found myself near the body, I turned to the one who 
 had remained near my bed, and said, ' Why must I return so soon? for it can 
 be but a few moments I have been with you ; and I would fain see more, 
 and remain near you longer.' She replied, ' It is now many hours since you 
 came to us ; but here we take no cognisance of time, and as you are here in 
 spirit, you, too, have lost this knowledge ; we would have you with us, but 
 this must not be at present.' . . . 
 
 " I heard no more, but seemed to sink as in a swoon, until consciousness 
 was merged into a feeling that earth with its trials lay before me, and that I, 
 as well as every human being, must bear my cross. And when I opened my 
 eyes to material things, I found that the little star I had lain watching had 
 given way to the sun, which had been above the horizon about four hours ; 
 making in all some eleven hours that this vision had lasted. My limbs were 
 so dead that at least half an hour elapsed before I could reach the bell-rope 
 to bring anyone o my assistance, and it was only by continued friction that, 
 at the end of an hour, I had sufficient force to enable me to stand upright. 
 
 " I merely give these facts as they occurred; let others comment on them as 
 they may. I have only to add that nothing could ever convince me that this 
 was an illusion or a delusion ; and the remembrance of those hours is as fresh 
 in my mind now as at the moment they took place." 
 
 In the autumn of 1853, Home quitted Newburgh for New York, with 
 the intention of beginning a course of medical study. One after the 
 other, various hindrances linked themselves together into a chain of 
 circumstances opposing the fulfilment of his wish; until, convinced 
 that another career was destined for him, he began to feel the necessity 
 ot abandoning his cherished plan. 
 
 His friends at Newburgh had wished him to promise that, during 
 his residence in New York, he would give no seances without their 
 express consent. Impressed by the cures already wrought through 
 him, they were eager to see him become, as Dr. Hull expresses it in 
 one of his letters, "a physician who would do honour to his race;" 
 and in the hope of developing speedily and remarkably his gift of 
 healing, they insisted on his pursuing a course of severe and solitary 
 study. But of all natures, the joyous, affectionate, social tempera-
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 17 
 
 ment of Home was most unfit for solitude, and suffered most from the 
 enects of a life unhealthy to all, and to him repulsive. In January, 
 1654, he tell ill. ' I had been so left to myself in solitude and study 
 the whole winter," he records in the Incidents, " that mind and body 
 were alike disturbed. I wrote to my friends saying that I could not 
 think of continuing the life I then led; and after many letters had 
 passed between us, I was again left to myself to decide as to my future 
 course. I had friends in Boston, who, as soon as they knew what my 
 intentions were, generously offered to do all that my other friend* had 
 been doing, and to allow me perfect liberty to see whom I might 
 please." 
 
 On recovering his liberty of action, he stayed for some time with 
 the Elmers at Springfield, where manifestations occurred of which an 
 account was published by one of the witnesses, Dr. Gardner, of 
 Boston. " With the room well lighted," he wrote, " we were many 
 times touched more or less forcibly, producing a peculiar and indescrib- 
 able sensation. Some of us distinctly 'felt the form of the spirit hand, 
 a soft, delicate, elastic, yet powerful touch, which cannot be described, 
 but must be felt to be appreciated. The reader," added Dr. 
 Gardner, " will bear in mind that the hands of every person present 
 were in plain view on the top of the table." 
 
 Home passed much of the spring and summer of 1854 in 
 Boston, where frequent and remarkable seances took place, the rare 
 phenomenon of the apparition of a phantom form being observed on 
 more than one occasion. For part of the summer he lived at 
 Roxbury; and as his health seemed gradually improving, he rererted, 
 in spite of former obstacles and disappointments, to his wish of 
 studying for a medical diploma. Among his correspondents at this 
 time and subsequently, was one of the most distinguished of American 
 preachers and theologians, Dr. T. M. Clark, now Bishop of Rhode 
 Island, who, in the years 1853 and 1854, was residing at Hartford, 
 Connecticut. South Manchester, the home of the Cheney family, is 
 not far distant ; and Dr. Clark was a friend of the Cheneys, in whose 
 views a revolution had been wrought by their experiences with Home. 
 The wonderful particulars communicated to him determined Dr. Clark 
 to inquire into the subject ; and he availed himself of the various visits 
 of Mr. Home to Hartford and its neighbourhood to carry on in his 
 own house a patient and searching investigation of the phenomena. 
 As to the results of that inquiry, I may leave the following letter from 
 Bishop Clark to Home to speak for itself : 
 
 " HARTFORD, June 2, 1854. 
 
 " MY DEAR DANIEL, It is a glorious June morning, and I think that I will 
 have a little chat with you. I can imagine you looking out from your elevation 
 in Roxbury upon the distant sea, and then up into the more distant heavens, 
 to see who are looking down upon you from above. I can also imagine you 
 squaring away at your table, digging into French and German. . . . 
 
 " One law, if I were you, should be as the laws of the Medes and Persians 
 I would not ' sit ' but twice a week for anybody. You have been over excited 
 of late, and now ' the grasshopper is a burden.' 
 
 " Don't allow yourself to be too sensitive as to the opinions and notions 
 of other people. I think that this is perhaps the source of your greatest
 
 iS LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 trouble. \ou have the consciousness of integrity: let that suffice for the 
 present the future will settle the rest. You have the pleasant assurance of 
 having been the instrument of conveying incalculable joy and comfort to th 
 hearts of many people . in the case of some you have changed the whole aspect 
 of their existence ; you have made dwelling-places light that were dark before ; 
 you have, then, a right to be happy yourself. 
 
 " And again, you never ought to feel that you are living in a state of 
 dependence upon others. For you give infinitely more than you receive. 
 Never have one distrustful thought as to the future. You will see bright 
 sunshine yet. 
 
 Every evening, as we sit down in our snug parlour, we say as a regular 
 chorus, ' Oh, if Dan were only here ! ' We intend to drive to Manchester in 
 a day or two. My book is posted up to that last night in your chamber. 
 Those tangible demonstrations cannot be recorded on paper. Write me as soon 
 as you can.' Very affectionately yours, 
 
 "THOMAS M. CLARK." 
 
 The excellent advice of Dr. Clark, that he should lay down a law 
 to hold at most two seances a week, Home could not act upon. He 
 was surrounded by eager inquirers, who were determined that he 
 should not act upon it. As for that sensitiveness in which his 
 correspondent justly discerned a source of trouble to him, it was one of 
 the conditions of his phenomenal life a hard condition, but one of 
 which no effort would! have enabled him to divest himself. He 
 was created to feel both joy and sorrow more keenly than other men, 
 and his life was so ordained that the sorrow should largely predominate 
 over the joy. 
 
 A few weeks later, Dr. Clark wntes to Home again : 
 
 " HARTFORD, June 25, 1854. 
 
 " MY DBAR DANIEL, I expect to be in Newburyport on the Fourth of July, 
 and shall return here on the 5th, by way of Boston. Please to let me know 
 whether I shall find you home on Wednesday, the 5th. How I wish that you 
 could only drop in upon us this quiet Sunday evening ! It seems hardly 
 possible that we can ever have any more of those wonderful scenes which 
 we passed through with you. When I recall the incidents as they occurred, 
 they appear too great to be believed. Do you get anything new that is, 
 anything different in kind from what we have experienced? It is rather hard 
 for us to be deprived of all that is going on in Boston and Brooklyn. I 
 have been so occupied with other matters, that I have now a strong appetite 
 for something a little spiritual." 
 
 What were the wonderful scenes, it will be asked, to which the 
 Bishop refers ? Dr. Clark does not afford me any information ; not 
 that he denies the evidence of his senses! any more than he did in 
 1854, but that those who were tooi timid to give their names to the 
 world, when the impression made by the phenomena was fresh, are still 
 more unwilling now. I will relate briefly the remaining events of 
 Home's life in America, and then conclude this chapter with an extract 
 from the scanty information in my possession concerning the seances 
 at Hartford. Home kept no record of those seances or of any others ; 
 he left the phenomena to speak to the beholders, and the beholders to 
 speak in their turn to the world, if they had the courage. Not very 
 many displayed that courage; and with regard to the Harford mani- 
 festations, there are few now left on earth to speak of what they saw 
 and tested! in Home's presence more than thirty years ago..
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 19 
 
 Home spent the winter at New York, going much among the poorer 
 classes, and holding seances with them. He had again entered on his 
 medical studies, and again they were interrupted by the failure of his 
 health. The winter that year was unusually bitter; and by January, 
 1855, the symptoms had grown so alarming that all thought of continu- 
 ing his studies had to be abandoned. A year previously, his left lung 
 had been pronounced diseased. Dr. Gray of New York, and other 
 eminent medical friends whom he now consulted, united in declaring 
 that the malady had made such progress as to render his condition 
 one of grave danger, and in recommending, asi the best hope of pro- 
 longing his life, a voyage to Europe. 
 
 That recommendation was the sole and sufficient reason why Home 
 quitted America. It cost him a hard struggle to follow the advice so 
 pressingly tendered. " I was to be separated from those who would 
 have tended me with every affection, ' ' he writes, ' ' and to be thrown 
 as it were a stranger in a strange land. My family had by this time 
 all been residents of America for some time, and I knew no one 
 friend in all England." 
 
 His many friends in the States wrote, as soon as the verdict and 
 advice of the physicians became known to them, to express their deep 
 grief at the news and press him to pay them parting visits before he 
 sailed. I quote a few words from a letter in my possession written 
 to Home early in 1855 by Mrs. Clark: 
 
 " I ain grieved at the result of Dr. Gray's examination, for I had 
 always tried to persuade myself that no serious difficulty existed. But 
 oh, it cannot be that you are to pass away from us soon. I will not 
 think of it. I am sure that, with care and a quiet course of life, 
 you may be spared to us many years yet, and enjoy a good degree of 
 health, as many do under such circumstances." 
 
 February and March, 1855, were passed by Home in paying farewell 
 visits to his friends ; they and he both thinking it was the last time 
 they should meet on earth. In March he was at Hartford, Conn., and 
 held one or two last seances there. Three years later a lengthy 
 narrative of one of these seances was published in the Hartford 
 Courant (March 6th, 1858), but as the writer only signs himself 
 "D." I have been unable identify him. The editor of the 
 Courant prefixed to " D.'s " narrative the following introductory 
 remarks. Perhaps they may enable some American readers to 
 identify the " D." to whom they refer : 
 
 " The gentleman who signs the subjoined! communication was 
 appointed by the Secretary of War a member of the Board of 
 Examiners of the national military school at West Point last summer " 
 (1857). " At West Point he was selected by the Board of 
 Examiners from their number to deliver the parting address to the 
 cadets. We mention these facts as significant of the mental calibre 
 and culture of the writer. ' ' 
 
 " The friend to whom I was indebted for an introduction to Home," writes 
 " D.," " being well acquainted with my scepticism upon these matters, 
 arranged that the ' circle ' should sit in my own house, that all suspicion of 
 machinery or any other underhanded contrivance might be removed at the
 
 20 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 outset. It was also left for me to determine who should compose the circle. 
 I selected a party of ladies and gentlemen of whom it was presumed that 
 two, from previous investigations with Mr. Home, admitted the reality of 
 these phenomena, and were inclined to believe in the spiritualistic solution. 
 The remaining eight scouted Both the theory and the facts. . . . 
 
 " I could not help compassionating Home when I saw him, a youth at* twnty, 
 pale, emaciated, and suffering from consumption, confronted by such a* array 
 of mature, hard-headed scoffers at his pretensions." 
 
 The seance, relates " D.," was held in a room " lighted by a gas 
 chandelier with four burners ; " and the party sat at a large oral table, 
 seven feet eight inches in length. The table vibrated, loud rapi were 
 heard, and various phenomena succeeded, which " D." minutely 
 describes. Among them, an accordion played in "D.'s" hand, he 
 holding the instrument by the end farthest from the keys. " Home 
 was seven feet eight inches from me." " D." writes, " and could not 
 have reached me even if his entire body had been extended in my 
 direction." 
 
 " These spiritual phenomena," continues " D.," " had so repeatedly refused 
 to appear in my presence and respond to my wooing, that in regard to then 
 I was inclined to reject all testimony. One sitting with Mr. Home disabused 
 me of this incredulity, and convinced me, not of the alleged spiritual agency, 
 bat that the marvels which attend him are genuine, and cannot be explained 
 by jugglery, collusion, deception, or hallucination, but must be solved, if 
 solved at all, by some law of nature or of mind as yet undiscovered. I affirm 
 this of no other medium but Home, for my attempts to extract miracles from 
 other professors of this art have proved most signal failures. 
 
 " Home spurns every inducement to invest his wonderful power in business, 
 and engage in rapping as a trade. He is rather too chary of his rare gift, and 
 displays it only on urgent solicitation, as a favour to those he likes, or as a 
 grace to the psychological inquirer. 
 
 " It is less preposterous to my mind," declares " D.," in terminating his 
 account of the seance, " to adopt even the spiritual hypothesis than to believe 
 that Home could accomplish all this by his feet, while twenty suspicious eyes 
 were fastened upon him." 
 
 Throughout this narrative, Home's name is spelt " Hume " a 
 mistake made by many persons besides the writer in the Hartford 
 C our ant. Home always wrote his name " Home," but he retained 
 the ancient Scottish pronunciation of that name, " Hume; " hence 
 the difference between his own mode of spelling it and that sometimes 
 mistakenly adopted by others. He was much amused when, on one 
 occasion, a very oracular acquaintance wrote to some American news- 
 paper to settle, once and For ever, the question whether the name were 
 Home or Hume, by announcing that with his own ears he had heard 
 the bearer of that name pronounce it Hme, and that those persons 
 who spelt it H0me, only showed that they had never met its owner. 
 
 In Mr. Home's Incidents in My Life, published in 1863, is contained 
 (pp. 56 61) the narrative of a seance that took place at Hartford, 
 Connecticut, on March 14, 1855, within a few days of the other seance 
 described by the West Point Examiner " D." The name of the 
 witness who furnished this narrative was not published in the Incidents. 
 He was Mr. Frank L. Burr, editor of the Hartford Times, and has 
 kindly sent me a letter attesting the facts narrated in the Incidents,
 
 SCOTLAND AND AMERICA 21 
 
 and adding some further particulars to the description there giren 
 by him. 
 
 This Hartford seance of March i4th, 1855, was one of the last 
 perhaps the very last held by Mr. Home in the States before he 
 sailed. I extract a portion of Mr. Burr's narrative as published in 
 the Incidents. The sitters on this occasion consisted of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Burr, and Mr. Home: 
 
 "A paper was taken from the floor, slowly lifted up, and placed upo 
 the table, as I can affirm, without the aid of a human hand. Sitting at the 
 end of the table where this was done, I was enabled to see the whole of this 
 proceeding. The paper was placed upon the edge of the table, and so near my 
 hand as to touch it. I saw plainly and clearly the hand that held the paper. 
 It wab evidently a lady's hand very thin, very pale, ind remarkably attenuated. 
 Ihe conformation of this hand was peculiar. The fingers were of an almost 
 preternatural length, and seemed to be set wide apart. The extrome pallor 
 of the entire hand was also remarkable. But perhaps the most noticeable thing 
 about it was the shape of the fingers, which, in addition to their length and 
 thinness, were unusally pointed at the ends ; they tapered rapidly and evenly 
 towards the tips. The hand also narrowed from Ihe lower knuckles to the 
 wrist, where it ended. All this could be seen by such light as was in the 
 rom, while the hand was for a few moments holding the paper upon the 
 edge of the table. . . . 
 
 '' Tke hand," continues Mr. Burr, " presently took a pencil and began to 
 write. This was in plain sight, being only shaded by one of the circle who 
 was sitting between the paper on the table, and the fire. The hands of each 
 ne present were upon the table, in full view, so that it could not have 
 been one of the party who was thus writing. Being the nearest one to the 
 hand, I bent down close to it as it wrote, to see the whole of it. It extended 
 further than the wrist. With a feeling of curiosity natural under the 
 circumstances, I brought my face close to it in the endeavour to see exactly 
 what it was, and, in so doing, probably destroyed the electrical or magnetic 
 influence by which it was working ; for the pencil dropped, and the hand 
 vanished. The writing was afterwards examined, and proved to be the 
 nme, in her own proper handwriting, of a relative and intimate friend of one 
 of the circle, who passed away some years since." (" My wife's cousin a 
 lady who died some five years before," says Mr. Burr in a letter to me of 
 April, 1887.) "Other marks were also made, and the word 'Dear' had been 
 written just as the pencil dropped. This writing has been preserved, and 
 remains as an evidence of the reality of the fact. That it was produced by no 
 hand of any one bodily in that room I know and affirm." 
 
 A daguerreotype portrait of Mrs. Burr's cousin, taken shortly before her 
 death (from consumption) was presented to Mr. Home subsequently to the 
 seance. It has been preserved, and is now in my possession. The hands and 
 fingers in the daguerreotype have the very same wasted look and singular 
 conformation so minutely described by Mr. Burr. 
 
 The hand," says Mr. Burr in concluding his narrative published in the 
 Incidents, " afterwards came and shook hands with each one present. I felt 
 it minutely. It was tolerably well and symmetrically made, though not 
 perfect; and it was soft and slightly warm. IT ENDED AT THE WRIST." 
 
 In his letter to me of April 6, 1887, Mr. Burr gives some additional 
 particulars concerning the seance, and relates in detail the examina- 
 tion he made of the spirit-hand when it grasped his. 
 
 " Mr. Home came to our house rather late in the evening," he 
 writes, " having been at the house of Mr. Day, then the editor of 
 the Hartford Courant, all the evening. I invited him into the parlour 
 for a seance. Nobody was present but Mrs. Burr and myself and 
 Mr. Home."
 
 22 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Mr. Burr then details the phenomena of the seance as in his des- 
 cription written thirty years before; and on arriving at the point 
 where the narrative given in the Incidents concludes, he subjoins the 
 following particulars : 
 
 " The hand white as marble, and not visibly attached to any arm 
 reached out to my hand, and shook hands with me ; a hearty human 
 shake. Then the hand! sought to withdraw from mine. I would 
 not let it. Then it pulled to get away, with a good deal of strength. 
 But I held it firmly, resolved to see what it was. (All this time 
 Mr. Home did not move, more than a dead man. He was too far 
 back in his chair to reach me, without bending over forward.) 
 When the hand found it could not get away, it yielded itself up to me 
 for my examination; turned itself over and back, shut up its fingers 
 and opened them; let me examine the finger-nails, the joints, the 
 creases. It was a perfect human hand 1 , but white as snow, asd 
 ENDED AT THE WRIST. I was not satisfied with the sense of sight to 
 prove this I wanted the concurrent testimony of other senses; and 
 I swung my hand and arm up and down, where the arm belonging 
 to this hand should have been had it been of flesh and bone, but 
 no arm was there. Even then I was not satisfied. Turning this 
 strange hand palm towards me, / pushed my right forefinger entirely 
 through the -palm, till it came out an inch or more visibly, 
 from the back of the hand. In other words, I pushed my finger 
 clear through that mysterious hand. When I withdrew it, the place 
 closed up, much as a piece of putty would close under such circum- 
 stances leaving a visible mark or scar, where the wound was, but 
 not a hole. 
 
 " While I was still looking at it the hand vanished quick as a 
 lightning-flash. It was gone!" 
 
 The above remarkable seance was also described by Mr. Burr, in 
 1875, m tne Ne>uf Y <> r k Sun >' his narrative being headed " A Strange 
 and Startling Story."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 
 
 Arrival in England. Stance at Cox's Hotel. Controversy with 
 Sir David Brewster. Damaging testimony against Sir David. 
 Lord Brougham. Lord Dunraven's testimony. Browning and 
 Sludge. Lord Lytton's experience. Thompson's opinion. 
 Experience of the Trollopes, mother and son. Journey to 
 Florence. Attempted assassination. 
 
 IN April, 1855, Home landed in England. " I never can forget 
 my feelings," he writes in his first volume of Incidents, " as I looked 
 around me, and saw only joy beaming on the faces of my fellow- 
 passengers; some there were who were about to reach their home, 
 and the thought of kind friends waiting to welcome them brought the 
 smile of joy to their countenances. ... I stood there alone, 
 with not one friend to welcome me, broken down in health, and my 
 hopes and the fairest dreams of youth all, as I thought, for ever 
 fledL The only prospect I had was that of a few months' suffering, 
 and then to pass from earth. I had this strange power also 
 which made a few look with pity on me as a poor deluded being, 
 devil-sent to lure souls to destruction, while others were not chary in 
 treating me as a base impostor. I stood there on the ship's deck 
 amongst the crowd of passengers, and a sense of utter loneliness crept 
 over me, until my very heart seemed too heavy for pie to bear up 
 against it. I sought my cabin, and prayed to God to vouchsafe one 
 ray of hope to cheer me. In a few moments I felt a sense of 
 joy come over me, and when I rose I was as happy as the happiest 
 of the throng." 
 
 Home's presence in London soon became known, and without 
 having courted it, he found the notice of English society attracted to 
 him. More requests for seances were pressed upon him than he 
 could gratify; and among other noted personages of the day, Lord 
 Brougham expressed a desire to investigate the phenomena. An 
 afternoon seance was appointed, and Brougham requested and 
 received permission to bring with him a scientific friend, Sir David 
 Brewster. In full daylight, these two shrewd inquirers sat with 
 Home; the proprietor of the hotel in Jermyn Street where he was 
 staying being also present. This was Mr. W. Cox, a most worthy 
 and excellent man, who had speedily become, and remained till the 
 day of his death, the fast friend of Mr. Home. The effect pro- 
 duced on the minds of the two investigators by what they witnessed 
 was subsequently attested by Mr. Cox in a letter to the Morning 
 Advertiser, dated October 15, 1855. 
 
 " I assert," he wrote, " that both Sir David and Lord Brougham 
 were astonished at what they heard, saw, and felt. I assert that 
 Sir David, in the fulness of his astonishment, made use of the 
 
 23
 
 24 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 expression, ' This upsets the philosophy of fifty years.' ... I 
 assert that Lord Brougham was so much interested that he begged me 
 to arrange for him another sitting, and said he would put off erery 
 engagement for the purpose of further investigation." 
 
 After the seance, Mr. Home wrote to a friend in America a des- 
 cription of his English experiences, in the course of which he very 
 naturally and truly stated of Lord Brougham and Sir D. Brewster, 
 that both had brought the whole force of their keen discernment to 
 bear upon the phenomena with a view to accounting for them by 
 natural means, and had been unable to so. The letter was 
 published and commented upon in America, and the statements of 
 the American press presently found their way into English journals. 
 Long before they did so, Home had left Jermyn Street on a visit 
 to Mr. Rymer of Baling, a London solicitor in large practice; and 
 at Baling, Sir D. Brewster was present at a second seance. A few 
 days later Mr. Rymer received a letter, of which the following are 
 the first few lines : 
 
 " Sir, In consequence of a very remarkable account given by Sir 
 David Brewster of the extraordinary powers of Mr. Home, together 
 with two or three friends I am anxious to have an interview with him. 
 If he can make it convenient to come to my house, No. 80, Eaton 
 Square, on Thursday or Saturday next, at two o'clock, I should be 
 glad to make an appointment for either of those days. . . . 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 " EDWARD BULLER." 
 
 A still more' decisive testimony to the effect produced on Sir 
 David's mind is on record. 
 
 " I was so struck," wrote the late Earl of Dunraven, " with what 
 Sir David Brewster with whom I was well acquainted had himself 
 told me, that it materially influenced me in determining ^ to examine 
 thoroughly into the reality of the phenomena. I met him one day 
 on the steps of the Athenaeum; we got upon the subject of table 
 turning, &c. ; he spoke most earnestly, stating that the impression 
 left on his mind from what he had seen was that the manifestations 
 were to him quite inexplicable by fraud, or by any physical laws 
 with which we were acquainted, and that they ought to be fully and 
 carefully examined into." 
 
 As yet, the assertion that Sir David had been converted to a belief 
 in Spiritualism had not been copied from the American press by the 
 English ; and the philosopher, with the first feelings of wonder and 
 bewilderment strong in his mind, had the frankness, as the words of 
 Lord Dunraven and Mr. Buller show, to confess to his friends that 
 the phenomena he had witnessed in the presence of Mr. Home were 
 inexplicable by the theory of fraud. At last, in September, 1855, 
 the Morning Advertiser reproduced the American statements ; and 
 Sir David at once wrote to that paper to disclaim all belief in 
 Spiritualism, and to set down to imposture the very phenomena that 
 he had assured Lord Dunraven could not have been produced 
 by trickery and were inexplicable by any physical laws with which he 
 was acquainted.
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 25 
 
 A lengthy correspondence followed. Sir David, in a second letter, 
 declared that, had he been allowed to look under the table, he might 
 perhaps have been able to expound the riddle of the phenomena. 
 
 " I assert," replied Mr. Cox of Jermyn Street, " that no hindrance 
 existed to Sir David looking under the drapery of the table ; on the 
 contrary, he was so frequently invited to do so by Mr. Home, that 
 I felt annoyed at Mr. Home's supposing that either he or I could be 
 suspected of any imposition." 
 
 So much for the seance in Jermyn Street. Sir David was 
 requested to verify the absence of concealed mechanism, but declined 
 a curious mode of conducting a scientific investigation. Yet he 
 afterwards assumed its presence. Was it honest of him to do so in 
 view of his refusal to examine, and still more in view of the fact that 
 at Baling he actually did examine ? Invited by Mr. Rymer to give 
 his testimony to facts, the well-known author, Mr. T. A. Trollope, 
 responded as follows, in a letter written for publication : 
 
 " I declare that at your house at Ealing, on an evening subsequent to Sir 
 David Brewster's meeting with Mr. Home at Cox's Hotel, in the presence 
 of Sir David, of myself, and of other persons, a large and very heavy dining- 
 table was moved about in a most extraordinary manner ; that Sir David was 
 urged, both by Mr. Home and by yourself, to look under the cloth and under 
 the table; that he did look under it; and that while he was so looking, the 
 table was much moved ; and that while he was looking, and while the table 
 was moving, he avowed that he saw the movement. 
 
 " I should not, my dear sir," ends Mr. Trollope, " do all that duty, I think, 
 requires of me in this case, were I to conclude without stating very solemnly 
 that, after very many opportunities of witnessing and investigating the 
 phenomena caused by, or happening to Mr. Home, I am wholly convinced that, 
 be what may their origin, and cause, and nature, they are not produced by 
 any fraud, machinery, juggling, illusion, or trickery on his part." 
 
 Sir David was as fully convinced of that, in his secret soul, as Mr. 
 Trollope, but he had a scientific reputation to lose, and he feared 
 ridicule; so, after declaring in private that the manifestations could 
 not have been produced by jugglery, he declared in public that they 
 could, and wrote, " Were Mr. Home to assume the character of the 
 Wizard of the West, I would enjoy 'his exhibition as much as that 
 of other conjurors." 
 
 On which Mr. B. Coleman of Bayswater wrote to the Morning 
 Advertiser : 
 
 " I was as much astonished at what I saw, felt, and heard in the presence 
 of Mr. Home as any man ; and when I found that Sir David Brewster had 
 been a witness of similar phenomena at the house of my friend, I called upon 
 Sir David, accompanied by my neighbour ; and in the course of conversation 
 Sir David said, that what he and Lord Brougham saw ' was marvellous 
 quite unaccountable.' 
 
 " I then asked him, ' Do you, Sir David, think these things were produced 
 by trick? ' 
 
 ' No, certainly not,' was his reply. 
 
 'Is it delusion, think you? ' 
 
 ' No, that is out of the question.' 
 
 ' Then what is it? ' 
 
 To which he replied, ' I don't know; but spirit is the last thing I will 
 give in to.' ' 
 
 C
 
 26 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 The publication of this letter naturally made Sir David very angry, 
 and he wrote to contradict it in part, not denying the substantial 
 accuracy of the above statements, but challenging the writer's repro- 
 duction of the description that Sir David had given him of the 
 phenomena in Jermyn Street. Brewster then continued: 
 
 " In reply to Mr. Cox, I may take this opportunity to answer his request 
 by telling him what I have seen, and what I think of it. At Mr. Cox's 
 house, Mr. Home, Lord Brougham, and myself, sat down to a small table, 
 Mr. Home having previously requested us to examine if there was any 
 machinery about his person, an examination, however, which we declined to 
 make. When all our hands were upon the table, noises were heard rappings 
 in abundance ; and, finally, when we rose up, the table actually rose, as 
 appeared to me, from the ground. This result I do not pretend to explain ; but 
 rather than believe that spirits made the noise, I will conjecture that the 
 raps were produced by Mr. Home's toes, . . . and rather than believe that 
 spirits raised the table, I will conjecture that it was done by the agency of 
 Mr. Home's feet." 
 
 This from the man who had declared so emphatically to Lord 
 Dunraven and Mr. Coleman that he could not suppose the phenomena 
 were produced by trickery ! 
 
 bir David then described, with more than one suppressio vert, the 
 remaining phenomena that he had witnessed in Jermyn Street, and 
 continued: " How these effects were produced neither Lord 
 Brougham nor I could say, but I conjecture that they may be pro- 
 duced by machinery attached to the lower extremities of Mr. Home. ' ' 
 
 Which machinery a keen and sceptical observer like Brewster could 
 not detect in broad daylight ! Nor could he say, in full daylight, 
 whether a table rose in the air or not, but only that it " appeared " 
 to him to rise. 
 
 All through this newspaper warfare Lord Brougham preserved an 
 inflexible silence; and Sir David Brewster did not venture to appeal 
 to him. Is not the inference certain that Sir David dared not and 
 that his lordship would not speak, though requested by Mr. Home to 
 do so, and though he had half -promised to publish an account of the 
 seance, because his testimony must have been unfavourable to his 
 friend? That Lord Brougham's views were not in accordance with 
 those of Brewster may be inferred from the fact that in 1860 or 1861 
 Brougham was again present at seances with Home, and from his 
 remarkable declaration made in a preface written by him for Mr. 
 Groom Napier's work, The Book of Nature: " In the most cloud- 
 less skies of scepticism, I see a rain-cloud if it be no bigger than a 
 man's hand: it is Modern Spiritualism." 
 
 Said the Spectator, when the whole correspondence was 
 republished by Mr. Home in his first volume of Incidents : " It seems 
 established by the clearest evidence that he" (Sir David) " felt and 
 expressed, at and immediately after his seances with Mr. Home, a 
 wonder and almost awe, which he afterwards wished to explain 
 away. . . . The suppression of Lord Brougham's half-promised 
 testimony, though challenged by Mr. Home, is on the whole un- 
 favourable to Sir David, as it might be presumed that Loid Brougham 
 would support his friend's testimony as far as possible. Nor does
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 27 
 
 the passage-at-arms between Sir David and Mr. T. A. Trollope con- 
 cerning the subsequent seance at Baling, seem to us quite creditable 
 to Sir David. . . . The hero of science does not acquit himself 
 as we could wish or expect." 
 
 How could he ? Sir David was not conducting the controversy in 
 the interests of truth, but in the interests of David Brewster. When 
 compelled to decide whether he would tell the truth and be laughed 
 at, or prevaricate and have the world on his side, the philosopher did 
 not hesitate for a moment. But it so happened that he had already 
 placed his honest opinion of the Jermyn Street seance on record ; and 
 the letter that contains it was published by his daughter, Mrs. 
 Gordon, in her Home Life of Sir David Brewster. As there could 
 not be a better witness against Sir David than himself, I append the 
 words in which he contradicts the statements he had made in the 
 Morning Advertiser. 
 
 " Last of all, I went with Lord Brougham to a stance of the new spirit- 
 rapper, Mr. Home, a lad of twenty. . . . Mr. Home lives in Coxe's Hotel, 
 Jermyn Street, and Mr. Coxe, who knows Lord Brougham, wished him to have 
 a stance, and his lordship invited me to accompany him in order to assist in 
 finding out the trick. We four sat down at a moderately-sized table, the 
 structure o/ which we were invited to examine. In a short time the table 
 shuddered, and a tremulous motion ran up all our arms ; at our bidding these 
 motions ceased and returned. The most unaccountable rappings were produced 
 in various parts of the table ; and the table actually rose from the ground when 
 no hand was upon it. A larger table was produced, and exhibited similar 
 movements. ... A small hand-bell was laid down with its mouth on the 
 carpet ; and after lying for some time, it actually rang, wh'en nothing could 
 have touched it. The bell was then placed on the other side, still upon the 
 carpet, and it came over to me and placed itself in my hand. It did the same 
 to Lord Brougham. 
 
 " These were the principal experiments. We could give no explanation of 
 them, and could not conjecture how they could be produced by any kind of 
 mechanism." 
 
 Written with no idea that it would ever see the light, this letter 
 undoubtedly contains Sir David Brewster's true impression of the 
 phenomena he had witnessed. He could not explain them : he could 
 only see that they were not, as he subsequently and dishonestly 
 suggested, due to trickery on the part of Mr. Home. 
 
 It should be added, with regard to Sir David's " conjecture" that 
 the table might have been lifted by the feet of Mr. Home, that at 
 the Ealing seance the table used was a dining-table twelve feet 
 long; that Sir David Brewster, Mr. T. A. Trollope 1 , and Mr. Rymer 
 did, as a matter of fact, experiment on it after the seance to see 
 whether it were possible to move the table or to raise it with their feet, 
 and that it could not be stirred by the united efforts of the feet of 
 all three. 
 
 No doubt thousands of tables have been tilted by human feet and 
 hands, and Faraday's famous theory of the action, unconscious or 
 conscious, of the sitters, was applicable to many seances, but never to 
 those of Mr. Home. Only those who have witnessed the phenomena 
 can realise how startling and peculiat they were in his presence. 
 Many persons have attested the facts detailed in the following
 
 28 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 description, and many more could bear witness to its exactitude had 
 they the courage to come forward. 
 
 The phenomena that marked the commencement of a successful 
 seance were, as a rule, as follows : 
 
 While the hands of Mr. Home and the other persons present 
 rested on the table, a curious phenomenon would fix the attention of 
 the circle. The table did not move, it was neither tilted nor raised ; 
 but the hands resting on it felt it quiver and tremble as if instinct 
 with life. When the power was strong, these vibrations affected 
 not only the table but everything in the room, and often the floor 
 and walls also' shook. Some have compared the vibrations to the 
 beating of a pulse; others to the ripples that pass over a sheet ot 
 water when its surface is lightly stirred by the wind., The 
 phenomenon was well described by Dr. J. Garth Wilkinson, or rather 
 by his daughter, in his Evenings with Mr. Home and the Spirits, 
 published at the time of the Brewster controversy. 
 
 " In a minute or two the same inward thrill went through the table 
 as I have described in the first -seance, and the chairs also, as before, 
 thrilled under us so vividly that my youngest daughter jumped up 
 from hers, exclaiming, ' Oh, papa, there's a heart in my chair ! ' 
 which we all felt to be a correct expression of the sensation 
 conveyed." 
 
 Presently the tremors would cease, and raps were forthwith heard, 
 as if the vibrations that passed through the table had marked the 
 period occupied in charging it with some subtle force, electrical or 
 otherwise, that was now given off in these tiny detonations. The 
 raps were as varied in their character as human nature is varied, 
 timid, bold, clear, muffled, changing with every intelligence that 
 produced them ; just as in this world no two persons will knock at a 
 door in a manner exactly similar. " I have heard," wrote Mr. W. 
 Crookes, F.R.S., " delicate ticks, as with the point of a pin; a 
 cascade of sharp sounds as from an induction coil in full work ; 
 detonation in the air; sharp, metallic taps; a cracking like that 
 heard when a frictional machine is at work ; sounds like scratching ; 
 the twittering as of a bird, &c." 
 
 When the power was present in great force, not only did the largest 
 and heaviest tables repeatedly rise from the ground when the hands 
 of the sitters were on them ; but a mass of evidence is on record that 
 at seances with Mr. Home tables, chairs, and many other objects have 
 been seen in strong light to move about the room or to rise in the air, 
 when neither Home nor any other of the human beings present was 
 touching them. The world is slow to attach credence to such a 
 fact, but a fact it is, if human eyesight and human testimony count 
 for anything. Sir David Brewster, one of the most hostile and 
 sceptical of inquirers, attests the phenomenon in the letter published 
 by his daughter; and Mr. Crookes wrote: " I have had several 
 repetitions of the experiment considered as conclusive by the com- 
 mittee of the Dialectical Society, that is to say, the movement of a 
 heavy table, in full light, the backs of the chairs being turned towards 
 the table, at about a foot away from it, and each person kneeling on
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 29 
 
 his chair, his hands placed on the back, above the table, but without 
 touching it." 
 
 Means were often adopted by inquirers to test the correctness of 
 Professor Faraday's theory in the case of Mr. Home. For instance, 
 in 1868, Mr. J. H. Simpson of Campden Grove, Kensington, a 
 gentleman of considerable scientific attainments and a disbeliever in 
 Spiritualism, placed rollers on the table, and on these a large flat 
 music-book. The fingers of Mr. Home and the other sitters rested 
 lightly on the music-book, and while the result of this experiment 
 was watched above, Mr. Simpson lay down on the floor to see that 
 no foot touched the table below. The table moved more violently 
 than before, and Mr. Simpson quite satisfied himself that the move- 
 ment, to whatever cause due, was independent of any person present. 
 This experiment, it will be seen, was made three years before Mr. 
 Crookes employed a different apparatus with similar results. 
 
 At seances with Mr. Home, when the table tilted, the tilting 
 was almost always accompanied by a very startling phenomenon. No 
 matter how acute the angle, the various articles on the table, such 
 as pens, pencils, paper, lamps, candlesticks, etc., would remain in 
 their place as if glued to it. This has been seen to occur again and 
 again in the strongest light ; and at the demand of persons present 
 the force retaining the article in its place has been instantaneously re- 
 laxed, and the substance so released has slipped from the inclined 
 surface of the table. Sometimes it \vould be requested that a particular 
 article might thus slide down, while others on the table kept their 
 places; and the invisible forces at work always complied with the 
 request. 
 
 The Earl of Dunraven wrote, in describing a seance in 1867, at 
 which he, Mrs. Thayer, and Mr. Earl, the latter a total disbeliever 
 in the phenomena, were present with Mr. Home: " The room was 
 lighted by a fire, a large lamp standing on the piano, and two wax 
 candles on the table. The table was repeatedly tilted up at an angle, 
 I should say, greater than 45. The surface was smooth, polished 
 mahogany, yet the candles, paper, and pencil did not move.- Home 
 asked that the candles might slip (as they naturally would), and they 
 did slide down the table until near the edge, when at his request they 
 remained stationary." 
 
 In 1860, Robert Bell wrote in his famous article " Stranger than 
 Fiction," contributed to the Cornhill Magazine while Thackeray 
 was editor: 
 
 " Of a somewhat similar character is another movement, in some respects 
 more curious, and certainly opening a stranger field for speculation. The 
 table rears itself up on one side, until the surface forms an inclined plane, 
 at an angle of about 45. In this attitude it stops. According to ordinary 
 experience everything on the table must slide off, or topple over ; but nothing 
 stirs. The vase of flowers, the books, the little ornaments are as motionless 
 as if they were fixed in their places. We agree to take away our hands, to 
 throw up the ends of the cover, so as to leave the entire round pillar and 
 claws exposed, and to remove our chairs to a little distance, that we may have 
 a more complete command of a phenomenon which, in its marvellous develop- 
 ment at least, is, I believe, new to us all. Our withdrawal makes no 
 difference whatever; and now we see distinctly on all sides the precise pose 
 of the table, which looks like the Tower of Pisa, as if it must inevitably
 
 3 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 tumble over. With a view to urge the investigation as far as it can be carried, 
 a wish is whispered for a still more conclusive display of the power by which 
 this most extraordinary result has been accomplished. The desire is at once 
 complied with. The table leans more and more towards the perpendicular ; 
 two of the three claws are high above the ground ; and finally the whole 
 structure stands on the extreme tip of a single claw, fearfully overbalanced, 
 but maintaining itself as if it were all one solid mass, instead of being 
 freighted with a number of loose articles, and as if the position had been 
 planned in strict accordance with the laws of equilibrium and attraction 
 instead of involving an inexplicable violation of both." 
 
 The evidence of various other witnesses of this phenomenon will be 
 found in subsequent chapters. 
 
 Before the Brewster controversy begun, Mr. Home had left 
 England, and was passing the autumn of 1855 at Florence, while his 
 assailants and defenders were filling the columns of the Morning 
 Advertiser. After leaving Cox's Hotel, he had spent the summer 
 with the Rymer family at Baling, and the warm affection with which 
 these new English friends soon learnt to regard their young guest is 
 repeatedly, expressed in their letters subsequently written to him. 
 Many years later one of those pitiful creatures who invent and publish 
 falsehood, but forget to sign their names to them, set afloat a story 
 that soon went the round of the American press. It was said that 
 Mr. Horn* had ordered in the name of Mr. Rymer a fur-coat, value 
 ^50, and had left his generous host to pay for it. 
 
 "A lie that is all a lie may be met and fought with outright, 
 But a lie that is half a truth is a harder matter to fight." 
 
 And so Mr. Home found. The half-truth in this particular slander 
 was that a gift of ,50 had entered into his relations with the Rymer 
 family. But it was not the value of the apocryphal fur-coat, and so 
 far from having received a gift of ^50, Mr. Home had made it, under 
 the following circumstances: 
 
 A few years after the seances at Baling, business embarrassments 
 and the conduct of others involved Mr. Rymer in absolute ruin. His 
 being a declared Spiritualist was against him in England ; and 
 despairing of finding an opening at home, he went to Australia to try 
 his fortune there. His wife and children were longing to join him, 
 but had not the means. In her distress Mrs. Rymer wrote to Mr. Home, 
 recalling old days at Baling, and entreating him in memory of them 
 to aid her. This was in the autumn of 1859, and on November 
 ist of that year Mrs. Rymer was able to write to Mr. Home a letter 
 now before me. I quote only as much of it as is necessary for my 
 purpose : 
 
 " MY DEAR DAN, I cannot in words express my thanks for your 
 affectionate liberality, which enables me to follow my beloved husband 
 to the new country. . . . Most heartily, most sincerely do I thank 
 you for what you have given ; also, Dan, for your prayers and good 
 wishes. Believe, with affectionate greetings and many prayers, how 
 truly I am always, dear Dan, in this or a far-off country, your sincere 
 and grateful friend, 
 
 " EMMA RYMER."
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 3 1 
 
 The sum that Mr. Home sent was 50. This gift of ,50 to Mrs. 
 Rymer is the only traceable foundation for the falsehood that he had 
 wronged her husband. It was but one of a thousand slanders 
 circulated concerning him. 
 
 During his stay at Ealing, frequent seances were held, and remark- 
 able manifestations occurred. It was at this time that he made the 
 acquaintance of Dr. Garth Wilkinson, who published in a very 
 interesting pamphlet, Evenings with Mr. Home and the Spirits, an 
 account of the phenomena he had witnessed and the striking com- 
 munications he had received. Dr. Wilkinson gave no names in his 
 pamphlet, and at the distance of thirty years it is impossible to 
 recover them, or I would have supplied them in the following 
 extract : 
 
 Dr. Wilkinson relates that he was present at the seance with Mr. 
 Home, where there was spelled out by touches on his knee, a message 
 from " an intimate friend of mine, once a Member of Parliament, and 
 as much before the public as any man in his generation, who died 
 on the 30th of June last " (1855). " I said, ' Have you any message 
 to your wife, whom I shall probably see in a few days? ' Again 
 affirmative touches, five in number, therefore calling for the alphabet. 
 Mr. Home now called over the alphabet, and this was spelled out: 
 ' The Immortal Loves. ' I remember at the time thinking that this 
 
 was rather a thin message; but the next time I saw Mrs. I told 
 
 her the circumstances, and gave hex the words. Her son was sitting 
 with her, and said, ' That is very characteristic of my father, for it 
 was a favourite subject of speculation with, him whether or not the 
 affections survive the body ; of the immorality of the soul itself he 
 never doubted ; but the words, the immortal loves, show that he has 
 settled the problem of his life.' Such was the import which the 
 family of the deceased quite unexpectedly to me conferred upon the 
 phrase." 
 
 Lord Lytton, then Sir E. B. Lytton, was perfectly convinced of the 
 genuineness of the phenomena he witnessed in Mr. Home's presence, 
 and even of their spiritual origin, but too timid to avow his convic- 
 tions publicly. Mr. Home was his guest for a short time at Kneb- 
 worth in 1855; and several seances took place there, no record of 
 which is available. Home never wrote down an account of a seance, 
 but left it to others to speak; and when, from fear of the world 
 or fear of ridicule, they preferred to remain silent, he acquiesced in 
 their silence with the easy good-nature that characterised him. His 
 mission, as he understood it, was to convince people of the facts: if 
 they were bold and honest enough afterwards to declare what they 
 had witnessed, that was as it should be ; if they kept silence, it was 
 their affair, not his. Almost any other man in his place would have 
 laboured to accumulate all the names and data possible ; not perhaps 
 for publication in his lifetime, but at any rate that the full story of 
 his life might he told when he had quitted earth. Home collected 
 nothing, published in his two volumes of Incidents such seances 
 as friends chose to give him, or had already made public; and let 
 the memory of the rest perish, many of them more remarkable than
 
 32 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 those given to the world. These facts explain why nothing can be 
 said here of the seances at Knebworth. Mr. Home kept no record 
 of them; and Lord Lytton, though he probably preserved one, never 
 published it. 
 
 In the years 1860 and 1861, Lord Lytton was again present at many 
 seances with Mr. Home, both at Knebworth and in London. Of 
 the latter I can give some details, obtained from other persons who 
 were present ; and shall do so in the proper place. 
 
 At Baling, Sir E. B. Lytton took part in at least one seance at the 
 house of the Rymers. During the lifetime of this celebrated man, 
 Mr. Home published in his first volume of Incidents the following 
 description of what occurred ; and as Lytton remained silent though; 
 the press at once detected his identity, and called on him either to 
 deny or affirm it may be presumed that the account was absolutely 
 correct. In a mattter of this kind to be silent was to affirm, and 
 that Lord Lytton could not but know. 
 
 " Whilst I was at Baling," says Mr. Home, " a distinguished 
 novelist, accompanied by his son, attended a seance, at which some 
 very remarkable manifestations occurred that were chiefly directed to 
 him. The rappings on the table suddenly became unusually firm 
 and loud. He asked, ' What spirit is present? ' The alphabet was 
 called over, and the response was, ' I am the spirit who influenced 
 you to write Z -' (Zanoni). ' Indeed,' said he, ' I wish you 
 would give me some tangible proof of your presence.' ' What 
 proof ? Will you take my hand 1 ? ' ' Yes, ' and putting his hand 
 beneath the surface of the table, it was immediately seized by a 
 powerful grasp, which made him start to his feet in evident trepida- 
 tion, exhibiting a momentary suspicion that a trick had been played' 
 upon him. Seeing, however, that all the persons around him were 
 sitting with their hands quietly reposing on the table, he recovered 
 his composure, and offering an apology for the uncontrollable excite- 
 ment caused by such an unexpected demonstration, he resumed his 
 seat." 
 
 Immediately after the above phenomenon, another equally remark- 
 able occurred. " We wish you to believe in the ' was spelt 
 out, and there the message stopped. 
 
 " In what am I to believe? " asked Lytton. " In the medium? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " In the manifestations? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 As this second negative was returned, Sir Edward felt himself 
 gently touched on the knee, and on putting down his hand a cross 
 was placed on it, by way of finishing the sentence. The cross, which 
 was of cardboard, had been lying with other articles on a table at the 
 end of the large room in which the party were seated. Lytton, 
 apparently much impressed, turned to Mrs. Rymer, and asked her 
 permission to retain the cross as a souvenir. 
 
 " She assented, saying that its only value to her was that it had 
 been made by her boy, then recently deceased ; but she could have 
 no objection to him keeping it, if he would remember the injunction.
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 33 
 
 He bowed his assent, and placing the souvenier in his breast-pocket, 
 carried the cross away with him " (Incidents In My Life, vol. i.). 
 
 The following undated note preserved by no process of selection, 
 but at random, as the mass of Mr. Home's correspondence was pre- 
 served or destroyed belongs evidently to this period: 
 
 " i PARK LANE, Wednesday. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I am very anxious to see you for half an hour. It 
 would be very kind of you so to favour me. 
 
 " You said you would try and see if you got en rapport with me. 
 Has any such been established? I would come to you at Baling if 
 more convenient, whenever you like to appoint. Yours truly, 
 
 "E. B. LYTTON." 
 
 Perhaps none of the thousand falsehoods circulated concerning Mr. 
 Home has been more persistently repeated than the assertion that he 
 was found cheating by Mr. Robert Browning. Mr. Browning himself, 
 in his unpoetic effusion, " Mr. Sludge, the Medium," appeared to 
 lend a certain colour to the fable, or it would probably soon have died 
 the death natural to slanders that have not a grain of fact in their 
 composition. The press, on the appearance of " Mr. Sludge," 
 insisted that he was meant for Home. Had this been an error, Mr 
 Browning, as an honourable man, would of course have written to 
 some leading English journal to correct it. 
 
 " It is ' a blot on the 'scutcheon,' " wrote the American authoress, 
 Mrs. Whitman, on the publication of Mr. Browning's prose-verse, 
 and a harsher term might with justice have been used of the 
 incoherent attack that was declared by the English journals of the 
 time to be directed against Mr. Home as the foremost living exponent 
 of Spiritualism. Flattered into an opinion of his own infallibility 
 by his admirers, Mr. Browning has probably long been in the habit 
 of considering that the truth of any proposition which he may 
 advance is self-evident, or he would have felt that even the angriest 
 poet who chooses to write as follows, should have been prepared to 
 back up his poetical flights, when challenged to do so, with the 
 plain prose of facts : 
 
 " Now don't, sir! Don't expose me! Just this once! 
 This was the first and only time, I'll swear, 
 Look at me, see, I kneel, the only time, 
 I swear, I ever cheated. . . . 
 
 " Well, sir, since you press 
 (How you do tease the whole thing out of me !) 
 Now for it, then ! . . . 
 
 " I cheated when I could, 
 
 Rapped with my toe-joints, set sham hands at work, 
 Wrote down names weak in sympathetic ink, 
 Rubbed odic lights with ends of phosphor-match, 
 And all the rest " 
 
 Mr. Browning's poetic eye, in its " fine frenzy rolling," saw, in 
 the retirement of his study, more than the thousands of keen 
 inquirers who so narrowly, and in many cases so sceptically, in-
 
 34 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 vestigated the phenomena during a period of thirty years in the 
 presence of Mr. Home. In all that time, no person present at a 
 seance with Mr. Home, sceptic or Spiritualist, ever found him 
 rapping with his toe- joints, or setting sham hands at work, or writing 
 names in sympathetic ink, or rubbing odic lights with phosphor-match, 
 ' ' and all the rest of it. ' ' Let any reader, however stubborn bis 
 incredulity as to the reality of the phenomena, trv to consider calmly 
 what is involved in the proposition that, year after year, Mr. Home 
 continued to manufacture sham hands and set them to work, but that 
 none of the thousands of persons who both saw and touched these 
 hands ever detected them to be an imposture ! ! I shall speak 
 more fully of these spirit-hands in other chapters : here it is enough 
 to say that they have again and again appeared under circumstances 
 that made detection an absolue certainty, had they been, as some 
 ingenious theorists have surmised, wax casts, or stuffed gloves mani- 
 pulated with wires, or, in fact, anything but what they were, a 
 marvellous phenomenon, inexplicable by any known physical laws. 
 
 The late Robert Bell was quite as shrewd, intelligent, and honest 
 a man as Mr. Browning. He described in the Cornhill his experi- 
 ences with Mr. Home ; and his friend, Thackeray, a keen and intensely 
 sceptical observer, who had also witnessed various phenomena in 
 Home's presence, indorsed his declarations by publishing with them 
 the note : " As editor of this magazine, we can vouch for the good 
 faith and honourable character of our correspondent, a friend of 
 twenty-five years' standing." 
 
 Says Mr. Bell : ' ' Soon after, what seemed to be a large hand 
 came under the table-cover, and with the fingers clustered fa a point, 
 raised it between me and the table. Somewhat too eager to satisfy 
 my curiosity, I seized it, felt it very sensibly, but it went out like air 
 in my grasp. I know of no analogy in connection with the sense of 
 touch by which I could make the nature of that feeling intelligible. 
 It was as palpable as any soft substance, velvet or pulp ; and at the 
 touch it seemed as solid, but pressure reduced it to air." 
 
 Would that Mr. Browning had seized the hands he saw at Baling, 
 whose action, in placing a wreath on the brow of his wife and 
 omitting to crown his own, may possibly have given him deep 
 offence ! Had the poet been a man of large and liberal nature, he 
 would have forgiven the want of discernment the spirits showed 
 reflecting that, while all the world does homage to the genius of his 
 wife, the larger half of it fails to comprehend his own. 
 
 Mrs. Browning, it is well known, accepted Spiritualism as a fact. 
 In her Notes on England and Italy, Mrs. Hawthorne, the wife of 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne, writes : " Mrs. Browning introduced the 
 subject of spiritism, and there was an animated talk. Mr. Browning 
 cannot believe, and Mrs. Browning cannot help believing." 
 
 When the Browning Society has succeeded in explaining tHe other 
 poems of Mr. Browning to the world if it ever accomplishes that 
 herculean task perhaps it will be bold enough to take the poem (or 
 prose) of " Mr. Sludge, the Medium," in hand, and explain why 
 Mr. Browning had the bad taste to write it. There is nothing in
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 35 
 
 the account of the single seance at which Mrs. and Mr. Browning 
 were present at Ealing, given by Mr. Home in his second volume of 
 Incidents, vouched tor by Mr. W. M. Wilkinson, and never 
 challenged by the poet, to explain either Mr. Browning's conduct or 
 his motives. 
 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Rymer and their family," writes Mr. Home, " were 
 present at the stance, which began by several of the ordinary manifestations. 
 Mr. Browning was requested to investigate everything as it occurred, and he 
 availed himself freely of the invitation. Several times during the evening, he 
 voluntarily and earnestly declared that anything like imposture was out of 
 the question. Previously to the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Browning, some of 
 the children had been gathering flowers in the garden, and Miss Rymer and 
 I had made a wreath of clematis. . . . During the stance this wreath was 
 raised from the table by supernatural power in the presence of us all, and 
 whilst we were watching it, Mr. Browning, who was seated at the opposite 
 side of the table, left his place, and came and stood behind his wife, towards 
 whom the wreath was being slowly carried, and upon whose head it was 
 placed in full sight of us all, and whilst he was standing close behind her. 
 He expressed no disbelief ; as, indeed, it was impossible for any one to have 
 any of what was passing under his eyes ; whilst Mrs. Browning was much 
 moved, and she, not only then but ever since, expressed her entire belief and 
 pleasure in what then occurred. . . . All that was done in the presence of 
 eight persons besides Mr. and Mrs. Browning, all of whom are still living, 
 and are ready to testify to the truth of every word here written, if it should be 
 gainsaid by Mr. Browning." 
 
 Was Mr. Browning annoyed that to him there came no crown? 
 All the Rymer family thought so, at least. Yet the invisible wreath- 
 bringers were probably only anticipating the verdict of posterity, both 
 in their neglect of him and in crowning his gifted wife. 
 
 At any rate, Mr. Browning subsequently elaborated a theory to 
 account for the manifestations ; and, forgetting that he had 
 ' ; voluntarily and earnestly declared that anything like imposture was 
 out of the question," his theory, if Mrs. Hawthorne and the Notes on 
 England and Italy may be trusted, was that the hands were in some 
 way "affixed in Mr. Home's chair, with his legs stretched far under 
 the table." It was natural to some minds, as Sir David Brewster 
 had already shown, to grasp eagerly, when the first sensation of 
 Bonder had passed away, at any explanation of the phenomena, 
 however ridiculous and futile, that did not involve a belief in the 
 spiritual. 
 
 It would be the merest waste of time and labour to contradict one 
 by one the many calumnies that have been circulated concerning Mr. 
 Home ; and I dwell on the above incidents only because so many 
 fabulous versions of the single seance with Mr. and Mrs. Browning 
 have been circulated, both in England and America. It may be 
 interesting to quote here the following extract from a letter written 
 to Mr. Home by an old friend, a well-known English medical man, so 
 long after the Ealing seance in 1870: 
 
 " Since I saw you I have been in the Isle of Wight. I went to 
 lunch with Alfred Tennyson, and had two or three hours' talk with 
 him. . . . He says that if he and you and I could have a sitting 
 or two in daylight, or in a strong artificial light, and he convinced 
 himself of the facts, he should have no hesitation in proclaiming his
 
 36 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 belief in any way. Meantime he says that he is much more inclined 
 to believe than to disbelieve. He had all those tales about you from 
 Browning, including one that you went on your knees, wept, and 
 confessed your imposture in a certain thing. I told him Browning 
 was mad about the matter, and he admitted that B's manner led him 
 to credit his prejudices more than his statement." 
 
 I do not know what prevented Mr. Home from gratifying Lord 
 Tennyson's wish to investigate, but probably the fact that in 1870 
 his time was much occupied and he was absent more than half the 
 year from England. I pass now from the subject of the calumnies 
 that have been invented and circulated concerning Mr. Home, with 
 the determination not to recur to it, but to relate simply the facts of his 
 life, and leave them to speak for themselves. 
 
 In the pamphlet of Dr. Garth Wilkinson, already referred to, the 
 doctor, like Robert Bell, relates how he, on one occasion, grasped 
 a spirit-hand. The result was the same as in the case of Mr. Bell. 
 
 " Every hand but my own being on the table, I distinctly felt the 
 fingers, up to the palm, of a hand holding the bell. It was a soft, 
 warm, fleshy, substantial hand, such as I should be glad to feel 
 at the extremity of the friendship of my best friends. But I had 
 no sooner gasped it momentarily than it melted away, leaving my 
 hand void, with the bell only in it. ... As a point of observa- 
 tion, I will remark that I should feel no more difficulty in swearing 
 that the member I felt was a human hand' of extraordinary life, and 
 not Mr. Home's foot, than that the nose of the Apollo Belvidere is 
 not a horse's ear." 
 
 In the early autumn of 1855, Mr. Home went to Florence on a 
 visit to the well-known writer, Mrs. Trbllope, accompanied by the 
 son of his Baling host, Mr. Rymer. The invitation had been given 
 by Mrs. Trollope during her stay at Baling ; she and her son, Mr. T. 
 A. Trollope, having come from Italy to London that summer expressly 
 to investigate the phenomena occurring in the presence of Mr. Home. 
 She left England convinced of their genuineness ; and Mr. T. A. 
 Trollope, as I have already shown, shared her certainty. As to 
 the theory that the manifestations might be produced by trickery, 
 that accomplished gentleman wrote, at a period subsequent to the 
 manifestations at Baling and Florence: " I may also mention that 
 Bosco, one of the greatest professors of legerdemain ever known, in 
 a conversation with me upon the subject, utterly scouted the idea of 
 the possibility of such phenomena as I saw produced by Mr. Home 
 being performed by any of the resources of his art." And in a 
 letter to the Athenaeum, written from Florence eight years later 
 (March 21, 1863), Mr. T. A. Trollope said : " I have been present 
 at very many ' sittings ' of Mr. Home in England, many in my own 
 house in Florence, some in the house of a friend in Florence. . . . 
 My testimony is this : I have seen and felt physical facts wholly and 
 utterly inexplicable, as I believe, by any known and generally 
 received physical laws. I unhesitatingly reject the theory which 
 considers such facts to be produced by means familiar to the best 
 professors of legerdemain."
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 37 
 
 In Florence the interest aroused by the arrival of such a visitor 
 was even greater than in London. Society talked of nothing but his 
 wonderful powers ; and though some shunned him in the fear that 
 they were of demoniac origin, the great majority eagerly sought the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Home, and made every effort to be admitted to 
 his seances. 
 
 MT. Hiram Powers, the celebrated sculptor, writes as follows con- 
 cerning the seances held in Florence : 
 
 " I recollect we had many stances at my house and others, when Home 
 was there. I certainly saw, under circumstances where fraud, or collusion, 
 or prearrangement of machinery was impossible in my own house, and 
 among friends incapable of lending themselves to imposture very curious 
 things. That hand floating in the air, of which all the world has 
 heard, I have seen. There was nothing but moonlight in the room, it is 
 true ; and there is every presumption against such phenomena, under such 
 circumstances. But what you see, you see ; and must believe, however difficult 
 to account for it. 
 
 " I recollect that Mr. Home sat on my right hand ; and besides him there 
 were six others, round one half of a circular table, the empty half towards 
 the window and the moonlight. 
 
 " All our fourteen hands were on the table, when a hand, delicate and 
 shadowy, yet denned, appeared, dancing slowly just to the other side of the 
 table, and gradually creeping up higher, until, above the elbow, it terminated 
 
 in a mist. The hand slowly came nearer to Mrs. , at the right side 
 
 of the table, and seemed to pat her face. ' Could it take a fan? ' cried her 
 husband. Three raps responded ' Yes,' and the lady put her fan near it, 
 which it seemed trying to take. ' Give it the handle,' said her husband. 
 The wife obeyed ; and it commenced fanning her with much grace. ' Could 
 it fan the rest of the company ? ' some one exclaimed ; when three raps 
 signified assent, and the hand, passing round, fanned each of the company, 
 and then slowly was lost to view. 
 
 " I felt, on another occasion, a little hand it was pronounced that of a 
 lost child patting my cheek and arm. I took hold of it ; it was warm, and 
 evidently a child's hand. / did not loosen my hold, but it seemed to melt 
 out of my clutch." 
 
 Powers' testimony corroborates that of Robert Bell and Dr. 
 Wilkinson. In 1871 the experience of Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., 
 was exactly similar. I shall refer in another chapter to the 
 researches of Mr. Crookes ; here I content myself with citing a few 
 words from his narrative. The phenomena that he describes are 
 attested by him to have occurred in a strong light. 
 
 ' I have retained one of these hands in my own," writes Mr. 
 Crookes, " firmly resolved not to let it escape. There was no 
 struggle or effort to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve itself 
 into vapour, and faded in that manner from my grasp." ' 
 
 Dr. Wilkinson (of whom the Spectator said, March 14, 1863, " In 
 the honour of his personal character we have good reason to believe ") 
 grasped one of these hands in 1855, Hiram Powers in the same year, 
 Robert Bell in 1860, Mr. Crookes in 1871. In each of the four cases 
 the result was the same : there was no effort at withdrawal, but the 
 warm, life-like hand that had been seized melted in the grasp. Set 
 against these facts the contradictory declarations of Mr. Browning, 
 during and after the single seance he attended, and to which side 
 does the balance of testimony incline? If still further evidence be 
 1 " Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism."
 
 38 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 asked for, let the reader turn to the narratives in subsequent chapters 
 of this work, and read the accounts furnished to me of these unearthly 
 hands by observers quite as sceptical as Browning, but more reason- 
 able and less prejudiced. If he wishes to balance poet against 
 poet, let him turn to the letter in which thfe distinguished Russian 
 poet, Count Alexis Tolstoy, relates how he travelled to London in 
 the year 1860 expressly to meet Mr. Home; how, at a seance at Mrs. 
 Milner Gibson's, he seized a hand that appeared and touched him, 
 and what was the result of this decisive method of verifying the 
 phenomenon. 
 
 Whatever the Italian peasant may have become since the political 
 redemption of Italy, he was in 1855 an extremely bigoted and 
 superstitious creature. At Florence in that year his fears and 
 passions were worked on to the prejudice of Mr. Home. He was 
 told perhaps by the priesthood that Home was a vile necromancer, 
 who administered the sacraments of the Church to toads, in order, 
 by spells and incantations, to raise the dead. In January, 1856, 
 Signor Landucci, Minister of the Interior to the Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany, warned Home of these reports and the excitement they had 
 created among the peasantry ; but he had already received a terrible 
 proof of the fact that his life was in danger in Florence. 
 
 The winter of 1855 was very severe there. Late one bitter night 
 that of the 5th of December Mr. Home was returning to his 
 rooms alone through the deserted streets, when, just as he reached the 
 house where he was staying, a man stepped from the adjoining 
 doorway. In the Incidents, Home describes what ensued : 
 
 " I was on the step leading to my own door, and was looking up at the 
 window to see if the servant was still up, when I received a violent blow on 
 my left side, the force of which, and the emotion caused by it, threw me 
 forward breathless in the corner of the doorway. The blow was again repeated 
 on my stomach, and then another blow on the same place ; and the attempted 
 assassin cried out, ' Dio mio, Dio mio ! ' and turning with his arm outstretched, 
 he ran. I distinctly saw the gleam of his poignard ; and as he turned, the 
 light of the lamp also fell full on his face, but I did not recognise 
 his features. I was perfectly powerless, and could not cry out or make any 
 alarm ; and I stood thus for at least two minutes ; after which I groped my 
 way along the wall to the door of a neighbour, where I was admitted. I 
 thought I must ha%'e received some serious injury ; but on examining myself I 
 found that the first blow had struck the door key, which I happened to have in 
 my breast pocket, immediately over the region of my heart. I wore a fur 
 coat, and this had chanced to be twice doubled in front. The second blow 
 had gone through the four folds of it, through a corner of my dress coat, my 
 waistcoat, and the band of my trousers, without inflicting any wound. The 
 third blow had penetrated the four folds of my coat, and also my trousers and 
 linen, and made a slight incision, which bled, but not freely." 
 
 It appears by the following letter that an accident to an 
 acquaintance was the cause of Mr. Home being alone on the night 
 in question : 
 
 " CASA SALVIATA, VIA CHIARA, 
 " Friday, December 7, 1855. 
 
 " MY DEAR HOME, I should have certainly have gone to see you, 
 were I not laid up with a sprained ankle, which prevented my 
 meeting you at the Colombaia on Wednesday evening, and coming
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY 39 
 
 home with you that evening. Perhaps there being two might have 
 prevented the accident which happened to you. I am delighted to 
 hear you came almost miraculously out of it ; and though I do not 
 think that I am of a revengeful nature, still I sincerely wish the 
 cowardly scoundrel to get what he deserves ; and, could I in any way 
 be of use to you, pray dispose of me. Believe me to be, dear Home, 
 yours very truly. " C. T. FULLER." 
 
 The attempted murderer was never arrested. Probably super- 
 stitious bigotry was the passion that inflamed him; though some 
 persons thought robbery to have been the motive of the crime; 
 and it was even suggested that Mr. Home might have been mistaken 
 for another man. 
 
 -
 
 CHAPTER III 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 
 
 Temporary cessation of Home's powers. Conversion to Roman 
 Catholicism. Napoleon III. Return of his powers. Seance 
 with the Empress Eugene. Fontainebleau. Refusal of 
 ,2,000 for a sitting. Cure of a deaf boy. 
 
 EARLY in 1856, Home, who was then suffering severely in health 
 from the trying winter and the shock to his sensitive temperament of 
 the dastardly crime from which he had so narrowly escaped, made 
 the acquaintance at Florence of a Polish nobleman, Count Branicka, 
 and of his mother, the niece of the famous Potemkin. The Count, 
 with his family, was about to visit Naples and Rome, and invited his 
 new friend to accompany him. Hardly had the invitation been 
 given and accepted, when Home's power left him. His conduct 
 under these unexpected circumstances was characteristic of the self- 
 respect and delicacy of his nature, and met with a worthy response 
 from Count Branica. 
 
 " The spirits," writes Mr. Home in the Incidents, "told me that 
 my power would leave me for a year. This was on the evening 
 of the loth of February, 1856. Feeling that the Count and his 
 family must have felt an interest in me arising only from the 
 singular phenomena which they had witnessed in my presence, and 
 that this cause being removed, their interest in me would have 
 diminished, I wrote the following morning to inform them of what 
 I was told, and to say that I could no longer entertain the idea of 
 joining them. They at once told me that it was for myself, even 
 more than for the strange gift I possessed, that they had become 
 interested in me. I went to them; and in a day or two we left 
 Florence for Naples." 
 
 Either there or previously at Florence, Mr. Home made the 
 acquaintance of Prince Luigi, the brother of the King of Naples, who 
 presented to him one of the numerous souvenirs that he was destined 
 to receive from royal personages, in token of their esteem and 
 friendship. It was a ring set with a ruby shaped in the form of a 
 horseshoe; and his Highness at the same time had a second ring 
 exactly similar wrought for himself, and always wore it. The ruby 
 is a brittle gem ; and it was so difficult to shape two horseshoes from 
 it, that, before the Prince's orders could be carried out, seven stones 
 were broken. 
 
 These presents from crowned heads and members of royal families 
 had no other value in Home's eyes than the memories attached to 
 them. They were marks of gratitude and esteem; and as such he 
 cherished them, preferring, in the moments of his greatest poverty, 
 to support any hardships rather than part with a single stone. It 
 is a mistake to suppose that these jewels were an indirect recompense 
 
 40
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 41 
 
 for seances. He never accepted recompense for a seance, direct or 
 indirect. The three most valuable rings that Home possessed were 
 presented to him by the Emperor Alexander II. ; and in each case 
 the circumstances under which the gift was made rendered it doubly 
 precious. One ring was the wedding-gift sent by the Czar in 1858, 
 at the time of Home's first marriage. The following year, on the 
 birth of a son, his Majesty presented an emerald set with diamonds ; 
 and thirteen years later, in 1871, the Emperor, on the occasion of our 
 marriage, sent to Mr Home a ring set with a sapphire of great size, 
 surrounded with diamonds. The sapphire Home retained in the 
 ring ; the diamonds he caused to be set in an exquisite ornament of his 
 own design, and presented this to me as a marriage gift. 
 
 Nothing could have been more gracious and delicate than the Czar's 
 behaviour to Home on every occasion when the latter was his Majesty's 
 guest. I relate in another chapter an incident connected with Mr. 
 Home's presentation to the Emperor of Russia in 1858, which not 
 only does honour to both the Czar and himself, but would alone 
 explain why Home always remembered Alexander II. with peculiar 
 esteem and gratitude, and received with the profoundest grief and 
 horror the news of the hideous crime that in 1881 deprived Russia of 
 her beloved sovereign. 
 
 Naples, so beautiful to look on and so unpleasant to live in, was 
 Home's residence for six weeks in the early spring of 1856. In 
 addition to Prince Luigi, he became intimate with the Hon. Robert 
 Dale Owen, American Minister at the Neapolitan Court ; tor whom 
 he had a letter of introduction from Owen's father, whose life was 
 consumed in the heroic attempt to prove that in England Socialism 
 is possible. The elder Robert Owen, then almost a dying man, had 
 been staying at Cox's Hotel when Home was there; and in his letter 
 to his son he speaks very warmly of the kind attentions his young 
 acquaintance had shown him. 
 
 I have not Mr. Dale Owen's work, Footfalls, before me, and 
 cannot say with certainty whether the manifestations he describes 
 himself as having witnessed in Mr. Home's presence occurred in 
 1856, or two years later, when Home returned to Italy. More 
 than probably the latter, as his power had quitted him at the time 
 of the earlier visit ; though it may be remarked that there were a few 
 detached phenomena during the twelvemonth of its absence, notably 
 the " Gregoire " manifestation that summer at Paris, which Home 
 recorded in the Incidents, but mistakenly gave the date as 1857. 
 
 From Naples, the Branica family and their guest went to Rome, 
 where the Catholic influences that surrounded him exerted themselves 
 constantly and effectively to turn his thoughts towards seeking refuge 
 in the Church. They were aided by the cruel experiences he had 
 recently suffered. The falsehood of friends to whom he was much 
 attached had wounded him keenly, the occurrences that closed his 
 stay at Florence had profoundly saddened him ; and while these 
 clouds darkened the natural sunshine of his spirit a veil had been 
 suddenly dropped between him and the world beyond, and all counsel 
 and comfort from it was withdrawn. In this gloomy moment, 
 
 D
 
 42 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Catholic advisers suggested to him that the peace of mind he longed 
 for might perhaps be found in the Church of Rome, and he sought 
 and read with intense eagerness works relating to her doctrines. 
 Finding them expressive of so many facts coincident with my own 
 experiences," he writes, " I thought that all contending and con- 
 tradictory beliefs would be for ever set at rest, could I but be received 
 as a member of that body. My experiences of life and its falsity 
 had already left so indelible a mark on my soul, from my recent 
 experiences of it at Florence, that I wished to shun everything which 
 pertained to this world, and I determined to enter a monastery. 
 After two or three weeks of seriousi deliberation on the part of the 
 authorities, it was decided that I should be received as a member of 
 the Church, and I was confirmed." 
 
 Pius IX. gave an audience to the young convert, and received him 
 wiin the most benign favour. An English prelate, Monsignore Talbot, 
 accompanied Home to the Vatican. " The Pope questioned me 
 much regarding my past life," writes the neophyte. " He pointed 
 to a crucifix which' stood near to us, and said : ' My child it is 
 upon what is on that table that we place our faith. ' ' 
 
 There was nothing said of demoniacal possession. Possibly, in 
 welcoming her new son, the Church had hopes that she might one day 
 canonise in him a worker of miracles. 
 
 It was Monsignore Talbot to whose counsels Home had chiefly 
 recourse in this important moment of his life; and I find among his 
 papers a letter from that prelate, dated on the eve of his confirmation, 
 and giving directions to him concerning it. 
 
 Not only did Pius IX. favour Mr. Home with an audience, and 
 converse with him in the most benignant manner, but he subsequently 
 sent him his special blessing, guaranteeing to Home and to his 
 relatives an entry into Paradise. Home preserved this interesting 
 document, and it is now in my possession. 
 
 Whom the king smiles on, courtiers smile on ; and the gracious 
 bearing of the Pope was imitated by all the hierarchy of Rome, 
 from cardinals downwards. The path that led the young convert 
 up to the monastery gates was strewed with roses, and, amidst the 
 applause and encouragement of all round him, he might have finally 
 seen those gates close on him, but that 
 
 But that the nearer he drew to the monastic life the less that life 
 allured him, and the stronger became his misgivings. He had hoped 
 to find peace in it ; but his hopes soon changed to fears that peace 
 very rarely inhabits the cell of the monk. Did not Christ set the 
 example of living in the midst of the world ? and is not the task of 
 following that example less agreeable and more difficult? Convinced 
 that to shut himself in a monastic cell would be a fatal error, he drew 
 back and refused to enter. This determination was no- sooner 
 arrived at than he quitted Italy ; and in company with the Branica 
 family, betook himself to Paris, in June, 1856. 
 
 Although Home had renounced his purpose of entering a monastery, 
 the Pope's interest in him did not cease. Perhaps his Holiness 
 hoped that he might yet be persuaded to take the vows ; what is
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 43 
 
 certain is that, before Home left Rome for Paris, Pius IX. had per- 
 sonally counselled him -to select for his confessor there one of the 
 most excellent and eloquent of French priests, the celebrated Pere 
 de Ravignan. In him Home found a kind friend, whose lofty piety 
 delighted him and in whose society he took great pleasure. There 
 was but one point on which he and the good Father differed. It 
 had been foretold to Home when his power left him, that it would 
 return exactly a twelvemonth later, on the loth of February, 1857, 
 and he was convinced that the promise would be kept ; but when he 
 said so to Pere de Ravignan, the priest always confidently replied : 
 " Have no fear of that, my child so long as you go on as you are 
 now doing, observing carefully all the precepts of our holy Church, 
 they will not be allowed to return." 
 
 During the winter Home again fell ill; and Dr. Louis, one 
 of the most celebrated physicians in France for consumptive cases, 
 decided on auscultation that the left lung was diseased, and advised 
 a more genial climate. His patient was without the means of acting 
 on his advice, and remained in Paris, where for some time he was 
 confined to his bed. 
 
 " On the night of the loth of February, 1857," he writes, " as 
 the clock struck twelve, I was in bed, to which I had been confined ; 
 when there came loud rappings in my room, a hand was placed gently 
 upon my brow, and a voice said, ' Be of good cheer, Daniel ; you 
 will soon be well.' But a few minutes had elapsed before I sank 
 into a quiet sleep, and I awakened in the morning feeling more 
 refreshed than I had done for a long time. I wrote to the Pere de 
 Ravignan, telling him what had occurred ; and the same afternoon 
 he came to see me. During the conservation, loud rappings were 
 heard on the ceiling and on the floor ; and, as he was about to give 
 me his benediction before leaving, loud raps came on the bedstead. 
 He left me without expressing any opinion whatever on the subject 
 of the phenomena." 
 
 The predicted return of Home's power on the loth of February, 
 1857, was known at the French Court; and the following day the 
 Marquis de Belmont, chamberlain of the Emperor, presented himself 
 to inquire if he had regained it. An Imperial invitation to the 
 Tuileries followed ; and he was presented to the Emperor and 
 Empress. This was on the i3th of February; and certain 
 personages of the Court were selected by their Majesties to be 
 present at a seance held the same evening. 
 
 No account was published of this or any seance at the Tuileries ; 
 but a few of the particulars became known in the Parisian world ; 
 and as they passed from lip to lip a thousand fabulous details were 
 added, until, in the imagination of French society, Home assumed 
 the proportions of a necromancer with a host of familiar spirits at his 
 command, over whom he exercised the authority of a Manfred or a 
 Faust. It was in vain for him to make known again and again, 
 in the most emphatic terms, the fact that he was nothing but the 
 instrument of the phenomena, and had never pretended to evoke 
 spirits or exercise any influence over them ; the world of Paris would
 
 44 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 have its way; and in the journals and caricatures of 1857, Home, 
 who was perfectly unable to say at the commencement of a seance 
 whether there would be manifestations or not, figures always as the 
 imperious summoner of a legion of familiars, who are his very humble 
 servants. Now he is evoking Caesar in a Parisian salon, and startled 
 society looks on while he sets the august shade to brush his boots; 
 in another caricature he directs with a wave of his magic wand the 
 operations of a number of detached hands that act as barbers and 
 hairdressers to the company. In a third, the wizard is packing to 
 quit Paris. A number of little imps stand meekly around, waiting 
 their turn to be popped into the box where their fellows are already 
 imprisoned ; but the master goblin of the party, a fiend with the most 
 imposing of tails and horns, is on his knees before the magician, 
 begging for a longer stay. ' ' Ah, my dear master, ' ' remonstrates the 
 poor demon, " If you would but consider how much I like Paris, 
 and how perfectly the society suits me here ? ' ' 
 
 The pictures that caricaturists drew in sport presented themselves 
 to the imagination of the excellent Pere de Ravignan in grim earnest. 
 In his eyes the spirits were demons, and he who communed with them 
 was a lost soul. Again and again he had assured Home that these evil 
 beings would not be permitted to return to him; that the spirits 
 must perforce keep their distance now he was a son of the Roman 
 Church and specially blessed by the Pope. The night of February 
 loth falsified his prediction ; but in spite of this proof that the 
 invisibles actually could approach a son of thJe Church, though 
 specially fortified by the Papal blessing, Pere de Ravignan clung 
 stubbornly to the belief that the forces at work were those of evil. 
 The morning after the first visit to the Tuileries, Home called on him 
 to tell him of the seance there. 
 
 " He expressed great dissatisfaction at my being the subject of 
 such visitations ; and said that he would not give me absolution unless 
 I should at once return to my room, shut myself up there, and not 
 listen to any rappings, or pay the slightest attention to whatever 
 phenomena might occur in my presence. ' ' 
 
 Home attempted to reason with his confessor. He represented 
 that the strain on his nervous system of the solitary confinement pre- 
 scribed to him would be too great for endurance. As for paying no 
 attention to the phenomena 
 
 " How can I help it? " said Home. "If I were to strike on 
 this table with my hand, could you avoid hearing ? 
 
 " Yes," said the Father, stubbornly faithful to the traditions of his 
 order : " I only hear when I wish to hear, and see when I wish to 
 see." 
 
 " But, my Father, if you would listen to reason " 
 
 " You have no right to reason with me," replied the priest. " Do 
 as I bid you, or bear the consequences." 
 
 " I left him," writes Home, " in great distress of mind. On reaching my 
 
 room, I found there a very dear and valued friend, the Count de K " 
 
 (de Komar). " He observed my agitation, and questioned me as to the cause. 
 I told him all, and he said, ' There is but one thing to do ; come home with
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 45 
 
 me, and we will send for the Abbe" de C , and consult him." ' 
 
 (Abbe Deguery of the Madeleine ; murdered by the Communists in 1871.) 
 " The Abbe came; and, after hearing my story, he said, ' That they might 
 as well put me in my grave alive as to try to carry out what had been ordered ;' 
 adding, ' I would like very much to witness some of these wonderful things.' 
 Most fortunately my emotion had not destroyed the power, as is usually the 
 case when I am agitated, for while we were together several interesting 
 phenomena occurred. His words were : ' Let this power be what it will, it 
 is in no way of your making.' He recommended me to seek another spiritual 
 adviser, and added, ' I myself would gladly be your adviser, but, as it would 
 be known, I should only be persecuted.' He gave me the name of one of the 
 most eloquent preachers of the day, and I introduced myself to him, and 
 remained under his guidance during the few weeks of my stay in Paris, 
 previous to my going to America to bring back my sister." 
 
 There was great curiosity in Paris to find out Mr. Home's new 
 confessor. " The Countess L -" (Lubinski), he writes, " having 
 heard that he was a distinguished man, called upon several of the 
 most noted in Paris ; and after a short conversation, she abruptly 
 said to each, ' So you are Mr. Home's confessor.' Most naturally, 
 on one such occasion she chanced to find the right one, and his look 
 of surprise betrayed him." 
 
 " M. Deguery," said Mr. Home in a letter published many years 
 afterwards, " was ever a very kind friend to me, and he did not 
 believe the manifestations to come from an evil source." As for 
 Pere de Ravignan, Home always cherished an affectionate memory of 
 him ; and that the good father had felt a more than common interest 
 in Home, is sufficiently shown by his letters written before the return 
 of the power caused the rupture of their relations. The following 
 was one of the last that Home received from him : 
 
 " MON BEIN CHER ENFANT, Etes-vous malade ? Faites-le moi 
 savoir. J'irai pres de vous; cai il y a trop longtemps que je ne 
 vous ai vu. . . . Vous sa vez que je vous aime tendrement en 
 N. S. X. DE RAVIGNAN, S. J. 
 
 " PARIS, 28 Janvier, 1857." 
 
 Six weeks after the return of hig power, Home sailed for 
 America. Of the seances that he had held in the interval, several 
 were at the Tuileries ; and though no details of these had been made 
 public, a thousand partially or wholly untrue narratives circulated 
 in Parisian society. Here is the true description of the first 
 seance. 
 
 Although Home sometimes sat with as few as one or two, or as 
 many as twelve or fourteen people present, his preference was to fix 
 the number of sitters at seven or eight, both to prevent confusion, 
 and because he had found that the manifestations were of more 
 frequent occurrence with a moderate-sized circle. On his first visit 
 to the Tuileries, he informed their French Majesties that he should 
 be able to admit to the seance eight persons at the most. The 
 Empress was very vexed at this, having intended to bring her whole 
 suite to the table with her ; and declared that if Mr. Home persisted 
 in his intention she should refuse to be present. Knowing that
 
 46 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 the presence of so many sitters would probably spoil the seance, 
 Home could only express his profound regret that it was impossible for 
 him to accept the conditions her Majesty insisted on. The Empress 
 adhered to her resolve, and withdrew in displeasure; but the 
 Emperor remained. 
 
 " I consent to your proposition, Mr. Home," said Napoleon. " Is 
 there any other condition that you wish to be observed ? ' ' 
 
 " None, Sire," said Home, " and with your permission we will 
 take our places at any table that your Majesty may indicate. I 
 promise nothing, for I have no power over the manifestations; but 
 should any occur, the first party of sitters may be replaced whenever 
 your Majesty chooses by an equal number of other persons. I make 
 this suggestion to prove my great desire to comply as far as possible 
 with the wish of the Empress, although it is always a pity to 
 interrupt a good seance.' 11 
 
 Five personages of the Court were selected by the Emperor, and 
 with his Majesty and Home took their places at the table, which, 
 although large and massive, soon began to vibrate and tremble 
 under the hands placed on it, then to move, and presently to be lifted 
 from the ground. At last came raps 1 on the table, and on the 
 alphabet being called over, responses were given, not only to the 
 spoken queries of the Emperor, but to questions he put mentally. 
 Napoleon followed every manifestation with keen and sceptical 
 attention, and satisfied himself by the closest scrutiny that neither 
 deception nor delusion was possible. The replies to the Emperor's 
 unspoken thoughts completed the impression made on him; and it 
 was with a marked affability that he now addressed himself to Mr. 
 Home, saying : 
 
 " I should very much like the Empress to see something of this. 
 Will you consent to my going myself to seek her? " 
 
 " Certainly, Sire," said Home; " and if you desire, we will 
 change the circle." 
 
 " No, no," said the Emperor, " I am much too anxious to see 
 all that is possible of the manifestations, and will follow your 
 counsels in every particular." 
 
 With fhese words Napoleon rose, and went to seek the Empress, 
 who accompanied him on his return ; but in taking her place in the 
 circle, her Majesty said to Home, with a half -annoyed air, " I am 
 only here on condition that next time all my party shall be present 
 too; (toute ma clique y sera)." The manifestations were not long in 
 recommencing ; and Home once more desired the Emperor to investi- 
 gate as closely as his Majesty pleased. Napoleon, extremely 
 sceptical by nature, readily complied ; looking under the table him- 
 self when raps came on it, and watching Home with the keenest 
 scrutiny. 
 
 The Empress, in her turn, received through the rappings a reply to 
 her unspoken thought; and presently feeling her robe pulled, started, 
 and uttered a slight cry. Mr. Home sought to calm her agitation ; 
 and at his request she consented to place her hand below the table, 
 Home saying, " If a hand takes that of your Majesty, I am confident
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 47 
 
 that the touch will cause you no alarm." The Emperor and the 
 other sitters looked on ; Home's hands resting on the table. Immedi- 
 ately the look of the Empress took an expression of joy, but at the 
 same time tears trembled in her eyes. When the Emperor asked the 
 cause, she replied, " I felt the hand of my father in mine." 
 
 " How could you distinguish it? " asked the Emperor, incredulous. 
 
 " I would distinguish it among a thousand," answered the 
 Empress, " from a defect in one of the fingers just as it was in 
 life. As it lay in mine, I satisfied myself of this defect." The 
 Emperor, in his turn, was touched by the hand, and verified the 
 fact of the defect referred to by the Empress. 
 
 When the seance ended, her Majesty, still much moved, held out 
 her hand to Home. " You will never again have reason to complain 
 of me," she said ; " and from this moment there shall only be present 
 the number of sitters you prefer, and always the same persons." 
 
 Mr. Home quitted the Tuileries, leaving on the mind of the 
 Empress an impression very different from that which he had pro- 
 duced before the seance. 
 
 Four personages of the Court were selected by their Majesties 
 to be present at the second seance ; the Duchess de Bassano and the 
 Duchess de Montebello, with Count Tascher de la Pagerie and the 
 Marquis de Belmont, Chamberlains of the Emperor. The evidences 
 of the presence of an invisible but not the less real power caused 
 a lively emotion to those who took part in the seance. The table 
 rose to a height of several feet ; then, to the astonishment of the 
 beholders, descended gently and settled in its place again, light as a 
 feather falling to the ground. An unseen force shook the apartment, 
 till the crystal pendants of the lustre suspended in the middle rattled 
 loudly against each other. A bell placed on the table was lifted 
 by invisible hands and carried some distance ; and a handkerchief 
 that the Empress held in her hand was softly taken from her bjy 
 invisible means and seen to rise and float in the air. 
 
 While the hands of all present rested on the table, other hands 
 appeared. One of these, the small hand of a child, approached the 
 Duchess de Montebello, who started back from it. The Empress 
 was seated next to her. No longer susceptible of similar terror since 
 she had held in hers the hand she recognised, she cried, " For my 
 part, I am not afraid ! (Moi, je n'ai pas peur !);" and caught the 
 little hand in hers, where she felt it gradually melt back into air. 
 
 At this second seance at the Tuileries, the phenomenon of a massive 
 table becoming light or heavy at desire exhibited itself in a marked 
 degree, and greatly interested the Emperor, who assured himself of 
 the fact by repeated trials, one moment easily moving the table with 
 a couple of fingers, and the next, on the expression of his wish that 
 it should become heavy; trying in vain to stir it with his whole 
 strength. As this is one of the phenomena that have been attributed 
 to delusion, it may be well to refer here to the experiments of Mr. 
 Crookes. 
 
 " I had seen on five separate occasions," he writes, " objects varying in 
 weight from 25 to 100 Ibs. temporarily influenced in such a manner that I
 
 48 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 and others present could with difficulty lift them from the floor. Wishing to 
 ascertain whether this was a physical fact, or merely due to a variation in the 
 power of our own strength under the influence of imagination, I tested with 
 a weighing machine the phenomenon on two subsequent occasions when I 
 had an opportunity of meeting Mr. Home at the house of a friend. On the 
 first occasion, the increase of weight was from 8 Ibs., normally, to 36 Ibs., 
 48 Ibs^, and 46 Ibs., in three successive experiments tried under strict scrutiny. 
 On the second occasion, tried about a fortnight after, in the presence of 
 other observers, I found the increase of weight to be from 8 Ibs. to 23 Ibs., 
 43 Ibs., and 27 Ibs., in three successive trials, varying the conditions." 
 (Quarterly Journal of Science, October 1871.) 
 
 In the Salon Louis Quinze, at one of the Tuileries seances (I believe, 
 the third), the hand of a man appeared above the table, on which a 
 sheet of paper and a pencil were lying, placed there that any com- 
 munications received might be written down. The hand moved 
 across the table, lifted the pencil, and wrote on the paper the single 
 word, " Napoleon." The writing was the autograph of the Emperor 
 Napoleon I. ; the hand small and beautifully formed, as his is 
 recorded to have been. 
 
 The Empress, moved by the sight of this hand, requested per- 
 mission to kiss it ; and it placed itself to her lips, then to the lips of 
 the Emperor. The hand was distinctly seen ; this seance, like all 
 others at the Tuileries, being held in a good light. 
 
 In accordance with the promise of the Empress to Home, the 
 same persons were usually present at each seance ; but occasionally 
 one or two of the number were changed. I am not sure, however, 
 that the four personages selected to be present at the Imperial seances, 
 whom I Rave already named, were varied in any way until after the 
 return of Home from America. After (or before) that short absence 
 of Mr. Home, the Duchess of Hamilton wasi present at seances, as 
 was also Prince Murat, of whom I have an anecdote to relate, 
 interesting in view of the assertion sometimes made that Napoleon 
 III. remained always sceptical concerning the manifestations. 
 
 Some years after the seances at the Tuileries, Home was in 
 London ; and there was a seance one evening at the house of Lady 
 Dunsany. Mrs. A. Senior, sister-in-law of the late Nassau Senior, 
 was present, and a witness, after the seance, of the following 
 occurrence, which I leave her to relate. 
 
 " Just as we were seated round the supper tray," writes Mrs. Senior, " a 
 loud ring sounded from the door bell ; and a servant came to say that two 
 gentlemen were in the hall asking for Mr. Home, who immediately stood up 
 and begged Lady Dunsany's permission to go down to them, when she most 
 kindly said: ' Pray bring them up: any friends of yours will be welcome.' 
 He quickly returned, introducing Prince Murat and Lord Adare (now Lord 
 Dunraven). They had called hoping to catch Mr. Home at the end of his 
 seance. After some very agreeable chit-chat, Prince Murat asked Mr. Home 
 whether he remembered the first evening he met him at the Tuileries, and 
 how very ill he had behaved, going under the table and laying hold of his feet, 
 and declaring" that he would ' find out his tricks.' ' Was I not a saucy dog? ' 
 he said, to which Mr. Home laughingly agreed ; and we were all much amused 
 by the Prince's lively tale, which ended by his saying, turning to Mr. Home, 
 ' When you left the room, the Emperor leant forward, with his arms on th-j 
 table, and said, in the most impressive manner : " Whoever says that Home 
 is a charlatan is a liar." ' This we felt was information from the fountain- 
 head."
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 49 
 
 " They say, Sire, you believe in these things," said the Duke de 
 Morny to the Emperor one day, when the talk was of the seances 
 with Home. 
 
 ' Whoever has said so is much deceived," replied Napoleon III. 
 
 " I was sure of it, Sire," said the Duke delighted; " and felt it 
 my duty to contradict the report." 
 
 " Quite right," said the Emperor; " but you may add, when you 
 speak on the subject again, that there is a difference between believing 
 a thing and having proof of it, and that I am certain of what I have 
 seen." 
 
 I have mentioned that the Duchess de Bassano was one of the four 
 personages of the Court selected by their Majesties to assist habitually 
 at the Tuileries seances. The Duchess arrived one evening, 
 wearing on her fingers rings that had been blessed at Rome, and 
 having divers other consecrated objects attached to her bracelets. 
 Curious to see what would happen, she said nothing of these saintly 
 influences ; but took her place as usual in the circle. Her new 
 fashion of jewellery made no difference ; or, if any, it seemed to 
 encourage the manifestations ; for the seance was very successful. 
 The Duchess, astonished, demanded of the spirits if the neighbour- 
 hood of these consecrated objects was not disagreeable to them. " Not 
 in the least," was the reply; and as a proof of the fact several mani- 
 festations were addressed to her personally. 
 
 An empty chair, at this seance, was seen to advance slowly from 
 the end of the apartment, and to stop before the seat of the 
 Empress. She made a gesture of surprise ; and the chair recoiled to 
 a little distance ; then, as it halted, a motion was communicated to it 
 that made it sway backward and forward. The Empress, as she 
 watched the movement, recollected that it had been a habit with her 
 father to balance himself thus in his chair ; and inquired of Home, 
 if he, the seer, could perceive any figure in the apparently empty 
 chair before her. 
 
 " Yes," he replied, " it is that of a soldier." 
 
 " Give me a description of him," demanded the Empress. 
 
 Home obeyed, and drew the portrait of her Majesty's father, whom 
 he had not known, and of whom there existed but a single portrait, 
 which the Empress, in whose possession it was, knew that Home 
 had never seen. 
 
 The departure of Home from Paris in March, 1857, astonished the 
 Parisian world; and the press was at once filled with absurd and 
 scandalous stories, to some of which I have referred in another 
 chapter. In one thing the authors of these different falsehoods were 
 agreed : Mr. Home's departure was compulsory, and he would never 
 be seen in France again. In the meantime the subject of these 
 calumnies was crossing the Atlantic, his sole errand being to bring to 
 France his young sister, whom the Empress had offered to take under 
 her protection and educate at her expense. As solicitous for the 
 welfare of those whom he loved as he was negligent of his own, 
 Home had accepted with much gratitude the kind and gracious pro- 
 posal by which her Majesty proved how deep was the interest she 
 felt in him.
 
 5 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 The day before he sailed a wonderful case of healing occurred 
 through his means, of which particulars are given in the Incidents, 
 vol. i. Supplying the names of the witnesses, which' Mr. Home 
 indicated only by initials, I reprint the circumstances here. 
 
 " On the igth of March, 1857, when I was residing at 13 Rue des Champs 
 Elysees, I received a letter from a stranger to me, Madame A. de Cardonne, 
 of 233 Rue St. Dominique, St. Germain, stating that she had had a dream, 
 in which she had seen her own mother and mine, and that the latter had 
 told her to seek me at once, in order that her son, who had been deaf for four 
 years from the effects of typhoid fever, might be cured. This was so strongly 
 impressed upon her mind, that she wrote to me to say that she would call upon 
 me with her son, the following morning at ten. 
 
 " Accordingly, the next morning she presented herself with her son at my 
 
 rooms, there being present the Princess de B " (Princess de Beauveau), 
 
 " and Miss E " (Miss Ellice), " who were with me previous to my leaving 
 
 Paris that very day, to proceed on my voyage to America. I had been so 
 overwhelmed by persons wishing to see me that I had uniformly refused such 
 visits ; but on this occasion I had been so much pre-occupied by my engagements 
 in preparing for my voyage, that I had not been able to acknowledge her 
 letter. I therefore received her with considerable embarrassment, which was 
 fully reciprocated on her part. It was indeed an embarrassing meeting for 
 both of us, the mother yearning for her son's recovery, and I not knowing 
 how I was expected to be instrumental in healing this long total deafness, the 
 more so that operations had been performed on the boy, as I afterwards found, 
 by eminent surgeons of Paris, who had said that it was impossible he should 
 ever be restored to hearing. 
 
 She sat down on a chair near a sofa, I taking a seat on the sofa and 
 beckoning the son to be seated on my left. He was in his fifteenth year, 
 tall for his age, of a delicate complexion, with large dreamy blue eyes that 
 looked as if they would supply the place of hearing with their' deep, thoughtful 
 inquiring gaze. The mother began her description of the boy's illness, 
 commencing with the attack of the fever, and ending in the entire loss of 
 hearing. During the recital, told with all the warmth and tenderness of a 
 mother's heart, and describing the various surgical operations to which he had 
 been subjected, my sympathies were deeply moved, and I had unwittingly 
 thrown my left arm about the boy and drawn him towards me, so that the 
 boy's head rested upon my shoulder. Whilst in this position, and as Madame 
 de Cardonne was telling some of the most painful particulars, I passed my 
 band caressingly over the boy's head, upon which he, partly lifting his head, 
 suddenly exclaimed in a voice trembling with emotion, ' Maman, je t'entends!' 
 (Mamma, I hear you !) The mother fixed on him a look of astonishment, and 
 said, ' Emile!' (the boy's name); and he at once replied, ' Quoi? ' (What?). 
 She then, seeing that the child had heard her question, fainted with emotion ; 
 and on her recovery the scene was a most thrilling one the poor mother ask- 
 ing continually questions for the mere pleasure of hearing her child reply. 
 The boy was able to resume his studies, and has continued to hear perfectly 
 up to the present time " (1863.) 
 
 It was characteristic of Home that, as soon as Madame de 
 Cardonne had left him, he quietly finished his preparations and 
 started for America, without troubling himself in the least to make 
 public the particulars of this wonderful cure, or to obtain the 
 attestations of the mother and the witnesses. It was not till his 
 return from America with his sister that Madame de Cardonne could 
 write to him the grateful letter from which I extract the following 
 passages :
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 51 
 
 " May 3Ofh, 1857. 
 
 " Let me add myself to the number of those who love you, and 
 who welcome your return. 
 
 '' Messenger of Divine Providence! I bless you, for you have 
 wrought a miracle for my son. I have inspired in all around me a 
 sentiment of veneration for you, whose mission enlarges from hour to 
 hour (grandit d'heure en heure)." 
 
 Madame de Cardonne then asks permission to introduce to Mr. 
 Home her friend M. Sardou a name that has since become well 
 known in France. I find among Home's papers a letter from Sardou, 
 of nearly the same date as that of Madame de Cardonne, and 
 expressing a hope that Home will name a day for the writer to 
 call on him. It may be presumed, therefore, that the celebrated 
 dramatist, among other persons, is able to testify to the fact that 
 neither Madame de Cardonne nor the strange and sudden restoration 
 of her son's hearing is a myth. 
 
 The mother's letter ends : " My son joins himself to me in 
 offering you his tenderest regards. The kind caresses you bestowed 
 on my poor child have resulted in so much good to me that the sweet 
 memory of them will never leave me." 
 
 Again, on June lyth, 1857, she wrote: 
 
 " DEAR, VERY DEAR MR. HOME. My son, who never ceases to 
 bless you, begs me every day to take him to see you. He is so 
 happy to have recovered his hearing that' he cannot rest till he 
 expresses to you his gratitude. Will you be able to receive me 
 to-morrow, Thursday, between 10 and n? . 
 
 " I renew to you, my very dear sir, the assurance of a devotion 
 that I shall carry with me to the grave. 
 
 " A MAUVOISIN DE CARDONNE." 
 
 During Mr. Home's absence from France, Madame de Cardonne, 
 the Princess de Beauveau, and Miss Ellice had all spoken to their 
 friends of the miraculous cure ; and the history was soon well known 
 in Paris and eagerly discussed there. Many doubted, others 
 credited ; numbers carried their enthusiasm so far as to visit the 
 house in the Rue des Champs Elysees, and entreat to see the 
 chamber where the wonderful event had taken place. Some of 
 these persons wrote to Home in a manner that was, of the many 
 misconceptions concerning his mission, the most vexatious and intoler- 
 able to him. They addressed him in a language of worship, and 
 exalted him to the height of a supernatural being. Home carried 
 his repugnance to all such adulation, and his wish to be regarded as 
 merely the instrument of the manifestations, to such a length that, 
 after his seances, he was accustomed to reject even a simple expression 
 of thanks from the persons present. " How can we thank you 
 enough, Mr. Home, for the opportunity of witnessing such wonder- 
 ful things ! " was a frequent cry; and the invariable response was, 
 " You will have thanked me sufficiently in not thanking me at all."
 
 52 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Neither angel, demon, nor charlatan, he wished it to be clearly 
 understood that, apart from his extraordinary gift, he was a man 
 like other men. 
 
 The restoration of hearing to the son of Madame de Cardonne was 
 not the only extraordinary cure performed in France through the 
 instrumentality of Mr. Home. I have selected it as one of the best 
 known and best accredited instances of healing ; but among his 
 correspondence are preserved letters that testify to other cures 
 wrought through him. Of similar manifestations in America and 
 England, I have given details under the date of their occurrence. 
 
 When Home returned from America with his sister, the Empress 
 graciously redeemed her promise by placing Christine Home in the 
 celebrated convent of the Sacred Heart, where the daughters of the 
 noblest families of France were educated. The Court was then 
 at Fontainebleau ; and Home was speedily summoned there, as a 
 royal visitor had delayed his departure expressly that he might have 
 the opportunity of seeing something of the phenomena on Home's 
 return. This was the old King of Bavaria, predecessor of the 
 sovereign whose melancholy fate is fresh in the recollection of the 
 world. The seance was a successful one ; and the Bavarian monarch, 
 being new to the manifestations, was not only interested but startled 
 by them; and overwhelmed Home with questions, much to the 
 amusement of their French Majesties. 
 
 As various of the manifestations at Fontainebleau were of the 
 same description as those witnessed at the Tuileries, I pass over 
 them. A striking incident of the evening was the following : 
 
 An accordion was brought to Home that one of the Court servants 
 had been sent to buy in the first shop in Fontainebleau. It was 
 perfectly new, and Home had not even seen it before the seance. 
 He held it in one hand, and it played; then Home withdrew his 
 hand, and the instrument, without mortal fingers touching it, 
 executed a charming air, which voices were distinctly h|eard 
 accompanying. All present listened spell-bound ; and little by little 
 these aerial voices seemed to recede into the distance, and 
 were heard more faintly, till, as the music ceased, they died away, 
 too, like an echo. 
 
 The next day was a Sunday. There was no seance in the morning, 
 but in the midst of a conversation raps were heard. One of the 
 
 ladies of the Court touched in succession the letters of a written 
 alphabet, while another wrote down the letters the raps indicated. 
 In this way the message " etlam " was received, a word incompre- 
 hensible to all present. The rappings began again, and added the 
 letters " es "/ but etlames was as unintelligible as the first communi- 
 cation. A third time raps were heard, and gave the key to the 
 enigma by the addition of the letters " se," " Et la messe ? 
 was the hour for attending mass; but every one had forgotten the 
 fact, until reminded of their religious duties by some invisible who 
 perhaps wished to remove the fear always lurking in some minds that 
 the phenomena were the work of the Evil One. 
 
 The same afternoon, there was an excursion on the lake at
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 53 
 
 Fontainebleau. Their Imperial Majesties had the King of Bavaria 
 with them in their boat, and invited Home to be the fourth in the 
 party. Arriving at a little isle on which there was a kiosk, the 
 three crowned heads and Home landed. There was no thought of a 
 seance; but as they entered the kiosk raps sounded loudly; and on 
 the alphabet being called over, a communication was addressed to 
 the Empress. 
 
 Such were a few of the manifestations witnessed at the Tuileries 
 and Fontainebleau. I have omitted various details, where the 
 phenomena resembled those already described; and undoubtedly 
 much occurred in the presence of the Emperor and Empress of the 
 French of which I have no knowledge, and therefore cannot record. 
 
 Home returned from Fontainbleau to Paris in the Imperial train, 
 and in the same carriage with their Majesties. During the journey 
 various phenomena were witnessed ; and their unexpected occurrence 
 greatly startled the King of Bavaria, who fairly fled from one 
 moving object when he saw it advance towards him in broad daylight, 
 untouched. 
 
 Home now remained in Paris till July, 1857, and held many 
 seances. He was in great power at this time ; and extraordinary 
 manifestations were witnessed, not only in fashionable salons, but 
 by sitters of every class in life. Had he complied with half of 
 
 the requests pressed on him for seances in Paris in the summer of 
 1857, and on his return there the winter following, he would have 
 needed to sit for the whole of the twenty-four hours, and change 
 the sitters every hour. Had he allowed himself to be tempted by 
 the demon of cupidity into selling a gift which was beyond price, 
 he could have rapidly piled up a splendid fortune always suppos- 
 ing that his power had not abandoned him the moment he began to 
 traffic in it. Again and again large sums were offered to him for 
 seances by persons whose eager curiosity his refusal to sit had 
 disappointed, and they were invariably offered in vain. I will 
 cite but a single instance. 
 
 There was in Paris a society of certain of the jeunesse doree, 
 called the Union Club, among whose members there had been much 
 talk of Home and his seances. It was known that he had 
 repeatedly refused large offers of money ; but the club probably 
 thought, like the English Sir Robert Walpole, that every man has 
 his price, and if Home had not yet been tempted, it was because his 
 was an exorbitant one. They talked the matter over, and deter- 
 mined to bid high. Home was offered 50,000 francs for a single 
 seance, and astonished the club by returning a prompt and decided 
 refusal 
 
 These facts were made known to the De Komar family, whose 
 guest Home was at the time, by the younger of the two Counts de 
 Komar, who happened to be a member of the Union Club. Friends 
 of Count Branicka, with whom Home came to Paris in 1856, the De 
 Komars speedily became the most prized and intimate of all his 
 friends in France. There were two brothers, Alexander and 
 Waldimir, the former much the elder of the two; and with them
 
 54 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 and their sisters, the Princess de Beauveau and the Countess Potocka, 
 Home had many remarkable seances. 
 
 Long afterwards, Mr. Home happened to meet one evening in 
 society the son-in-law of Count Alexander de Komar, who recalled to 
 him the offer in Paris of ^2,000 for a seance, and the surprise of 
 the bidders when their proposal was rejected as an insult. Home 
 at once took out a pencil, and sought a sheet of paper. " I have 
 told that story, my dear Bodisl.a," he said, " and have had it treated 
 as a fable put down your attestation of the fact on the spot. As 
 justice is very seldom done to me, and the falsehood is constantly 
 repeated that I am paid for my] seances, it will probably be said 
 of me, when I leave th'is world, that I accepted the 50,000 francs 
 offered me for this seance or perhaps even double the amount." 
 Bodiska complied ; and added other incidents concerning Home that 
 came within his knowledge. I have the paper before me at this 
 moment, and will give it in the English of the writer, who was son 
 of the Russian consul at New York : 
 
 " I first met Mr. D. Dunglas Home at the Hotel de Vouillemont, 
 Paris, where my father-in-law, Count Alexander Komar, resided. 
 He resided in the family of my father-in-law ; and I myself had 
 ample opportunity of studying his private life and character, as well 
 as the extraordinary phenomena occurring in his presence; and I 
 can frankly state that nothing in natural principles can explain 
 what I and others witnessed, not only once but surely a hundred of 
 times. There was never any mercenary motive to incite him to 
 call attention to his wonderful gift, for to my knowledge he refused 
 many proposals, amongst which was one from the Union Club, that 
 offered him francs 50,000, for a seance. A relative of my wife 
 even offered him adoption, and to settle a life annuity on him, which 
 likewise he refused. " B. BODISKA." 
 
 One of the celebrities who sought and made Home's acquaintance 
 at Paris in 1857 was Madame Grisi, another was Mario, a third was 
 Francis Mahoney (" Father Prout "). A letter from Grisi to Home, 
 dated December 8, 1857, is sufficiently interesting to translate 
 here : 
 
 " Your extraordinary and mysterious power has continued during 
 the whole night to exercise its influence over my astonished imagina- 
 tion. I am charmed to be able to express to you all the pleasure I 
 have found in making your acquaintance ; and I hope to see you 
 again on my return from England. M. Mario desires me to present 
 his best compliments to you, and he will be delighted to have a 
 call from you. Receive &c., " GIULIA GRISI." 
 
 Another celebrated person who made Home's acquaintance at this 
 time was Marchioness de Boissy, who, thirty years earlier, as the 
 Countess Guiccioli, had published her recollections of Byron. 
 Madame de Boissy was present in 1857, and again in 1865, at several 
 seances with Home, and beheld phenomena that deeply impressed
 
 ITALY AND FRANCE 55 
 
 her. There are several letters from her among Home's corres- 
 pondence ; but they give no details of the manifestations witnessed 
 by her. 
 
 If only half of those who believed had had the courage of their 
 belief! if they had published their testimony to their experiences; 
 or, too timid for that, had at least written it down, and left it to be 
 made public when they were beyond the reach of incredulity. But 
 the silence they have preserved, the secrecy in which they have 
 enshrouded their knowledge of the facts, are so many unspoken 
 falsehoods that hinder the progress of a consoling verity. Believers, 
 no less than scoffers, look first of all to their own interests in these 
 days, when all that remain of Christianity are its temples and its 
 ceremonies. Each is for himself, and all are for the world. 
 
 When Home passed from earth, the press proved how much the 
 intellect may be degraded by the moral nature associated with it, 
 and hatred availed itself of the silence of death to exhaust itself in 
 invectives accompanied by the insinuations that are worse than out- 
 spoken calumnies. Invective is the natural weapon to which such 
 enemies have recourse when proofs are wanting to them. But 
 the name of Home is pronounced with respect by all whose opinion 
 deserves attention and who have had means of forming it ; and as 
 for the honours or the reproaches that the mob decree to us, they 
 ought to be regarded with equal indifference the one should cause 
 no joy and the other no sorrow. He who had so many friends 
 could not fail to have enemies even without knowing of them ; for 
 one may justly apply to Home these lines of Victor Hugo : 
 
 " Ces ennemis qu'il a s'il faut qu'il s'en souvicnne, 
 Lui viennent de leur haine, et non pas de la sienne."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 
 
 Meetings with the King of Wurtemberg and the Emperor William of 
 Germany. Remark of the latter at Versailles. The Duke of 
 Parma and the vision. Seance with the Queen of Holland. 
 Adventures in Russia. Anecdotes of Alexandre Dumas. 
 Spiritism and Spiritualism. Second loss of his powers. Marriage 
 in St. Petersburg. Strange cure. His critics. Wild theories as 
 to his powers. 
 
 HOME guided himself in numerous actions of life by spirit-counsels ; 
 and, influenced by these, he took a resolution in 1857 to visit Turkey. 
 Among his acquaintances in Paris was Lord Howden, for some years 
 British Minister at Madrid. Lord Howden, attracted by simple 
 curiosity, came to a seance, and was startled by the phenomena he 
 witnessed out of his preconceived notions concerning them. He saw 
 a great deal of Home during the next few weeks, inviting him fre- 
 quently to dinner and taking every opportunity of being present at 
 seances; and when Home was on the point of starting for the East, 
 Lord Howden furnished him with introductions to the British 
 Ambassadors at Vienna and Constantinople. I quote the letter that 
 enclosed them: 
 
 " RUE D'ANTIN, Monday. 
 
 " MY DEAR HOME, Here are letters for our ambassadors at Vienna and 
 Constantinople. If I can do anything else for you in the limited circle of my 
 capabilities, freely command me. Will you come and eat a bad dinner at my 
 Hotel at 7 o'clock on Saturday next, with only our friend Denys and my 
 attach^ Middleton? 
 
 " // you feel inclined afterwards, and will accompany me to Passy, to my 
 friends the Delesserts and her sister, Madame Odier, you will please me, 
 please them, and, I hope, please yourself, for they have a sympathy for you, 
 as I have but do not consider yourself the least bound to me on this head. 
 
 " Yours with truth, HOWDEN." 
 
 At the very moment of departure, Home's journey to Vienna and 
 the East was abandoned as suddenly as it had been resolved upon. 
 " My trunks were packed," he writes, "my passport sent for visa. 
 
 I was making a farewell call on the Duchess d'A , and while in 
 
 conversation with her, the drawing-room seemed filled with rappings, 
 the alphabet was called for, and I was told that my journey must be 
 postponed, as some political troubles were just about to occur. 
 Instead, therefore, of going to Turkey, I went to Baden-Baden." 
 
 The " Duchess d'A " was the Duchess of Hamilton, daughter 
 
 of the Grand Duke of Baden, and the incognito "d'A " was 
 
 probably suggested to Home by the fact that the occurrence took 
 place in the Hotel d'Albe, where the Duchess was then residing. 
 
 Home was at Baden during August and part of September, 1857. 
 His health was again failing; and his power, as was ordinarily the 
 
 56
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 57 
 
 case when his health failed, had grown weaker. " I met, however," 
 he writes, " the King of Wurtemberg and the then Prince, now 
 King of Prussia, both of whom investigated the phenomena." 
 
 A letter with an almost illegible signature throws some light on the 
 circumstances of Home's introduction to the King of Wurtemberg. It 
 is addressed to him at the Hotel d'Angleterre, Baden, and was 
 written by the physician to the King, Dr. Guggert. Other letters 
 identify this correspondent with a physician who had been present in 
 France at some of Home's seances, and whose obstinate scepticism 
 was conquered by what he witnessed. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I spoke yesterday to H.M. the King of 
 Wurtemberg of your good disposition, and of your extraordinary and 
 miraculous qualities. His Majesty would like to see you at noon 
 to-day, as he will probably leave to-morrow morning for Stuttgart. 
 If you should be disposed to accept the high invitation, you must be 
 kind enough to call on me at twelve o'clock, and I will take you 
 with me." 
 
 Home has himself described, in a letter published in 1883, his 
 meeting at Baden-Baden with the then Prince Regent of Prussia, the 
 late Emperor of Germany, and with his Majesty's son, the present 
 Emperor. " My first meeting with the Prince of Prussia," he wrote, 
 " was at once amusing and interesting. The Emperor William of 
 to-day, then Prince Regent, sent one of his aides-de-camp to ask me 
 to call on him. I went as desired, and on entering the drawing-room, 
 I was received by a gentleman whose commanding presence agreeably 
 impressed me; but as he began a series of questions more or less 
 personal and pointed, I became reticent, and replied rather coldly. 
 It was a relief when the door opened, and the Prince Regent came in. 
 I was taken aback when he laughingly said, ' I see that I do not 
 require to present you to my son, for you already know him.' ' Three 
 seances with the Prince Regent of Prussia followed this interview. 
 
 Thirteen years later, at Versailles, Mr. Home again saw the 
 King of Prussia, not yet crowned Emperor. Home was with a party 
 of Prussian officers and English newspaper correspondents ; and one 
 of the latter, Mr. Kingston, correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, 
 thus described the incident, in a letter published in that journal, 
 October 3 ist, 1870: 
 
 " A staff-officer put his head in at the door, and exclaimed, ' The 
 King! The King!' disappearing as he uttered the words. We 
 hurried after him ; and, sure enough, there in the dining-room stood 
 the venerable monarch, who had improvised a visit to the chateau 
 during his afternoon drive, surrounded by the members of his personal 
 staff. I never saw the King in better health or spirits. Among our 
 party was an American General, with whom his Majesty conversed 
 for some time. Another was Mr. Daniel Home, the celebrated 
 Spiritualist, whom the King promptly recognised and addressed very 
 kindly reminding him of the wonders that he (Mr. Home) had been 
 the means of imparting to him, and inquiring about ' the spirits ' in 
 by no means a sceptical tone."
 
 58 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 As the Daily Telegraph correspondent, an almost total stranger to 
 Home, is an unexceptionable witness to the fact of this conversation, 
 I have preferred to cite his account of it, although somewhat meagre. 
 He might have added that the exact words King William addressed 
 to Home were: "Ah, Mr. Home, when I relate the strange things 
 I witnessed in your presence, they laugh at me ; but the facts are true 
 for all that." 
 
 It was late in August or early in September, 1857, that Mr. Home's 
 presence at Baden afforded the late Emperor of Germany the oppor- 
 tunity of investigating the phenomena, an investigation renewed by 
 his Majesty in subsequent years. Another seance at Baden was with 
 the Prince of Nassau, whose interest had been excited by the account 
 that the Princess had written to him of a seance with Home at Paris 
 a few weeks before, at which her Highness and the Princess 
 Mentchikoff were present. 
 
 The Court of France was at Biarritz in September, 1857 ; and an 
 Imperial invitation telegraphed to Mr. Home at Baden cut short his 
 stay there. He had hardly arrived at Biarritz when his health failed 
 him still more ; and, hearing of his illness, various priests made per- 
 severing attempts to penetrate to his sick-room. The Church had 
 not yet lost hope of reclaiming the wanderer from her fold, and setting 
 on his wonderful life the seal of the monastery. 
 
 In parting with the year 1857, I may add to the particulars already 
 given the remark that I have named only a very few of the persons of 
 intellectual and social distinction who were present at seances given 
 by Mr. Home in France. Many names are unknown to me; for Home 
 kept no record of the persons present at seances, and destroyed nine- 
 tenths of the countless letters he received. As tor the correspondence 
 that remains, it is not always dated ; and the higher the rank of the 
 writer, the more common this omission. Various of these undated 
 letters evidently belong to the year 1857, but to what month it is 
 impossible to say. Among these correspondents are celebrities of 
 every description, the aristocracy of talent as well as that of birth. 
 There are letters from Princess Murat, Princess Orloff, Lacordaire 
 (brother of the celebrated preacher), Madame de Balzac (widow of 
 the great novelist and a life-long friend of Home), the Prince and 
 Princess Metternich, Count de Sancillon, Count de Villiers, Madame 
 de Girardin, the Duchess de Tascher, the Turkish Ambassador at 
 Paris, the Duchess de Medina-Celi, the Countess de Lourmel, the 
 Princess de Montleart, the Count de Riancourt, the Marquis Duplanri, 
 the Marquis Strachan de Salza, the Duchess de Valmy, Baron de 
 Retz, Baron de Stakelberg, Dossini the composer, and Hebert the 
 painter. A note written by this last-named celebrated artist after a 
 seance deserves quotation: 
 
 " GRAND HOME, Mes felicitations et mes remercrments les plus 
 chaudes pour les hautes emotions que je vous dois. 
 
 "E. HEBERT." 
 
 I have omitted from the above list the name of one of the most 
 remarkable personages with whom Mr. Home became acquainted in
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 59 
 
 France in 1857. I speak of the last Duke of Parma, who had abdi- 
 cated some time previously, and was living at Paris in 1857 under the 
 incognito of Count de Villafranca. The strange circumstances 
 attending the commencement of the Duke's friendship with Home are 
 related without names in the Incidents. Briefly summarised, the 
 story is as follows : 
 
 In the early summer of 1857, the Count de Villafranca, a stranger 
 to Home, called on him one morning and sent up a pressing request 
 to see him : 
 
 " He advanced to where I stood," writes Mr. Home, " and, taking 
 me kindly by the hand, he said to me, ' I have been sent to you, and 
 you will yet know the reason why, though you do not even know who 
 
 I am. I' live at No. 4, Rue , and you will be obliged to come 
 
 to me. ' I shook my head at this incredulously, and told him my time 
 was so taken up that I had scarcely time even to call on my friends. 
 He smiled, and said, ' You will see, you will see.' The conversation 
 then changed; and he left me after having written his address." 
 
 Home dined the same evening with the Baroness de Meyendorf, 
 and, on entering the drawing-room, saw a young man standing there. 
 " I was surprised at this," he writes, " expecting to have met no 
 stranger. With his eyes fixed upon me, he said, ' I am glad you have 
 come, for we will go together to see my father ' ; and he then suddenly 
 disappeared. I had thought till then he was a guest, so real was the 
 vision." 
 
 Later in the evening the apparition again presented himself; and 
 Home then delayed no longer, but went to the residence of his visitor 
 
 of the morning. " On reaching No. 4, Rue , I was directed 
 
 to the rooms of the Count ; and his valet told me that his master was 
 preparing to retire, and in all probability could not see me. Again 
 the voice told me to announce myself; and at that very moment a 
 door was opened, and the Count came towards me, and said, ' I 
 have been waiting for you I knew you would come.' I described to 
 him the young man I had seen, and all that had happened ; and he 
 at once recognised him as his son. He showed me a portrait of him, 
 which exactly corresponded with my vision of him." 
 
 The tragic story of the death of the Duke of Parma's son need not 
 be related here. It is enough to add that the Count or, rather, the 
 Duke told Home in what manner he had been impressed to seek him ; 
 and that the morning visit and evening vision were the commencement 
 of a friendship that Home valued greatly. The Duke of Parma, a 
 brother of the celebrated Duchess of Berry, was one of the most 
 finished and noble representatives of manners and traditions that are 
 almost extinct in Europe. He had outlived his world and resigned 
 his duchy ; but he preserved that union of perfect simplicity with 
 perfect dignity which constitutes the true grand seigneur. The 
 exquisite charm of such manner is seldom felt now; but it will be 
 remembered by all who were honoured with the society of the Count 
 de Villafranca. 
 
 In his journey to Holland in January, 1858, Mr. Home was accom- 
 panied by his friend Mons. Tiedemann, a Dutch gentleman then
 
 60 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 residing at the Chateau de Cergay, not far from Paris, where, two 
 years later, Home's remarkable preservation from death occurred. I 
 have no details of the seances at the Hague; but a circumstance con- 
 nected with them left a profound impression on the mind of the Queen 
 of Holland. The first took place in one of the grand apartments of 
 the palace, among surroundings of a somewhat cheerless and sombre 
 magnificence ; and little or nothing occurred. On the occasion of the 
 following seance, the Queen invited Home to choose for himself the 
 room in which he would prefer to hold it ; and her emotion was great 
 on seeing him, after having traversed the whole length of the state 
 apartments, pause in front of a locked door. None entered this 
 chamber save the Queen. It was the chamber of her child, whose 
 loss she had) never ceased lamenting. The manifestations that took 
 place there left in the mind of this gifted and amiable sovereign a 
 vivid remembrance, that was attested by the action of her Majesty. 
 On the eve of Home's departure from the Hague, she drew from her 
 finger a ring of which the chief value consisted in the fact that she 
 had long worn it, and sent it to him with the following holograph 
 note : 
 
 " February qth, 1858. 
 
 "I send you a grateful (reconnaissant) souvenir of our seances." 
 
 "SOPHIE." 
 
 At the wish of Mons. Tiedemann, Home accompanied him from 
 the Hague to Amsterdam, and held there a seance with a party of 
 very pronounced sceptics, the proprietors and staff of a Dutch journal. 
 His power was now weakening, and a few days later wholly left him. 
 He returned to Paris suffering from the effects of a severe chill he 
 had taken in Holland; and was ordered by his doctor to leave for 
 Italy. 
 
 While he was living quietly in Italy, Paris and the Parisian journals 
 were lending ready credence to an infamous falsehood concerning him. 
 He had not left Paris, after all, ran. this new slander. He had been 
 arrested on the scandal-mongers knew not what charge and was in 
 the prison of Mazas. " Persons in official positions even told my 
 friends that they had seen and spoken to me in that prison ; and one, 
 an officer, went so far as to state that he had accompanied me there 
 in the carriage" (Incidents in My Life, vol. i., p. 106). 
 
 Home, without knowing anything of the slanders that were in 
 circulation, had already written from Rome to several friends in Paris. 
 The recipient of one of his letters, the well-known author, Henri 
 Delaage, showed it to the Paris correspondent of Le Nord, who, on 
 March lyth, wrote to that journal: "Allow me to begin by a good 
 action; it is to free an honourable man from calumnies, arising from 
 what source I know not, but which for the past few days have been 
 rapidly spreading. I speak of Mr. Home, who is for the moment in 
 Italy, whereas it is whispered both secretly and openly that he is in 
 the prison of Mazas, for we know not what crimes. The letter here 
 given, dated Rome, 7th of March, was received yesterday by M. 
 Henri Delaage, an intimate friend of Mr. Home. The letter is there 
 before me with the postal mark."
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 61 
 
 On the publication of this paragraph in Le Nord, accompanied by 
 Home's letter from Rome to Delaage, the spread of the Mazas slander 
 was stopped. It had already travelled from Paris into Belgium and 
 Holland ; a delay of a week or two more in disproving it, and the lie 
 would no doubt have made the round of the civilised world. 
 
 There was at Rome, in March, 1858, a young Russian nobleman, 
 Count Koucheleff-Besborodka, who, as well as the Countess his wife, 
 so celebrated for her beauty, had a lively curiosity concerning Home 
 and a great desire to make his acquaintance. As he refused all 
 invitations to go into Roman society, the Koucheleffs ended by 
 pressing into their service one of the few friends he saw, who promised 
 to gratify their wish for an introduction, and arranged the matter in 
 the fashion related by Mr. Home in the Incidents : 
 
 " He mentioned one afternoon, while we were walking together on 
 the Pincian, the name of a Russian family of distinction then in 
 Rome, and added that they were anxious to make my acquaintance. 
 I excused myself on the ground of my health. At this moment a 
 carriage was passing us and stopped ; and my friend, before I was 
 aware of what he was doing, introduced me to the Countess de 
 Koucheleff, who asked me to come and sup with them that evening, 
 adding that they kept very late hours." 
 
 The evening was destined to be a memorable one in Home's life. 
 " I went about ten," he writes, " and found a large party assembled. 
 At twelve, as we entered the supper-room, the Countess introduced 
 to me a young lady, whom I then observed for the first time, as her 
 sister. A strange impression came over me at once, and I knew she 
 was to be my wife. When we were seated at table, the young lady 
 turned to me, and laughingly said, ' Mr. Home, you will be married 
 before the year is ended.' I asked her why she said so; and she 
 replied that there was such a superstition in Russia when a person was 
 at table between two sisters. I made no reply. It was true. In 
 twelve days we were partially engaged, and waiting only the consent 
 of her mother." 
 
 ' ' Home had lost the power of making himself feared, but had pre- 
 served that of making himself loved," wrote Alexander Dumas in 
 allusion to the fact that his friend's power had not yet returned 1 to 
 him. Mademoiselle de Kroll had seen nothing whatever of the 
 phenomena, and was incredulous as to the possibility of communica- 
 tions with another world, at the time of her engagement to Home. 
 
 " The evening of the day of our engagement," continues Home in the 
 Incidents, " a small party had assembled, and were dancing. I was seated 
 on a sofa by my fiancee, when she turned to me and si.id abruptly : ' Do tell 
 me all about spirit-rapping, for you know I don't believe in it.' I said to her 
 ' Mademoiselle, I trust you will ever bear in mind that I have a mission 
 intrusted to me. It is a great and holy one. I cannot speak with you about 
 a thing which you have not seen, and therefore cannot understand. I can 
 only say that it is a great truth.' The tears came welling into her eyes; and 
 laying her hand in mine, she said, ' If your mission can bring comfort to those 
 less happy than ourselves, or be in any way a consolation to mankind, you will 
 ever find me ready and willing to do all I can to aid you in it.' She was 
 true to this noble sentiment t the last moment of her short life ; and she is still 
 my great comfort and sustainer since we have separated in this earthly 
 sphere."
 
 62 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 The acquaintance of the Koucheleffs with Dumas resulted in an 
 invitation to 'the author of Monte Cristo to accompany them to Russia, 
 and be present at the marriage of Home. Dumas accepted; and in 
 the month of June the party left for St. Petersburg. On the eve of 
 Home's departure, a banquet was given to him by his friends in Paris 
 to celebrate his marriage ; and a distinguished and numerous company 
 of various nationalities assembled, including many of the names men- 
 tioned a few pages back, all, or nearly all, of them men who had been 
 present at seances with Home. 
 
 Dumas insisted, like almost every other Frenchman, on regarding 
 Home as a magician. At his pressing request, Home had given him 
 a sketch of his life up to the year 1858, and this Dumas reproduced in 
 his work, but could not resist the temptation to re-touch it. There 
 are natures to which veracity is impossible, and history as treated by 
 Dumas becomes fiction, biography becomes romance. Home, who had 
 expected nothing else, laughed heartily over his metamorphosed 
 biography when he read it; and Dumas responded to his laugh by 
 another, that seemed to say, ' ' Does the world ever take me 
 seriously?" 
 
 Probably not ; but the Paris correspondent of the Daily News would 
 seem to have done so, when, in June, 1886, she sent to that journal 
 her ridiculous biographical sketch of Home. 
 
 Count Koucheieff-Besborodka possessed a fine estate in the neigh- 
 bourhood of St. Petersburg that had been bestowed on his grandfather 
 by Catherine II. Here the festivities took place that accompanied the 
 marriage of Home ; and here, on arriving in Russia, Dumas enjoyed 
 the lavish hospitality of the Count. Within a few days of Home's 
 arrival, the Emperor Alexander II. sent to request that he would 
 present himself at Peterhoff, the summer residence of the Court. 
 Dumas was something more than disappointed at not receiving a 
 similar invitation ; but affected to consider that the loss was the 
 Emperor's not his. "There are many crowned heads in Europe," 
 he grandiosely remarked; " but there is only one Alexander Dumas." 
 
 At the marriage of Home, it was necessary for Dumas to give his 
 name; and on being asked for it, he responded briefly, " Dumas." 
 The official repeated the question. 
 
 " Dumas!" replied the illustrious owner of that name, more loudly 
 than before. 
 
 " But your Christian name, Monsieur Dumas? " 
 
 "Alexander Is there another Alexander Dumas in the world?" 
 demanded the outraged author. 
 
 A dozen such anecdotes might be told of Dumas in Russia. He 
 was certainly one of the vainest of men ; but his vanity was so naive in 
 its display that it amused much more than offended. So long as 
 sufficient incense was burnt in his honour, Dumas was the pleasantest 
 companion in the world, and as entertaining as one of his own novels ; 
 but he lived in purgatory when he saw another excite more interest 
 than himself. If he hardly did justice in Russia to his reputation of 
 " bon enfant" it was because of his ill-humour at attracting less 
 attention than he had anticipated.
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 63 
 
 Dumas, who never took life seriously, could not accept the mani- 
 festations as matter for serious consideration. This truly French 
 fashion of looking at the subject was more disagreeable to Home than 
 any scepticism, and explains the statement made by Dumas that 
 Home accused him of putting the spirits to flight. 
 
 A Paris anecdote of 1857 deserves a passing mention. It may be 
 true or not probably not but at least it is ben trovato. A Parisian 
 journalist, so the story runs, came to a seance ; and on seeing a heavy 
 table rise to the ceiling when no person was touching it, was so 
 startled that he rushed out of the house without his hat. 
 "Frightened!" said the witty fugitive, when joked with on his 
 escapade; " no. not at all. Why did I leave my hat, then? What 
 did I want with a hat when I had lost my head ? ' ' 
 Dumas relates how at Polonstrava, the residence of Count 
 Koucheleff-Besborodka, a spirit entered into a round table. In his 
 fantastic narrative, the table is no longer a table; it has become an 
 intelligence itself, instead of being merely the means of communica- 
 tion between one intelligence and another. In this confusion of 
 things material with things spiritual, Dumas was a type of his nation. 
 When, as so often happened at the seances cf Home, a piece of furni- 
 ture was seen to move without any person touching it, the French 
 mind commonly grasped at the explanation that the spirit had entered 
 into the table or chair, and animated it. In other countries, the 
 belief of an invisible force acting from without on a visible object 
 might be understood and accepted ; but the French mind was seldom 
 able to separate the spirits from the chairs and tables. In the pages 
 of one of the many writers who have charged their own aberrations 
 on the world of spirits, Count Theobald Walsh, we even find tables, 
 footstools, and baskets animated at his bidding with the various 
 passions of humanity, and representing anger, gluttony, pride, etc. 
 
 In no country were more extraordinary requests addresed to Home 
 than in France. He received, for instance, a letter from a French 
 officer quartered at Algiers, who was possessed with the belief that 
 treasure had been buried somewhere under an old Moorish dwelling 
 there, and was ready to share it with Home, if the wizard would tell 
 him the exact spot. Another writer cherishes the memory of a friend- 
 ship formed with Home during a previous existence in some other 
 planet than the earth, and longs to know if on Home's part a similar 
 recollection has been preserved. 
 
 Spiritualism does not exist in France ; its place has been taken by 
 Spiritism, a very different thing. The fundamental conceptions of 
 Spiritualism are the individual immortality of the soul, and the reality 
 of the invisible world. Home proved that death is a second birth. 
 The facts collected in this volume show that there is no interruption 
 in the existence of those who have passed from earth. What can be 
 more comforting than such a belief? The certitude of immortality 
 transfigures lives that were formerly filled with despair and the shadow 
 of death, and inspires us with a keener sentiment of submission and 
 gratitude to the Creator. There is nothing in this antagonistic to the 
 Christian faith; but " Spiritism " (as its inventor named it) professes
 
 64 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 to be an anti-Christian religion taught by spirits if the name 
 " religion " can be applied to so gross a superstition. It is not even 
 a new heresy; it is merely a nineteenth-century application of the very 
 ancient superstition of the transmigration of spirits. Revel, who first 
 taught the doctrines of Spiritism in France, took the name of " Allan 
 Kardec," asserting himself to have borne it in a former existence as 
 a Breton Druid. Those who accept this doctrine do so entirely on the 
 faith of pretended revelations made by spirits. Reason is set aside, 
 and proofs of identity are replaced by the flights of an imagination 
 more conspicuous for incoherence than for grandeur. If this super- 
 stition attracts in France and only in France people of no intellect 
 or education, it does not include a single intellectual celebrity among 
 its adepts. 
 
 When Home, at St. Petersburg, received the Imperial command so 
 much envied him by Dumas, his power had been absent for nearly 
 three months ; and he replied to the invitation by acquainting the 
 Emperor with the fact, and added that, at the earliest indication of 
 its return, he would hold himself entirely at the disposition of his 
 Majesty. 
 
 The marriage of Mr. Home and Mademoiselle Alexandrina de 
 Kroll, sister of the Countess Koucheleff, took place on the ist of 
 August, 1858, new style, or the 2oth of July by the Russian calendar. 
 The ceremony was first performed according to the rites of the Greek 
 Church in the private chapel of Count Koucheleff, and again in the 
 Church of St. Catherine by a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. 
 Three days before the marriage, the Emperor Alexander II. sent to 
 the bridegroom the wedding-gift of which I have spoken in a previous 
 chapter. It was transmitted to Mr. Home by Count Schouvaloff, 
 together with the following letter: 
 
 " PETERHOF, te 17/29 juillet, 1858. 
 
 "MONSIEUR, Le Ministre de la Maison de I'Empereur m'a fait 
 parvenir une bague enrichie de diamants que Sa Majest6 vous a 
 destinee comme une marque de Sa bienveillance. 
 
 " Ayant 1'honneur de vous la transmettre ci-joint, je vous prie, 
 Monsieur, de recevoir 1'assurance de ma consideration tres distinguee. 
 
 " SCHOUVALOFF." 
 
 A comparison of the date of Count Schouvaloff's letter with that 
 of Mr. Home's marriage would alone sufficiently establish the fact 
 that the Emperor's gracious token of his interest in the bridegroom 
 took the form of a wedding-gift. 
 
 Besides the letter just given, several others from Count Schouvaloff 
 have been preserved. They convey, for the most part, the Imperial 
 invitations to Mr. Home ; but in one of those written in July the Count 
 gladly accepts Home's offer to give him a special seance. " Discre- 
 tion prevented me asking you," he writes; "but since you have the 
 kindness to propose it to me, I will be with you any day and any hour 
 that you can receive me." 
 
 Leaving St. Petersburg shortly after their marriage, Mr. Home and 
 his bride spent the autumn in visits to the various estates of their
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 65 
 
 brother-in-law, Count Koucheleff, some of which were situated in the 
 farthest south of Russia ; and it was November before they were back 
 in St. Petersburg. On his return, Home, as the letters of Count 
 Schouvaloff and Count Bobrinsky show, was several times summoned 
 to the Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, where the Emperor was just then 
 residing. The social consideration that Mr. Home enjoyed in Russia 
 does not need attesting, but such letters as the following sufficiently 
 establish it: 
 
 " S. M. 1'Empereur desire, cher Home, vous voir a Tsarskoe, lundi 
 soir. Veuillez avoir la bonte de m'informer par le porteur si Ton peut 
 compter sur vous ce jour-la. Une voiture vous attendra a la gare de 
 Tsarskoe. Tout a vous, " COMTE A. BOBRINSKY." 
 
 In January, 1859, Home fell ill, and was soon in great danger. The 
 malady that had attacked him baffled his physicians, but was expelled 
 in the manner he has narrated in the Incidents : 
 
 " The dangerous symptoms were greatly increased by my usual nervous 
 debility. Friction was recommended, but the extreme pain which it caused 
 precluded its use. I was in this state when one evening my wife and a friend, 
 
 the Baron de M " (Baron de Meyendorff), " were present, and my hands 
 
 were suddenly seized by spirit-influence, and I was made to beat them with 
 extreme violence upon the part which was so extremely sensitive and tender. 
 My wife was frightened, and would have endeavoured to hold my hands ; but 
 my friend, who had sufficient knowledge of spirit-manifestations, prevented her. 
 I felt no pain, though the violence of the blows which I continued giving 
 
 myself made the bed and the whole room shake In an hour I was in 
 
 a quiet sleep ; and on awaking the next morning, I found the disease had left 
 me, and only a weakness remained. The expression of the doctor's face baffles 
 my description, when he visited me early that morning, expecting to have found 
 me worse, and felt my pulse and saw that a great change must have occurred, 
 beyond his skill to account for." 
 
 In all countries but especially in France and America the num- 
 ber of persons who claimed Home's acquaintance without ever having 
 met him was legion. He had several amusing rencontres with 
 imaginative beings of this class, and often told in his own inimitable 
 fashion the story of these meetings. One of the most amusing took 
 place in a railway-carriage in which he was travelling to Fontaine- 
 bleau, in May, 1857. 
 
 In early summer there are few pleasanter places in France than 
 Fontainebleau ; and under the Empire that was the time of year 
 usually selected for an Imperial visit to the beautiful old forest and 
 chateau. The Court was there in May, 1857 ; and on the 23rd, a few 
 days after his return from America, Home received a telegram con- 
 veying an invitation from the Empress to present himself at the 
 chateau, and left Paris by the evening train. Three gentlemen, all 
 strangers to him, were his companions on the journey ; and their talk 
 fell on the news of the day. 
 
 " Home is back with us, it seems," said one. " I am told that the 
 fact is he had never left Paris." 
 
 ' So far from that being the case," replied oracle number two, 
 " he will never be seen in Paris again. The journals may announce
 
 66 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 what they like ; but, take my word for it, Home is far enough from 
 Paris at this moment." 
 
 " Is it true, then, that the Emperor had him sent away?" 
 
 " Quite true. The Empress was so alarmed by what she saw at a 
 certain seance I have my information from those who ought to know 
 that the Emperor determined to allow no more of these diabolical 
 scenes; and our sorcerer was ordered to leave France the next day." 
 
 "It is said he had received enormous sums." 
 
 " He was paid at the rate of a million francs a year," replied the 
 other, with the air of a man who knows of what he speaks. 
 
 Home joined in the conversation at this point, and his gay and 
 pleasant manner soon put him on the best of terms with his three 
 travelling companions. A number of interesting particulars in his 
 own history, all quite novel to him, were communicated by one or the 
 other; and in the midst of these piquant anecdotes the train reached 
 Fontainebleau. There was a servant in the Imperial livery on the 
 platform, and Home beckoned to him. 
 
 " You are waiting for -?" 
 
 "For Mr. Home, sir." 
 
 " I am Mr. Home." 
 
 Home stepped from the carriage, and took the politest of farewells 
 of the blank and silent three within. 
 
 They were neither the first nor the last of the Munchausen tribe in 
 whose company he had the amusement of travelling incognito, and of 
 listening to imaginary incidents in his history, sometimes recounted 
 by romancers who claimed to know him personally. The same year, 
 1857, he happened to be the third occupant of a coupe on a French 
 railway; the other two being an elderly man and a young man. The 
 former mentioned the name of Home, and the young man at once 
 claimed it as that of an acquaintance. 
 
 " Not that I know him well," he explained; " but I have met him 
 occasionally at the house of my friend, the Princess de Beauveau, who 
 amuses herself sometimes by witnessing his feats of legerdemain." 
 
 " They are well managed?" asked Home. 
 
 " Oh, very clever !" 
 
 " But Madame la Princesse has the reputation of believing in his 
 spiritual claims." 
 
 ' ' If one believes all one hears ! She has no more faith in them 
 than I have myself, and recognises Home for what he is." 
 
 Home took a letter from his pocket. " You have interested me in 
 mentioning a name very well known to me," he said; "since the 
 Princess de Beauveau is a lady who honours me with her friendship. 
 I have heard her speak ot Mr. Home, but not as a charlatan." 
 
 "Pardon, monsieur; but I can affirm that such is her opinion of 
 him." 
 
 " You have seen him and would, of course, recognise him, if you 
 were to meet him again," Home continued. 
 
 "Without doubt." 
 
 " And this letter," said Home, drawing it from the envelope and 
 holding it out ; " do you know the writing? "
 
 FRANCE AND RUSSIA 67 
 
 No, the young Frenchman did not. 
 
 " It is, however, from the Princess de Beauveau to me. Will you 
 do me the favour of reading it? You will find that she has consider- 
 able faith in the spiritual pretensions of Mr. Home." 
 
 But the young man, much embarrassed, declined to take the letter, 
 and protested that he quite accepted the speaker's word. 
 
 " At least do me the favour to look at the envelope," said Home, 
 presenting it, " that you may see to whom the letter is addressed." 
 
 The other did so; and said not another word, but at the next station 
 he hurriedly left the carriage. 
 
 His exit was not so dramatic as that which another French railway- 
 companion of Mr. Home proposed for himself. This gentleman, 
 equally unconscious to whom he was speaking, confided to Home his 
 terror of Home. " I have never seen him I should be afraid to see 
 him. If I were to meet him near a cemetery at midnight, it would 
 cause me I cannot describe the feeling it would cause me." 
 
 ' ' They say there is nothing very frightful in his appearance. If 
 you were to meet him out of a cemetery in the day-time, you might 
 take a liking to him," said Home. 
 
 "Impossible." 
 
 The journey was long, and the two had become excellent friends 
 before it ended. As Home drew near the station where he was to 
 alight, he said to his companion: " So you have never seen Home. 
 What if I were to present him to you?" 
 
 " I would jump out of the window." 
 
 " Bon voyage ," said Home, lowering it. 
 
 But the other, though he realised the situation with French quick- 
 ness, did not jump. 
 
 These men were types of the greater portion of the world that had 
 heard of Home without having seen him. The most outrageous 
 falsehoods were told of him by one class of calumniators, the most 
 absurd and fantastic legends invented by those who believed him a 
 necromancer. A romancer who chose for a subject either of the two 
 imaginary Homes would be spared the trouble of inventing ; he would 
 only have to collect enough falsehoods to fill his volumes, and arrange 
 them with an eye to effect. 
 
 A very common report about Home in Paris was that he carried in 
 his pocket a tame, trained monkey, which was let out during a seance 
 to twitch dresses and shake hands. As for the raps, he had "an 
 electrical quality that he could throw off at command of the will." 
 A method of explanation much favoured by scientists and pseudo- 
 scientists was to alter the facts of seances in accordance with their 
 preconceived theories; and then, on such basis of omission and addi- 
 tion, to proceed to demonstrate the theories in question. This 
 disingenuous and unscientific method was largely employed, as a 
 subsequent chapter of this work will show, by Dr W B 
 Carpenter, V.P.R.S. 
 
 Medical men have been found who could gravely conjecture that 
 Home administered "a thimble-full of chloroform" to each of the 
 sitters before the seance began. Others declared that he magnetised
 
 8 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 or biologised his audience ; and the things that they said they saw the 
 poor mesmerised dupes only imagined they had seen. Mr. Crookes, 
 F.R.S., employed instruments to record the phenomena, and again 
 and again the instruments recorded them. It seemed a bold theory to 
 suggest that Mr. Crookes' instruments were capable of being 
 mesmerised; but, since the biological explanation was advanced as a 
 triumphant disproof of .his experiments, it must be concluded that 
 they were, and that Home somehow found out the fact, and turned 
 it to account. 
 
 Of all phenomena, that of rising in the air has had the most ridicu- 
 lous explanations adduced concerning it. The mesmeric theory is 
 naturally a favourite here; and when the present Earl of Crawford, 
 for instance, saw Home, in full light, rise from the ground, he was 
 of course biologised. Some theorists have conjectured that Home 
 carried with him a magic lantern truly deserving of the name ! 
 
 The one really simple, scientific, and satisfactory explanation ever 
 advanced to account for the phenomena from a non-spiritual point of 
 view was that of an old woman in America. Asked if she could explain 
 what she had seen, she replied, " Lor', sirs, it's easy enough ! He 
 only rubs himself all over with a gold pencil first." 
 
 "A general belief," writes Mr. Home in the Incidents, " is that I 
 bribe the servants at whatever house I visit, that they may assist me 
 in concealing my machinery. The intelligence displayed in obtaining 
 names, dates, and other circumstances is previously communicated to 
 me, either by my own inquiry from servants, or by visiting the tomb- 
 stones of the relatives, or even by a body of secret police who are in 
 my pay." 
 
 '"If such statements are circulated during my lifetime," wrote 
 Home in 1883, " I often wonder what will be said of me when I shall 
 have passed to spirit-life."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 ENGLAND 
 
 Second English campaign. Faraday's dictum. Conversion of Dr. 
 Elliottson. Stir in London Society. The Cornhill Article. 
 Thackeray's position. Robert Chambers. His remarkable 
 conversion. Convincing evidence to Mrs. Senior. Conversion 
 of Lady Shelley, and of Dr. Lockhart Robertson, the alienist. 
 Opinion of Professor Challis. 
 
 THE second residence of Mr. Home in England lasted from November, 
 1859, until the last week of July, 1860. He returned a third time in 
 the following winter, and was in England during the whole of 1861. 
 
 Coming events often cast their prophetic shadows on the mind of 
 Home ; but when he brought his young wife to London in the winter 
 of 1859, and introduced her to his English friends, he had as yet 
 received no impression of the parting that was already so near at hand. 
 She was destined, it might have been reasonably thought, to outlive 
 her husband, whose hold on life had more than once seemed so frail. 
 Apart from the messages conveyed through him and the impressions 
 granted to him, Home was no more capable of looking into the future 
 than other men ; nor could he command those messages and impres- 
 sions at will ; they were communicated or withheld as other intelli- 
 gences than his own saw fit. He exercised no more volition in the 
 matter than a wire, designed to convey the electric current, exercises 
 with regard to the messages that travel over it. 
 
 The year 1860 was remarkable for the number of seances that Home 
 gave, and for the variety of persons who investigated the phenomena. 
 His power had returned to him very strongly, and was especially great 
 during the early summer of 1860, when many very remarkable seances 
 took place. I say " power," in default of a better word by which to 
 describe Home's gift. His part was to be a passive agent; and the 
 more he could detach his mind from the subject, the better were the 
 results. Home's gift appeared to obey somewhat the same laws as 
 the inspirations of a great poet or painter, concerning which the artist 
 only knows that he cannot compel his power into his service, and that 
 his inspiration is often absent when he would most desire its presence. 
 No great writer or painter was ever yet able to declare with certainty 
 in commencing a work that it would be a masterpiece ; and Home, the 
 manifestations of whose strange power were more capricious, as they 
 were more wonderful, than the inspiration of any poet or painter, 
 could never foretell at the commencement of a seance what would 
 happen, or whether anything would happen at all. Yet such is the 
 temper of the nineteenth century, that men distinguished for their 
 intelligence and attainments considered Home's declaration of his 
 inability to obtain manifestations at will a sufficient reason for declin- 
 ing to investigate the subject. 
 
 Among the letters of the English acquaintances of Mr. Home is one 
 that throws an amusing light on the spirit in which some leaders of 
 
 69
 
 70 ,LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 public opinion approached the question of Spiritualism, when they 
 consented to approach it at all. A well-known scientific man had 
 been pressed by Mrs. Parkes, the widow of an Indian judge, to come 
 to a seance at her house with Mr. Home, and had ended by accepting 
 the invitation. He duly appeared on the evening appointed ; but 
 demanded, as an indispensable preliminary to sitting, that he should 
 be furnished with " a programme of the seance." It was in vain that 
 his hostess represented to him that seances had no programmes, and 
 there were no earthly means of arranging beforehand what should 
 happen ; he only replied that he was determined not to investigate at 
 all, unless he knew exactly what he was investigating; and, refusing 
 to sit, departed in much ill-humour. 
 
 His attitude was a caricature of that of Faraday, at whose feet he 
 had probably sat. Faraday is deservedly a great name; but he was 
 emphatically a thinker of the nineteenth century, and the thinkers of 
 the nineteenth century are specialists, not philosophers. England is 
 little likely ever to produce another Bacon, to take all knowledge for 
 his province; or another Newton, whose great intellect, dimly appre- 
 hending the secrets of the universe and its own ignorance of them, 
 could humbly compare its discoveries to the action of a child who 
 walks on the sea-shore, and brings away a few shells and pebbles as 
 indications of the treasures of the ocean. The modern scientist has 
 no such overwhelming conviction of the vastness of that ocean, and 
 of his own inability to penetrate its depths. He is a child who picks 
 up one particular pebble, and, after close inspection of it, declares 
 that the sea has nothing in it but pebbles, and they are all like his. 
 
 Faraday wrote, with reference to the phenomena of Spiritualism: 
 " Before we proceed to consider any questions involving physical 
 principles, we should set out with clear ideas of the naturally possible 
 and impossible." He forgot that even the nineteenth century is not 
 omniscient, that its ideas of the naturally possible and impossible are 
 not those of the eighteenth, and will not be those of the twentieth. 
 Man's knowledge of the possible never was and never will be final ; 
 though in every age humanity has repeated Faraday's mistake of 
 supposing it to be so. The scientific critics of Stephenson had very 
 clear ideas of the naturally possible when they proceeded to the con- 
 sideration of the physical principles involved in the question of the 
 locomotive ; and their ideas led them to declare that it was impossible 
 to run engines at the rate of thirty miles an hour. If we could 
 resuscitate the Royal Society of 1787, and submit to its consideration 
 inventions like the telegraph and the telephone, the ideas of a hundred 
 years ago concerning the naturally possible would lead the Society to 
 ridicule as chimerical such propositions for annihilating distance. 
 Human conceptions of what is possible and impossible have been 
 subjected to a thousand corrections since this world began, and are 
 likely to be subjected to many more before it ends. 
 
 As Mr. A. R. Wallace ably wrote, in criticising Faraday's dictum: 
 " No man can be sure that, however ' clear ' his ideas may be in this 
 matter, they will be equally true ones. It was very ' clearly impossible' 
 to the minds of the philosophers at Pisa that a great and a small
 
 ENGLAND 71 
 
 weight could fall from the top of the tower in the same time; and if 
 this principle" (Faraday's) " is of any use, they were right in dis- 
 believing the evidence of their senses, which assured them that they 
 did; and Galileo, who accepted that evidence, was, to use the words 
 of the same eminent authority, ' not only ignorant as respects the 
 education of the judgment, but ignorant of his ignorance.' ' 
 
 De Morgan, the celebrated mathematician, answered Faraday, and 
 pointed out, with equal truth and force, that the object of all investi- 
 gation is to arrive at those very same " clear ideas," on the possession 
 of which Faraday insisted as a preliminary. "Set out in physical 
 investigation with a clear idea of the naturally possible and imposs- 
 ible!" exclaimed De Morgan, repeating his contemporary's words. 
 " We thought the world had struggled forward to the knowledge that 
 a clear idea of this was the last attainment of study and reflection, 
 combined with observation ; not the possession of our intellect at 
 starting." 
 
 De Morgan's own opinion concerning Spiritualism had been "the 
 last attainment of study and reflection, combined with observation." 
 After investigating the subject for many years, he wrote in 1869: " I 
 retain my suspense as to what the phenomena mean, but I am as fully 
 persuaded as ever of their reality." 
 
 Mr. Faraday's dictum, if it meant anything with regard to 
 Spiritualism, meant that the subject was to be dismissed without 
 investigation, on the plea that it conflicted with existing ideas of the 
 possible. This frame of mind, however, did not prevent Faraday 
 from investigating the phenomenon (if it deserve the name) of table- 
 tilting ; and he was easily able to show that tables were often tilted, 
 consciously or unconsciously, by the sitters themselves. Mr. Home 
 was the last person to doubt the fact, and in the Lights and Shadows 
 of Spiritualism has declared his conviction of the accuracy of 
 Faraday's observations. 
 
 None of Faraday's experiments had been made with Home; and it 
 was obvious to all men who knew anything of the seances of the latter, 
 and were not blinded by prejudice, that here Faraday's theory of 
 " involuntary muscular action " would not apply. Accordingly, in 
 1 86 1, Sir Emerson Tennant endeavoured, with the help of Mr. Robert 
 Bell, to bring about a meeting between Home and Faraday. Sir 
 Emerson acted on his own responsibility, and without any authority 
 from Mr. Home, who, as the Morning Star had the candour to admit 
 when discussing the incident some years later, " did not appear to 
 have been particularly consulted in the matter at all." As the writer 
 in the Morning Star (May i2th, 1868) was hostile to Home and 
 friendly to Faraday, his description of the attitude assumed by the 
 man of science will carry more weight than any words of mine would : 
 and I will therefore give it : 
 
 " He " (Faraday) " prescribed certain conditions which it would 
 have been utterly impossible for Mr. Home, whether that gentleman 
 be the apostle of a new science or a mere pretender and humbug, to 
 accept. In fact, Mr. Home was invited, as a condition precedent to 
 Faraday's entering on the investigation, to acknowledge that the
 
 72 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 phenomena, however produced, were ridiculous and contemptible." 
 Faraday may have been right as regards what he had seen, but to 
 judge before examining it of what he had not seen implied a confidence 
 in his own infallibility as conceited as it was dogmatic. 
 
 Faraday's second condition, of open and complete examination, 
 Home would as readily have accepted as he afterwards did in the 
 case of Crookes ; but was it conceivable he should accept this ? Mr. 
 Robert Bell was so assured he would not, that he did not think it worth 
 while even to transmit to Mr. Home a proposal so insulting; and 
 accordingly the negotiations between Bell, Sir Emerson, and Faraday 
 were dropped and never resumed. 
 
 Seven years later, at the close of the Lyon suit, Professor Tyndall 
 published a letter in which he intimated his willingness to be present 
 at a seance with Mr. Home, but expressly declared that he made the 
 offer " in the spirit of Faraday's letter." In putting forth such a 
 challenge, Professor Tyndall was only making a cheap vaunt of his 
 prejudices. What did it matter to Home, who never sought to impose 
 his own principles on anyone, whether Tyndall were of Faraday's 
 opinion or not? 
 
 There is one aspect of the manifestations that probably even Pro- 
 fessor Tyndall would approach in a serious mood, and would abstain 
 from qualifying with such adjectives as " ridiculous " and " con- 
 temptible "; however emphatically he might express his denial and 
 disbelief. I refer to the evidence afforded in the seances of Mr. Home 
 of the identity of the beings communicating. It is only to those who 
 have been fully convinced of that identity that Spiritualism can ever 
 be Spiritualism. 
 
 If gratitude and the courage of one's convictions were virtues 
 common among men, the recipients of incontrovertible proofs of 
 identity would have more frequently placed their testimony on record. 
 Unhappily, there are few who can face abuse, fewer still who do not 
 fear ridicule ; and the knowledge of what awaited them if they spoke 
 outweighed with the majority every other consideration, and caused 
 them to remain silent. Home never complained of this conduct ; on 
 the contrary, he was only too unselfishly ready to excuse it ; and in 
 Incidents of My Life (vol. i. p. 204), he even constituted himself the 
 apologist of the timid many, and stated with generous candour the 
 best defence that can be offered for their discreditable silence: 
 
 " I am sorry that in so many instances I am obliged to conceal the names 
 of my friends who have witnessed wonderful things," he wrote; "but if the 
 reader is disposed to complain of this, let him remember the reason, and take 
 the greater part of the blame on himself. No sooner is the name of some honest 
 and courageous person given, in obedience to the call for testimony, than it 
 becomes a target for all the ridicule, jests, and abuse of the unscrupulous, the 
 sceptical, the orthodox, and the scientific ; in fact, of all who are not wise 
 enough to think and observe, and weigh and judge before they decide. There 
 is small encouragement for men, and still less for ladies, to come forward and 
 stand in front of all this obloquy. If an example be needed of the truth of this, 
 if it be not an obvious fact already in this uncharitable day, let my adventurous 
 friends watch the extent to which I shall be abused, and called bad names, and 
 give'n to the devil, for simply and truthfully writing in this little book a few of 
 the incidents of my life, with the production of which I have had nothing to
 
 ENGLAND 73 
 
 Many of those who had wonderful and convincing experiences at 
 the seances of Mr. Home in England have quitted the world, and 
 have carried their knowledge with them. As for the survivors, it may 
 readily be conceived that few of those who shrank from publicity when 
 the impression made on them was fresh and vivid are inclined to come 
 forward now. I am the more thankful that there are a courageous 
 minority who have not feared to speak. Some of these, too, are now 
 in another life, but their witness remains; others are still on earth, 
 and I gratefully acknowledge the assistance they have afforded me. 
 The life of Home and its marvellous phenomena are sufficient to prove 
 that God rendered worthy of this gift, the man on whom it was 
 bestowed. 
 
 All the facts I can give I shall ^ive; my care is not to respect the 
 scruples of the timorous, but to render justice to the truth. If the 
 publication of names causes pain, I can only say that I am sorry ; but 
 that the timid portion of his friends must be content with having 
 sacrificed him during his lifetime to their anxiety not to compromise 
 themselves in the eyes of the world. I cannot imitate Mr. Home's 
 generosity on this point; my duty forbids me, on account of the 
 honour of a truth that was sacred to him, and for the future of which 
 I write this book. I only regret that my want of full information must 
 necessarily render my narrative incomplete, and that the history of 
 many remarkable seances will never be known, unless such of the 
 persons present at them as still survive will summon up courage enough 
 to remember the duty they owe to the truth, and will put it in practice 
 by giving the facts of those seances to the world. 
 
 During the years 1860 and 1861, the manifestations in England 
 were, as I have said, of a very wonderful character. The mere list 
 of the persons present at Mr. Home's seances would furnish sufficient 
 testimony to the interest he excited in English society. He sought 
 none of those persons ; all his life his rule was to allow events to take 
 their course with him ; and his acquaintance extended itself without 
 any efforts of his own. 
 
 On his arrival in England in November, 1859, he received a warm 
 welcome from the friends whom he had made during his visit in 1855 ; 
 and various men of note who had then been present at his seances 
 took the opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with him. Two 
 of the earliest of these were Sir E. B. Lytton and Dr. Ashburner; the 
 former of whom writes to Mr. Home, January 10, 1860, pressing him 
 to pay a visit for two or three days to Knebworth. Home was unable 
 to accept the invitation ; but later in the year Lytton came to London, 
 and then, and again in 1861, was present at various seances, of which 
 I shall presently speak. 
 
 Dr. Ashburner had become a firm believer in Spiritualism ; and his 
 belief had estranged from him his old friend and colleague, Dr. 
 Elliottson, whose portrait Thackeray drew in Pendennis as Dr. 
 Goodenough, and to whom the great writer affectionately dedicated 
 that work. Elliottson and Ashburner had co-operated in investigating 
 the phenomena of mesmerism ; but after beinc^ present at one or two 
 seances with so-called mediums, the former contemptuously refused to 
 
 F
 
 74 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 make further inquiry into Spiritualism, and lost all patience with what 
 he regarded as his old friend's delusions on the subject. Elliottson- 
 was a man whose noble and upright character was worthy of all 
 esteem; but, like many other great physiologists, he rejected absolutely 
 the doctrine of a future life. 
 
 On Dr. Ashburner becoming an avowed Spiritualist, Elliottson 
 broke off all intercourse with his old friend, and publicly charged him 
 with worse than folly in assisting to promote the spread of so gross 
 a delusion; nor did "Dr. Goodenough " hesitate to inveigh in 
 unmeasured terms against Home, whom he had never seen. He was 
 destined, however, to make Home's acquaintance, and under dramatic 
 circumstances. The most placable of mankind, Home had never for 
 a moment thought of resenting the conduct of Elliottson, whose pre- 
 judice he felt to be as honest as it was unreasoning and violent, and of 
 whose estimable character he was well aware. The circumstances 
 under which the two men at last met were related by Mr. Home in his 
 second volume of Incidents, published after Dr. Elliottson's death, 
 but during the lifetime of the lady who was the agent of the intro- 
 duction. 
 
 " In the autumn of 1863, while at Dieppe," wrote Home, " I met my friend, 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson, one afternoon on the parade there. In the course of 
 conversation, she said : ' Do you know that Dr. Elliottson is in Dieppe at 
 present? ' ' Is he? ' I replied; ' I should like to be introduced to him.' Mrs. 
 Milner Gibson expressed surprise, but undertook to introduce me ; and a few 
 minutes afterwards we observed him on a seat. I was introduced to him, and 
 said, ' Dr. Elliottson, you have said and written very hard things of me. Now, 
 don't you think it was very wrong for an old man like you to make such 
 accusations as you have done against me, and call a man an impostor of 
 whom you know nothing whatever? If you like to know something of me, 
 and to investigate the subject of Spiritualism, I shall be happy to see you at 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson's this evening, and to give you every opportunity of testing 
 what you see.' He came; and saw so much that he was convinced of the 
 truth of Spiritualism. The next day he called on me, and said : ' What I 
 witnessed last evening was wonderful and convincing, but it is too much for 
 me to change suddenly the convictions of seventy years. T must ask you to let 
 me come again, and bring a young friend with me.' I agreed readily ; and that 
 evening he came accompanied by the two young Messrs. Symes. The fullest 
 use was made by the tHree gentlemen of their power of observing and testing 
 what they witnessed, and the result was that Dr. Elliottson was perfectlv 
 convinced." 
 
 On returning to London, Elliottson hastened to seek a reconcilia- 
 tion with his old friend, Dr. Ashburner, and during the few 
 remaining years of his life made no secret of the change in his 
 convictions, nor of the manner in which it had been wrought. Yet 
 the old incredulity struggled at times to reassert itself; and to 
 strengthen his new belief, he wished to obtain communications 
 himself. He applied accordingly to Mrs. Milner Gibson for instruc- 
 tions as to the most favourable conditions under which to hold 
 seances; and followed them carefully, but without effect. Dis- 
 appointed by his failure, he wrote the following note to Mr. Home : 
 
 " CONDUIT ST. 37, Oct. 30, 1863. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have sat regularly accordingly to the instructions 
 I received from Mrs. M. G., but with no result. When shall you 
 be here? Yours sincerely, " J. ELLIOTTSON."
 
 ENGLAND 75 
 
 Eiliottson was still only on the threshold of the subject. He 
 Lad not yet learned that a gift of the nature of Home's can never 
 be acquired. A man is born witn or without it ; and the vast 
 majority without. 
 
 In the following year, 1864, Mr. B. Coleman, of Bayswater, 
 received from Eiliottson an account of the revolution wrought in his 
 views by the seances with Home at Dieppe, and published it, with 
 the full approval of the giver, in the Spiritual Magazine.. This 
 authorised version of the conclusion that Eiliottson had arrived at 
 is as follows : 
 
 ' I am,' Dr. Eiliottson said to me, and it is with his sanction 
 that I make the announcement, ' now quite satisfied of the reality of 
 the phenomena. I am not yet prepared to admit that they are 
 produced by the agency of spirits. I do not deny this, as I am 
 unable to satisfactorily account tor what I have seen on any other 
 hypothesis. The explanations which have been made to account for 
 the phenomena do not 'satisfy me, but I desire to reserve my opinion 
 on that point at present. I am free, however, to say that I regret 
 the opportunity was not afforded me at an earlier period. What I 
 have seen lately has made a deep impression on my mind; and the 
 recognition of the reality of these manifestations, from whatever 
 cause, is tending to revolutionise my thoughts and feelings on almost 
 every subject." 
 
 Dr. Eiliottson died in 1868. The Morning Post in the course 
 of its obituary notice, related the story of his meeting with Mr. 
 Home at Dieppe, which, it must be noted, Home had not yet 
 published ; and continued : 
 
 :< He then spent some time in investigating the phenomena of 
 Spiritualism, aided by the sons of his friend, Dr. Symes. The 
 result was that he expressed his conviction of the truth of the 
 phenomena, and became a sincere Christian, whose handbook 
 henceforth was his Bible. Some time after this he said he had 
 been living all his life in darkness, and had thought there was 
 nothing in existence but the material ; but he now had a firm hope 
 which he trusted he would hold while on earth." 
 
 ' In one of my latest interviews with him," a friend of Elliott- 
 son's wrote in 1870, " he expressed the great happiness his later 
 convictions had brought him, and looked forward to the life hereafter 
 with calm confidence. The leading characteristic of his mind, in 
 addition to his high intellectual development, was the perfectly honest 
 search after truth." 
 
 The same description might with equal justice be applied to 
 Elliotson's friend Ashburner, who besides, possessed a virtue that 
 Eiliottson, with all his great qualities, lacked that of a well- 
 governed spirit. Ashburner's numerous letters to Home pleasantly 
 illustrate the tranquil goodness of his character. I would like to 
 
 1 Note by Mr. H. T. Humphreys : " It was to me that Dr. Eiliottson made 
 the remark quoted in the biography of him which I wrote for the Morning 
 Post; and it was made at Mrs. Milner Ciibson's, on the only occasion on which 
 I had the pleasure of meeting him."
 
 76 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 give some of the pictures of a happy, religious, and tranquil old 
 age these letters afford ; but other demands on my space forbid it. 
 Home had several seances with him, of which one that took place 
 in May, 1860, was perhaps the most remarkable. 
 
 No one in England saw more of the manifestations during the 
 years 1860 and 1861 than the lady who introduced Mr. Home to Dr. 
 Elliottson at Dieppe Mrs. Milner Gibson. She was almost as 
 familiar a figure in French and Italian society as in English ; and 
 it was in Paris that Mr. Home first met her. 
 
 During Home's stay in London, it was customary for him to hold a 
 seance once a week at Mrs. Gibson's residence in Hyde Park Place, 
 a few doors from Dr. Ashburner. The lady's husband, a well- 
 known Member of Parliament, who, then or subsequently, held the 
 position of President of the Board of Trade, uniformly declined to 
 be present at these seances. Mr. Gibson was willing to extend a 
 courteous tolerance to his wife's belief ; but he did not share it, and 
 did not wish to share it ; not from any deep-rooted incredulity as to 
 the verity of the facts, but from the fear that his presence at seances 
 might tend to compromise that which was everything to such a man 
 his political and social position. 
 
 At these seances in Hyde Park Place, and at others that Home 
 held in London during 1860 and thfe years following, many of the 
 best-known figures in English society were present. The effect on 
 some was to convert them to a belief in the spiritual origin of the 
 manifestations' ; others preserved a suspense of judgment as to their 
 origin, while admitting the facts. In attempting to distinguish 
 between these two classes, my chief, almost my only guide, has been 
 the letters from English friends and acquaintances preserved by Mr. 
 Home. 
 
 The witnesses whom letters to Mr. Home, or their published 
 testimony, show to have not only recognised the manifestations as 
 genuine but to have been convinced of their spiritual origin, included, 
 between the years 1859 1866, the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady 
 Shelley, Lady Gomm, Dr. Robert Chambers, Lady Otway, Miss 
 Catherine Sinclair, Mrs. Milner Gibson, Mr. and Mrs. William 
 Howitt, Mrs. De Burgh, Dr. Gully of Malvern, Sir Charles 
 Nicholson, Lady Dunsany, Sir Daniel Cooper, Mrs. Adelaide Senior, 
 Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mrs. Makdougall Gregory, Miss Douglas, 
 Mr. Pickersgill, R.A., Mr. E. L. Blanchard, and many others. No 
 letters from Mr. Robert Bell remain ; but his article, " Stranger than 
 Fiction," in the Cornhill Magazine, constitutes sufficent proof that 
 he is to be added to the list. 
 
 I am fully aware that I have named but a small number of the 
 Englishmen and Englishwomen of high intellectual or social position 
 who became convinced of the spiritual origin of the manifestations 
 witnessed by them in presence of Mr. Home. The merit I claim 
 for my list of believers is that, while very far from being exhaustive, 
 it is of indisputable accuracy, as I have included in it only those 
 present at the seances of Mr. Home, concerning whom I have written 
 or printed evidence of the fact that they became Spiritualists. Some
 
 ENGLAND 77 
 
 of them, as the Howitts and the Halls, had the courage to proclaim 
 their belief openly ; others shrank from such a course. 
 
 After the convinced, the half-convinced. I mean by this, that 
 among the investigators present at seances of Mr. Home in England 
 were certain distinguished persons, of whom I have warrant for 
 stating that they acknowledged the phenomena they had witnessed 
 at those seances to be inexplicable on the theory of imposture, but of 
 whose beliefs or opinions if they formed any I cannot with cer- 
 tainty speak. I refer, among others, to Mr. Ruskin (one or two of 
 whose letters to Mr. Home will be found in another chapter), Mr. 
 Thackeray, Mr. John Bright, Lord Dufferin, Sir Edwin Arnold, 
 Mr. Edmond Beales, Mr. Heaphy, Mr. Durham, the sculptor; Mr. 
 Nassau Senior, the distinguished political economist, who secured 
 the publication by Messrs. Longmans of Mr. Home's Incidents ; 
 Lord Lyndhurst, Mr. J. Hutchinson, ex-chairman of the Stock 
 Exchange; Dr. Lockhart Robertson, &c. This short list, it will 
 be observed, includes men whose habits of thought were as wide 
 asunder as the poles ; but on each the impression produced was the 
 same that the theory of imposture was untenable. No man who 
 impartially and honestly investigated the manifestations that 
 occurred at the seances of Home ever failed to arrive at a similar 
 opinion. The loudest declarations to the contrary have always pro- 
 ceeded from those who knew least of him, and their only importance 
 has been to furnish an illustration of the hopeless incapacity of the 
 mass of mankind to distinguish between prejudices and facts. A 
 remarkable instance of this unhappy tendency of human nature to 
 confound assertion with fact occurred in the year 1864, the details of 
 which I shall briefly relate in an ensuing chapter. 
 
 Besides the Spiritualists and investigators already named, very 
 many persons came to the seances of Mr. Home in London, of whom 
 I know only this one fact that they were present at seances. The 
 names of Mr. Buckle, Lord Clarence Paget, Lord Houghton, the 
 Marchioness of Hastings, Lady Londonderry, Miss Geraldine 
 Jewsbury, and Mr. Hain Friswell, author of The Gentle Life, may 
 be of interest ; but of the experiences and opinions of these inquirers 
 I can say nothing with certainty ; though it is evident from the letters 
 of Lady Londonderry to Mr. Home that she was present at several 
 seances, and that a considerable impression had been made on her. 
 
 During the early months of 1860 the circle of Mr. Home's 
 English acquaintances continued to widen steadily, but as yet his 
 name had not been brought prominently before the public. In 
 August, 1860, however, a startling impression was produced by the 
 appearance of the article " Stranger than Fiction " in the Cornkill 
 Magazine, then at the height of its popularity, and edited by Mr. 
 Thackeray. As the article was unsigned, it lost the weight that 
 the name of Mr. Robert Bell would otherwise have given to it; and 
 Thackeray was bitterly attacked for having permitted the publica- 
 tion of statements which his hasty and ignorant critics set down as 
 pure invention. 
 
 To be reproached with over-credulity was the fate of every
 
 78 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 intelligent and honest inquirer into the phenomena of Spiritualism 
 whose experiences conflicted with the prejudices of the public, but 
 the accusation was especially unjust as regarded Thackeray, and 
 must have galled him deeply. As the verses attributed to Dickens 
 say of him, he was emphatically " the man, of all his time, who 
 knew the most of men " ; and that knowledge, combined with his 
 great natural shrewdness, had rendered him the most wary and 
 sceptical of mankind. He had had opportunities of testing the 
 phenomena that occurred in Mr. Home's presence, and had availed 
 himself of them in the most incredulous spirit. Many years after- 
 wards a friend asked Home, " Who was the most sceptical inquirer 
 you have ever met? " and Home, without any hesitation, answered, 
 " Thackeray." Thackeray's first introduction to Home took place, 
 I believe, during the great writer's lecturing tour in America. My 
 reason for thinking so is that I well remember a description given 
 by an American lady of a seance at which she was present in the 
 States with Home, Thackeray being also present, and; of the 
 amusements caused to her by Thackeray's minute examinations of 
 floor, table, and everything in the room, in his persistent determina- 
 tion to unearth the trickery that he supposed to be at the bottom of 
 the wonders he was witnessing. The character of a credulous 
 dupe was the very last that would have been attributed to the author 
 of Vanity Fair by any one iwho knew him intimately ; and his honest 
 and fearless action in publishing Bell's testimony was the more 
 commendable because of the fact that he had himself been convinced 
 entirely in spite of himself. I do not say that Thackeray ever got 
 so far as to entertain the belief that the manifestations were pro- 
 duced by disembodied spirits. Most probably he did not ; but when 
 he published the Cornhill article, and vouched for his old friend 
 Bell's good faith in an editorial note, he had certainly abandoned 
 as incredible the supposition that they could be attributed to either 
 delusion or imposture. I have only been able to identify one of the 
 seances at which he was present in London with Home. It took 
 place towards the end of December, 1862, at the residence in Park 
 Lane of (Mrs. or Miss?) M. G. Hope, the sister of Lady Home. 
 
 Robert Bell was less profoundly sceptical by nature than his 
 friend Thackeray, but as frank and candid, and a close, intelligent, 
 and dispassionate observer. No better account of the physical 
 manifestations has ever been given than his lucid and unbiassed 
 narrative in the Cornhill, written by him with no other aim than to 
 place on record, as befitted a candid inquirer, the results of a series 
 of investigations conducted in a temper equally remote from 
 unreasoning prejudice and foolish credulity. As for the reception 
 accorded his testimony by the mass of the public, Bell had fully 
 anticipated that storm of angry incredulity and ignorant derision. 
 Quoting the reply of Dr. Treviranus to Coleridge, when the poet 
 questioned the savant as to the reality of certain magnetic phenomena, 
 Bell told his readers in the very first lines of his article : " I have 
 seen what I would not have believed on your testimony, and what I 
 cannot, therefore, expect you to believe upon mine. ' '
 
 ENGLAND 7y 
 
 ;- It is not to be expected," he writes, later on, " that any person 
 who is a stranger to these phenomena, should read such a story as this 
 with complacency. Yet here is a fact which undoubtedly took 
 place, and which cannot be referred to any known physical or 
 mechanical forces. It is not a satisfactory answer to those who 
 have seen such things, to say that they are impossible ; since, in such 
 cases, it is evident that the impossibility of a thing does not -prevent 
 it from happening.'' 
 
 In the words I have italicised, Robert Bell anticipated by eleven 
 years the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Crookes after repeated and 
 exhaustive experiments, and expressed by him in his reply to Sir 
 Charles Wheatsfcone. VVheatstone had written, with regard to one 
 of Crookes' experiments with Home: "It appears to me contrary 
 to all analogy that a force acting according to physical laws should 
 produce the motion of a lever by acting on its fulcrum." 
 
 " In this," replied Mr. Crookes, " I entirely agree. I, too, 
 cannot trace the analogy between the psychic force and a force 
 acting according to known physical laws. Yet the facts recorded 
 in my papers are true for all that." 
 
 In the presence of such experiences as those of Mr. Crookes and 
 Mr. Bell, Science had but two courses open to it to carefully 
 investigate the subject, or to deny its title to investigation. Science 
 was content to adopt the latter course, as the easier and speedier 
 way of arriving at a conclusion ; but in so doing it ceased to be 
 science. 
 
 I have not space to give in extenso Robert Bell's long and 
 interesting narrative. In a former chapter I quoted his testimony 
 concerning the detached hand that he seized, and that, without any 
 effort at withdrawal, melted into air. His evidence as to another 
 phenomenon repeatedly witnessed at the seances of Mr. Home, the 
 playing of an instrument without the contact of mortal hand, is no 
 less conclusive and emphatic : 
 
 " We heard the accordion begining to play where it lay on the ground. 
 
 " Apart from the wonderful consideration of its being played without hands 
 no less wonderful was the fact of its being played in a narrow space which 
 would not admit of its being drawn out with the requisite freedom to its full 
 extent. We listened with suspended breath. The air was wild, and full of 
 strang_e transitions, with a wail of the most pathetic sweetness running through 
 it. Tne execution was no less remarkable for its delicacy than its power. 
 When the notes swelled in some of the bold passages, the sound rolled through 
 the room with an astounding reverberation ; then gently subsiding, sank into 
 a strain of divine tenderness. 
 
 ' That an instrument should be played without hands is a proposition 
 which nobody can be expected to accept. The whole story will be referred 
 to one of the categories under, which the whole of these phenomena are 
 consigned by ' common sense.' It will be discarded as a delusion or a fraud. 
 Either we imagined we heard it, and really did not hear it, or there was some 
 one under the table, or some mechanism was set in motion to produce the 
 result. 
 
 Upon the likelihood of delusion my testimony is obviously worth nothing. 
 With respect to fraud I can speak more confidently. It is scarcely necessary to 
 say that in so small a circle, occupied by so many persons who were 
 inconveniently packed together, there was not room for a child of the size of 
 a doll, or for the smallest piece of machinery to operate.
 
 8o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " But we need not speculate on what might be done by skilful contrivances 
 in confines so narrow, since the question is removed out of the region of 
 conjecture by the fact that, upon holding up the instrument myself in one 
 hand, in .the open room, -with the full light upon it, similar strains were 
 emitted, the regular action of the accordion going on without any visible 
 agency. And I should add that, during the loud and vehement passages, it 
 became so difficult to hold, in consequence of the extraordinary power with 
 which it was played from below, that I was obliged to grasp the top with 
 both hands. This experience was not a solitary one. I witnessed the same 
 result on different occasions, when the instrument was held by others." 
 
 Bell was a sane man, and widely respected as an honest one. Did 
 the accordion play in his hands under the circumstances he describes ; 
 or was he deliberately writing a falsehood, thq only result of which, 
 as he well knew, would be to bring upon him a storm of obloquy ? 
 Were the many other credible witnesses equally telling falsehoods, 
 who have recorded a similar experience? The intellect that answers 
 " Yes " cannot be reasoned with; and unfortunately there are only 
 too many who will answer " Yes." 
 
 In the Morning Star, in October, 1860, appeared a Tetter from 
 Dr. Gully, of Malvern, who had been present at the seance when 
 the accordion was played, and who fully confirmed Bell's testimony. 
 
 " I held it myself for a short time," he wrote, " and had good reason 
 to know that it was vehemently pulled at the other end, and not by Mr. 
 Home's toes, as has been wisely surmised ; unless that gentleman has legs three 
 yards in length, with toes at the end of them quite as marvellous as any 
 legion of spirits. For, be it stated, that such music as we heard was no 
 ordinary strain ; it was grand at times, at others pathetic, at others distant 
 and long-drawn, to a degree which no one can imagine who has not heard it. 
 I have heard Blagrove repeatedly ; but it is no libel on that master of the 
 instrument to say that he never did produce such exquisite distant and echo 
 notes as those which delighted our ears. The instrument played, too, at 
 distant parts of the room, many yards away from Home and from all of us." 
 
 One of the phenomena at the same remarkable seance that most 
 impressed and startled the persons present was the levitation of Mr. 
 Home. The lights had then been put out, but the sitters were 
 not in absolute darkness ; they could still distinguish objects with the 
 help of what light came through the windows from a gas-lamp 
 outside, and of the fire that was dying in the grate. 
 
 " Mr. Home," writes Bell, " was seated next the window. Through the 
 semi-darkness his head was dimly visible against the curtains, and his hands 
 might be seen in a faint white heap before him. Presently he said in a quiet 
 voice, ' My chair is moving I am off the ground don't notice me talk of 
 something else; ' or words to that effect." (In explanation of these words, 
 it may be remarked that Home's experience of the phenomenon of levitation 
 was that, until he had risen above the heads of the circle, any movement 
 or excitement on the part of the persons present appeared to have the effect 
 of checking the force at work to produce the manifestation.) 
 
 " It was very difficult," continues Bell, " to restrain the curiosity, not 
 unmixed with a more serious feeling, which these few words awakened ; but we 
 talked, incoherently enough, upon some indifferent topic. I was sitting nearly 
 opposite Mr. Home ; and I saw his hands disappear from the table, and 
 his head vanish into the deep shadow beyond. In a moment or two more 
 he spoke again. This time his voice was in the air above our heads. He 
 had risen from his chair to a height of four or five feet from the ground. 
 As he ascended higher he described his position, which at first was perpen- 
 dicular, and afterwards became horizontal. He said he felt as if he had been
 
 ENGLAND 81 
 
 turned in the gentlest manner, as a child is turned in the arms of a nurse. 
 In a moment or two more he told us that he was going to pass across the 
 window, against the grey, silvery light of which he would be visible. We 
 watched in profound stillness, and saw his figure pass from one side of the 
 window to the other, feet foremost, lying horizontally in the air. He spoke 
 to us as he passed, and told us that he would turn the reverse way and recross 
 the window, which he did. . . . He hovered round the circle for several 
 minutes, and passed this time perpendicularly over our heads." 
 
 As Home passed him, Bell touched his foot, and relates that it 
 was " withdrawn quickly, with a palpable shudder. It was 
 evidently not restir g on the chair, but floating ; and it sprang from 
 the touch as a bird would." 
 
 " He now," ends Bell, " passed over to the farthest extremity of 
 the room ; and we could judge by his voice of the altitude and 
 distance he had attained. He had reached the ceiling, upon which 
 he made a slight mark, and soon afterwards descended and resumed 
 his place at the table." 
 
 If nine hundred and ninety-nine men who had seen them united in 
 testifying to such facts, would the thousandth man who had not seen 
 believe their testimony ? Probably not ; but, in the words of Mr. 
 Crookes, " the facts are true, for all that." 
 
 44 You can have but a limited idea," wrote Mr. S. C. Hall to Mr. 
 Home, " of the sensation created by the article in the Corn/till 
 Magazine. It was a bold, noble, and honest act in Robert Bell. 
 Mrs. Hall wrote to thank him in our names. It was so well done 
 so calmly yet so eloquently written ; so judicious while so earnest ; 
 and so effectually redeeming your character of which the gaping 
 crowd may have doubts, but which all who know you respect and 
 esteem and regard you with something warmer than either respect 
 or esteem. 
 
 " I need not add I have taken all opportunities to say I endorse 
 (and so does Mrs. Hall) every sentence in the article." 
 
 The seance during which the accordion played without human 
 hand touching it, and Mr. Home was lifted in the air, was the 
 most remarkable of several seances at which Bell had been present ; 
 and a large portion of his article in the Cornhill is naturally devoted 
 to a description of its various incidents. Besides Mr. Robert Bell 
 and Dr. Gully, the sitters present on that occasion included a solicitor 
 whom I have been unable positively to identify, and the well-known 
 writer, Dr. Robert Chambers. Dr. Chambers had a remarkable 
 experience in the course of the evening, which Dr. Gully related in 
 his letter to the Morning Star. 
 
 " I may add," wrote Dr. Gully, " that the writer in the Cornkill 
 Magazine omits to mention several curious phenomena which were 
 witnessed that evening. Here is one of them. A distinguished 
 litteratuer who was present " (Robert Chambers) 44 asked the 
 supposed spirit of his father whether he would play his favourite 
 ballad for us ; and addressing us, he added : ' The accordion was 
 not invented at the time of my father's death, so I cannot conceive 
 how it will be affected; but if his favourite air is not played. I 
 pledge myself to tell you so.' Almost immediately the flute notes
 
 82 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 of the accordion (which was upon the floor) played through ' Ye banks 
 and braes o' Bonnie Doon,' which the gentleman alluded to assured 
 us was his father's favourite air, whilst the flute was his father's 
 favourite instrument. He then asked for another favourite air of 
 his father's ' which was not Scotch,' and ' The Last Rose of 
 Summer ' was played in the same note. This, the gentleman told us, 
 was the air to which he had alluded." 
 
 Dr. Gully had been introduced to Mr. Home by Lady Shelley. 
 He was not as yet a Spiritualist when he attended this seance. 
 " I have endeavoured," he wrote in the same letter to the Morning 
 Star, " to show that, as regards the principal and most wonderful 
 phenomena, there could have been no contrivance by trick or 
 machinery adequate to produce or account for their existence. How, 
 then, were they produced ? I know not ; and I believe that we are 
 very very far from having accumulated facts enough upon which to 
 frame any laws or build any theory regarding the agent at work in 
 their production." 
 
 If ever a conversion to Spiritualism was remarkable, it was that of 
 Robert Chambers. The fact that he was one of the most kindly and 
 genial of men did not prevent him from being at the same time one of 
 the hardest and most dogmatic of materialists ; and he was known by 
 his intimate friends to have been the joint-author, together with Leitch 
 Ritchie, of a work that had startled the public by its outspoken 
 scepticism, The Vestiges of Creation. Chambers published it 
 anonymously, from a care of his reputation ; and from the same motive 
 he was unwilling, after becoming a Spiritualist, to let his name be 
 mentioned in connection with Bell's Cornhill article, or to sign it to 
 the Introduction and Appendix which he kindly wrote in 1863 for Mr. 
 Home's first volume of autobiography. It was not until 1867 that 
 Robert Chambers abandoned this attitude of reserve. In that year 
 he was asked by Home to give an affidavit in connection with the 
 Lyon lawsuit, and honourably consented. 
 
 Robert Chambers did not become a Spiritualist in a day, but in the 
 end he did become one. His acquaintance with Home began in 1859, 
 and was continued in 1860 and the years following. It is much to be 
 regretted that he never had the courage to publish the experiences 
 that were the means of converting him ; for few men could have borne 
 more remarkable testimony on the subject of identity, as established 
 by the knowledge displayed, on the part of the intelligences communi- 
 cating, of matters that Chambers was well assured were unknown to 
 Home. 
 
 The first conviction at which intelligent and impartial observers 
 present at the seances of Home arrived was that imposture had no part 
 in the manifestations ; the second fact demonstrated to them was that 
 those manifestations were governed by intelligence. But by what 
 intelligence? Was it that of Home or of the other persons present, 
 acting in an unexplained manner and under unknown conditions ? Or 
 were the intelligences that produced the phenomena separate entities 
 from the human beings present; and, if so, were they disembodied 
 spirits ?
 
 KN GLAND 83 
 
 What amount of proof could answer the last question in the affirma- 
 tive? Each inquirer had to decide for himself; but it was obvious 
 that only one class of proofs could be conclusive. If we find that an 
 intelligence communicating with ours claims to be that of a friend 
 whom death has separated from us, we may reasonably 
 expect the spirit to remember something of the facts of his life 
 on earth. 
 
 In the case of one investigator present at the seances of Home, 
 messages from lost friends would be frequent, and the most remarkable 
 proofs of identity would be given : another person might be present at 
 seance after seance, and never receive a message of the kind. Why 
 not ? The question was often asked ; and the reply the spirits gave 
 was that the life beyond is, like our own, subject to conditions and 
 restraints, differing indeed from earthly restraints and conditions, but 
 often debarring spirits from communicating, just as we are often 
 unable to carry out our wishes here below. 
 
 Robert Chambers was one of the former and more fortunate class 
 of investigators, the recipients of evidences of identity that were con- 
 clusive to them. '' Evidences that may be accounted for by the 
 theory of thought-reading," some objectors will answer. If that 
 theory be held sufficient to account for the knowledge shown at the 
 Corn hill seance of the two airs that Chambers was thinking of when 
 he put his question, it still remains to be demonstrated how an 
 accordion that Home was not touching could be induced to play those 
 airs. But can thought read thought at a distance of four hundred 
 miles ? 
 
 In the latter part of 1866, Dr. Robert Chambers was in Scotland, 
 and Mr. Home in London. One day, at the rooms of the Spiritual 
 Athenaeum in Sloane Street, where Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. Humphreys, 
 Mr. Jencken, Mr. Perdicaris, and Mr. Home had met for the dis- 
 cussion of some matters of business, a message was rapped out that 
 claimed to emanate from a daughter of Dr. Chambers. Her name 
 was given; and Mr. S. C. Hall, who had been for many years 
 acquainted with the family, declared his disbelief that Dr. Chambers 
 had ever had a daughter of that name. For the sequel of the incident, 
 my authority is Mr. Hall himself, together with letters written by jJr. 
 Chambers on the subject, and quoted from by Mr. Home in his second 
 volume of Incidents, page 143. 
 
 Mr. Hall relates that, as the message received had reference to 
 certain very private matters, he was most reluctant to communicate it 
 to Chambers under the circumstances ; and, although he unwillingly 
 undertook to write to the latter, neglected to fulfil his promise. Some 
 weeks passed ; and one evening, at a seance at the residence of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hall, in Essex Villas, Campden Hill, another message was 
 received, declaring the regret of the spirit that Dr. Chambers had not 
 been communicated with. She described herself as being accompanied 
 on this occasion by the spirit of a sister who had died at an early age ; 
 and in reply to Mr. Hall's request for some token of identity that he
 
 84 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 might furnish to Dr. Chambers, the words, " Tell him, Pa, love," 
 were spelt out. 1 
 
 Mr. Hall sent this message to Dr. Chambers, with a letter explain- 
 ing the circumstances under which it had been received, and added 
 that he thought it best to withhold the former communication made, 
 until he had obtained Chambers' opinion of the test of identity. Dr. 
 Chambers wrote back that it was a most remarkable one. " The 
 whole of the communications," said his letter to Mr. Hall, " accord 
 with actual facts. The words, ' Pa, love,' were the last words she 
 pronounced in life." 
 
 Mr. Hall had now no scruple in forwarding the other message, 
 which related to private affairs of the Chambers' family and entreated 
 Dr. Chambers to adopt a particular course of action with reference 
 to certain family matters. Chambers did as the spirit advised ; and 
 in a letter that he wrote to Home a short time afterwards he related 
 the result of his action; adding, " You see, she was right about the 
 imminence of that step, of which I Knew nothing. ' ' 
 
 I have dwelt on this incident at some length, because the theory of 
 thought-reading is clearly quite inapplicable here. In the narrative i 
 am now about to give, such an explanation is, to say the least, very 
 far-fetched ; for it is evident that the recipient of the communication 
 was not at the moment thinking of the person it referred to. 
 
 One of the friends of Dr. Chambers was the late Miss Catherine 
 Sinclair, a well-known writer in her day, and a lady much beloved for 
 the beauty and amiability of her character. She, like Chambers, 
 became a Spiritualist ; and one of the experiences that were the means 
 of convincing her is thus narrated by Mrs. Adelaide Senior, sister-in- 
 law of the late Nassau Senior. The seance in question took place in 
 the summer of 1861 ; and Mrs. Senior, who was present at it, writes: 
 
 " We were all assembled in the summer twilight in a large drawing-room in 
 one of those immense houses in the Regent's Park, where Mr. and Mrs. 
 Home were staying with the widow of an Indian judge. Miss Catherine 
 Sinclair was seated next me ; we were not at a table, nor in a circle. Mr. 
 Home went into a trance ; and coming up suddenly to Miss Sinclair, he 
 said in that peculiar trance voice ' You knew James Ferguson,' when she 
 actually bounded up from her chair, and said, ' Yes, I did ! ' He went on 
 in the same voice : ' He was called Sir James in life he wishes to 
 communicate with you, but cannot do so you are so surrounded by your 
 friends ; ' and she answered bitterly, ' Aye, I daresay ! ' Upon which I 
 conjured up a love story in my mind, and I believe that I was perfectly 
 right. Mr. Home meanwhile went on, ' He wants you to do something for 
 him.' ' Oh ! what is it? ' she interrupted; ' there is nothing that I would not 
 do for him.' " 
 
 Mrs. Senior then narrates a communication that was made relative 
 to a son of Sir James Ferguson, to whom Miss Sinclair was requested 
 to write ; and continues : 
 
 1 Note by Mr. H. T. Humphreys : " I was also present at the stance at 
 Essex Villas, Campden Hill, where Mary Edwards (formerly Chambers) came 
 accompanied by her little sister, and recollect how the window curtains were 
 moved into something like a canopy on the occasion. We asked for an 
 explanation of ' Pa, love,' and were told it was a test."
 
 ENGLAND 85 
 
 " ' But I do not know where he is,' Miss Sinclair answered; ' can you 
 tell me? ' Mr. Home paused a moment, and said, ' I will try and find out.' 
 When he turned to walk away from us, I saw a bright star glittering in the 
 centre of his forehead, and said impulsively, ' Oh, look at the star ! ' but 
 no one saw it except myself. He walked to the other end of the room, 18 
 to 20 feet, where there were folding doors, leading to another room ; they were 
 closed, and he began to walk up and down in front of them like a sentry on 
 his post ; and, as he did so, we all saw seven stars sparkling round his head, 
 as they do in the sky on a frosty night. In a few minutes Mr. Home came 
 over to us again, and walking close to me, said, ' No one saw the first star 
 in my forehead but you that was Henry's star.' Then, turning to Miss 
 Sinclair, he mentioned some foreign baths Baden-Baden, I think, and I 
 afterwards saw a notice of the death of Sir J. Ferguson's son at the same 
 place. 
 
 " I ought to have mentioned that when Mr. Home walked away from us 
 in the first instance, Miss Sinclair turned to me, and said, in the lowest 
 whisper : ' How very wonderful ! he has been dead these thirty years ;* when 
 Mr. Home instantly called out in a tone that thrilled us : ' Don't say dead 
 nothing kills but sin sin kills through the devil; but those who live in 
 Christ never die.' This was said from the far side of the room, where no 
 human ears could have heard Miss Sinclair's words. 
 
 " I had never met her before, nor did I ever see her again ; but on that 
 night we had a great deal of talk, and hoped to meet again. I have often 
 wondered whether Miss Sinclair had left any record of her experience. She 
 seemed very much impressed, and to believe fully all she heard and saw." 
 
 When he was thrown into the trance-condition referred to by Mrs. 
 Senior, Home's identity became merged in that of the intelligences 
 communicating, and he described the spirits he saw, and spoke in 
 their words ; but, on awaking from the vision, remembered nothing of 
 what had passed. I shall write more fully on this subject in another 
 chapter. 
 
 From one of the letters of Robert Chambers, it appears that he was 
 in London late in April or early in May, 1860; this, therefore, must 
 have been the visit during which Chambers was present at the seance 
 described a few months later in the Cornhill. 
 
 If any further evidence be asked that Chambers in the last years 
 of his life was a Spiritualist in the full sense of the term, I may cite 
 some words of his with reference to a pamphlet on the subject of 
 Spiritualism, of which his friend Miss Douglas (another of Home's 
 converts) was the author. "These twenty-four pages," he wrote, 
 "in my opinion contain the germ of the greatest discovery and the 
 greatest revolution of human thought that the world has witnessed." 
 The same recognition of the spiritual origin of the manifestations is 
 apparent in the following extract from a letter written by Dr. Chambers 
 to Mrs. S. C. Hall, on hearing of Mr. Home's adoption by Mrs. Lyon : 
 
 " I need not say how delighted I am, in common with all his well- 
 wishers, with the good fortune that has befallen him. Such is my 
 opinion of him that not only do I think him deserving of it but that he 
 will make good use of it. We may, I think, trust to see him pro- 
 pagating Spiritualism from the independent point he has reached, 
 with power only bounded by the needful regard to his health." 
 
 Several of the letters of Dr. Robert Chambers and Miss Sinclair 
 were printed by Mr. Home in his second volume of Incidents. A 
 passage from one of Miss Sinclair's may be quoted here, as indicative 
 of her convictions :
 
 86 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " The message of last night was most marvellous. . . I live 
 
 with those who have heard, from my near relative Mrs. Hope 
 Johnstone, a very detailed account of her experience and also Mr. 
 Grant's cf the Advertiser ; but people cannot long resist conviction, 
 seconded by manifestations so pleasing and elevating as those of last 
 night. I merely relate what I have myself witnessed, and all become 
 at once desirous to share in such revelations." 
 
 In an unpublished letter from Miss Sinclair to Mr. Home, I find 
 the following grateful reference tc her experiences: 
 
 " My brother and I would much like to be present at the seance, if 
 you could obtain Mrs. Edgeworth's leave to allow us to accompany 
 Lady Hesketh. I hear from Mr. S. C. Hall that you are now in great 
 power; and I am so deeply interested in the subject of Spiritualism, 
 and have had such experience of its truth and usefulness, that it 
 interests me of all things. I have never forgotten the beautiful 
 manifestations we had at your house in Sloane Street." 
 
 The seance at which Miss Sinclair was so startled by hearing the 
 name of Sir James Ferguson, was the second that the narrator of the 
 incident, Mrs. A. Senior, had ever attended. Her own experiences 
 on that and the previous occasion were still more impressive than 
 those she relates in connection with Miss Sinclair. I give them in 
 Mrs. Senior's own words, written in 1862, and published under the 
 
 initial "S " in Mr. Home's first volume of Incidents (pp. 206- 
 
 208) : 
 
 " I first attended a seance of Mr. Home's in the summer of 1861, when I 
 was in very deep affliction. I had never seen anything of Spiritualism before, 
 but had heard a good deal of it from a dear old friend who introduced me to 
 Mr. Home. My own experiences that night were far more wonderful than 
 anything I had ever heard or read of, and were to me most convincing. 
 After many raps, movements of the table, &c., Mr. Home fell into a trance, 
 and described my dear husband most accurately, said how noble he was in 
 mind and body, and how he should have loved him had he known him in 
 life; and then said, ' But who is that Mary standing by his side? What a 
 noble woman, and how she loves him and how happy they are together 
 and how they both love you ; you were his star in life. But what was that 
 misery about his watch? You forgot to wind his watch, and how miserable 
 it made you.' Now this was a fact known to no living being but myself. 
 I had wound the watch the night I lost my husband, and resolved nover to 
 let it go down again ; but more than a month afterwards, when I returned to 
 our old home, I forgot to wind it one night ; and my agony was great when I 
 discovered it in the morning, but I never mentioned it even to my husband's 
 sister, who was in the house with me. 
 
 " A month later I attended a second stance. Some remarkable things were 
 told by Mr. Home, who was in a state of trance, to a lady present " (Miss 
 Sinclair) " of her departed friend. . . . Mr. Home came soon afterwards to 
 me ; and said that my dear husband and his mother the Mary spoken 
 of before were behind my chair, and that both longed to comfort me. 
 
 He then went on to say that I. had had a conversation with my husband 
 eight months before, and that he blessed me for that conversation now ; that 
 we were sitting in our drawing-room at home, he in his arm-chair and I in 
 mine, with the little round table between us, and that I had just been reading 
 a chapter in the New Testament. ... I remember perfectly the conversation 
 alluded to, and it was a very remarkable one. 
 
 ' These are facts for which I can vouch. To me the comfort has been 
 unspeakable."
 
 ENGLAND 87 
 
 " I do hope," wrote Mrs. Senior to Mr. Home in November, 1866, 
 with reference to one of her friends, " that Spiritualism may be the 
 same comfort to her that it has been to me more I cannot wish her. 
 
 For one who has had, like Mrs. Senior, the courage to speak, a 
 hundred have been silent concerning their experiences with Mr. Home. 
 Their letters often make allusions to wonderful seances at which the 
 writers had been present, but the story of those seances remains 
 untold. For instance, a lady who was a distinguished ornament of 
 English society a quarter of a century ago, Mrs. G. Cowper, saw a 
 great deal of the manifestations in 1861. "I was up till very late, 
 thinking over and writing an account of the wonders of the evening," 
 she tells Mr. Home in a letter written in the summer of that year 
 But if Mrs. Cowper's account ever found its way into print, it did so 
 anonymously, and cannot now be identified. 
 
 Again, there are several letters from Miss Sophia Hope-Vere. A 
 very interesting one, written in 1860, describes the impression made 
 on the writer by the first seance at which she was present. 
 
 " 20 PARK LANK, July i-jth. 
 
 " DEAR MR. HOME, Ere you leave London, I feel it due to you to thank 
 you for admitting me to your stance. I feel I cannot, and never shall, forget 
 what I have felt and heard. I am thankful for the opportunity I had of 
 witnessing what I must honestly own I not only doubted but scouted. I 
 fear, at the outset of anything so strange and mysterious, to express all I 
 feel for I know not how far my present feelings on the subject may last. 
 I shall ever hail with joy an opportunity of another such meeting. I am happy 
 to say that what 1 narrated to my family has not been sceptically received. 
 I prefaced my communications to them by saying : ' I do not give you my 
 views or ideas in what I am about to tell I confine myself to facts ; draw your 
 own impressions, and make what comments you like.' They have paid me 
 the compliment of not doubting one word of what I told them ; and one and 
 all are anxious to have a seance. I saw Lady P. yesterday ; her feelings are 
 quite in unison with mine on the point. . . . Sincerely yours, 
 
 " SOPHIA J. HOPE-VERE." 
 
 What were the experiences that drew from one who " not only 
 doubted but scouted " the manifestations, such a letter as the above, 
 after a single seance ? What did the writer witness at the seances she 
 subsequently attended? I cannot say: her letters are eloquent of the 
 effect produced on her; but the history of the experiences that con- 
 verted her scorn into belief is unwritten, and must remain unwritten. 
 
 The same blank exists in the case of Lady Shelley, who was present 
 at numbers of Mr. Home's seances in London, including several at 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson's ; and who, with her husband, frequently invited 
 him to Boscombe. I have no materials for writing the narrative of 
 her conversion to Spiritualism ; but of the fact that Lady Shelley 
 became a Spiritualist her letters leave no question. 
 
 " We have been thinking and talking of you for many days past," she 
 writes to Mr. Home in 1863. " All the world has read your book ; and it has, 
 1 believe, done much good. The next best thing, you know, to seeing you was 
 to hear from you, and to know that your heart yearns towards our little, dark, 
 fgy island. The idea that you might have really been established at the 
 cottage this winter, had we not pulled it down, is tantalising ; but you must let 
 me know as soon as you return to England, and Sir Percy joins with me
 
 88 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 in hoping that you will come and spend a fortnight with us. We are in all 
 the confusion at Boscombe of building new kitchens and offices, but we shall 
 always be able nevertheless to give you a mutton-chop. . . . 
 
 *' You know I am always living in hopes that some day my husband will 
 have all the comfort from Spiritualism that I have had myself and if that 
 knowledge is to come to him, it will certainly be through you. 
 
 " Direct to Boscombe, and say that we are to see you there before long." 
 
 The letters of Lady Shelley convey the impression of a nature at 
 once intellectual and amiable. I may cite, as an instance, a letter 
 written by her in 1862, on learning of the death of Mrs. Home: 
 
 " BOSCOMBE, July i-jth. 
 
 " DEAR MR. HOME, Just before leaving town, I received from our 
 friend Mrs. Milner Gibson the sad news of your loss. Accept my 
 warmest and most heartfelt sympa/thy for whenever this parting 
 comes, it must be a sorrow for a time; though to us Spiritualists, who 
 know that our beloved ones are not separated from us, but have merely 
 put off the earth-worn garment to enter into a more glorious life, it is 
 indeed a far different sorrow to that which sees nothing beyond the 
 grave. I trust you will not deem these few lines an intrusion at such a 
 time but the warm interest I must ever take in all that concerns you 
 must plead my excuse." 
 
 This chapter has already grown to such length that I had intended 
 to close it here ; but another name suggests itself in connection with 
 Mr. Home and the year 1860, that I cannot pass without remark. 
 Dr. Lockhart Robertson, long editor of the Journal of Mental Science, 
 had been one of the most derisive critics of the new belief. When 
 Mr. Rymer published a pamphlet on the sittings with Mr. Home at 
 Baling, this distinguished physician replied to it with an essay of 
 thirty-six pages, wherein he demonstrated according to the most 
 approved logical methods the inherent impossibility of the asserted 
 facts. His witticisms on Mr. Home and the believers in Mr. Home 
 would have done honour to the Saturday Review. Dr. Robertson 
 declared himself especially anxious that Mr. Rymer should " catch 
 a sense of the pitying scorn with which those nurtured on the strong 
 meat of the inductive philosophy within the very courts and halls that 
 Newton trod, view these sickly Spiritualist dreamers, thus drunk with 
 the new wine of folly and credulity." 
 
 These words were written in 1857. In 1860, Dr. Robertson was 
 a convert. Of the spiritual origin of the phenomena he remained 
 unconvinced ; but the very manifestations that he had declared to be 
 impossible, investigation compelled him to accept as facts ; and he 
 rery honestly published his recantations of former denials in the 
 Spiritual Magazine for April and August, 1860. He had the courage 
 to wish to append his name to his testimony; but the editor strongly 
 dissuaded him from doing so, on the ground that injury, and possibly 
 ruin, to his professional reputation would be the result. Some years 
 later, however, on the occasion of the inquiry by the Dialectical 
 Society into Spiritualism, Dr. Robertson came publicly forward to 
 re-state his experiences.
 
 ENGLAND 89 
 
 His testimony is that the most remarkable phenomena he witnessed 
 were at a seance with Mr. Home, eight persons in all being present. 
 
 " 'Ihe raps came on the table on the floor about the room the whole 
 floor vibrated with a tremor," wrote Dr. Lockhart Robertson in the Spiritual 
 Magazine. " The table was then lifted from the ground about two feet, all 
 our hands being placed on the surface, we standing the while; and one of the 
 circle knelt on the ground, and saw it so suspended. . . . The accordion played 
 the most beautiful music in the hand of Mr. Home, and also while suspended 
 alone, as verified by one of the circle, under the table. I never heard anything 
 more wondrous or unearthly than that music. 
 
 " During all these phenomena " (the italics are Dr. Robertson's) " six 
 wax lights were burning in the room. 
 
 " It was then intimated by raps that the lights were to be put out, and 
 the table moved into the window. There was the light of a summer night 
 mixed with the street gas, and enough to enable us distinctly to distinguish 
 objects in the room, each other's faces, &c. . . . 
 
 " In a few minutes X. and I both distinctly twice saw, as did every one else 
 present, a hand like that of a dark mulatto woman's rise up to the level of the 
 table, in the open, unoccupied space between the table and the window, and 
 take up a pencil laid on a piece of paper, and draw on it what afterwards we 
 found to be a leaf and an eagle's head. I am most positive, and so is X., that 
 this hand belonged to no one in the room, that it could not by any possibility so 
 belong. Whether owned by angel, spirit, or demon I know not." 
 
 The silliest of many things said concerning Mr. Home was the 
 frequently-repeated assertion that he avoided meeting sceptics, that 
 wonders only happened in the presence of Spiritualists, and so on. 
 Except Dr. Ashburner, not one of the persons whose experiences are 
 described or referred to in the present chapter: Dr. Elliottson, Dr. 
 Robert Chambers, Mr. Robert Bell, Dr. Gully, Miss C. Sinclair, Mrs. 
 Senior, Miss Hope-Vere, Dr. Lockhart Robertson, etc., was a 
 Spiritualist at the time of his or her first seance with Mr. Home. 
 Certainly wonders happened in their presence after they became 
 believers; but what had induced their belief? The wonders they wit- 
 nessed and tested in Home's presence while they were still sceptics. 
 
 I will quote a portion of the testimony of one more sceptic concern- 
 ing his first seance with Mr. Home. This was a Mr. Pears, a friend 
 of Mr. Cox of Jermyn Street, who came to a seance in the early part 
 of 1860, and whose letter to a friend on the subject was published, 
 with its writer's permission, in the first volume of the Incidents 
 (p. 134): 
 
 " I said, half laughing, which you might expect from my scepticism," wrote 
 Mr. Pears, " that I should not wonder if there were some one for me also. 
 Immediately there were raps under my hand, strong enough to shake the table. 
 
 II Perhaps I looked dubiously at a phenomenon so unexpected ; for Mr. 
 Home said, ' I should like Mr. Pears to be convinced that we do not make 
 these sounds; perhaps he would get under the table and observe.' I did so; 
 and while I saw that they were not produced by any visible agency beneath, 
 they were sounding as vigorously as ever ; Mrs. P. being witness to their 
 not being produced by the hands, or any visible means aboveboard. . . . 
 
 " There was one part of the stance which forcibly struck me, and 
 which I must relate." Having explained that the raps under his hand 
 " purported to come " from his grandfather's spirit, Mr. Pears continues : 
 
 " Mr. Home soon after passed into a singular state half-unconscious as 
 it were and said : ' Here's a tall, old, upright, Quaker-like man, yet not 
 a Quaker ; ' then he seemed to take on the manner and gesture, as closely 
 
 G
 
 9 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 as a young man can, of those of an old one held out his hand to me, and 
 grasped mine in a way that further reminded me of my grandfather, and 
 addressed me in words somewhat characteristic of him ; and went on to speak 
 of one whom he had held very dear, but from whom he had long been 
 separated, to his great grief ; but that they had happily met in the other world, 
 and were reconciled. All upon this point was said in a broken way, but with 
 gestures and allusions which were intelligible solely to myself ; as the person 
 and events so alluded to touched closely upon my grandfather's history in 
 conjunction with my own. My astonishment was increased when from Mr. 
 Home's lips fell the name of her to whom the allusion had been made ! my 
 grandfather's daughter. Both died when Mr. Home must have been a boy 
 in America. Long as I have known you, friend Dixon, I think I never told 
 you that my grandfather was of a Quaker family, which was the case. 
 
 " I was by this incident astonished beyond expression ; and acknowledged 
 to Mr. Cox that the history which had been sketched, and the reflections upon 
 it, were just what I should have expected might have been made by my 
 grandfather. I have not yet found a place in my system for these phenomena, 
 but that they are genuine phenomena is settled in my mind." 
 
 That a single- observer, however acute and sceptical, might be 
 deceived is very possible. That a dozen such observers, whose 
 investigations were independently conducted, should all be deceived 
 is highly improbable. That hundreds nay, thousands of sane and 
 able investigators, of every country and condition of life, who had 
 never seen each other, and whose habits of thought were as diverse as 
 nationalities, should have, one and all, been deluded by a single man 
 into the conviction that they witnessed phenomena which never took 
 place is impossible. Were it possible, there would be an end of the 
 value of human testimony ; and the only reasonable being in the world 
 would be the sceptic who endorsed unconditionally the Psalmist's 
 hasty declaration, "All men are liars," and was even prepared to 
 include himself, if his senses testified to facts that his prejudices 
 rejected. 
 
 To the rash denials of those who have not seen, those who have 
 seen cam only respond in the words which Mr. Weld, in his Last 
 Winter in Rome, tells us were uttered by Thackeray shortly after the 
 publication of Bell's article, " Stranger than Fiction." On being 
 reproached, at a dinner in London, for having permitted such an 
 article to appear in the Cornkill Magazine, Thackeray, says Mr. 
 Weld, tranquilly listened to all that his critics had to say ; and then 
 replied : '' It is all very well for you, who have probably never seen 
 any spiritual manifestations, to talk as you do; but had you seen 
 what I have witnesed, you would hold a different opinion." 
 
 Professor Chain's, the Plumierian Professor of Astronomy at Cam- 
 bridge, had never been present at a seance; but a careful and unpre- 
 judiced examination of the evidence given by those who had, 
 compelled him to write in 1862: " In short, the testimony has been 
 so abundant and consentaneous, that either the facts must be admitted 
 to be such as are reported, or the possibility of certifying facts by 
 human testimony must be given up."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 ENGLAND 
 
 Experiences of Count Tolstoy. Mrs. Milner Gibson. Miraculous 
 Escape of D. D. Home. Evidence of Dr. Hoefer. Evidence 
 of the Ex-Chairman, London Stock Exchange. Lord Lytton as 
 Nicodemus. Home's Sunny Nature. Death of Mrs. Home. 
 
 FRIENDS in Russia had been urging Mr. Home to re-visit them; but 
 finding that there was no immediate prospect of his making the 
 journey, two of their number, Count Alexis Tolstoy and Count 
 Steinbock-Fermor, determined to go to him instead; and he had 
 accordingly the pleasure of welcoming them to London about the 
 middle of June, 1860. These accomplished gentlemen spoke English 
 remarkably well ; and were soon at home in English society. In the 
 case of Tolstoy, his letters to Home are as often written in English 
 as in French. 
 
 Mr. Home's weekly seance at Mrs. Milner Gibson's was often 
 supplemented by others; and in June, 1860, he was holding two, 
 three, and sometimes four seances in the week at Hyde Park Place. 
 The requests for invitations were more than numerous; and the 
 eagerness of well-known personages in London society to be present 
 was only equalled by the timidity with which they insisted on con- 
 cealing their experiences from the world. Tolstoy's letters to his 
 wife contain the description of two seances, both at Mrs. Milner 
 Gibson's. The first was given to himself and Fermor, and to a third 
 Russian, an entire sceptic, who had accompanied them to England ; 
 at the other the investigators present comprised Lord Dufferin and 
 Lord Clarence Paget, neither of whom had previously seen anything 
 of the phenomena. The first seance was the more remarkable of the 
 two ; and Botkine, the materialist companion of Fermor and Tolstoy, 
 who had come to it incredulous, went away convinced. I translate 
 the interesting record of the evening preserved in 1 Count Tolstoy's 
 first letter from London to his wife. 
 
 " June i?th, 1860. 
 
 " It is two o'clock in the morning; I have just left Home; and in spite 
 of the pain it gives me to be away from you I don't regret my journey to 
 London, for this stance has been overwhelming (cette seance a te 
 renversante). Botkine brother of the doctor is converted ; and wishes to 
 shut himself up to-morrow and stay the whole day indoors, to meditate over 
 what he has seen. Nicholas the donkey ! being rather unwell, did not 
 choose to be present at the seance. There were myself, Botkine, Mrs. Home, 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson (wife of the President of the Board of Trade), Count 
 Alexander Steinbock-Fermor, and a dame de compagnie. First there occurred 
 all the manifestations you have witnessed ; then, on the light being reduced, 
 every article of furniture in the room took to moving of its own accord. A 
 table placed itself on another table ; a sofa moved into the middle of the room ; 
 a bell rose in the air and went all round the apartment, ringing as it floated. 
 
 " Finally the remaining lights were put out, and we sat almost in darkness ; 
 there was only the faint light that came through the window from a gas-lamp 
 
 91
 
 92 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 outside. The piano played with no one near it ; a bracelet unclasped itself from 
 the arm of Mrs. Milner Gibson, and fell on the table, where it lay surrounded 
 by a luminous appearance. Home was raised from the ground ; and I clasped 
 his feet while he floated in the air above our heads. Hands touched my knees 
 and laid themselves in my hands ; and when I sought to retain one it dissolved 
 in my grasp. There were paper and pencils on the table. A sheet of paper 
 came thrusting itself into my hand, and through the alphabet I was told to 
 give it to Home. There was written upon it, ' Love her always. N. K'roll.' 
 The writing exactly resembled that of the mother of Mrs. Home ; we have 
 compared it with that of her letters. A very faint voice was heard 
 accompanying the piano while it played. Raps as loud as if made with a 
 hammer were struck on the table under the hands of Botkine. 
 
 " What would have, above all, convinced me, were I a sceptic, are the 
 hands I have felt, which were placed in mine and melted when I tried to retain 
 them. A cold wind passed round the circle very distinctly, and perfumes were 
 wafted to us. After the stance Home's hands were burning hot, and the 
 tears were in his eyes. His wife and he saw constantly a star on one of the 
 chairs, but I did not see it. The curtains of the windows were drawn back, 
 and hands were visible passing before the window faintly lit by the gas outside. 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson made me promise to come to-morrow evening to a fresb 
 stance, but unfortunately Botkine this time was not invited, as there will be 
 so many without him." 
 
 Two days later another letter was written to the Countess Tolstoy 
 by her husband to describe the second seance : 
 
 " LONDON, igth June, 1860. 
 
 " I had a headache of the worst sort yesterday ; however, I put on my dress- 
 coat and white tie, and went to the stance at Mrs. Milner Gibson's. I would 
 have gone a thousand leagues to see these things. There were present Lord 
 and Lady Clarence Paget, Lord Dufferin, Lord de Tablet, Dr. Ashburner, a 
 celebrated physician ; Miss Alice, daughter of Mrs. Milner Gibson ; her brother, 
 a very nice boy of the age of George, and Mrs. Home. The two children and 
 Mrs. Home were in the room, but not at the table, where there was not room 
 enough for every one. The stance was by no means so good as the first, but 
 there was a new phenomenon. I saw the accordion play without being held ; 
 and after each note there was an echo very distant, but very distinct and 
 agreeable which repeated it. Lord Clarence, feeling his knee clasped, wished 
 me to touch the hand that was holding it ; and when I placed my hand on 
 his knee without finding anything, he still felt, besides my hand, another that 
 was touching him. This time Home did not float in the air in my presence. 
 The three lords were present at a stance for the first time ; and did not fail, 
 at the invitation of Home, to make a search under the table, while the rest 
 of us were observing what went on above." 
 
 Count Tolstoy's words " in my presence," are explained by a note 
 added by Mr. Home : 
 
 The apartment was lighted by two lamps and several wax candles ; and 
 when the stance was over, the company passed into another room, except Lord 
 and Lady Clarence Paget and myself, who stayed behind conversing. Suddenly, 
 I felt myself raised from the ground ; and said so to Lord Clarence, who knelt 
 down and passed his hands between my feet and the carpet, to satisfy himself 
 of the fact." 
 
 Tolstoy and Home did not meet again till the year 1865, when, to 
 the great joy of the Count, his friend at last consented to pay a second 
 visit to Russia. The former had never written without a pressing 
 invitation ; and on arriving from America in the spring of 1865, Home 
 found a charming kind of round-robin from the members of the 
 Tolstoy family awaiting him at Cox's Hotel, and intended to second'
 
 ENGLAND 93 
 
 the following letter from the Count. If there are flaws in the English 
 of the writer, there were none in his good heart. 
 
 " 16/4 December, 1864. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND DANIEL, I am afraid you have not received my letter 
 from Poustineka, which I sent to you three months ago. I, and all the 
 persons living with me, required your presence, and expected that you would 
 perhaps agree with our desire, and come here to pass the winter with us. ... 
 Now I write you again, and tell you once more how happy I, my wife, and 
 we all would be if you come to visit us and remain with us till summer. Come, 
 my dear friend, it will be a good distraction for your sorrows." 
 
 To enforce the invitation, every member of the household has 
 penned a few words. " I hope we shall see you, dear Mr. Daniel," 
 writes the Countess. " Please come we shall be so glad to see you 
 again," another of the family adds. "Come come come," write 
 friends four, five, and six; and "Venez, mon cher Home," is the 
 concluding appeal addressed to him by a correspondent who has no 
 English. It was impossible not to yield ; and Home started for 
 Russia forthwith. 
 
 Count Steinbock-Fermor must either have remained in London in 
 1860 after Tolstoy's departure, or have returned the following year; 
 for I find him present at a seance in 1861, at 7, Cornwall Terrace, 
 Regent's Park, the residence of a Mrs. Parkes, with whom Mr. and 
 Mrs. Home were then staying. Besides Count Steinbock-Fermor, 
 the circle included Mr. and Mrs. William Howitt (the well-known 
 authors), and Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Wilkinson. The phenomena of 
 this seance were described in the Incidents (vol. i., pp. 183 et seq.) 
 both by Mr. Howitt and Mr. Wilkinson. 
 
 " Mr. Home," wrote the letter, " now held the accordion in his right hand 
 beside his chair, and it at once began to play. He held it by the bottom, 
 the keys being on the top, and therefore out of his reach. It was impossible 
 that he could touch them. I carefully examined the instrument, opening the slide 
 beneath the keys, and I found it to be a common instrument with only the 
 usual mechanism of the keys. There was nothing inside it. I looked steadily at 
 it, and at the hand and fingers with which he held it. There it was, being 
 pulled up and down, and discoursing sweet sounds ; whilst his hand was 
 stationary and h,is ringers motionless. I could see above and beneath the 
 instrument, but there was no visible cause for its motion, nor for the opening 
 and shutting of the keys which caused the music. 
 
 " When it ceased, my wife asked if it could not be played in her hand. 
 and immediately the instrument emitted three sounds, which we took to 
 mean that it would have much pleasure in trying. It was accordingly given 
 to her, and whilst in her right hand it began to play. She felt it distinctly 
 lifted up and drawn forcibly down ; and she did not and could not touch the 
 keys, which however, must necessarily have been touched and opened to make 
 the sounds. ... I have once had an accordion play in my own hand, when 
 I know that I did not do it. I also know that Lord Lyndhurst and many other 
 public men whom I could name have had a similar experience." 
 
 'There were, besides Mrs. Howitt and myself," writes Mr. 
 William Howitt of the same seance, "a Russian, Count Steinbeck, 
 and several others. We had beautiful music played on the accordion, 
 when held in one hand by Mr Home, who cannot play a note ; and 
 the same when held by a lady " (Mrs. W. M. Wilkinson). 
 
 Flowers were taken from a bouquet on a chiffonier at a distance, 
 and handed to each of us. . . . I saw a spirit hand as distinctly 
 as I ever saw my own. I touched one several times."
 
 94 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 The Howitts were at this time living near Hampstead ; and their 
 house was the resort of half the authors and artists of London. 
 Several of Mr. Home's seances were held there in 1861 and subse- 
 quent years ; and he met a number of new investigators on these 
 occasions. 
 
 The letters of Count Steinbock-Fermor to his friend are numerous 
 and interesting. One of them, belonging to the year 1861, discusses 
 the philosophy of Spiritualism as the writer viewed it, and is anno- 
 tated with a few remarks by Mr. Home some endorsing, others 
 rejecting the propositions it contains. I give part of this long letter, 
 bracketing Home's annotations with the statements they refer to : 
 
 " Spirits," writes Steinbock-Fermor, " never wholly cease to be 
 linked with matter." (Certainly not.} " In continually progressing, 
 they put more distance or, more correctly, difference between 
 them and their first state of being. (Through refinement.) "They 
 attain a nearer resemblance to the One Spirit who is God ; but it is 
 comparable to geometrical proportion, which removes farther and 
 farther from i without approaching infinitude." (Yes.) "Spirits 
 can advance until they at last attain to their perfection the perfec- 
 tion of the created." (We can never arrive at absolute perfection, 
 and there is no arbitrary limit set.} 
 
 In the months of May and June, 1860, hardly a day passed without 
 a seance ; and the constant drain on his vital force had most injurious 
 effects on Home's health. The experience of years had taught him 
 that, in the words of Mr. Crookes, " the evolution of psychic force 
 is accompanied by a corresponding drain on vital force;" and he well 
 knew that after a seance he required a period of repose during which 
 his exceptional organisation might recruit its exhausted energies, and 
 that the interval of a day only was not long enough. While holding 
 daily seances, he saw his health grow rapidly worse; but all that 
 others regarded was their eager desire to see as much as possible of 
 the manifestations. Had he remained a few months longer in 
 London, he would probably have prostrated himself utterly ; for he 
 could not say " No " to a friend who pressed him to sit, and believers, 
 inquirers and sceptics by the hundred were besieging him for seances. 
 There was nothing for it but to escape from his surroundings for a 
 time; and towards the end of July, 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Home went 
 on a visit to friends in France. 
 
 Mr. Wason was invited by Mrs. Milner Gibson to a seance, at 
 which, among numerous manifestations, an accordion played in his 
 own hand. He also witnessed on this occasion the phenomenon of 
 Home's levitation, the room being faintly lit from the outside in 
 the manner already described by Count Tolstoy. 
 
 " Mr. Home crossed the table over the heads of the persons sitting 
 around it," said Mr. Wason. " By standing and stretching upwards 
 I was enabled to reach his hand, about seven feet distant from the 
 floor ; and laying hold and keeping hold of his hand, I moved along 
 with him five or six paces as he floated above me in the air, and I only 
 let go his hand when I stumbled against a stool. ... I saw his body 
 eclipse two lines of light of issuing from between the top of a door and
 
 ENGLAND 95 
 
 its architrave such door leading into an adjoining room that was 
 brilliantly lighted. 
 
 " I make no comments on the above, and advance no theory or 
 hypothesis : I have confined myself simply to facts," adds Mr. 
 Wason, who was at this time a sceptic, but, as the result of continued 
 investigation with Mr. Home, became a Spiritualist, and was sub- 
 sequently Home's hast at Liverpool. 
 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson had narrated to numbers of her friends the 
 wonderful phenomena of the seances in Hyde Park Place; and as 
 Mrs. Gibson, in society phrase, " knew every one worth knowing," 
 the natural consequence of the curiosity excited was that her letters 
 to Mr. Home are filled with well-known names, the owners of which 
 were pressing her for invitations to a seance. She gives a long list 
 on one occasion of those who had been invited by her and were 
 waiting their turn ; including Lord Dufferin, Sir Emerson Tennant, 
 Lady Trelawney, Mdlle. Tietjens, Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, Sir 
 Fitzroy Kelly, Mrs. Grote, Mr. Stirling, Mr. Higgins, and Mr. 
 Hay ward. " Fancy my joy on Saturday night at Lady Palmer- 
 ston's," writes Mrs. Gibson, " when Higgins (Jacob Omnium) and 
 Hayward both asked me to be permitted to come to a seance. I 
 told Robert Chambers, who called on Sunday, and he was greatly 
 astonished and pleased. I had a conversation with Lord Dufferin, 
 and promised to let him know as soon as you return." 
 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson went often to Dieppe. " There is a ludicrous 
 story here about you and le Pere Ravignan," she tells Mr. Home 
 during one of her visits ; " how the Father persuaded you to give up 
 Spiritualism, and the Evil One seized you and threw you down, and 
 forced you to continue! I was very amused." 
 
 In November, 1862, when Mr. Home was preparing his first volume 
 of Incidents for publication, he discussed with a friend of Mrs. 
 Milner Gibson's the propriety of asking that lady to write a narrative 
 of some of the seances at Hyde Park Place, and authenticate it with 
 her name. On hearing of this, Mrs. Gibson, who was abroad at the 
 time, wrote to him to say that her testimony was at his service ; all 
 she asked was that a declaration of her religious views should accom- 
 pany the publication of the fact that she was a Spiritualist. I copy 
 her letter : 
 
 " November i^th. 
 
 " DEAR DANIEL, I have just received a letter from Witch, wherein she 
 says that you want an account of the stance in which you placed your head 
 on the fire and took up a burning coal in your hand. I regret to say that I 
 have no detailed account of that seance, though I have of many others. I 
 think Robert Bell was present ; and I can, of course, give my testimony. 
 Witch says that you mentioned something about my name. My name is quite 
 at your service you have never found me shirk from declaring the truth, and 
 all who know me know that I am a Spiritualist. There is only one point 
 which I wish to be clear upon, and that is a religious one. I attack no one's 
 creed : I sit with all creeds : I go side by side with many who hold different 
 opinions from mine ; but I am very firm in my opinions, and very anxious that 
 it should be distinctly understood that I am wholly and entirely apart from 
 those who in any way question the New Testament. I see with fear and 
 horror that some Spiritualists are making a weapon of Spiritualism to attack
 
 96 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 what is divine, instead of upholding it. I abominate discussion, and never 
 enter into it ; I therefore rarely mention my fears, unless I see danger of 
 being supposed to belong to those who deny the Divinity of our Saviour. 
 Therefore, my dear friend, I give you my credo." 
 
 In spite of the generous readiness of Milner Gibson to give her 
 name, Mr. Home, with equal generosity, finally determined to omit it 
 from his book. Not only did he shrink from allowing so dear a 
 friend to expose herself to the ridicule and insult that she was willing 
 to brave, but the delicacy of the situation was increased by the fact 
 that her husband did not share her beliefs, and was nervously anxious 
 to shun all appearance of identifying himself with them. I have 
 already said that Mr. Milner Gibson had never been present at a 
 seance ; and it may be added that he took every opportunity of making 
 that fact as public as possible. None the less, many people annoyed 
 him by insisting on associating his name with Spiritualism; and in 
 1864, when Mr. Roebuck brought the question of Mr. Home's expul- 
 sion from Rome before Parliament, an appeal that he addressed to 
 Mr. Milner Gibson, under the misconception of his being a Spiritualist 
 fairly drove the President of the Board of Trade out of the House. 1 
 
 Mrs. Gibson was no less provoked, and writes to Home : 
 
 " I suppose in this stupid country they so idiotically mix up husband and 
 wife that they seem never to dream of or allow a woman to hold independent 
 ideas ; and as I am well known to be a Spiritualist, I fancy that they torment 
 the poor man out of his mind by asking him about the manifestations 
 thinking that he must believe or that I should never have dared to do so. How 
 Roebuck made the blunder of fancying him one I cannot conceive ; you see, it 
 drove him out of the House. He says he denies loudly to all that he knows 
 anything about it ; and we must excuse the irritation caused by their stupidity. 
 
 He said to M that he had nothing to say against you, that you might 
 
 be an angel all he wanted was to be able to say that he knew nothing of 
 Spiritualism." 
 
 When Mr. Home's book appeared, it did not contain the name of 
 Mrs. Milner Gibson, though one, and probably more, of the 
 anonymous records of seances included in it was written by her. 
 Anonymous evidence is no evidence, as Home well knew ; and in 
 commenting on his book, a portion of the press even delicately 
 insinuated that such narratives as were unsigned were fictitious, and 
 had been written by Home himself to fill his pages. I hope I have 
 made it clear by the evidence of Mrs. Milner Gibson's letters (which 
 I need hardly say are in my possession) that Mr. Home had the full 
 permission of that lady to publish her name, and was only deterred 
 from doing so by motives which all will admit to hlave been as un- 
 selfish as honourable. 
 
 Leaving London towards the end of July, 1860, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Home went to stay at the Chateau de Cere. ay, near Paris, the residence 
 of Mons. Tiedemann, who has been already mentioned in connection 
 with seances in Holland. At his beautiful French country-seat, on 
 
 1 Note by Mr. H. T. Humphreys : " Mr. Milner Gibson at one time rose 
 in the House, and in his speech said, ' I have been a medium," when he was 
 interrupted with cheers and laughter. He meant to add, ' of communicating 
 between So-and-so and the Government.' "
 
 ENGLAND 97 
 
 the 1 6th of September, Home's life was wonderfully preserved in 
 the manner he has described in the Incidents : 
 
 " Being recommended to take much out-door exercise during my stay at 
 the Chateau de Cercay," he writes, " I used to take with me my gun more 
 that it might be said I was out shooting than for any great attraction the 
 sport has for me. The Chateau de Cer9ay, distant half an hour by railway 
 from Paris, stands in a beautiful old park. Some of the trees are of very 
 great height ; one of the largest, a northern poplar, stands a quarter of a 
 mile from the Chateau at an angle of the park, where it is separated from the 
 outer grounds by a hedge. To this spot, when there was much shooting 
 going on in the neighbourhood, the game used to come for shelter; and I, 
 who am but an indifferent marksman, could get easy shots by planting 
 myself by the hedge. 
 
 " I had been walking with my friend, Mons. T " (Tiedemann), " and on 
 
 his leaving me I bent my steps to this favourite corner, wishing to take home a 
 partridge. As I neared the hedge, I stooped and advanced cautiously. 
 When close up to it, I was raising my head to look for my game ; when, 
 on my right, I heard some one call out, ' Here, here ! ' My only feeling 
 was surprise at being thus suddenly addressed in English. The desire to 
 have a good look out for my game overruled my curiosity as to whom 
 the exclamation had come from ; and I was continuing to raise my head 
 to the level of the hedge, when suddenly I was seized by the collar of my 
 coat and vest, and lifted off the ground. At the same instant I heard a 
 crashing sound, and then all was quiet. I felt neither fear nor wonder. My 
 first thought was that by some accident my gun had exploded, and that I was 
 in the spirit-land ; but looking about I saw that I was still in the material 
 world, and there was the gun still in my hands. My attention was then drawn 
 to what appeared to be a tree immediately before me, where no tree had been. 
 On examination, this proved to be the fallen limb of the high tree under which 
 I was standing. I then saw that I had been drawn aside from this falleri 
 limb a distance of six or seven feet. I ran, in my excitement, as fast as I 
 could to the chateau. . . 
 
 " The limb which had thus fallen measured sixteen yards and a half in, 
 length, and where it had broken from the trunk it was one yard in circum- 
 ference. It fell from a height of forty-five feet. The part of the limb which 
 struck the very spot where I had been standing measured twenty-four inches 
 in circumference, and penetrated the earth at least a foot. The next day a 
 friend made a sketch of the tree and branch. 
 
 " We speculated as to how it could have happened. The tree is not a dead 
 one, nor was the branch at all decayed ; and there was scarcely wind enough 
 to stir the leaves. The branch was so clearly reft from the trunk that one 
 might think at first it had been sawn off, and the bark was not in the least 
 torn about it. I have been informed since that such accidents are not uncom- 
 mon with trees of this species of poplar, and that there are trees of a similar 
 quality in Australia, under which settlers will not remain for fear of such 
 sudden breakages." 
 
 A day or two later the well-known Dr. Hoefer, editor of the 
 Biographic Generate a complete sceptic as to the manifestations 
 paid a visit to Mons. Tiedemann, and asked for a seance. The 
 seance was held ; and the sequel to it is best related in the published 
 words of one of the persons present, Mons. Pierart : 
 
 Dr. Hoefer declared himself satisfied with the answers, and wished to 
 continue the conversation ; but the spirits proposed that all should now proceed 
 to. the tree where Mr. Home had escaped being 'crushed. Dr. Hoefer still 
 urged his questions ; but there being no response, we agreed to proceed to the 
 tree. The arm still remained as it had fallen, one end resting against the 
 trunk, the other imbedded in the earth, so that to detach it from its place 
 would have required all the strength of a man's two arms. Moved by some 
 secret impulse, Dr. Hoefer proposed that Mr. Home should touch with a finger
 
 98 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 the end of one of the small branches. He did so ; and immediately the enor- 
 mous arm, 13 metres in length and 95 centimetres in circumference, moved 
 from its point of support and fell. I had had only the testimony of Mr. Home 
 himself as to the previous occurrence at this spot ; but this strengthened it, and 
 showed the operation of something beyond chance." 
 
 Dr. Hoefer remained some days at the Chateau de Cere, ay, and 
 took part in other seances there. " Will you not pay another visit 
 soon to your friends in France? " he writes to Home the following 
 year. " All my leisure moments are devoted to meditating on the 
 immensity of the horizon of which those wonderful evenings at 
 Cergay gave me a glimpse (ni'ont laisse entre-voir). I try all I can 
 to lift a corner of the veil that hides such great mysteries from us; 
 perhaps I shall succeed one day, especially if the intelligent powers 
 that surround us are kind enough to aid me." 
 
 The winter of 1860 was quietly passed in London. Mrs. Home's 
 health was very delicate; and she and her husband did not go so 
 much into society as during their previous visit. 
 
 I find among the letters of this period one giving news to Home 
 in London of his friends at Florence, and written to him by a 
 celebrity of the day, whose acquaintance he had made a few years 
 previously, the musician Blumenthal. Blumenthal, who subsequently 
 came to stay with Home in Sloane Street, was an ardent Spiritualist 
 twenty-five years ago but on that point I may leave his letter to 
 speak for itself. Like Mons. Tiedemann with whom, by the way, 
 he was acquainted Blumenthal writes in English, and writes it well. 
 
 " FLORENCE, ^th December, 1860. 
 
 " MY DEAR DAN, We are both very anxious to have some news of you and 
 dear Sacha " (Mrs. Home). " I had written you some time ago a little letter 
 through Mr. Tiedemann ; but as I have not heard from you, I suppose it has 
 never reached you. I send this one to Cox's Hotel, as you told me once that 
 they always knew your address. In a letter from England which I received a 
 few days ago, there was even a rumour as if you were there yourself. . . . 
 If you are not there now, I hope, at all events, you will come there in spring, 
 when we return. We want to know all you have done since we saw you, as 
 well as some particulars as to the manifestations at Tiedemann 's in presence 
 of Mr. Hoeffer. Was Mr. Hoeffer convinced, and what did he say? 
 
 " As for us, we have settled for the winter in Florence. You must not think 
 that we forget for a moment Spiritualism ; and as you are in our eyes its 
 personification, we think and talk a great deal about you. There is much 
 occasion for it here ; as you have so long lived here and we see often people 
 who have known you at the Crossmans', the Trollopes', &c. Your dear 
 portrait is always on our drawing-room table, and I wish we had Sacha's as 
 well. I wish you were all here wouldn't we enjoy it? However, one must 
 not be egotistical ; and I suppose you can do more good for the promotion of 
 spiritual ideas where you are than you could here. The other day we tried to 
 sit with Miss Grossman and Mrs. Baker round a table, but with no result. 
 I wish I could be a medium of some sort or other some day. 
 
 " If you are in London, I suppose you have resumed your Monday sittings 
 at Mrs. Milner Gibson's tell me when something particular happens. 
 if you were here, we could see each other much oftener than in London, where 
 life is too busy for friends. Good-bye, dear Dan, and don't forget your 
 affectionate " J. BLUMENTHAL." 
 
 Another acquaintance of this period was Herzen, the banished 
 Russian political writer whose wild theories had inflamed so many 
 minds. Home met him in London early in 1861, an old man, but
 
 ENGLAND 99 
 
 still as enthusiastic in labouring to disseminate his insane ideas as he 
 had been in youth. Herzen seems to have established a printing- 
 press in London for their propagation ; for he writes to Home in 
 April, 1 86 1 : " We make a fete and illuminate the printing-office on 
 the loth to celebrate the Emancipation" (of the serfs); "come in 
 the evening and take a look at us." 
 
 Still another Russian acquaintance made in London (I forget in 
 what year) was Tourgenieff a nature that attracted Home ; for in 
 the famous writer there was much of the naive, child-like joyousness, 
 beneath which lay sadness, that characterised his own temperament. 
 Tourgenieff would seem to have also resembled him in taking delight 
 in the society of children, and was in the habit of spending a good 
 deal of his time in playing with Home's baby son, of whom the great 
 novelist made a great pet, as did also another literary giant of Home's 
 acquaintance Thackeray. 
 
 In January, 1861, Mr. James Hutchinson, for many years Chair- 
 man of the London Stock Exchange, was present at a seance with Mr. 
 Home, and wrote and published an account of it. Having heard 
 from friends of what they had witnessed, says Mr. Hutchinson, and 
 being unable to believe what he heard, he determined to see for 
 himself. 
 
 " I feel it a duty," he wrote, January 26, 1861, " to openly bear my 
 testimony to the facts, leaving others to theorise on the causes and tendency of 
 these remarkable phenomena. 
 
 " Recently introduced by a friend to Mr. D. D. Home, a seance \vas 
 arranged for the 23rd instant ; and, together with Mr. and Mrs. Coleman, Mr. 
 G. S. Clarke, Mr. T. Clarke, Mr. Gilbert Davidson, and another lady and 
 gentleman unknown to me, we formed a party of nine. Shortly after sitting 
 down, we all felt a tremulous motion in our chairs and in the table, which 
 was a very heavy circular drawing-room table. . . . 
 
 " The rapping sounds on the table and floor were constant ; the heavy table 
 was raised up repeatedly ; and these manifestations were continued whilst my 
 friend, Mr. Clarke, and another were seated, at the request of Mr. Home, 
 under the table. 
 
 " Two hand-bells, one weighing at least a pound and a half, were passed 
 from one to another of the party by unseen agencies. All of us in turn felt 
 the touch and pressure of a soft and fleshy life-like hand. I saw the full- 
 formed hand as it rested on my knee. The accordion, whilst held by Mr. 
 Home in one hand, discoursed most eloquent music ; and then, to our great 
 astonishment, it was taken from him, and whilst both his hands, and those 
 of all the party, were visibly imposed on the surface of the table, the 
 accordion, suspended from the centre of the table, gave out an exquisite air, 
 no human hand touching it ! 
 
 " These, and many other incidents of a seriously impressive but private 
 character, of which I do not hesitate to speak among my friends, occupied 
 about four hours of what I must admit to be one of the most interesting 
 evenings I have ever spent. . . . Contrary to the assertions so constant!} 
 made that the manifestations are always in the dark, the -whole of the pheno- 
 mena of which I have spoken were manifested in a room lighted -with gas, and 
 a bright fire burning. " JAS. HUTCHINSON." 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, it will be seen from a passage in his letter, was 
 one of the many who kept to themselves the tokens of spirit identity 
 that were communicated to them. The Mr. B. Coleman who was 
 present with him at the above seance, gave evidence in 1869 before 
 a committee of the Dialectical Society concerning similar tokens
 
 ioo LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 received byhim at his own first seance with Mr. Home in the year 
 1855- 
 
 " At the first stance which I attended," stated Mr. Coleman, " there were 
 fourteen persons in the room, seated round a long dinner-table. Mr. Home 
 sat at one end, and I at the other. Through the rapping sounds several 
 messages were given to different individuals of the party. One purported to 
 be from the spirit of an aunt of mine, who gave me her name as Elizabeth ; 
 and another spirit, also an aunt of mine, gave the name of Hannah. I did 
 not recognise the names I had never known of any aunts of those names ; 
 but subsequently I wrote to my mother, and asked whether she recognised 
 them as family names ; and she then told me what was quite new to me, that 
 two sisters of my father were named Elizabeth and Hannah, who died before 
 I was born." 
 
 Confronted with evidence of this kind, the ingenious philosophers 
 who trim the facts of Home's life into accordance with their pet 
 theories of " throught-reading," "unconscious cerebration," and 
 so forth, have but one course open to them to declare boldly that 
 they do not believe the witness, and would not believe ten thousand 
 witnesses if they swore to similar occurrences. 
 
 The 'letters of Mrs. Milner Gibson to Mr. Home in the spring of 
 1861 show that the seances at Hyde Park Place had been resumed; 
 and among the new names mentioned in connection with them is that 
 of Mrs. F. C. Parkes, of 7, Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park, a 
 lady who had been long resident in India. Her introduction to 
 Home and Spiritualism was mude through Mrs. Milner Gibson in 
 December, 1860. " I returned home from this my first seance with 
 Mr. Home," she noted in her journal, "convinced of the truth of 
 our being permitted to hold intercourse with those who have passed 
 to the spirit-land." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Home were for some time the guests of Mrs. Parkes ; 
 and before and during their visit numerous seances were held at 7, 
 Cornwall Terrace. A diary of the manifestations witnessed was 
 kept by Mrs. Parkes ; and having been placed by her at the disposal 
 of Mr. Home, he published large portions in the Incidents (vol. i.), 
 the identity of the writer being veiled, at her desire, under the initial, 
 "Mrs. P ." 
 
 Sir E. B. Lytton was a good deal in London in 1861 ; and besides 
 seances at his house in Park Lane when Home dined there (Mrs. 
 Milner Gibson being sometimes one of the party), the distinguished 
 litterateur frequently came to seances at Mrs. Gibson's and with Mrs. 
 Parkes in Cornwall Terrace. I find in one of Mrs. Milner Gibson's 
 letters an interesting account of attempts made by Lytton and herself 
 to obtain manifestations at Nice in 186-5, at a time when Home was 
 in London. " There was not much," she adds. 
 
 Lytton was a typical example of the weak man who, above all 
 things, fears ridicule. In public he was an investigator of 
 Spiritualism, in private a believer. Not long before his death he 
 wrote to Mr. S. C. Hall to inquire if the latter could give him the 
 name of " some reliable medium " in London, with whom he might 
 put a friend of his in communication who had just lost a near and 
 dear relative; a strange thing to do, if he were quite candid in his
 
 ENGLAND 101 
 
 published declaration: "So far as my experience goes, the pheno- 
 mena, when freed from the impostures with which their exhibition 
 abounds, and examined rationally, are traceable to material influences 
 of the nature of which we are ignorant. They require certain 
 physical organisations or temperaments to produce them, and vary 
 according to those organisations and temperaments." (Letters of 
 Lord Lytton to the secretary, of the Dialectical Society, February, 
 1869). 
 
 From a man so timid and so sensitive to ridicule, even this 
 cautiously-weighed testimony is remarkable. Lytton refers to the 
 abundant impostures that simulate the phenomena; but he admits 
 that his experiences have satisfied him of the existence of the pheno- 
 mena themselves. It was the least he could honestly do, after the 
 remarkable seances at which he had been present with Home ; and if 
 his numerous letters to Home are of no great interest in themselves, 
 they at least demonstrate by their friendly tone that their writer did 
 not do his correspondent the injustice of classing him with the 
 charlatans of whose trickery Lord Lytton had only too abundant 
 evidence. It was his own fault that he received so many proofs of 
 it. The wonderful things he had seen with Home had excited in 
 him, as in many others, an eager desire for more and more wonders ; 
 and, like subsequent inquirers whom I could name, he sought out 
 persons calling themselves "mediums," with the result, in his case 
 as in theirs, that where he had hoped to see marvels he ended by 
 detecting imposture. Such disappointments taught at least one 
 lesson to those who encountered them how more than rare was the 
 marvellous gift of Home. 
 
 That Lord Lytton should never have publicly declared his know- 
 ledge of the genuineness of that gift was only to be expected from 
 him. All the days of his life he was constantly giving proofs of his 
 excessive sensitiveness to ridicule ; and what could have brought more 
 ridicule on him than a fearless, candid statement of the convictions 
 impressed on him by his investigations of Spiritualism with Mr. 
 Home in London, and on occasions when the latter was his guest at 
 Knebworth? Lytton 's intimate friends knew the truth; but the 
 public who wish to arrive at the real sentiments of this talented man 
 with regard to Home and Spiritualism must read between the lines. 
 It is for that reason I pause here to say a few words concerning the 
 fragments in my possession of Lord Lytton 's correspondence with his 
 frequent guest, Mr. Home. 
 
 The letters range from 1855 over a period of ten years subsequent. 
 As, during those ten years, Lytton's tone is unchanged and cordial 
 as he is constantly pressing Home with invitations to dine in Park 
 Lane or run down for a few days to Knebworth the obvious inference 
 is that, whatever his reasons for associating imposture with the word 
 " Spiritualism," he had never seen cause to associate imposture with 
 the name of Home. A man of Lytton's position and celebrity would 
 not have continued year after year on intimate terms with another 
 who had given him reasons for even a suspicion of charlatanism. 
 
 Mrs. Home passed away from earth on the 3rd of July, 1862 ;
 
 102 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 and Lytton writes to Home from Spa towards the end of the same 
 month : 
 
 " I condole with you most sincerely on the sad loss of your amiable and 
 interesting wife. The intelligence pained me much. It is indeed a consolation 
 to you to know that she looked so serenely on quitting this world, and with sc 
 intense a faith in that happier world which was familiar to her thoughts. 
 
 " I certainly did not think her dying when I saw her, nor was she so then. 
 It affected me greatly to receive her touching remembrances from you, and I 
 shall mournfully treasure the photograph you so kindly promise. 
 
 " Perhaps I, too, may winter in Italy. I find no climate worth the winter 
 change except Nice and Naples. Wishing you a complete restoration to health, 
 and assuring you of my sympathy in your bereavement, believe me, truly 
 yours, " E. B. LYTTON." 
 
 I have said that Lord Lytton was probably present at 7, Cornwall 
 Terrace when Mrs. Home's approaching departure from earth was 
 referred to in the touching and beautiful words already quoted. That 
 Lytton had been one of the five persons who formed the circle of the 
 previous evening, June 2nd, 1861, I know from the testimony of the 
 single survivor of the five, Mr. S. C. Hall, whose recollections have 
 enabled me to identify the seance in question among those recorded 
 in the diary of Mrs. Parkes. 
 
 The five sitters present that evening were Mr. and Mrs. Home, 
 Mrs. Parkes, Sir E. B. Lytton, and Mr. S. C. Hall. Mr. Hall 
 relates that he had brought with him to Cornwall Terrace a large 
 hand-bell, which he placed on the centre of the table to try if it would 
 be rung there, and that he distinctly saw a hand appear above the 
 table, grasp the bell, and ring it violently ; Mr. Home's hands resting 
 quietly on the table the while in full view, and the light being quite 
 sufficient to enable Sir E. B. Lytton and Mr. Hall to satisfy them- 
 selves that no machinery of any kind was connected with the 
 apparition of the mysterious hand. Mr. Hall adds that he perfectly 
 remembers the impression produced on Lytton and himself by the 
 noisy displacement of the idoJs in the Hindoo shrine at the end of 
 the large drawing-room, while all five persons present were quietly 
 seated in the summer twilight at the table. 
 
 The diary of Mrs. Parkes contains an account of the same seance, 
 written by her at the time. 
 
 June 2nd," she writes. " A s6an.ce of five persons. As twilight came on, 
 e pleasant dimness fell over the room. . . . The spirits moved the table 
 with violence up to the window, near the Hindoo shrine ; and the accordion, 
 no human hand touching it, played in the most charming manner, exquisitely 
 and with great power. There was much noise at the Hindoo shrine ; the 
 images of Vishnu and the Holy Bull were brought, and put on the top of the 
 table ; then a large hand, which appeared dark, being between us and the 1 
 light, put up the accordion entirely above the top of the table. Another hand 
 took a bell off the table, and rang it. Mr. Home was raised from his chair 
 erect into the air. Then he was drawn to the other end of the room, and 
 raised in the air until his hand was on the top of the door ; thence he floated 
 "horizontally forward, and descended. I saw a bright star constantly flashing 
 forth ; the raps died away in the distance, and the seance ended." (" Extracts 
 from the diary of Mrs. P :" Incidents of My Life, vol. i., p. 196.) 
 
 Lord Lytton had many seances with Mr. Home more remarkable 
 than the above; but I have preferred to narrate this one, because T
 
 ENGLAND 103 
 
 have the attestation of Mr. Hall to the fact that Lytton and himself 
 were both present and witnessed the phenomena described. 
 
 It is not generally known that, when Lytton commenced that 
 wildest of all his romances, A Strange Story (which was written, 
 I believe, in 1859 or 1860), he had intended making an attempt to 
 portray Home in its pages ; but speedily abandoned the design, and 
 substituted for it the fantastic conception of Margrave. So, at least, 
 Lytton told Home; adding that the original plan of A Strange 
 Story differed almost as materially from the course the story 
 actually took as Home's portrait would have differed from that of 
 Margrave. " Of all I have written," said the celebrated romancer, 
 " A Strange Story satisfies me the least." 
 
 In forsaking his design of attempting to picture Home, Lytton 
 took from him a single hint not for the character of Margrave, but 
 for the impression that abnormal being is represented as making on 
 the ordinary mortals who encountered him. All who knew Home 
 were struck by the joyousness of his nature, and the gaiety and sweet- 
 ness of a temper that no wrong could embitter and 1 no sufferings sour. 
 In his happy moments of freedom from pain he had the bright cheer- 
 fulness of a child, and that keen joy in living which charms us in 
 young children, and makes us look back regretfully with Wordsworth 
 to the lost days when 
 
 " The earth and every common sight 
 
 To us did seem 
 Apparelled in celestial light, 
 
 The glory and the freshness of a dream." 
 
 Home's gaiety and cheerfulness in his moments of respite from 
 suffering exercised an irresistible spell on all around him, that won 
 for him in Russia and France the sobriquet of " Le Charmeur. " 
 Lytton, like others, had remarked this trait; and he attached it to 
 the outward man of Margrave in A Strange Story, exaggerating it 
 somewhat in his description, as it was the habit of Bulwer Lytton to 
 exaggerate. 
 
 As I probably shall not again have occasion to allude to Lord 
 Lytton in these pages, I will give here two letters written by him to 
 Mr. Home in the year 1864. They are not of very great importance ; 
 but they show that his relations with Home and interest in Spiritualism 
 remained unchanged ; and the second contains, in as explicit a manner 
 as could be expected from so timid a Spiritualist, Lytton's recognition 
 of the fact that Home was a man phenomenally gifted. 
 
 Both letters are addressed from 2 1 , Park Lane, and the earlier is 
 dated April 27th, 1864. " I hear you are in town how long do you 
 stay? " Lytton asks. " I am still suffering under a severe attack of 
 bronchitis, and unable as yet to call on any one or see any one here. 
 But my doctor promises me I shall be much better the moment the 
 weather becomes more genial, and in that case I shall hope for the 
 pleasure of seeing you." 
 
 The second note, dated July i8th. 1864. is still shorter, but of more 
 interest. " Let me introduce to you my eldest brother, Mr. Bulwer,"
 
 104 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Lytton writes. "He is seriously interested in the extraordinary 
 phenomena which are elicited by your powers and you will thank 
 me for presenting to you so intelligent and unprejudiced an examiner." 
 
 Not much ; but at least evidence from Lytton himself that an 
 acquaintance extending over nine years had left unchanged or, 
 rather, had confirmed the conviction impressed on him in 1855 of the 
 extraordinary nature of the phenomena " elicited " (to put it in his 
 own phrase) " by the powers of Home." 
 
 Till the middle of July, 1861, Mr. and Mrs. Home remained in 
 London. " During our stay," writes the former in the Incidents, 
 " I had a seance almost every night, my wife feeling that they did 
 her good, both physically and spiritually." The fatal malady had 
 not yet developed itself sufficiently to prostrate the sufferer; and so 
 long as his wife could be present at seances and took joy 
 at being present, Home was happy to hold them. A few months 
 later she had become too ill to sit, and her husband's every 
 thought was asborbed in caring for her. At the same time his 
 power had left him, or nearly so; but it was by reason of his wife's 
 illness, even more than of his weakened power, that he declined to 
 hold seances, and in so doing gave great offence, both to Spiritualists 
 and inquiring sceptics. 
 
 A well-known Spiritualist, whose name I naturally withhold, was 
 anxious that some friends should witness the manifestations; and 
 pressed Home for a seance, which was refused. More than a year 
 later, and some months after Mrs. Home had passed away, Home 
 wrote to his acquaintance to express a hope that the other had got 
 over the annoyance his refusal to sit had caused ; and received a reply 
 from which I extract a few lines : 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I am sorry you continue to think of the 
 little contretemps of some time ago. I was certainly very much vexed 
 
 at the time ; however, I have long ceased to think of it I can 
 
 only hope the good angels will in future do their best to arrange 
 matters between seances and sick-beds." 
 
 Such was the feeling and considerate manner in which some who 
 called, and perhaps thought themselves his friends, behaved to Home. 
 It was nothing to the writer of these almost brutal words a man very 
 estimable in many respects that Home had refused him a seance 
 because he was absorbed in attendance on a dying wife: all lie could 
 think of was that his sceptical friends had been disappointed of their 
 ieance ; and, from the tone of his letter, he evidently felt that he had 
 just ground for complaint against Home and the ' ' good angels ' ' both. 
 
 I have already given in the words of Mr. W. Howitt, Mr. Wilkinson, 
 and Mrs. Parkes, their description of manifestations witnessed at the 
 residence of the latter in the summer of 1861. The portions of the 
 diary of Mrs. Parkes that are published in the Incidents narrate 
 the events of more than twenty seances ; and a brief extract or two 
 may be of interest. 
 
 " On July 7th," writes Mrs. Parkes, " we (four persons) were sitting at the 
 centre window in the front drawing-room, talking together, when the spirits
 
 ENGLAND 105 
 
 began to rap on the floor. ... It was a fine summer evening, and the 
 room was perfectly light. Mr. Home fell back in his chair, and went into the 
 deep sleep for some time ; then he walked about the room, led apparently by a 
 spirit ; a very large bright star shone on his forehead, several clustered on his 
 hair and on the tips of his fingers. . . . Mr. Home passed in front of a 
 very large mirror a sea of glass. I saw a form leading him, over the head 
 of which was thrown a tinted robe flowing to the ground, marking the shape 
 of the head and shoulders. He followed close upon it : I saw them both in the 
 mirror ; his features, face, and hair perfectly distinct ; but the features of the 
 form that led him were not visible beneath the dark, blue-tinted robe that 
 covered them. They passed from before the glass ; and then we all saw a 
 female figure with a white veil thrown over her head which fell to the ground ; 
 at the same time, but rather higher, the form of a man in Oriental costume. 
 The startling vision faded away ; and the great mirror remained with only the 
 light from the window, which streamed in upon it. 
 
 " July i2th. En stance six persons. Stars appeared above Mrs. Home's 
 head ; and a light was seen, with fingers passing over it as it floated above our 
 heads. It was the Veiled Spirit. I saw the hand that held the veil, which 
 was spangled with stars ; and the fingers moved distinctly as it floated just 
 in front of us." 
 
 The note appended by Mr. Home to the extracts from Mrs. Parkes' 
 diary furnishes a clue to the probable origin of a mendacious story 
 published in America by a certain Celia Logan, who untruly asserted 
 Home to have stated that his wife changed visibly into an angel as 
 she died. 
 
 ' ' In this diary, ' ' wrote Home, ' ' there are several remarkable 
 manifestations, and amongst them that of the presence of the veiled 
 spirit, who thenceforth was frequently seen by my wife and by me, 
 as will be read in the beautiful memoir of my wife written by that most 
 estimable type of womanhood, Mrs. Mary Howitt. The veil of that 
 spirit kept gradually being raised through the successive stages of my 
 dear wife's painful illness, and became almost an index of the insidious 
 advances of her disease." 
 
 The silver cord was loosed on July 3rd, 1862. There was no priest 
 of her own Russian Church within many miles of Chateau Laroche; 
 and the last consolations of religion were received by Mrs. Home at 
 the hands of the Catholic prelate whose visits had been so kind and 
 constant. Mrs. Howitt, in the pages already quoted from, gives an 
 exact and touching account of the emotions her beautiful resignation 
 stirred in him: 
 
 ' ' The last sacraments were administered to her by the Bishop of 
 Perigueux, who wept like a child, and who remarked that, ' though 
 he had been present at many a death-bed for Heaven, he had never 
 seen one equal to hers.' 
 
 "At her funeral," continues Mrs. Howitt, "four of the men- 
 servants of her sister asked each to lead a horse of the hearse to the 
 burial-ground, saying that they could not allow hired persons to be 
 near the dead body of her who had ever had a kind word and a loving 
 look for all. The peasantry, instead of, as is customary, throwing 
 earth upon the coffin, first covered it with flowers fittest for her last 
 garment, and fittest for the expression of their love." 
 
 Soon after the parting, Mr. Home returned to London. There, 
 many tokens of the nearness of the spirit that had just departed were
 
 106 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 received, one of the most remarkable being given at a seance at 
 Bannow Lodge, West Brompton, then the residence of Mr. and Mrs. 
 S. C. Hall. It is related by Mrs. Hall in her memories of Mrs. Home, 
 published the following year, 1863, with those of Mrs. Howitt, in the 
 Incidents. 
 
 " More than the usual manifestations came that night," writes Mrs. 
 Hall ; ' ' not only the table, but our chairs and the very room shook, 
 and the ' raps ' were everywhere around us. ... A very eminent 
 sculptor, whose engagements on public works are unceasing, had 
 been rising before day to finish a bust of Sacha " (Mrs. Home), 
 " which he desired to present to her husband this fact -was not even 
 known in his own household. He received a message thus : 
 ' Thanks for your early morning labour : I have often been near 
 you. ' ' 
 
 The eminent sculptor of whom Mrs. Hall speaks and to whom 
 frequent references are made in her letters to Mr. Home was Mr. 
 Durham.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 
 
 Breakdown of Home's Health and Powers. " Incidents in My 
 Life." Works as a Sculptor. Expulsion from the Papal 
 States. Investigation by Mr. Ruskin. By John Bright. False 
 Accusations and Apologies. The " Evil Spirit " Hypothesis. 
 Conversion of Varley the Electrician. Dr. Carpenter's Blunder. 
 
 ALL who had known the spirit now gone from earth had loved her; 
 and the letters in which friends spoke of their affection for her and 
 mourned her loss were treasured as precious by Mr. Home. Out of 
 many that lie before me, I select one or two passages the first from 
 the letter of a friend to whom she had been very dear, Mrs. Milner 
 Gibson. 
 
 " We have received the news. Our darling Sacha is happy now. May He 
 permit me so to live here that I may meet the dear child in that happier state. 
 . . . We weep for you and with you, but yet with a feeling of gladness that 
 she is happy very, very happy, I know." 
 
 " Robert Bell came to see me to-day," says Mrs. Gibson in another letter. 
 " He will have written to you, and told you that poor Mrs. Bell knows nothing 
 of your sorrow ; for her husband had carefully hidden it from her, fearing the 
 shock for her in her delicate state of health. Grattan, 1 too, came, with tears 
 in his eyes, begging me me, of all people ! to write a short notice of dear 
 Sacha. I, who have never written for the press and cannot write of her. for I 
 feel too much to write." 
 
 In a former chapter some of the early Spiritual experiences are 
 given of one who became a very dear friend of Mr. Home Mrs. 
 Adelaide Senior. " I am so pleased," she now wrote, "to think 
 that your sweet wife spoke of me before her departure and so very 
 grateful to her for wishing me to have her picture, which I shall 
 indeed beyond price. I have the unspeakable comfort of knowing 
 of comfort in knowing that your darling is watching over you it is 
 indeed beyond price. I have 4ie unspeakable comfort of knowing 
 that my darling husband is ever near me. I feel that is so; and I 
 am so very grateful to God that He has, through you, given me 
 this comfort." 
 
 A touching letter is that of Mrs. De Burgh, a friend of Mrs. 
 Milner Gibson, who had been present at many of the seances in 
 Hyde Park Place : 
 
 " MY DEAR DANIEL, Mrs. Milner Gibson has told me that the blow so long 
 pending over you has fallen, and that you are left alone. I must write, 
 although you will probably not read my letter ; but I feel so truly and so 
 deeply for you in your heavy sorrow that I cannot resist writing. . . . She 
 was so charming and irresistibly attractive that all who knew her loved her, 
 and many, many will mourn sincerely for her. I never heard anyone speak 
 of her but with the warmest interest and affection. She was so winning so 
 bright and loving I can hardly realise that she is gone. 
 
 1 Mr. Colley Grattan, M.P. 
 107
 
 io8 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " I am writing strange comfort, but I feel there is none for such sorrow as 
 yours at least, none that any friend can offer. . . . But you will not give 
 way to sorrow, as one who mourns without hope ; for Spiritualism will suffer, 
 if it is found to fail you now in your strong need. You must think of this, 
 and prove that the practical good it supplies takes the sting from death, and 
 enables the one left to rejoice in its consolations. I pray that that blessed 
 spirit may be permitted soon to communicate, and thus make you share her 
 happiness. 
 
 " You soothed her months of trial, and were the tenderest and best of nurses 
 you must now take care of your shattered health for the sake of her child." 
 
 Mr. Home's health was indeed shattered by the racking anxiety 
 and limitless devotion of the many months during which he had 
 watched so lovingly and constantly over her who was gone. How 
 much his most sensitive nature had suffered in seeing her suffer, 
 none but himself could know ; but the strength which unselfish 
 affection bestows had never failed him, and he had soothed and tended 
 her to the last. It was not till his cares were no more needed that 
 strength and! cheerfulness both forsook him, and breaking !down 
 terribly, he paid the penalty of an overtaxed nervous system and 
 week after week passed almost without food or sleep. 
 
 I will not dwell on these dark and bitter moments of an life that 
 was filled with trial. As soon as some return of health permitted, 
 Home occupied himself in the completion of his first volume of 
 autobiography, whch he had begun writing nearly three years before. 
 In January, 1863, he paid a short visit to his friend Waldimir de 
 Komar, at Paris ; held seances at the Tuileries, in obedience to a 
 summons) from the Empress ; and then, returning to London, pre- 
 pared for the press, with the kind assistance of Dr. Robert Chambers, 
 his now completed work. It was published, under the title of 
 Incidents in My Life, in the spring of 1863, the introduction and 
 concluding chapter being from the pen of Robert Chambers. 
 
 Through Mrs. Senior, Home had made the acquaintance of her 
 brother-in-law, Nassau Senior, the noted political economist, twice 
 Professor of Political Economy in the University of Oxford. Mr. 
 Nassau Senior investigated the phenomena at various seances with 
 Mr. Home, was convinced of the impossibility of attributing them 
 to imposture; and on the completion of the Incidents, obtained the 
 publication of the work by Messrs. Longmans and Co. 
 
 An early copy of the work was sent by Mr. Home to the Empress 
 of the French. I find among his papers a letter from the Secretary 
 to the Empress, conveying her acknowledgments, and translate it : 
 
 " 12th March, 1863. 
 
 "Sm, I hastened to pl-ace in the hjands of the Empress the 
 work that you did me the honour of entrusting to my care. 
 
 " Her Majesty has charged me to thank you for your attention 1 , 
 and' to say to you that she will read this work with interest. 
 Receive, etc., DAMAS HINARD, 
 
 " Le Secretaire des Commandements." 
 
 The Incidents attracted widespread notice ; and were criticised 
 in every spirit, from fair and unprejudiced inquiry to dishonest mis-
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 109 
 
 representation and ignorant abuse. True to the traditions of a 
 certain class of journalism, some critics reviewed the book without 
 reading it; described Mrs. Home as "an ardent Spiritualist and 
 medium " when Home first met her, and turned her husband into an 
 American, although the first words of his first chapter were, " I 
 was born near Edinburgh. ' ' 
 
 " I had no reason to complain of the neglect of the press," wrote 
 Mr. Home; "for several journals fell foul of me with commend- 
 able speed. I have, however, to thank some of those who reviewed 
 my book for the fair and candid tone in which they treated the 
 subject. The Spectator, the Times, and the Morning Herald call 
 for special mention in this respect." 
 
 The Times review I have not seen. Those of the other two 
 journals named certainly deserve the character of " fair and 
 candid" that Mr. Home bestows on them. I quote a portion of 
 the remarks of the writers in the Morning Herald : 
 
 " The more a man learns, the more wary he is as to this word ' impossible.' 
 Mr. Grove shows us in his book on the Correlation of Forces how little we 
 know as to physical laws ; on the relations of matter and spirit we know 
 hardly anything. All we can say is, that these manifestations appear to us 
 to be in the highest degree improbable. But here we are met by evidence that, 
 improbable or not, they have taken place. . . . We are narrowed to the 
 alternative, that either Mr. Home is an impostor, or that Spiritualism is true. 
 
 " Now as to imposture. Assuredly Mr. Home is very different from the 
 ordinary type of an impostor. When only eighteen years old, he began his 
 career of mediumship by doing, or appearing to do, things so difficult as to 
 involve almost a certainty of the early detection of any sort of deceit. In 1852, 
 Mr. Bryant, the American poet, joined with three others in a declaration that 
 closed by saying, ' We know that we were not imposed upon nor 
 deceived.' Again, we cannot but remark that the manifestations are not now 
 more elaborate than they were twelve years ago. We might expect a successful 
 impostor to use his advantages of experiences and wealth to produce new and 
 stronger effects ; but this has not been the case with Mr. Home. The spirit 
 hands (by far the most difficult manifestation for an impostor to produce) are 
 said to have been seen at a very early period of his mediumship. Again, an 
 impostor always tries to weave his deceptions into a system ; generally to form 
 some sort of sect. Now, Mr. Home, with every temptation to do this, in that 
 he has persuaded so many of the truth of the manifestations, not only does not 
 try to establish any great position for himself as the high priest of Spiritualism, 
 but he constantly denies that he has any power in the matter. . . . Mr. 
 Home speaks of his book as a collection of facts, which are worthy of 
 investigation, and may be found useful in revealing some of the yet hidden 
 laws of creation. 
 
 " We must note also the strangeness of the fact that Mr. Home has never 
 been detected, if indeed he is an impostor. To move heavy tables, to raise 
 himself to a horizontal position near the ceiling, to play tunes upon guitars, 
 4c., would require elaborate machinery. But these things have been done in 
 palaces and in private houses, in every part of Europe." 
 
 In July, 1863, the Quarterly Review noticed the book; and after 
 commenting on the a priori improbability of the narratives contained 
 in it continued: "But on the other hand we are bound in justice 
 to Mr. Home, to admit that this internal evidence against his state- 
 ments has to be weighed against a very respectable amount of external 
 evidence in their favour ; that his own character, so far as we have 
 been able to ascertain, offers no ground for suspecting his integrity ;
 
 no LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 and that the authorities whom he brings forward, both as vouchers 
 for his own trustworthiness and as eye-witnesses of the marvels 
 which he exhibits, are such as would probably be sufficient to ensure 
 belief in any story less intrinsically incredible." 
 
 The Quarterly reviewer (evidently not Dr. Carpenter) deserves 
 credit for having had the fairness to deal with the names given, 
 instead of following the unfair line adopted by some other writers ; 
 who confined their attention to the fact that many names of 
 witnesses were suppressed, and pretended to disbelieve Home's 
 statement that he withheld those names from consideration for their 
 owners, who feared the ridicule and obloquy that awaited them if 
 they came forward to bear witness. Certainly, his consideration for 
 timid friends was carried to the verge of Quixotism ; but if a mis- 
 take, it was a very unselfish and generous one. In these pages 
 I have filled in the blanks he left as far as lies in my power, and 
 will cite now the testimony of two other English witnesses of the 
 phenomena called forth by the publication of thfe Incidents. 
 Both of these gentlemen had been present at numerous seances with 
 Mr. Home in London, in the years immediately preceding 1863. 
 
 The first was the Hon. Colonel Wilbraham, who had the courage 
 to allow his letter to Mr. Home to be published. It was as follows : 
 
 " 46, BROOK STREET, April iqth, 1863. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I have much pleasure in stating that 1 
 have attended several seances, in your presence, at the houses of two 
 of my intimate friends and at my own when I have witnessed 
 phenomena similar to those described in your book which I feel 
 certain could not have been produced by any trick or collusion what- 
 ever. The rooms in which) they occurred were always perfectly 
 lighted ; and it was impossible for me to disbelieve the evidence of 
 my own senses. Believe me, yours very truly, E. B. WILBRAHAM. : ' 
 
 The second witness to facts recounted in Incidents in My Life 
 was not as courageous as Colonel Wilbraham ; and his letter to Mr. 
 Home now sees the light for the first time. Its writer had been 
 present at some very remarkable seances at Mrs. Milner Gibson's : 
 
 " 46, SUSSEX GARDENS, HYDE PARK, W., 
 " April gth, 1863. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I have just finished reading your book, and have 
 been very much interested in it. Having witnessed so much of what you and 
 others have narrated, every page brought back to me those evenings which 
 never can be forgotten. 
 
 " I very much like the quiet manner in which you have mentioned scenes 
 and events which, almost word for word, I perfectly remember witnessing and 
 hearing ; and I think you hare given much value to your book by keeping so 
 well and clearly to the original incidents. 
 
 " I hope you are better in health. Blumenthal and Madame Loeser come 
 over from Paris at the end of this week to pay a visit to us. Mrs. Kater 
 unites with me in kind remembrances ; and believe me, yours faithfully, 
 
 " EDWARD KATER." 
 
 As Mr. Kater justly remarks, the great value of the book consists 
 in its fidelity to facts. Nothing is added, nothing taken away ;
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS in 
 
 Home relates the events of his life exactly as they occurred, and 
 leaves the final judgment on them to be passed by future ages. 
 That of his own generation was the verdict of the blind and deaf 
 on a man who could see and hear. 
 
 The unpretentious candour of the Incidents impressed many 
 besides Mr. Kater among them that gifted writer and charming 
 woman, Mrs. S. C. Hall. " I do not know which most to admire 
 in your book," she writes to Mr. Home; "its simplicity, so per- 
 fectly free from every taint of self-glorification, or the facts that 
 speak trumpet-tongued." Then, referring to that prudent timidity 
 of friends for which Mr. Home had so Quixotic a consideration, 
 Mrs. Hall, who had courageously allowed her name to appear in the 
 Incidents, continues : " I only wish that more names had been given 
 Robert Chambers', for instance, and Sir Edward Lytton's, and 
 Mr. Bell's. I have no patience with the cowardice that withholds 
 testimony from truth." 
 
 A month or two after the appearance of the Incidents, and) when 
 the first edition was nearly exhausted, the publishers were threatened 
 with an action for libel. In the portion of his book where he 
 dealt with the Brewster controversy, Home had brought forward the 
 published evidence of Dr. Carpenter, F.R.S., and Messrs. Steven- 
 son, to show that Sir David Brewster had treated certain of his 
 scientific contemporaries even worse than he had treated Home. 
 Brewster now threatened (June, 1863) a libel action; and Messrs. 
 Longmans, alarmed, terminated their connection with the work. 
 
 Home promptly sought another publisher;, and a few months later 
 a second edition of his book appeared. Not a word was erased or 
 changed of the chapter dealing with Brewster; on the contrary, 
 Home wrote a preface for the new edition, in which he added 
 Arago, the Edinburgh Review, and the Westminster Review to his 
 list of the authorities that had exposed Brewster's mendacity. 
 
 "It appears," said Home, "that, in addition to his other 
 claims, Sir David Brewster sets up a claim that he alone is gifted 
 with the power of feeling. To me he denies all feeling, and has 
 coarsely and untruly held me up to the public as a cheat and an 
 impostor. But when I prove by documents and independent wit- 
 nesses his true character, he actually feels it, and complains." 
 
 Sir David Brewster did not bring a libel action. Perhaps he felt 
 the force of Home's remark, when, after citing the authorities for 
 his statements, he added : "It is a great pity that Sir David 
 Brewster did not bring actions to vindicate his character against the 
 authors of some of these books, or against Dr. Carpenter, against 
 whom he made an abortive threat, instead of attacking me." 
 
 This preface to the second edition was written at Rome in Decem- 
 ber, 1863, where Mr. Home had gone to study art. For some 
 months past the longing had possessed him to attempt turning to 
 account the keen artistic perceptions he possessed ; and the career in 
 which he believed himself most likely to succeed was that of the 
 sculptor. It was in vain that friends, especially medical friends, 
 remonstrated with him, and warned him that such a career was of all
 
 ii2 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 others most unsuited to him, who had twice already been at the 
 point of death from affections of the lungs. Home was determined 
 to gratify his longing ; the more so that pecuniary difficulties were 
 threatening him, as his right to the inheritance of his wife's little 
 fortune was very unjustly disputed by her relatives. He had made 
 the acquaintance in London of some eminent sculptors, Mr. Durham, 
 Mr. Boehm, and others; and before going to Rome, he consulted 
 with some of these, and took lessons in the art. 
 
 In the year 1863 he was often a visitor at two houses where artists 
 of every description congregated those of Mr. and Mrs. Howitt 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Hall. I need not bring forward evidence of the 
 faith of the Halls and the Howitts in Spiritualism all four de- 
 clared it publicly; and all four, be it marked, had commenced the 
 investigation of the subject as absolute sceptics. " I laughed," 
 wrote Mrs. S. C. Hall, " at the idea of a spirit giving a message 
 by raps on a table. I did worse, I became angry." Her husband 
 has borne equally emphatic testimony to his original incredulity. 
 
 How Mr. and Mrs. William Howitt were led to investigate I do 
 not know, but by the year 1861 they had both become zealous 
 Spiritualists. 
 
 Mr. Home's acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall com- 
 menced in 1860. Among the various inquirers, more honest and 
 candid than Brewster, who were present in 1855 at seances with 
 Home at Baling, were Mr. and Mrs. Newton Crossland. They 
 became firm Spiritualists, declared their convictions ; and Mr. Cross- 
 land suffered much loss and persecution in consequence. They were 
 acquainted with S, C. Hall, then a sceptic concerning the manifesta- 
 tions. He only laughed at his friends' accounts of what they had 
 seen at Baling and elsewhere; but on making in his turn the acquain- 
 tance of Mr Home, the incredulity of a lifetime was vanquished. 
 
 Mr. Hall has frequently related to his friends one of his earliest 
 experiences with Mr. Home; and in 1884 he made the incident public. 
 I copy his narrative : 
 
 " In 1860, sitting with Daniel Home (some persons of distinction being 
 present), the spirit of my father came to us. When the name ' Robert Hall ' 
 was announced, I asked if he were my father or my brother the answer 
 being, ' Your father, Colonel Hall.' I requested some test to make me sure. 
 The answer given was this (it excited laughter among the party, by whom it 
 was not understood ; but I knew that a more conclusive and convincing test 
 could not have been given to me) : ' The last time we met in Cork you pulled 
 my tail.' Like all military officers of his time, he wore the queue ; he wore it, 
 indeed, up to his death, and was buried in it. Few persons living can remem- 
 ber the queue : the hair behind was suffered to grow long, and was tied with 
 black ribbon up to nearly the end." 
 
 All who knew Mrs. S. C. Hall remember her as one of the most 
 gifted, charming, and warm-hearted of women. It was a privilege 
 to call her friend ; and Home was one of her dearest friends ; the 
 difference in their ages enabling her to counsel and encourage him 
 in something of the spirit of a mother speaking to a son. Letters 
 from very dear friends, Mr. Home carefully preserved ; and there
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 113 
 
 remain hundreds of Mrs. Hall's extending over a period of twenty 
 years, and as interesting as they are outspoken and affectionate. 
 
 The letters of the years 1863 and 4 show Mrs. Hall as interesting 
 herself cordially in Home's project of becoming a sculptor. 
 
 "I received your letter late on Saturday," she writes on first 
 learning of that project; " and wrote at once to Mr. Durham. I 
 am sure you have the corner in his heart, and will have one in his 
 studio, if there is one to spare." 
 
 It seems that there was not; and so Mr. Home's first essays in 
 the art were made at Dieppe in the autumn of 1863. It was there 
 and then that the angry incredulity of Dr. Elliottson was shattered 
 in the manner already described ; Mrs. Milner Gibson being one of 
 the witnesses of the wonderful change wrought in his sentiments by 
 his two seances with Home. A letter of February, 1864, shows 
 Mrs. S. C. Hall to have also been at Dieppe when Elliottson was 
 there : 
 
 " Mr. Dallas of the Times was opposite me at dinner at Mr. 
 Warde's yesterday," writes Mrs. Hall. " He said across the table, 
 ' Dr. Elliottson is attending me do you know he is almost a believer 
 in Spiritualism ? ' ' Almost ! ' I repeated ; ' he was altogether so, when 
 I saw him at Dieppe.' ' 
 
 In November, 1863, the intending sculptor went to Rome to study 
 his art. For six weeks he quietly pursued it among the artist colony 
 there, with several of whom he was acquainted ; but on the 2nd of 
 January, 1864, he received a proof that the Papal Government had 
 neither forgotten nor forgiven his refusal, eight years before, to let 
 the monastery gates close upon him. He was summoned before the 
 chief of the Roman police, subjected to a long interrogatory, and 
 finally ordered, on the ground of sorcery, to quit Rome within three 
 days. 
 
 Mr. Home at once claimed the protection of the English Consul ; 
 the result of whose intervention, joined with that of a distinguished 
 personage friendly to Horn*, was somewhat incorrectly related by 
 the Times correspondent in w/iting to that journal : 
 
 " On Monday morning," said the correspondent, " the British Consul saw 
 Monsignor Matteucci, the Governor of Rome, and complained that any British 
 subject should be interfered with in consequence of his opinions. He stated 
 that Mr. Home had conducted himself during his residence in Rome in a 
 strictly legal and gentlemanly manner ; and demanded that the obnoxious order 
 should be rescinded. Monsignor spoke of dangerous powers of fascination, of 
 the prohibition by the Government of all the practices of the black art ; and 
 finally assented to Mr. Home's remaining, on condition of his entering into an 
 engagement, through Mr. Severn, that he would desist from all communica- 
 tions with the spiritual world during his stay in Rome." 
 
 Mr. Home entered into no such engagement. He could not. 
 Nothing was more common with him than for manifestations to occur 
 unexpectedly, and he could do nothing to prevent their happening. 
 The actual written promise that he gave, at the request of the 
 Governor of Rome, was word for word as follows : 
 
 " I give my word as a gentleman that during my stay in Rome I
 
 H4 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 will have no seance, and that I will avoid, as much as possible, all 
 conversations upon Spiritualism." 
 
 No seance was held ; but behind the Governor of Rome there were 
 higher powers still, who were determined that, seances or no 
 seances, Home should leave the city. The British Consul was falsely 
 informed that Home had broken his promise, and Home himself was 
 once more ordered to quit the Papal territory, the excuse made being 
 that, since he could only promise to hold no seance, and was unable 
 to say that manifestations would not occur in spite of such abstention, 
 it was impossible to allow him to remain. It deserves to be added, 
 as characteristic of the methods of the defunct Papal Government, 
 that for the four weeks preceding the expulsion none of Home's letters 
 had been delivered to him, the authorities retaining them to study 
 their contents at leisure. 
 
 " Is there anything against Mr. Home's character? " asked a high 
 personage who interviewed the Governor of Rome on his behalf. 
 ' ' No, ' ' replied Monsignor Matteucci, ' ' nothing. During the two 
 months he has been in Rome we have had him watched, and we 
 believe that his character is without blemish. But he is a sorcerer, 
 and cannot be permitted in Rome; and he must go." 
 
 Home left for Naples ; and was escorted to the railway station by 
 a number of his friends in Rome, as a mark of sympathy and a public 
 protest against his expulsion. The present King of Italy, then Prince 
 Humbert, was at Naples at the time ; and by his Highness's command 
 Mr. Home was presented to him, and favoured with an invitation to a 
 Court ball. A short but pleasant stay in Naples was followed by a 
 few weeks at Nice, where Mrs. Milner Gibson was then among the 
 winter residents, as was also, it would seem, Sir E. B. Lytton. Several 
 seances were held at Nice; and about the beginning of April, 1864, 
 Home returned to London. He addressed the Foreign Secretary 
 on the subject of his expulsion from Rome; and on Earl Russell 
 declining to make any representations to the Papal Government, Mr. 
 Home brought the matter before the House of Commons, through the 
 instrumentality of Mr. Roebuck. He did this in no expectation ot 
 obtaining redress, but it concerned him to make as widely known as 
 possible that the reasons of his expulsion from Rome in no way 
 affected his character. 
 
 It was on this occasion that Mr. Milner Gibson was driven out 
 of the House by the jocose appeal of Mr. Roebuck to the President 
 of the Board of Trade, whom Roebuck mistakenly assumed to be a 
 Spiritualist. Nothing came of the question in the House of Commons 
 beyond the discussion that ensued ; but the correct facts concerning 
 Mr. Home's expulsion from Rome were reported next morning in the 
 leading English journals, which was all that he had expected or 
 sought. 
 
 Between his departure from Nice and return to London he had spent 
 a week or two* in Paris, where the Empress com'manded his presence 
 at the Tuileries. Among the celebrities then in Paris was Nubar 
 Pasha. The Egyptian statesman was present at one or more seances,
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 115 
 
 was greatly impressed and startled by the manifestations; and on 
 writing to express his sentiments to Mr. Home, he sent him a souvenir 
 in the form of a small chain a trifle that it would have been un- 
 gracious to refuse. 
 
 The letter that accompanied the chain is dated March 22nd, 1864. 
 
 " You are leaving to-day," writes Nubar Pasha; " and I expect to have 
 quitted Paris myself before your return from London. 
 
 " I take the liberty of sending you a small chain ; it is a souvenir, a 
 memento ; for truly I should be happy to know that you will think of me 
 occasionally. As for me, you may believe me I carry away a recollection of 
 you that will never be effaced. Your very devoted servant and friend, 
 
 " M. NUBAR." 
 
 In writing the narrative of a life so full of incident as that of Home, 
 I find myself compelled sometimes to group together the events of 
 different years. Were I to preserve strict chronological sequence, and 
 to accompany Mr. Home step by step in his thousand and one 
 journeys, these chapters would read rather like a record of travel than 
 a biography. 
 
 I am now about to group together the incidents of the years 1863 
 and 1864 so far as they relate to London. Home was much in the 
 English Metropolis during those two years, and held frequent seances. 
 At these various English celebrities were present, including Mr. John 
 Bright, Mr. Ruskin, Sir Charles Nicholson, and Sir Daniel Cooper. 
 All four were deeply impressed by the manifestations they witnessed ; 
 of Mr. Ruskin and Sir Charles Nicholson I have reasons for saying 
 that the effect on them was to render them unavowed Spiritualists 
 reasons that I shall presently put before the reader. Sir D. Cooper 
 made no scruple among his friends of avowing his belief, but he 
 shrank from proclaiming it to the world. 
 
 In Mr. Home's second volume of Incidents, published in 1872, 
 he passes over that interesting period of his life, the early summer of 
 1864, with the brief remark, " I returned to England, and then 
 crossed the Atlantic, to revisit my- old friends in America." Con- 
 sideration for the feelings of timid inquirers could hardly be carried 
 to a higher pitch. 
 
 It was through Mr. and Mrs. S. C. riall that Mr. Ruskin, Mr. 
 Bright, and Sir D. Cooper made the acquaintance of Mr. Home. The 
 letters of Mrs. S. C. Hall during the years 1861, 2, 3, and 4, are 
 fortunately very numerous; and they have materially assisted me in 
 arriving at the facts of that portion of Mr. Home's English experiences 
 I am now dealing with. 
 
 Before speaking of Mr. Bright and Mr. Ruskin, I may take the 
 opportunity those letters give me to say a few words of a man less in- 
 tellectually distinguished, but who was, I believe, in some sort a social, 
 artistic, and literary celebrity in London a quarter ot a century ago 
 Mr. Heaphy. 
 
 To beo;in with, he is the hero of an amusing anecdote related by 
 Mrs. Hall. " Mr. Heaphy looked in on Sunday evening," she writes 
 in February, 1864; " and we are so amused. Old Lady P., we hear,
 
 n6 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 has been carried up to the ceiling and has written on it she told this 
 to Mr. Heaphy, saying, ' Do you know, I am a -floater ! ' Now Mr. 
 Heaphy's deafness played him a bad trick, and he thought she had 
 said, ' Do you know, I am a bloater I ' So Mr. Heaphy went about 
 telling how Spiritualism had changed poor Lady P. into a Yarmouth 
 bloater." 
 
 A cool-headed, clever man of the world, Heaphy could joke at a 
 Spiritualist like " old Lady P.," but he was very differently impressed 
 by the mysterious gift of Home. " Mr. Heaphy called here last 
 night," writes Mrs. Hall in 1861 ; " and I do rejoice at the change 
 wrought in his mind through your means. Sometimes, even now, his 
 spirit rises against conviction; and then again it is brought right by 
 the wonders he has seen, the marvellous information you gave him. 
 He tells me darling Sacha's portrait is greatly improved. It is such 
 a blessing he has been brought to you." 
 
 As a reference in Mrs. Hall's letter indicates, Mr. Heaphy, whose 
 genius was of a versatile order, painted a portrait of Mrs. Home. He 
 had never the courage to make his convictions public ; but in private 
 he showed himself an attached and sincere friend ; and when Home 
 formed the design of studying sculpture at Rome, it was Heaphy who 
 sent him an introduction to one of the most eminent of the artist 
 colony there, the sculptor Gibson. 
 
 " My dear Dan," writes Heaphy, "'I am glad for many reasons 
 that you are back in the old place at last ; though I could have wished 
 that you were at Paris instead, that I might have a better chance of 
 coming to see you. My wife tells me you wish for an introduction to 
 Gibson I enclose one. . . . 
 
 " You will find many of our London friends at Rome, Edward 
 Stirling among the number. Possibly I may be in Rome by the Holy 
 week. Adieu ! When you have an opportunity let us hear how you 
 are getting on. Yours ever truly, " THOS. HEAPHY." 
 
 Mr. Ruskin's investigations of Spiritualism appear to have com- 
 menced in the year 1863, when he accepted the invitation of a well- 
 known English, or, rather, Scottish Spiritualist, Mrs. Makdougall 
 Gregory, widow of Professor Gregory, to be present at a seance. The 
 medium was not Mr. Home, who was at the time absent from Eng- 
 land; and a letter of Mrs. S. C. Hall's declares the distinguished 
 investigator to have been very unfavourably impressed. 
 
 Some little time afterwards, Mr. Ruskin was one evening at the 
 house of a Mr. Bertolacci, who was a Spiritualist, and an acquaintance 
 of Mr. Home. The topic of Spiritualism came up for discussion; 
 and Mr. Ruskin appears to have said something of the unfavourable 
 impression made on him by the mediums pretended or real 
 that he had seen. 
 
 "Mr. Bertolacci told him," writes Mrs. Hall, "that he ought to 
 see your mediumship. He asked if you were a true man to be 
 depended on as a man; and added, ' Of your wonderful gifts there 
 could be no doubt. ' Upon this, the whole family burst out into their
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 117 
 
 belief in all your goodness that we " (Mr. and Mrs. Hall) " knew 
 you so well, etc., etc. And then the rest came about." 
 
 The "rest" to which Mrs. Hall refers was the fact that Mr. Ruskin 
 had ended by expressing a desire to meet Mr. Home at a seance. The 
 Bertolaccis communicated his wish to Mrs. S. C. Hall; and, delighted 
 with the hope of so eminent a convert to Spiritualism, she at once 
 penned the letter to Home just quoted from. He willingly promised 
 the seance ; and the Halls, who had been on the point of starting for 
 Ireland, deferred their journey for a few days to be present. In her 
 next letter Mrs. Hall writes: 
 
 "Mv DEAR FRIEND, Mr. Ruskin comes on Monday evening he 
 asks if he may bring a friend who is coming to stay with ham a 
 clergyman : ' that is, ' he adds, ' if his friend wishes it. ' There 
 will be you, the three Bertolaccis our two selves, Mr. R. and his 
 friend ; that is all we have thought about exactly eight. ' ' 
 
 Either the Halls were finally obliged to leave for Ireland on the 
 eve of the seance, or it was followed by a second seance that fhey 
 could not wait for; for on the i4th of June, 1864, Mrs. Hall 
 writes : " We greatly regret leaving town just now. I am so 
 interested about Mr. Ruskin do let me know if anything to catch 
 hold of his apathetic yet energetic nature occurs to-morrow evening ; 
 and do, dear friend, go to him in his own home." 
 
 What occurred ? The Halls were in Ireland most of the summer ; 
 Mr. Ruskin has never spoken. I do not know if he had two seances 
 with Mr. Home or twenty ; but that, whatever their number, those 
 seances had, in Mrs. Hall's phrase, "caught hold" of him, the 
 friendly, and even affectionate tone of his subsequent letters to Home 
 sufficiently demonstrates. 
 
 " Only fancy Ruskin being convinced ! " Mrs. Hall writes some 
 months later, when Home had again left England. " But he does 
 not wish it talked about," she adds, underlining the words emphati- 
 cally. 
 
 In the early autumn of 1864, Mr. Home sailed for America. 
 Evidently he had written to Mr. Ruskin on the eve of his departure, 
 and the subjoined letter from which I omit some confidences of 
 Mr. Ruskin concerning himself was the answer to his own : 
 
 " DENMARK HILL, qth September, 1864. 
 
 DEAR MR. HOME, It is so nice of you to like me ! I believe you are truly 
 doing me the greatest service and help that one human being can do another 
 in trusting me in this way, and indeed I hope I so far deserve your trust, that 
 I can understand noble and right feeling and affection though I have myself 
 little feeling or affection left, being worn out with indignation as far as regards 
 the general world. . . . 
 
 " Till March is long to wait and it really isn't all my fault. I did not 
 write that week for I was not sure if I could get into town for you on Mon- 
 day but you never told me you were going away before Monday, and I 
 thought my Saturday's letter quite safe. 
 
 " Well do, please, write me a line to say you are safe in America. And 
 come to see me the moment you come back. I shall be every way, I hope, 
 then more at leisure and peace. May you be preserved in that wild country, 1 
 and brought back to us better in health and happier. Ever affectionately 
 yours, " J. RUSKIN." 
 
 1 The Civil War was then raging
 
 n8 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 In this pleasant letter, Mr. Ruskin would seem to say in effect : 
 ' ' Do not expect too much from a man worn out by his warfare with 
 the spirit of the time, but as far as I have feeling and affection left, 
 I feel for and sympathise with you, my new friend." Sympathy 
 and liking were precious to Home, than whose nature none was ever 
 more sensitive, and who all his life stood as a target for the shafts of 
 abuse and calumny loosed against him by men who knew nothing of 
 him but his name. 
 
 Mr. Home returned from America in May, 1865, but spent only a 
 day or two in London, before leaving for France and Russia. It 
 seems to have been at this time that the following undated letter 
 of Mrs. Hall's was written. 
 
 " Saturday Night. 
 
 " DEAR FRIEND, I have just received such a charming note from Mr 
 Ruskin I cannot even ' lend you the loan ' of it for a single look, I am so 
 proud of it but I can quote : ' I'm coming at one o'clock on Monday to take 
 possession of Mr. Home, to drive him over to Denmark Hill ; and so we shall 
 have all the drive time besides so please tell him this, and hold him fast on 
 Monday morning till I come.' 
 
 " I have written to Mr. Ruskin to say that you have escaped that I write 
 by to-night's post to catch you at Cox's Hotel that I am sure you would 
 forego any engagement to spend a few hours with him (who would not?) and 
 
 " Well, that was all I could say. Nothing can exceed the cordiality of his 
 letter." 
 
 The winter of 1865 brought Home back from Russia to England, 
 and while on a visit to Dr. Gully at Malvern, he received a letter 
 written by Mr. Ruskin by way of New Year's greeting : 
 
 " DENMARK HILL, 2gth December, 1865. 
 
 " DEAR MR. HOME, This is only to thank you for your kind letter, 
 and to wish you a happy new year. Your letter from America 
 stayed by me reproachfully day by day it was the deep summer 
 time, and I was out all day long, and came in at night too tired to 
 write, and at last it was too late. But now I hope I may soon 
 see you. Please say that I may, and believe me affectionately yours, 
 
 " J. RUSKIN. ' : 
 
 As Mr. Home was much in London during 1866, Mr. Ruskin's 
 desire that he might soon meet again was probably gratified ; but on 
 this point I have no means of speaking positively. Passing over 
 nine months, I find, from, a letter of Mrs. Hall, dated October i6th, 
 1866, that Mr. Ruskin was then wishing for a seance on a friend's 
 account : 
 
 " MY DEAR DANIEL, All the town is ringing with the story 1 giving it, of 
 course, various readings but all your old friends are full of rejoicing. 
 
 " Mr. Ruskin called here to-day. Carter desires me to enclose you a note 
 he received from him. I wish, my dear Daniel, you could fix an evening to 
 receive his friend. If you could meet him here? or at the Athenaeum?" (the 
 Spiritual Athenaeum in Sloane Street), " only please do attend to it, and write 
 to me and to Mr. Ruskin. He rejoiced for you but, oh ! he is looking so 
 worn and ill. We had such a long talk on Spiritualism." 
 
 1 The adoption of Mr. Home by Mrs. Lyon.
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 119 
 
 As I am unable to give the particulars of that talk or of the 
 seances that had preceded it, I have printed here instead the indirect, 
 but none the less conclusive testimony that such letters from Mr. 
 Ruskin as have been preserved afford of the deep and favourable im- 
 pression made on him by his experiences with Mr. Home ; and leave it 
 now to the judgment of the reader, together with the corroborative 
 evidence of Mrs. Hall. Other portions of her letters also refer to 
 Mr. Ruskin in connection with Spiritualism; but as the statements 
 are hearsay, I have confined myself to the passages where she 
 speaks from personal knowledge. 
 
 Mr. John Bright's introduction to Mr. Home also took place 
 through the Halls, and at an earlier date than that of Mr. Ruskin. 
 The Mr. Wason, of Liverpool, whose description of his first seance has 
 already been given, was an intimate friend of a once-noted politician, 
 Mr. E. Beales ; and his relation of the wonderful phenomena he had 
 witnessed excited the interest and curiosity of Mr. Beales, who, 
 through Wason, obtained an introduction to Home. Mr. Beales, like 
 his friend, was vividly impressed by the manifestations he beheld ; 
 and it was his influence that induced the Morning Star newspaper to 
 open its columns to letters on the subject of Spiritualism. " As 
 regards my having been instrumental in throwing open the columns of 
 the Star to the discussion of Spiritualism," Mr. Beales writes to Mr. 
 Home, October i6th, 1862, " I very unfeignedly assure you that it 
 was to my mind both a pleasure and a duty." 
 
 In his turn, Mr. Beales, by his narrative, of the seances at which he 
 had been present, inspired his friend, Mr. John Bright, with the 
 desire to witness and investigate the phenomena. Being an 
 acquaintance and near neighbour of the Halls, with whom Home 
 was holding frequent seances in the winter of 1862 3, Mr. Beales 
 communicated Bright's wish to them, and a seance at their house 
 was appointed. Mr. John Bright came accordingly, bringing with 
 him Mr. Lucas, managing editor of the Morning Star. Among the 
 other sitters present was a lady whose narrative of her own early 
 experiences with Mr. Home has already been given, Mrs. Adelaide 
 Senior. The little I know of the occurrences of the evening is 
 from her. 
 
 In November, 1862," writes Mrs. Senior, " I was present at one of Mr. 
 D. D. Home's stances in the house of Mr. S. C. Hall, to which Mr. John 
 Bright had been invited, he having expressed a strong wish to see something 
 of Spiritualism. On the day of the stance, Mr. Hall received a note from 
 Mr. Bright, asking to be allowed to bring a friend, Mr. Lucas, editor of the 
 Star newspaper." 
 
 Mrs. Senior describes the manifestations of the evening as numerous 
 and remarkable, and gives the following narrative of one of the early 
 incidents of the seance : 
 
 Not many minutes after we were seated at the large, heavy round table, 
 knocks were given for the alphabet, and the words given were : ' You are 
 trying to prevent our raising the table.' Mr. Hall asked, ' Who is trying?' 
 and pointed to each in succession, when three knocks for ' Yes ' were given in 
 front of Mr. Lucas, who at once said, ' Yes, I was putting my whole weight 
 upon it ' I, sitting next but one to him, then asked, ' Do you think that
 
 120 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 right?' ' Oh, yes,' he answered, ' I came here to investigate.' ' Certainly,' 
 I said ; ' but neither to assist nor retard the movements. ' A message then 
 
 came, desiring Mr. to sit upon the table ; this was a stout gentleman who 
 
 was present. The desire was complied with ; and instantly the table was not 
 only raised, but tossed up, as you would toss a baby in your arms saying, 
 as plainly as words could have done, ' You tried to prevent our raising the 
 table with nothing upon it, and we will prove to you that we can do it with 
 this additional weight. ' ' 
 
 Laughable as this incident may seem to some sceptical readers, it 
 could not but impress the two shrewd and incredulous inquirers 
 present that evening. The room was fully lighted; Mr. Bright and 
 Mr. Lucas had satisfied themselves that no machinery was concealed 
 under the table or connected with it. There sat Mr. Home, his fingers 
 lightly resting on the table; and again and again the heavy table rose 
 clear of the ground, with the weight of a heavy man upon it in 
 .addition. 
 
 As Mrs. Senior cannot furnish me a precise account of the numerous 
 other phenomena of the seance, I refrain from describing them. 
 
 " I asked Mr. Bright, on his leaving," says Mr. S. C. Hall, " what 
 he thought of the manifestations he had witnessed that evening. 
 ' They are very wonderful,' he replied; adding, ' I know, Mr. Hall, 
 you would not lend yourself to any trickery. It is very remarkable. ' ' 
 
 " Mr. Beales is just gone," wrote Mrs. Hall a day or two after the 
 seance to Mr. Home. ' ' I am most thankful for the impression which 
 he assured me had been made both on Mr. Lucas and John Bright. 
 Both are most wishful to meet you again." 
 
 An invitation to a second seance was given and accepted; but on 
 the eve of the day appointed Mrs. Hall writes: " Carter has had a 
 most melancholy note from Bright, saying he cannot come on Friday. 
 He goes out of town, but hopes the week or so after next to be 
 fortunate. He is evidently deeply impressed." 
 
 Probably Mr. Bright was ultimately present at a second seance. 
 I find the following letter from him to Mr. S. C. Hall among Mr. 
 Home's papers: 
 
 " 4, HANOVER STREET, May 6, '64. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HALL, Would Wednesday next, the nth inst., suit you for 
 another sitting with Mr. Home? Mr. Tite, M.P., whom I think you know, 
 "has several times expressed to me his great wish to be present on an occasion 
 when manifestations may be expected ; and it would gratify him very much if 
 he could come. . . 
 
 " Wednesday will suit me best, but if some other evening, Saturday excepted, 
 can only be set apart for it, I will try to come. 
 
 " I hope you will not think me troublesome. You were kind enough to ask 
 me to come again, and to propose a day. I hope you may be able to arrange 
 with Mr. Home, and that he will not think me intrusive. Very truly yours, 
 
 " JOHN BRIGHT." 
 
 I believe Mr. Bright has never made public any account of his 
 experiences with Mr. Home; but in conversing on the subject, the 
 testimony of Mr. Hall and that of Mr. Beales, as reported by Mrs. 
 Hall, showed that he declared freely the impression made on him. 
 I have the evidence of another person to add to theirs. Mr. J. M.
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 121 
 
 Peebles, a United States consul, was in England about this time, and 
 had a talk with Mr. Bright on Spiritualism. Lecturing in America, 
 September 3, 1870, on his travels in Europe, Mr. Peebles stated: 
 
 " While in England I dined with John Bright, when transpired 
 quite an earnest conversation upon the subject of Spiritualism. He 
 said he had witnessed some of D. D. Home's manifestations. They 
 were wonderful. He could attribute them to no cause except it be the 
 one alleged, that of intelligent, disembodied spirits. ' But,' he added, 
 with due caution, ' I do not say that this is so ; but if it be true, it is 
 the strongest tangible proof we have of immortality. ' ' 
 
 Sir Charles Nicholson, to whom I have referred a few pages back, 
 seems to have been a very amiable man, and, like many amiable men, 
 a very timid one. He had been present at a number of seances with 
 Home, was entirely convinced of the genuineness of the manifestations 
 and probably satisfied of their spiritual origin; but he could not 
 summon up courage to make his convictions public. In 1864, after Mr. 
 Home's expulsion from Rome, some of his English friends planned 
 an address to him, that should be at once a declaration of sympathy 
 and a testimony of their belief in Spiritualism. The wish of the pro- 
 moters of the address naturally was to obtain the signatures of various 
 distinguished Englishmen who had privately expressed their conviction 
 of the genuineness of the phenomena witnessed by them in Home's 
 presence ; but it was found that nearly all were too timid to let their 
 names go forth to the world. 
 
 " Of course I am ready to be a witness either in private or in 
 public," wrote Mr. S. C. Hall to Mr. Home; "but will others 
 will Robert Chambers, Sir E. B. Lytton, Sir Charles Nicholson and 
 others be both?" 
 
 It was found that they would not, and the testimonial ultimately 
 took a private, instead of a public form. But if timorous of publishing 
 his faith to the world, Sir Charles Nicholson would seem to have 
 declared it freely to his friends. 
 
 " At dinner at the Larnocks in Kensington Palace Gardens," writes 
 Mrs. S. C. Hall to Mr. Home, " Sir Charles Nicholson began about 
 Spiritualism he is now a perfect believer. Carter and he fought it 
 out bravely with the Larnocks." 
 
 And again, writing to Mr. Home in America, March, 1865: " Sir 
 Charles Nicholson told Mr. Durham that he had been informed you 
 had renounced Spiritualism. Both friends were in great anxiety and 
 distress at such a report; so I sent Sir Charles your last letter, and 
 had such a very nice reply. I think he is a very sincere Spiritualist." 
 
 Sincere in secret, that is. Of what avail to any cause is such 
 sincerity? 
 
 Sir Charles Nicholson's letters to Mr. Home are hardly of sufficient 
 interest to print here ; except perhaps the following, which slightly 
 bears on the testimony of Mrs. Hall concerning his convictions : 
 
 <f Mv DEAR MR. HOME, Many thanks for your kind note. 
 Be assured that the pleasure of cultivating social intercourse, and of 
 
 J-
 
 122 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 enjoying your society, will always be regarded as a privilege by me, 
 irrespective of curiosity regarding the wonderful phenomena which I 
 may have an opportunity of witnessing in your presence. Ever most 
 faithfully yours, " CHARLES NICHOLSON." 
 
 That Sir C. Nicholson had seances at his own residence with Mr. 
 Home, I learn from a letter written by Sir Daniel Cooper : 
 
 " 20, PRINCE'S GARDENS, gth July, 1864. 
 
 " MY DEAR HOME, Lady Cooper desires me to say that we shall be very 
 happy to see your friend, Captain Pemberton, at 3 past 8 o'clock. Our party 
 will consist of Mr. and Mrs. Witt, Admiral and Mrs. Denham, Dr. Barrett, 
 and our two selves. Admiral Denham has met you at Sir Chas. Nicholson's 
 the others have never seen any manifestations, and are very anxious to see 
 you at a stance. Lady Cooper joins me in kind regards. Believe me, yours 
 very faithfully, " DANIEL COOPER." 
 
 I do not know that Sir D. Cooper, any more than Sir Charles 
 Nicholson, ever made his convictions public; but in private both Lady 
 Cooper and himself were converts. 
 
 " I heard last night," writes Mrs. S. C. Hall, " that Sir D. Cooper was ill, 
 so I called there en route to Mrs. Milner Gibson's, and found him better. 
 Lady C. said, ' I fear your maid never gave Sir Daniel's card to Mr. Home 
 I left it for him expressly, and hoped he might have called here before his 
 return to Paris.' ' Paris!' I repeated; ' he is in London.' I wish you had 
 seen the expression of pleasure that lit up her serious face. Then she told me 
 of the battles she and Sir Daniel had fought, both here and at Brussels, about 
 Spiritualism since that stance how deeply they are impressed, how impossible 
 they find it to reconcile the manifestations they saw with any human power, 
 and how eager they are to see more. Do, dear friend, call on them. Sarah 
 says she gave you Sir D. 's card, but I daresay you forgot all about it. In 
 their quiet way they are as much impressed as Pickersgill. 1 I had no idea 
 they were so deeply impressed." 
 
 The above letter was written early in 1863, and, during that and 
 the following year, fresh seances with Home deepened and 
 strengthened the Spiritual convictions of Sir Daniel and Lady 
 Cooper. I understand that some of the manifestations were des- 
 cribed in the Spiritual Magazine; but if so, the testimony was of 
 that anonymous kind which timid friends of Home were so fond of 
 furnishing, and consequently valueless. 
 
 If friends were timid of telling the truth they knew of him, foes 
 were always ready to make reckless statements based on hearsay or 
 sheer malice. I have remarked in another chapter that a striking 
 illustration of the tendency of human nature to confound assertion 
 with fact was given in the year 1864. 
 
 A Captain Noble, a scientific man of some small note, wrote a 
 letter to the Sussex Advertiser in March, 1864, on the subject of 
 Spiritualism, with especial reference to the seances of Mr. Home. 
 He had never been present at one ; but the unimportant fact that he 
 had no materials for arriving at a judgment did not prevent him from 
 forming one ; and he summed it up in the words : ' ' Home is as rank 
 an impostor, I verily believe, as ever lived." 
 
 1 Mr. Pickersgill, R.A., who was present at several seances with Mr. Home 
 about 1862-3.
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 123 
 
 A few weeks later Mr. Home arrived in England ; and his atten- 
 tion was called to the letter in the Sussex Advertiser. He at once 
 .gave instructions on the subject to his solicitors, who wrote to 
 Captain Noble : 
 
 " Mr. Home is astonished at this public and gratuitous attack 
 which you have made upon his personal character, and he is deter- 
 mined to have a public investigation, in which you will have an 
 opportunity if you can of proving your charge against him. We are 
 therefore instructed to ask " &c. 
 
 Captain Noble responded to the application for the name of his 
 solicitor 6y writing as follows to Mr. Home: 
 
 44 FOREST LODGE, MARESFIELD, 14^1 April, 1864. 
 
 41 SIR, My attention having just been directed to a passage in a long letter 
 .addressed by me to the Sussex Advertiser, reflecting strongly on your character, 
 I take the earliest opportunity of withdrawing the charge therein implied, and 
 of offering you, with all frankness and unreserve, the fullest apology for having 
 made what a moment's reflection tells me to have been an unjustifiable asser- 
 tion on my part. . . 
 
 " In affirming the grounds of my disbelief and in attributing Spiritual 
 manifestations to natural causes, I was inadvertently led to make the allusion 
 to yourself which I so much regret. You will, I feel assured, acquit me of 
 having entertained an) malevolent feeling against one of whom I had no 
 personal knowledge, and will readily perceive that I spoke only from general 
 conclusions hastily, and, I freely admit, unfairly formed. Under these circum- 
 stances, I feel it alike due to you and to myself to offer you every apology 
 which one gentleman is entitled to from another ; and, inasmuch as my attack 
 was a public one, I now express my readiness to make my retractation equally 
 public, and shall with pleasure clothe it in any appropriate form which you 
 may deem satisfactory to your own honour." 
 
 \ 
 
 In making this amende honorable, it does not seem to have 
 occurred to the writer that the want of all knowledge of Mr. Home to 
 which he confesses, instead of being, as he implies, a mitigation of 
 his offence, greatly aggravated it. It was the way of the world, 
 however, to fling random slanders at Home; and probably nine- 
 tenths of his maligners, if brought to book, would have hastened to 
 plead, like this Sussex country gentleman, that they had acted more 
 in heedlessness than in malice. Then and always the most placable 
 of mankind, Home, whose desire was to vindicate himself, not to 
 punish others, very readily accepted the reparation offered ; and the 
 incident was terminated by Cap f ain Noble publishing in the journal 
 that had contained the libel an unreserved withdrawal of his state- 
 ments and apology for having made them. 
 
 I forget what celebrity described himself, or was described, as the 
 best abused man of his day. Mr. Home was unquestionably the best 
 (or worst) calumniated of his. The most harmless and meaningless 
 word dropped by one of his acquaintances was enough : some listening 
 ear picked it up, and in twenty-four hours the most astonishing 
 fictions had been built upon it. For instance, the distinguished 
 sculptor Mr. J. E. Boehm pointed out in a statuette made by him 
 of Mr. Home the well-formed hands and feet. Some one present
 
 124 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 repeated the compliment with distortions ; and in a few days the 
 most extraordinary stories were circulated in London of what the 
 sculptor had said. Home wrote to inform him of these wild fables, 
 and Mr. Boehm wrote in return: 
 
 " DEAR MR. HOME, With astonishment I received your letter yesterday, and 
 hasten to reply. I cannot understand who can possibly be ill-natured enough 
 to spread such reports, and though I try to remember what could have given 
 cause to the origin of it, I cannot think that it was anything else but my 
 pointing out on your statuette your delicately-formed hands, feet, and limbs in 
 general. If such remarks raise such interpretations, I may as well give up 
 priding myself in that which I consider the only merit in my humble works 
 viz., that I pay just as much attention to the characteristics of the tip of the 
 fingers as the tip of the nose. I need not say more, as I know that these 
 things occur often to you, and that you would not really attach any importance 
 to them ; and I beg you to believe me, dear Mr. Home, truly yours, 
 
 " J. E. BOEHM." 
 
 The most sensitive of all men, past or present, Home could not but 
 sometimes feel the annoyance of the untruthful and malignant chatter 
 of the world, heartily though he despised it. On the ears of all who 
 really knew him it fell unheeded a fact well pointed out in the follow- 
 ing letter to him, which needs no other comment: 
 
 " HOTEL DE ROME, i2th Dec., '63. 
 
 a DEAR SIR, I cannot conceive why you give the slightest attention 
 to the circumstances you mentioned to me this morning. 
 
 " Your numerous friends in England, France, and Russia will 
 certainly not be influenced by idle gossip, and a man who holds so 
 prominent a position in European society as you do is inevitably 
 exposed to attacks of all kinds. Believe me, dear sir, yours truly, 
 
 " ODO RUSSELL." 
 
 About the time when he accepted Captain Noble's apology, Mr. 
 Home received a letter that took the form of a solemn warning to 
 cease dealing with familiar spirits. Its writer was especially earnest 
 in counselling him to read his Bible. Here again, as in Captain 
 Noble's case, a total lack of information is apparent; for few men 
 have ever searched the Scriptures more attentively and constantly 
 than Home. 
 
 Evidently the writer of this letter was actuated by the belief, so 
 common among pious, narrow-minded people, that the phenomena of 
 Spiritualism were the work of the Arch-Fiend. Home often met with 
 such persons : he met with some of them in this same year, 1864. 
 
 He had made the acquaintance of a Captain Chawner, and went 
 on a visit to him for a few days at Newton Vallence, Hampshire. 
 Several people were staying in the house; and on Home's coming 
 seances were held, of which a startling account was subsequently cir- 
 culated. It was said that the Fiend himself had visibly appeared in 
 the form of a radiant angel, but had been put to flight at once by the 
 exorcisms of a lady who was present. 
 
 This story was so frequently repeated in society that some friends 
 of Home ended by trying to trace it to its source, and had the fortune 
 to arrive at the facts on which it was based. They found that at one
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 125 
 
 of the seances with the Chawner family a lady had been present who 
 believed the manifestations to be the work of demons. She came to 
 the seance accordingly with the Lord's prayer and various texts written 
 on small slips of paper, that she had placed inside her rings and 
 within the pockets of her dress. None the less, manifestations 
 occurred ; and some of them were addressed particularly to her. If 
 I interpret correctly the narrative of the seance furnished by one of 
 the Chawner family, Mr. Home, in the trance-state, was controlled 
 by a lost friend of the believer in demon-wrought miracles, who gave 
 striking tokens of his identity. With this explanation, I may leave 
 the following extract from a letter written in March, 1866, to speak 
 for itself : 
 
 " MY DEAR Miss CAMERON, I am very much obliged to you for telling me 
 of Mr. Home's answer to my story. The lady who told it is the wife of 
 General Brounker, who has just got an appointment of consequence in India. 
 I will try to get the relation of the stance written down it took place when 
 Mr. Home was staying with the Chawner family at Newton, near Selbourne, 
 in Hampshire. . . . 
 
 " There can be no doubt as to the reality of the phenomena in the minds of 
 those who have fairly inquired into them. I believe the true difficulty to be 
 that the whole of the religious world, of every denomination, is strongly 
 opposed to Spiritualism the scientific opposition is nothing in comparison. 
 . . . Very truly yours, " JANE ALEXANDER." 
 
 The writer of the above letter obtained from a member of the 
 Chawner family a written narrative of the seance at which Mrs. 
 Brounker had been present, and had it forwarded to Mr. Home. I 
 extract a portion : 
 
 " The manifestations were not prevented from continuing with the general 
 circle ; only, as Mrs. Brounker supposed, the bad spirits could not come to her. 
 She had texts and the Lord's Prayer about her, and inside her rings, written 
 on a tiny piece of paper, was the Lord's Prayer, slipped between her rings 
 and her fingers. Several things about one who was dear to her came out at 
 this stance indeed, he appeared himself ; and this brings me to the real point 
 of Mrs. B.'s ideas on the subject. She and her sister feel convinced that, 
 though, to all appearance, it -was this gentleman there was even his peculiar 
 shake of the hand, also a phrase quite peculiar to himself was used yet, with 
 all this, thev feel convinced that it was not he himself, but an Evil Spirit 
 personating him with his peculiarities. I said, ' Why should an evil spirit 
 know his ways and phrases, &c. ?' She answered, ' That is the argument used, 
 but very easily met. The Arch Fiend knows all about us and all our peculiari- 
 ties, and makes use of that knowledge in his temptations and so, for his 1 
 purpose, he can tell all his emissaries. I believe, in every case, it is an evil 
 spirit that personates our dear lost friends.' ' 
 
 Of such reasoning, one can only remark that it is curious how 
 much stronger a faith very orthodox people seem, as a rule, to have 
 in the power of Satan than in that of God. Such being their faith, 
 it is inevitable that, of all prejudices hostile to Spiritualism, that 
 which sees in every manifestation a deceit of the Fiend should be 
 the most inveterate. What token of identity can convince a person 
 who meets every proof with the objection: " Yes, yes, to others that 
 may seem convincing, but not to me, who know that the Evil One is 
 omniscient and omnipotent."
 
 126 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 I have not space to do more than allude to various persons who 
 investigated the phenomena in the years from which I am now 
 passing. Among them was George, Prince of Solrns, who was con- 
 verted to Spiritualism by his seances with Mr. Home at Ryde, in 
 1862, and tried, on his return to Hanover, to convert the King. I 
 quote a portion of one of his numerous letters in the English of the 
 writer : 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I can give you good news, because I 
 found an occasion to speak with my dear King of all I know about 
 Spiritualism. He was very interested, but has still an objection 
 if we are right to communicate in this way with spirits in the other 
 world. He only believes a part of that which I believe, but I am 
 yet happy that he has got an interest, and that is enough for me 
 I am not so alone in Hinover as I expected." 
 
 No allusion to the seances at Ryde with the Prince of Solrns was 
 made by Mr Home in the Incidents. The following extract from a. 
 letter that the Prince wrote to him in 1862 will explain why : 
 
 " I beg of you not to speak of my knowledge of Spiritualism and 
 interest in you, because it might be bad for my King. My 
 relations, to whom I told about this, asked me not to speak of it, 
 because I was so near to the royal family, that if the people knew 
 the King had a Spiritualist in his house, they would profit of it to 
 speak against him. My dear Mr. Home, promise me your discre- 
 tion, and I will never forget you. Believe me, for ever, yours very 
 truly, ' GEORGE, PRINCE OF SOLMS. ' 
 
 Two other inquirers the date of whose experiences I can only fix 
 as antecedent to 1864 were the Marchioness of Hastings and Lady 
 Combermere. In a letter written after her first seance, the former 
 tells Mr. Home that she "was so surprised and startled by what she 
 saw as to feel it impossible to come to any conclusion, tilil she had 
 seen it several times." 
 
 In 1864, the distinguished electrician, Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., 
 had a seance in his own house at Beckenham with Mr. Home. In 
 his letter to Professor Tyndall (May ipth, 1868) on the subject of 
 spiritual manifestations, Mr. Varley describes phenomena (the move- 
 ments of a table, a large sofa, &c., untouched by any person present) 
 that took place while the room was brilliantly lit. "Deception," 
 he wrote, " was impossible." 
 
 The introduction of Cromwell Varley to the phenomena of 
 Spiritualism took place in 1860, at a seance with Home. The 
 manifestations he witnessed that evening were described by htm in 
 his letter to Tyndall, and again in his evidence given before the 
 Dialectical Society in 1869. 
 
 Varley, who, before seeing anything of the manifestations, seems 
 to have been inclined to attribute them to known forces, presented 
 himself to Mr. Home in the spring of 1860. " I am," he said to 
 Home, " the electrician of the International and Atlantic Telegraph 
 Companies ; and, therefore, have considerable knowledge of 
 electricity, magnetism, and other physical forces. I have heard
 
 ENGLAND, ROME, AND PARIS 127 
 
 speak of the extraordinary phenomena which are produced in your 
 presence, and am very desirous to see them and search into their 
 cause. Are you willing to allow me to be a witness of these pheno- 
 mena? " 
 
 "With great pleasure," replied Home; and after warning his 
 new acquaintance that he could not promise him manifestations 
 would take place, and that sometimes several seances in succession 
 were held without anything particular happening, he invited Mr. 
 Varley to come to a seance and bring his wife with him. 
 
 Varley minutely describes the occurrences of that seance. The 
 room, he told Professor Tyndall and the Dialectical Society, was 
 lighted by four gas-burners ; and when raps began to sound on the 
 table he carefully searched beneath it, while Mrs. Varley kept watch 
 above. Later in the seance the sitters felt themselves touched. 
 Varley mentally asked that his coat-collar might be pulled on the 
 left side, and had hardly shaped the thought in his mind when three 
 pulls were given to the collar, on the side he desired, by an invisible 
 hand. He then mentally requested that his right knee might be 
 touched three times, and instantly the unuttered wish was complied 
 with. 
 
 ' ' Now my left knee, ' ' desired Varley, still without speaking. It 
 was touched three times without an instant's delay. 
 
 " My right shoulder," continued the investigator always mentally. 
 
 " On the instant it was touched," he writes, "without my being 
 able to see anything." Varley adds that, as he had neither spoken 
 nor stirred, no one present had any idea of what had taken place 
 until he informed them. 
 
 As for the conjecture of Mr. Home having been able to read his 
 guest's thoughts and produce the touches that responded to them, 
 Varley disposes of it by stating the two facts that the room was 
 brightly lit, and that a lady whom he designates as " Mrs. A." was 
 seated between himself and Home. 
 
 But, remarkable as was the seance, it was destined to be followed 
 by an incident that impressed Varley with more decisive conviction 
 than all the wonders that had gone before. He lived, he relates, 
 some five or six miles from the scene of the seance, and reached home 
 that night between twelve and one. I copy from the published 
 report of the evidence that he gave before the Dialectical Society 
 his account of what ensued : 
 
 'These," said Mr. Varley, "were the first physical phenomena 
 I saw, and they impressed me; but still I was too much astonished 
 to be able to feel satisfied. Fortunately, when I got home, a cir- 
 cumstance occurred which got rid of the element of doubt. While 
 alone 'n the drawing-room, thinking intently on what I had witnessed, 
 there were raps. The next morning I received a letter from Mr. 
 Home, in which he said. ' When alone in your room last night, you 
 heard sounds. I am so pleased.' He stated the spirits had told 
 him they followed me, and were enabled to produce sounds. I have 
 the letter in my possession now, to show that imagination had 
 nothing to do with the matter."
 
 i 2 8 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Here again is testimony so decisive that it can only be attacked 
 by impugning the sanity or the credibility of the witness. But it 
 was never so much as hinted by Mr. Var ley's bitterest critics that he 
 was insane; and those scientific brethern who passed to the other 
 side of the way from him when he declared himself a Spiritualist 
 never ventured to impugn his honesty. Of his scientific ability 
 there can be no doubt; though, in October, 1871, Dr. Carpenter 
 assured the readers of the Quarterly Review that there were grave 
 doubts of it, and that these misgivings of the learned world had kept 
 Mr. Varley out of the Royal Society. " His scientific attainments," 
 said the reviewer amiably, " are so cheaply estimated by those who 
 are best qualified to judge of them, that he has never been admitted 
 to the Royal Society." Unfortunately for Dr. Carpenter, Mr. 
 Varley had been more than three months a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society when this Quarterly article was published. Yet its in- 
 accurate and pretentious author, who could blunder so grossly and 
 spitefully about a fact that ought to have been well within his 
 knowledge, is supposed by some simple people to have been an 
 impartial and painstaking investigator of Spiritualism !
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 
 
 Invitation to Cambridge. Recitations in America. Home's Personal 
 Appearance. Second Visit to the French Court. Lecture in 
 London. Baseless Attacks. Fraudulent Imitators. The 
 Spiritual Athenxum. The Lyon Case. A Perjured Plaintiff. 
 A Legal Dilemma. Robert Chambers' Affidavit. A Miscarriage 
 of Justice. Moral Victory of Home. Posthumous Libels in the 
 Times and Daily News. 
 
 AMONG Mr. Home's correspondence are many letters hinting at 
 remarkable experiences the writers have had with him, but giving no 
 details. For instance, in the year 1864, a Mr. J. M. Bellew, writing 
 from Portsdown Gardens, Maida Hill, is anxious that his friend Mr. 
 Frith, R.A., should be impressed as he himself has been. Again, 
 there are numerous letters in the same year from a Mr. Jermyn Cowell, 
 establishing two facts first, that their writer had seen at seances with 
 Home sufficient to impress and interest him deeply ; secondly, that 
 Mr. Cowell was well acquainted with distinguished men at Cambridge 
 Professor Sidgwick amongst others and was very desirous to have 
 Home make a visit to some of his friends at the University. Another 
 correspondent associated with Cambridge is a clergyman, the Rev. 
 A. W. Hobson, who writes in May, 1864, that his friend, the famous 
 astronomer Adams, is very much interested by what he, Mr. Hobson, 
 has had to tell him, and would like to meet Mr. Home, if the latter 
 could conveniently come to Cambridge. 
 
 Probably Home was unable to accept the invitation, or there would 
 remain some record of the visit. It is evident, however, from their 
 letters that Messrs. Bellew, Cowell, and Hobson all belonged to the 
 too-numerous class of inquirers who had seen enough to convince 
 them that the phenomena could not be accounted for by the easy 
 hypothesis of imposture, but who shrank from making their convictions 
 public. 
 
 The testimony given and letters quoted from in preceding chapters 
 sufficiently indicate how varied and extensive would be the full list of 
 the English investigators present at seances with Mr. Home. A full 
 list I could not give ; for many names are unknown to me, and others 
 I have omitted because I had no particulars of the experiences con- 
 nected with those names ; but the incomplete record these passes con- 
 tain will at least dispose of the untrue statement so frequently made, 
 that miracles were to be seen only by the faithful, and that Home 
 
 129
 
 i 3 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 avoided meeting sceptics. On the contrary, he seldom held a seance 
 in England at which there were not one or more sceptics present, and 
 often the sitters wholly consisted of disbelievers in the phenomena. 
 That many of these sceptics became Spiritualists through their seances 
 with him is true, but surely that fact will not be urged in disproof of the 
 manifestations ! 
 
 Sailing for America in the early autumn of 1864, Mr. Home 
 remained six or seven months in the States, renewing his acquaintance- 
 with all the old friends of ten years earlier who were still on earth, and 
 adding new friends to their number. Among the latter was Mrs. 
 Sarah Helen Whitman, herself a poetess of some merit, but more cele- 
 brated from having charmed the fancy of that strangest of beings and 
 weirdest of geniuses, Edgar Poe, who addressed to her some of his 
 most exquisite verses. Mrs. Whitman was present at seances with 
 Home ; and it was she who wrote to the editor of an American journal, 
 apropos of Browning's doggerel on Spiritualism: " If you will take 
 the trouble to read the poem of Mr. Browning to which I have re- 
 ferred, you will understand why it is regarded by some of Mr. Brown- 
 ing's warmest admirers as ' a blot on the 'scutcheon. ' ' 
 
 The name of Henry Howard Brownell is almost unknown in 
 England. It is that of a young American of rare gifts who wrote two 
 poems, "The River Fight" and -"The Bay Fight," in which he 
 described two of the most stirring naval operations of the Civil War 
 Farragut's dash past the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi and 
 capture of New Orleans, and secondly, the defeat by the same com- 
 mander of the Confederate squadron in Mobile Bay, when wooden 
 Federal vessels surrounded and captured a Southern ironclad. 
 Brownell, who died young, was present at both engagements ; being, 
 I think, secretary to Admiral Farragut ; and the battle-fever has surely 
 never been more wonderfully breathed into words than in a verse of 
 "The Bay Fight:" 
 
 " Fear ! A forgotten form : 
 
 Death ! A dream of the eyes : 
 We were atoms in God's great storm 
 That roared through the angry skies." 
 
 Both poems were favourites with Home, and none who heard his 
 magnificent and fiery rendering of them will ever forget it. It was 
 during this visit to America that he first gave public expression to his 
 genius as a reader; and he several times recited the two poems of 
 Brownell, who had recently made his acquaintance. A notice of one 
 of these readings from the pen of Mrs. Whitman, records that Admiral 
 Farragut was among the audience, and was delighted with Home's 
 ' ' masterly and daringly original rendering of the Bay Fight. ' ' 
 
 At a private party in New York just after the close of the war, 
 Home read the same poem ; and on this occasion a strange tribute to 
 the author's genius and his own was paid. One of the most telling 
 portions of the " Bay Fight " describes the action of the commander 
 of the Confederate ironclad, when his consorts had fled or were taken,
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 131 
 
 and nothing remained to him but the choice between sinking and 
 surrender: 
 
 " Haughty, cruel, and cold, 
 He ever was strong and bold : 
 
 Shall he shrink from a wooden stem .' 
 He will think of that brave band 
 He sank in the Cumberland : 
 
 Aye ! he will sink like them. 
 
 " Nothing left but to fight 
 Boldly his last sea-fight : 
 Can he strike? By heaven! 'tis true, 
 Down comes the traitor blue, 
 And ..." 
 
 The verse was never fininshed; Home's voice and play of feature 
 had put such life into the stinging words, that, at the reference to the 
 " traitor blue," a young Southerner present was maddened out of all 
 self-control, and sprang at the reader like a wild beast. He was 
 mastered before he could do any mischief ; but this dramatic incident 
 abruptly terminated the reading. The occurrence was noticed in 
 American papers of the time. 
 
 Brownell, in whom Home felt a deep interest, became a Spiritualist. 
 He gave his friend a copy of his poems ; and Home in return sent him. 
 a copy of the Incidents, after reading which Brownell writes to him : 
 " I have read your book with the greatest interest. Heretofore, I 
 had only known you as a vehicle for the most wonderful communica- 
 tions which we have had with the next world ; but now I am beginning 
 to be acquainted with you mentally and morally. I can only say that 
 this acquaintance gives me high pleasure, and that I hope to improve- 
 it personally at some future time. ' ' 
 
 " I had heard of the great sensation produced by your reading in 
 Paris," he says in another letter, " and feel indebted to you for 
 presenting my poem so nobly." Then, in words that have a pathetic 
 interest in view of the early death of their writer, Brownell adds : 
 " If I live, I will devote something of my poor verses to advocating 
 the truths of Spiritualism." 
 
 At Norwich, Connecticut, Mr. Home gave a reading for the benefit 
 of the Soldiers' Aid Society. On the announcement of this charit- 
 able intention in the local journal, a young clergyman wrote to the- 
 latter, "craving permission, as a Christian man, to say a few words 
 to the Christians in Norwich." It was kind and courteous of Mr. 
 Home, he admitted, to assent to the request of the Soldiers' Aid 
 Society that he would give a reading on its behalf. 
 
 " I have no doubt he is sincere in his spirtualistic belief. I have 
 no quarrel with him. But are the Christian men and women of 
 Norwich reduced to such extremities that they must resort to a re- 
 presentative and exponent of Spiritualism for aid in their Christian 
 and patriotic work? Is it seemlv that Christians should patronise 
 such an entertainment? " 
 
 And so on, through half a column of the Norwich Bulletin. Mr. 
 Home and some of his friends replied, pointing out to this curious
 
 i 3 2 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 bigot that charity is of no creed, and that it must require a very 
 Jesuitical eye to detect the wickedness of allowing Home by his 
 genius as a reader to benefit the victims of the Civil War. Had he 
 been a wounded soldier in need of aid, the justice of this reasoning 
 would probably have commended itself to the Rev. Mr. Lewis ; but as 
 he was only a very young clergyman aping the authority of a Pope, 
 he replied, as hotly as inconsequently : 
 
 " My own private opinion of Spiritualism is that it is of the devil 
 from beginning to end." Then, with a triumphant effort of charity: 
 ' ' It does not necessarily follow that every one who professes 
 Spiritualism is consciously in league with the devil. And I gave 
 Mr. H. the benefit of the doubt when I said that I conceded his 
 honesty and sincerity." 
 
 Much to the mortification of the reverend casuist, his appeal only 
 served to advertise the reading more widely ; and the room was 
 crowded with an enthusiastic audience, from whose numbers the 
 Soldiers' Aid Fund reaped substantial benefit. " Possibly." wrote 
 a correspondent of the Bulletin, "the author of this last encyclical, 
 with deep insight into human nature, may have seen that in no other 
 way could he ensure so large an attendance upon the occasion of Mr. 
 Home's reading, as by an apparent effort to dragoon the public away 
 from the reading. Looked at in that light, the letter has been a 
 grand success." 
 
 It was not only by Ms reading at Norwich that Home gave practi- 
 cal proofs of his sympathy with those victims of the Civil War, who, 
 in 1864 and 5, were so numerous in every town and village of the 
 Union. Out of his small means very small at that time, he contri- 
 buted freely to funds for the relief of such sufferers ; and at 
 Philadelphia, which city was just then crowded with human wrecks 
 that the war had made, he brightened the wards of the hospitals by 
 giving readings there, " to the great delight of the sick and wounded 
 soldiers," says the Philadelphia newspaper which informs me of the 
 fact. He, whose own life was so full of suffering, had the keenest 
 sympathy with the pain of others a practical sympathy that found 
 expression in deeds; and in America in 1864-5, and again in France 
 in 1870, the sight of the terrible suffering caused by war stirred him 
 to do many acts of kindness and devotion of which the world never 
 heard, nor did he wish that it should hear. 
 
 Mr. Home gave several readings, public and private, in New York ; 
 and among his clippings from newspapers of that date, I find the 
 following description of the first by some reporter present a lady, if 
 one may judge by the writer's eye for personal advantages : 
 
 " I really have had a sensation. I have heard Home, the great medium, 
 read. The programme did not appear attractive, and I had made every pre- 
 paration to be disappointed. When Home entered the room, a change came 
 o'er the spirit of my dream, for Home's personality alone is sufficient to 
 absorb a physiognomist's attention for hours. Fancy, my dear Republican, the 
 most distingul man you have seen for years, and then you will not have" 
 reached the plane on which Home stands. . . . His figure is singularly 
 fine and graceful, his hands and feet beautiful, the former being the embodi- 
 ment of artistic genius. ' Show me a man's hand, and I will tell vou what
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 133 
 
 he is.' Then Home's head, excellently shaped, is marvellous in expression. 
 He is of the blonde type, with beautiful hair, fine teeth, a good mouth, and 
 eyes that really look as though they saw things in heaven and earth not 
 dreamed of in our philosophy. 
 
 " And now, how does he read? Beautifully, wonderfully. His pathos is 
 exquisite, his humour perfect. Why the audience did not go frantic with 
 delight is because the audience did not appreciate the genius of the reader. 
 His rendering of Brownell's stirring poem, ' On the Hartford in Mobile Bay,' 
 was superb. Home would make a great actor. He is grace itself ; his manner 
 is thoroughly refined, his voice rich and of large compass, his facial expression 
 unequalled. Home is a marvel. He is one of those gifted creatures that 
 nature makes every now and then, to show what she can do when in the 
 mood." 
 
 And such Home was. It was impossible to be long in his society 
 without yielding to its spell. Prejudices the most inveterate melted 
 away before that irresistible charm of manner, coupled with, his 
 joyousness of nature and kindliness of heart. It was always those 
 who knew least of him who libelled him most flagrantly, the outer man 
 no less than the inner. No portraits could bear less resemblance to 
 the original than those drawn from time to time in pen and ink of 
 Home. Were it worth while a dozen such flights of journalistic 
 fancy might be cited here. Those who took their notion of Horns 
 from pictures so unlike him had a wide choice offered them every 
 possible colour of eyes, hair, and complexion, a figure now tall, now 
 short, at one time slender at another robust ; in short every variety of 
 counterfeit, the two opposed extremes of which were the haggard 
 spectre invented by All the Year Round in 1866 and the " dark-com- 
 plexioned person, with quick, shifting eyes, curly black hair, and a 
 nose which seemed to vouch for a purely Caucasian descent ' ' of 
 Echoes from the Clubs, April 29th, 1868. 
 
 Robert Bell sketched slightly the actual Home in his Corn/till 
 article, the Home of 1860 : 
 
 ' The expression of his face in repose is that of physical suffering ; 
 but it quickly lights up when you address him, and his natural cheer- 
 fulness colours his whole manner. There is more kindliness and 
 gentleness than vigour in the character of his features ; and the same 
 easy-natured disposition may be traced in his unrestrained inter- 
 course. He is yet so young, that the playfulness of boyhood has not 
 passed away, and he never seems so thoroughly at ease with him- 
 self and others as when he is enjoying some light and temperate 
 amusement." 
 
 Bell thus refers to the emphatic disclaimer by Home of that 
 power of evocation foolishly attributed to him : 
 
 ' Mr. Home's supernatural power is a current topic in all circles 
 where these phenomena are talked of by people who have never 
 witnessed them. But the truth is, he neither possesses such power 
 nor pretends to it. ... He not only cannot call up spirits, as 
 we hear on all sides, but he will tell you that he considers such 
 invocations to be blasphemous." 
 
 As a pendant to Robert Bell's sketch of Home, I translate from
 
 134 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 ' Le Monde Elegant a Nice ' a description written seventeen years 
 later by M. Fabre des Essarts : 
 
 " I must tell you frankly that Home was not at all like what I had 
 imagined he would be. To begin with, he is a perfect man of the world, with 
 .a most refined and winning aspect. Then, there is absolutely nothing in his 
 appearance to suggest the necromancer. 
 
 " Instead of that bat's claw, which certain English reporters give him, he 
 held out to me with perfect affability a hand quite aristocratic. . . . One 
 of those Olympian foreheads, which seem to have been moulded by Nature as 
 the temple of thought : an eye of an intense blue, that looks as if formed to 
 sound the depths of the unknown ; such are the details that complete this noble 
 .and intelligent figure." 
 
 Saddened as it as by the sight of the widespread and terrible 
 suffering caused by war, the visit to America that ended in May, 
 1865, could not have been a very happy time to Home, in spite of the 
 numerous friends who welcomed him. On his return to London, he 
 stayed there only two or three days ; and then left for Paris to take 
 charge of the young sister who had grown up to womanhood under 
 the gracious protection of the Empress of the French. 
 
 It has been frequently asserted, in print and out of it, that long 
 before 1865 Mr. Home had lost the favour he formerly enjoyed at 
 the Court of France. He never took the trouble to disprove this 
 falsehood, which he mightly easily have done by publishing half a 
 dozen letters in his possession, such as the following : 
 
 " 4*fe July, 1864. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, I lose no time in answering your letter, 
 as I am sure that you are awaiting with anxiety the result of my 
 communication with the Empress " (a communication respecting Miss 
 C. Home). "I was at ^Fontainebleau on Saturday, and have the most 
 gracious acquiescence in your request. So that you may make your 
 .arrangements accordingly. . . . Yours truly, 
 
 ' CAROLINE, PRINCESS MURAT. ' ' 
 
 " June loth, 1865. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. HOME, The Empress told me last night to write 
 to you and say that she would receive you to-morrow at half-past 
 three. Yours truly, 'CAROLINE, PRINCESS MURAT.'" 
 
 July saw Mr. Home in Russia, he having at last yielded to the 
 repeated invitations that Tolstoy and other friends there had been 
 pressing on him for years. 
 
 ^ After a pleasant visit to one of the country-seats of his friend, 
 Count Alexis Tolstoy, Home returned to St. Petersburg, and from 
 there went to London where he passed the winter of 1865-6, a dreary 
 winter to him, for ill-health was aggravated by anxiety about the 
 future. Had he sought to profit by the exercise of his wonderful 
 gift, that anxiety would soon have been at an end ; but then, as ever, 
 he preferred the care and struggles of poverty. He had other 
 gifts, however, that he could honourably turn to account ; and after 
 taking counsel with his friends in London, he conquered the repug-
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 135 
 
 nance he had felt to appear on an English platform, and decided to 
 become a public reader. 
 
 Before carrying out the resolve, he gave a lecture upon Spiritualism, 
 at Willis's Rooms, in February, 1866; a portion of which I quote: 
 
 " There is in Spiritualism," said Home, " a wide field for profitable 
 research, if only it be conducted in the true spirit of inquiry the spirit that is 
 willing to study and learn of facts, however strange they may seem, however 
 counter to the prejudices of philosophy ; for philosophy, as well as ignorance, 
 has its prejudices, and sometimes those of philosophy are the most 
 inveterate. . . . 
 
 " I would not have you think for a moment that I am not aware of the 
 many abuses which may arise from this contact with the spirit world. But 
 God gives to every man the power of reason, and this it is in no way the 
 province of Spiritualism to supersede. If a spirit were to give advice which 
 our reason told us should not be followed, why should we pay more attention 
 to him, now that he is freed from the body, than if he were still moving 
 among us on earth, as formerly?" 
 
 Speaking of the many imposters who counterfeit the genuine 
 phenomena of Spiritualism, and trade in pretended wonders for a 
 living, he said : 
 
 " I have known of the most gross impostures being carried on, and in every 
 case have exposed them ; and, God being my helper, ever will do so. Of 
 course, in cases like these, I have much to contend with, even from my best 
 friends. They say, ' It is not your place; let others do it.' I feel it to be my 
 place ; and when I see the pure and glorious truths I advocate drawn down 
 and made a mockery of by the mob, I will lift up my voice and say, ' This is 
 not Spiritualism?' If they will prove it to be so, then I wish to have nothing 
 to do with it ; for it is a dark and damning error, and the sooner pure truth- 
 seekers leave it, the better. But there is no doctrine which is without its 
 abuses, and which is not abused by outsiders." 
 
 After rebutting the assertion that insanity is a frequent conse- 
 quence of the belief, Mr. Home adverted to the various " explana- 
 tions " of the phenomena. 
 
 " When in Russia this autumn, on a visit to his Majesty, it was told for a 
 fact that I had a great number of cats to sleep with me, and by this means 
 became so charged with electricity that the rappings were heard in my pre- 
 sence. Another story was that I held my feet a long time in ice-water, and 
 then ran and sat by the Emperor, putting my feet in his hands ; and so he 
 thought he touched a corpse-like hand. It is currently reported that my feet 
 are like monkeys' feet, and that I can do as I please with them. Some of 
 my friends have even asked to see my feet without shoes or stockings, that 
 they might contradict this. These, and many other fantastic, far-fetched, and 
 inadequate explanations, which in turn need explaining, have been from time 
 to time put forth ; each new hypothesis unkindly exploding its predecessors, 
 and being in its turn exploded. . . . 
 
 " Those tyros who, with little or no knowledge of the subject, think them- 
 selves justified in denouncing the whole thing as imposture, ought surely (if 
 not wholly deficient in modesty and common-sense) to be arrested by the 
 circumstance that scientific and learned men, sceptical as themselves as to the 
 supra-mundane origin of the facts, have yet, after the fullest investigation, 
 been constrained to concede their reality and genuineness." 
 
 The distinguished and numerous company that had assembled to 
 listen to the lecture were derided by a writer in All the Year Round 
 as "fools." They might, in view of the untruths and misstate- 
 ments of fact that abounded in his article, have replied that there
 
 136 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 are much worse things than a fool in the world, if the fool is only 
 honest. 
 
 Mr. S. C. Hall wrote to the editor of All the Year Round to con- 
 tradict from his personal knowledge two of the many untrue state- 
 ments concerning Mr. Home that the article contained : 
 
 " In reference to the first of these two untruths," wrote Mr. Hall, 
 " I can only give you now my own assurance that Home distri- 
 buted no bills, having none to distribute. In regard to the second 
 falsehood, I sent you a copy of the only circular 1 he issued. You 
 will see for yourself how dishonourable and disgraceful has been the 
 change of a word to give a totally different meaning to the sentence. 
 The writer of that article, be he who he may, is a dishonest man, 
 to say the least." 
 
 As the editor of All the Year Round had nothing to say in defence 
 of his contributor he returned no answer. It is needless to add that he 
 did not publish Mr. Hall's letter in his columns. 
 
 Wonderful and beautiful manifestations were witnessed at the 
 residence of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall on Easter Eve, 1866. Five 
 persons composed the circle ; the host and hostess, Lady Dunsany, 
 Mrs. Adelaide Senior, and Mr. Home. A narrative of the 
 occurrence was drawn up a few days later by Mrs. Senior, was 
 submitted in turn to Mr. and Mrs. Hall and Lady Dunsany for their 
 endorsement, and subsequently, with the consent of all four wit- 
 nesses, was published by Mr. Home in his second volume of Incidents 
 (pp. 120-122). 
 
 After naming the persons present at the seance Mrs. Senior writes : 
 
 " When Mr. Home arrived he was pale and worn, and we feared that we 
 should have few manifestations. He sat down to the piano, and played and 
 sang for some time ; and on his beginning a little Russian air, a favourite of 
 his late wife's, a chair which was at some distance from the piano slid up and 
 placed itself beside him. I was sitting close to the piano on the other side, 
 and I first saw the chair move. 
 
 " We sat down at the table, which at once began to vibrate and tremble, 
 and was raised off the floor to a considerable height. Very loud and heavy 
 knocks were heard on the table, the floor, and the furniture round the room ; 
 presently the accordion was touched, the alphabet was asked for, and it was 
 spelt out ' We will play the earth-life of One Who was not of earth.' 
 
 " First we had simple, sweet, soft music for some minutes ; then it became 
 intensely sad ; then the tramp, tramp, as of a body of men marching mingled 
 with the music, and I exclaimed, ' The march to Calvary ! ' Then three times 
 the tap-tapping sound of a hammer on a nail (like two metals meeting). A 
 crash, and a burst of wailing which seemed to fill the room, followed ; then 
 there came a burst of glorious triumphal music, more grand than any of us 
 had ever listened to, and we exclaimed, ' The Resurrection !' It thrilled to all 
 our hearts." 
 
 Thus far the manifestations, including that wonderful music played 
 by no earthly hands, had taken place in a brilliantly lit room. The 
 circle kept their places at the table for a while longer; but with the 
 last thrilling chords of the triumphal harmony that had symbolised 
 the Resurrection all manifestations ceased. 
 
 1 A private circular, sent only to Mr. Home's friends.
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 137 
 
 " Nothing more was done for some time," writes Mrs. Senior, " and we 
 decided upon putting out the lights in the rooms, so as only to have that from 
 the outside which came through the conservatory " (from a hanging lamp 
 there, explains Mr. Hall). ..." Soon after this, we observed the face of 
 Mr. S. C. Hall shining as if covered with silver light ; we all remarked it and 
 commented upon it. The accordion was carried round the circle, playing 
 beautifully ; it rested on the head of our host, then on my shoulder, and then 
 went on to Mrs. Hall,' who was next to me." (" Mr. Home's hand never 
 being near the instrument," adds Mrs. Senior in a subsequent letter.) 
 
 " Mr. Home was then raised up to the ceiling, which he touched, and 
 regretted not having a pencil to make a mark there. When he came down, 
 Mr. Hall gave him one, hoping that he might be again raised ; and in five 
 minutes after he was so, and left a cross on the ceiling. Just before this took 
 place we saw his whole face and chest covered with the same silvery light 
 which we had observed on our host's face. We had been sitting all this time 
 at the table ; and soon after our hands were touched and patted by other 
 hands, and our brows touched by loved hands whose touch we knew. Shortly 
 afterwards we heard the knocks and sounds die away in the distance out of 
 doors, and we felt that it was all over. 
 
 " That burst of music was still thrilling on our hearts. Nothing of mortal 
 composition could equal it, and its sound was that of a fine organ. We greatly 
 regretted that no one in the room could take down the notes. The wondrous 
 effect of the sound of feet, and the sound of the hammer and nails running 
 like a thread through the music, it is impossible that those who have not 
 listened to it could understand ; in the music itself also there was a mixture of 
 tones out of my power to describe." 
 
 Lady Dunsany, who was present with Mrs. Senior at this seance, 
 will be remembered for her amiable and charming disposition by all 
 who knew her. She was already advanced in years in 1866, and, 
 I believe, passed from earth no long time afterwards ; but her 
 letters to Mr. Home show that to her last day she preserved an 
 esteem and affection for him, and was a steadfast Spiritualist. 
 
 Like all other years, 1865 and 6 offer for my inspection letters 
 written by persons who had evidently had numerous opportunities 
 of investigating the phenomena, but whose experiences appear never 
 to have been published. Some of the writers are Spiritualists, others 
 form extraordinary theories to account for the manifestations, others 
 again express no theory at all, but content themselves with admitting 
 the reality of the facts. I select a letter from a correspondent of 
 the later class : 
 
 " 7, PRINCE OF WALES TERRACE, KENSINGTON, 
 " 26th December, 1865. 
 
 It was a real pleasure, my dear Daniel, to see your ' fist ' again. I 
 thought you had quite given me up as an unbeliever, because, while admitting 
 the extraordinary character of the phenomena that occur when you are pre- 
 sent, I never could feel convinced that they emanated from the volition of the 
 spirits of those who had once enjoyed, or rather passed through, the life of 
 this earth. I have, I fancy, examined you more closely than many of those 
 who have no doubt at all, than many of those who say, ' It's all humbug ; 
 and he must have some secret machinery or electrical apparatus about him.' 
 The result has been what I told you the last time we met I believe you, but 
 as to your theory, I am as yet, so far as I know it, a doubter. It is quite 
 possible that a man with a wonderful attribute may not know exactly whence 
 his peculiar quality springs. 
 
 ' There! I don't pretend to be a philosopher; but I do pretend to be a 
 friend, and I shall be very glad to see you here. There are a great many 
 things and a great many persons I want to talk to you about, besides hearing 
 
 K
 
 138 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 all your travels and experiences. ... I beg to ask you to dine here the 
 first Sunday you come to London. Are you aware that I am now an under- 
 paid, overworked Government official, and not any longer, like O'Connell's 
 Ireland, ' great, glorious, and free '? . . . Yours very truly, 
 
 " W. H. ASHURST." 
 
 The letter is valuable for the evidence it affords that Home was 
 tolerant of honest doubt of the spiritual origin of the phenomena, 
 however obstinate. As for the long silence on which the writer had 
 placed the mistaken interpretation that was removed by the receipt 
 of Home's letter, Mr. Ashurst, like hundreds of other people, had 
 forgotten to consider that probably no man ever lived who had so ex- 
 tensive an acquaintance as Home. It was easy for his friends to 
 write to him, but the vast mass of his correspondence rendered it 
 sometimes simply impossible for him to answer their letters. His 
 whole time would have been swallowed up in the task, and often 
 half his means in paper and postage. 
 
 "Do find time to send me a few lines," writes from Vichy in 
 June, 1866, a lady signing herself "P. M. Lockhart " "I hav^j 
 had no direct communication with you since we had the pleasure of 
 seeing you in town in January last. Mrs. Anfrere has felt greatly 
 interested and bewildered ever since she saw those comparatively 
 slight manifestations in London; and I unluckily should never have 
 confidence in any medium but you, so how can I persuade her to 
 see Spiritualism in any other form? " 
 
 This declaration that the seances of Home alone brought convic- 
 tion is explicit in many letters, and implied in others ; and in the 
 later years of his life Mr. Home frequently received assurances from 
 has friends from Mr. William Howitt and Mr. Crookes, for 
 example that, had it not been for their recollection of seances with 
 him, disgust with the impostures that usurped the name of 
 Spiritualism would have utterly shattered their belief. 
 
 " Lady Helena Newenham," writes from 14, Wilton Place, S.W., in 
 December, 1864, a correspondent whose signature, if I decipher it correctly, is 
 " G. M. Edge worth," " spent ten days here, and she often spoke of you and 
 the comfort which she had derived from the stances which she and her husband 
 had had with you. I wish much you were near us all now, and that your 
 good influence was in the atmosphere. I am so disgusted by amateur would-be 
 Spiritualists, who pretend to be mediums. When I say that I see people 
 kicking the tables and lifting them, they are so angry, and wish to put it 
 down that I believe nothing. I say, ' Yes, I do : I believe in Dan, and I do 
 believe he has wonderful power.' . . . Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " G. M. EDGEWORTH." 
 
 In February, 1866, some long-past scenes of Home's life were 
 unexpectedly recalled to his mind. Twelve or thirteen years before, 
 he had been the guest of Mr. Ogden, a resident of Long Island, U.S. ; 
 one of whose daughters had subsequently lost her husband, and her 
 fortune before him; and with brave spirit had then set herself to 
 turn to account the great talent for the stage with which she, was 
 endowed. As an actress, Mrs. Cora Mowatt Ritchie will be better 
 remembered in America than England, where she only took up her 
 residence, I think, on retiring from the boards ; but in both
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 139 
 
 countries she was endeared to her friends by her attractive and 
 lovable qualities as a woman. It happened, in February, 1866, 
 that a lady very intimate with her was seeking a seance with Mr. 
 Home; and this fact led to the two old acquaintances meeting again. 
 Mutual liking and esteem soon grew into friendship ; and during the 
 few years that remained to her on earth, Mrs. Ritchie was a 
 Spiritualist, and one of the most prized and cordial of Home's 
 friends. When the Lyon lawsuit closed, she instantly took steps for 
 furnishing to American newspapers the true facts of the case, before 
 any garbled account should have reached the States, 
 
 During the whole of 1866, Mr. Home's health was very feeble. 
 The anxieties of the mind were reacting on the body. In the 
 summer of that year an alternative to the reader's platform was 
 suggested. It had occurred to various English Spiritualists and 
 inquirers that the establishment of a kind of headquarters in London 
 would be of great advantage to the movement. Some of their number 
 interested themselves in carrying out the suggestion, which, it must 
 be noted, did not in any way originate with Mr. Home. Premises 
 were taken in Sloane Street; and, under the name of " The Spiritual 
 Athenaeum," an institution was opened there, intended, as the 
 circular of the promoters stated, to be " a rallying point for 
 Spiritualists and their friends." The post of resident secretary 
 was offered to Mr. Home, and accepted by him. In the list of the 
 Council of the Spiritual Athenaeum occurs the name of Dr. 
 Elliottson, a fact that bears convincing testimony of the great change 
 the Dieppe seances had wrought in his views. Among the remain- 
 ing members were Captain Drayson, R.A., and the popular writer 
 on natural history, the Rev. J. G. Wood. The former had been 
 present at several seances with Mr. Home. Of Mr. Wood's experi- 
 ences in Spiritualism I am ignorant. 
 
 Hardly had the Athenaeum been brought into working order, when 
 increasing ill-health and the circumstances connected with his tem- 
 porary change of name and fortune compelled Mr. Home to resign 
 his appointment as secretary. With him the life of the institu- 
 tion went ; and after languishing a short time, the Spiritual 
 Athenaeum died a very natural death. 
 
 The story of the Lyon lawsuit has often been told by writers whose 
 object was to cast a slur on Mr. Home. It served the purpose of 
 these dishonest controversialists to affect credence of the numberless 
 perjuries sworn to by the plaintiff in that suit a person of whom 
 even so prejudiced a critic of Spiritualism and Spiritualists as 
 Vice-Chancel lor Giffard said, when delivering judgment against Mr. 
 Home (I quote from the report of the Vicei-Chancel'lor's judgment 
 in the Pall Mall Gazette) : " The expenses " (of the suit) " have been 
 very seriously increased, first by the unwarrantable attack in the 
 plaintiff's affidavits on Mr. Wilkinson ; and, secondly, by her 
 innumerable misstatements in many important particulars misstate- 
 ments on oath so perversely untrue that thev have embarrassed the 
 Court to a great degree and quite discredited the plaintiff's testi- 
 mony."
 
 i 4 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " You are of course pained, my dear Daniel," wrote Mrs. S. C. Hall 
 to Mr. Home, " that the Vice-Chancel lor did not clear you by a few 
 words from all suspicion of fraud as a Spiritualist but how would 
 you have felt if he had blasted your character, as he has that of Mrs. 
 Lyon, by being the first to accuse her of perjury? " 
 
 On what grounds, then, the reader unfamiliar with English law will 
 ask, did the Vice-Chancellor order the restitution of Mrs. Lyon's gifts, 
 when he so emphatically declared that her story of the circumstances 
 under which those gifts were made had been utterly discredited ? On 
 two grounds, the one of law the other of prejudice. In a suit like 
 that of Lyon v. Home English law throws the onus of proof on the 
 defendant. It mattered nothing that Mrs. Lyon had signally Tailed in 
 seeking to show that the gifts were made in consequence of com- 
 munications claimed to be from her deceased husband, and had 
 established only her own total disregard of truth by the ' ' innumerable 
 and perversely untrue misstatements on oath ' ' to which the Vice- 
 Chancellor referred in such severe terms. English law, as interpreted 
 and no doubt correctly interpreted by Vice-Chancellor Giffard, did 
 not require the plaintiff to prove the affirmative, that influence had 
 been exercised on her mind. It required the defendant to prove the 
 negative, that he had exercised no influence over the mind of Mrs. 
 Lyon. Clean as were the hands of Mr. Home in this matter, how 
 was he to establish his uprightness to the satisfaction of a judge who 
 shared the common prejudices against Spiritualism to such an extent 
 that he travelled out of his way to denounce that belief as 
 "mischievous nonsense, well calculated on the one hand to delude 
 the vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious, and on the other 
 to assist the projects of the needy and of the adventurer? " To put 
 the matter in a nutshell, Vice-Chancellor Giffard propounded to the 
 unfortunate defendant the following dilemma: " If you are to retain 
 these gifts, you must prove to my satisfaction that you exercised no 
 influence over the plaintiff when she made them; but no amount of 
 evidence you can bring forward will satisfy me that you are innocent 
 of having exercised such influence." 
 
 Lest I be suspected of misstating the grounds of the Vice- 
 Chancellor's decision, I extract from the " Equity Series of the Law 
 Reports " a portion of the note summarising the suit of Lyon v. 
 Home 
 
 " Held, that the relation proved to have existed between them 
 implied the exercise of dominion and influence by B. over A. 's mind, 
 and consequently that, as B. had failed to prove that these voluntary 
 gifts were the pure, voluntary, well-understood acts of A.'s mind, 
 they must be set aside. ' ' 
 
 Coming from law to justice a very different matter an impartial 
 critic will be of opinion that, if Mr. Home failed to prove to the 
 satisfaction of the judge that the gifts were voluntary it was 
 simply because no amount of proof to that effect would have convinced 
 the Vice-Chancellor of the defendant's uprightness. " Be thou pure 
 as snow, thou shalt not 'scape calumny " if thou art a Spiritualist.
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 141 
 
 Except as complicated by the false witness of the plaintiff, the facts 
 relating to Mr. Home's adoption by Mrs. Lyon were sufficiently 
 simple. She was an old and rich widow, and a believer in 
 
 Spiritualism long before she sought the acquaintance of Mr. Home. 
 Not oiily was she a believer long before she met him, but, according 
 10 her own account, a seer, who communed in vision with the world of 
 spirits. After her adoption of Mr. Home, she told many persons that 
 on first meeting him she had immediately recognised him as the figure 
 that she had often seen in vision, and that her own visions, and not 
 spirit communications made through Mr. Home, had inspired the 
 thought of adopting him. Witness, for instance, the late Dr. Robert 
 Chambers, from whose affidavit I shall presently quote. 
 
 Happening to hear of the Spiritual Athenaeum and its secretary Mr. 
 Home, " I wrote on the 3oth of September, 1866," says Mrs. Lyon 
 in her affidavit, ' ' that I was anxious to become a subscriber, and 
 asking for a prospectus and particulars. Not having received any 
 
 reply from the said defendant, I called, and asked to see him 
 
 I had never before seen the said defendant." 
 
 At this visit, Mrs. Lyon, an absolute stranger to Mr. Home, entered 
 into conversation with him concerning his work, Incidents of My Life, 
 which she declared herself to have read with much interest. She 
 informed him that she had been a believer in the occurrence of 
 spiritual manifestations from her childhood, and that she was herself 
 a medium and saw visions. Her chief interest, however, appeared 
 to be centred in the royal and aristocratic personages mentioned in the 
 Incidents of My Life, and she asked Mr. Home many questions con- 
 cerning them and his intimacy with them. A day or two afterwards 
 she made a gift of ^30 to the funds of the Athenaeum, and followed 
 this act by astounding Mr. Home with the declaration that she had 
 taken a great fancy to him, and was determined to adopt him as her 
 son, and settle a handsome fortune upon him. She was rich, she 
 explained, was without children or relatives of her own, and her 
 husband's relatives she detested. He would add her name of Lyon 
 to his own; they would keep house together as mother and son; 
 and two people would be made happy, he in becoming rich 
 through her means, she in being introduced through has to the 
 fashionaSle world. " She told me," said Mr. Home in his affidavit, 
 " that she was the illegitimate daughter of a tradesman in Newcastle, 
 that her late husband was of good family, and his family always held 
 aloof from herself and husband." This passed at his second inter- 
 view with Mrs. Lyon. 
 
 Bewildered by an incident so extraordinary even in a life that had 
 been full of facts stranger than any fictions, Mr. Home at first treated 
 her offer of adoption as a jest, but finding that she was perfectly 
 serious, began to think that she could not be in her right mind. Yet 
 to all appearance she was a sane, shrewd woman. Uncertain how to 
 regard the affair, he did not call on her again for some days. When 
 he at last went, she greeted him most warmly and affectionately, 
 repeated that she had made up her mind to adopt him, and inquired
 
 142 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 if he had acted on her wish that he should consult a lawyer about 
 the adoption. Mr. Home replied that he had not, and did not like 
 her to act so hastily in a matter of such importance. She again 
 assured him that her mind was fully made up, and added: " Whether 
 you will or not, I shall settle a fortune on you, and you will be 
 obliged to accept it. You are a gentleman, and have friends in the 
 best society. I shall go out with you, and your friends will come to 
 us; and my old age will become a joy instead of a burden." 
 
 He told her that he feared she sought him for the strange gift he 
 possessed. Her answer, as given in his affidavit, was: " Why, you 
 foolish fellow, I've seen nothing of your strange gift, as you call it; 
 and though it is through your being celebrated for that that I first 
 heard of you, now tliat I know you I love you for yourself, and should 
 not care if you never had anything singular occur to you again." As 
 no third person was present at the interview, it was impossible for Mr. 
 Home to demonstrate that Mrs. Lyon's subsequent denial of having 
 spoken these words was but one more addition to the many false oaths 
 which the Vice-Chancellor declared her to stand convicted of having 
 taken. 
 
 He took twenty-four hours more to consider the proposed adoption, 
 and then called on Mrs. Lyon and told her that he was unable to 
 accept her proffered kindness. She urged him earnestly to reconsider 
 his determination, and repeated her entreaties at a subsequent inter- 
 view. Finally, he consented to take counsel with his friends, and 
 began with Mr. S. C. Hall, who called by his request on Mrs. Lyon, 
 Home not accompanying him. 
 
 After the visit, Mr. Hall related to Mr. Home what had passed. 
 Mrs. Lyon said nothing on the subject of Spiritualism, but declared 
 her intention of adopting Mr. Home, and asked her visitor what he 
 thought she should settle on him. "I suggested," said Mr. Hall, 
 " that two or three hundred a year would suffice," on which she said, 
 " Oh, that's not enough." 
 
 "Finding from Mr. Hall's conversation," says Mr. Home in his 
 affidavit, ' ' that he thought her not only sane and in her right mind, 
 but a very sharp business woman, who gave efficient reasons for what 
 she had contemplated doing, I decided to accept what she offered 
 me." 
 
 The day following, October loth, Mr. Home and Mr. Hall called 
 on Mrs. Lyon to suggest that she should delay executing her intention 
 until she had considered it further. She refused, and said that she 
 had determined to transfer at once to her adopted son a sum of 
 ,24,000. "When she said that she would give me ,24,000, Mr. 
 Hall said, ' Do, you good lady, take time and think this well over. 
 Do not act so hastily.' And I joined with him in saying so ; but she 
 only said, ' What is 24,000 to me in comparison with having a son 
 that I can love, and who will be kind to me?' " (Affidavit of Mr. 
 Home.) 
 
 On the day of this interview, but a few hours previous to it, Mrs. 
 Lyon had written to Mr. Home naming 24,000 as the sum she
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 143 
 
 intended to settle on ham. He found her letter waiting for him on 
 IMS return as follows. The italics and small capitals represent the 
 single and double underlinations of the writer: 
 
 MY DEAR MR. HOME, I have a desire to render you indepen- 
 dent of the world, and having am fie means for the purpose without 
 abstracting from any needs or comforts of my own, I have the 
 greatest satisfaction in now presenting you with and as an entirely 
 FREE GIFT from me the sum of ,24,000, and am, my dear sir, yours 
 very truly and respectfully, ' JANE LYON.' ' 
 
 Mr. Home accepted the gift of ,24,000, and changed his name 
 to Home-Lyon. In spite of the unanimous approval that his 
 friends bestowed on the course he had taken, he sometimes doubted 
 its wisdom. His advisers, one and all, looked on the impulsive 
 action of Mrs. Lyon as a signal favour of Providence, that it would 
 have been not only foolish but wrong to reject. But he could not 
 forget that, in America, in Italy, and in France, offers of adoption 
 had been made to him by persons who were all of them better-bred 
 and more amiable than Mrs. Lyon, and some of them as wealthy or 
 wealthier ; and that he had never regretted his grateful refusal of 
 those offers. All his life he had studied to preserve an absolute 
 independence of thought and action. He soon found reason to 
 fear that, in becoming the adopted son of Mrs. Lyon, he had 
 sacrificed that independence. 
 
 On becoming the possessor of the .24,000, his first thought was 
 of others. The aunt who had adopted him as a child passed the 
 last years of her life in the house her nephew bought for her. 
 
 In November, 1866, Mrs. Lyon unexpectedly asked her adopted 
 son for the name of his solicitor; and a few days later Mr. Home 
 was astonished to find that, without giving him any hint of her 
 intention, she had ordered a will to be drawn up constituting him 
 heir to her fortune. 
 
 The lawyer who received her instruction, Mr. W. M. Wilkinson, 
 remonstrated strongly against them. 
 
 " I reminded her," he stated in his affidavit, " of what she had already 
 done for Mr. Home, and that she might be disappointed with him, or he with 
 her. ... I asked her in the most pointed way if what she was doing was 
 in consequence of any spiritual control or orders, and she said it was not, but 
 was her own unbiassed wish and determination. . . . She assured me in 
 the most positive manner that in what she was doing she was not influenced 
 by any such reasons, but that she had taken the greatest liking to Mr. Home, 
 and found him all that she could wish ; and it was a delight to her to find that 
 she could make such a good use of her money. ... I told her that, as I 
 was a friend of Mr. Home, it would be much more satisfactory to me if she 
 would advise with some other solicitor ; but she said she was perfectly satisfied 
 with me and would not go to anyone else, that I had cautioned her in every 
 way that anyone else could, and she quite understood what she was about, and 
 was a good woman of business." 
 
 Dr. Hawksley and Mr. Rudall, two gentlemen of high standing and 
 unimpeachable character, were the witnesses to the will. In their 
 presence Mr. Wilkinson repeated all his former cautions to Mrs. 
 Lyon. She again replied that she was influenced by no spirit 
 communications, and insisted on signing the mil.
 
 144 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Early in December, 1866, Mr. Home formally assumed the name 
 of Home-Lyon. Without saying anything to him, Mrs. Lyon wrote 
 on this occasion to the same solicitor : 
 
 " "jfh Decetnber, 1866. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. WILKINSON, On the occasion of my adopted son 
 taking the name of Lyon, I wish to give ham a little surprise. I 
 intend to add six thousand pounds to the twenty-four I have already 
 given him, making a sum total of thirty thousand. . . . Yours very 
 truly, "JANE LYON." 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson in reply once more suggested that, as he had known 
 Mr. Home long and intimately, she should employ another solicitor 
 to transact the business. Mrs. Lyon refused. "I am perfectly 
 satisfied with your legal advice," she wrote, " and wish for no other 
 adviser; " and very soon afterwards informed him of her desire to 
 transfer a further sum of ^30,000 to Mr. Home. 
 
 The solicitor not only wrote but called on her to remonstrate. She 
 explained that she wished to save legacy duty by transferring this 
 large portion of her fortune to her adopted son during her lifetime. 
 
 " I told her," says Mr. Wilkinson in his affidavit, " that the mere question 
 of saving legacy duty was not to be considered against the all-important 
 question of divesting herself of her property, and that it was impossible to 
 say that she might not afterwards regret giving so large a sum to one whom 
 she had known so short a time. . . . She said she would do it, and 
 desired me to have the deed made out in his name. I asked her if she were 
 desirous of doing this in consequence of any spirit-communications, for that, if 
 so, I could have nothing to do with it on any such ground. She said that she 
 was not influenced by anything but the intention of placing him in an inde- 
 pendent position and saving the legacy duty, as she was satisfied she should 
 never change her mind." 
 
 On Monday, January 7, 1867, Mr. Wilkinson again called on Mrs. 
 Lyon. 
 
 " I saw her," he stated," and had a long conversation with her as to her 
 intended gift to the defendant Home. She expressed the greatest affection for 
 him, and said that she was determined to carry it out in the way proposed. 
 I reiterated to her all the old arguments. I again warned her against being 
 in any way influenced by any spirit-communications, or by anything but her 
 unbiassed reason, and she assured me that she was not. On this occasion she 
 told me that she had received the same advice from Lady Dunsany, who had 
 told her not to be guided in any worldly matters by any communications, and 
 she did not intend to be. She said, whatever happened, she had more money 
 than she could want, and she was only too glad to make Daniel independent 
 after all the obloquy he had suffered." 
 
 The winter of 1866 was very severe in England, and Mr. Home's 
 health grew worse and worse. Under the advice of his physicians, 
 he tried frequent change of air, and visited Brighton, Malvern, 
 Hastings, Torquay, and other health-resorts. All this while Mrs. 
 Lyon remained in London, and he saw her only during his 
 occasional residences there. 
 
 The will that Mrs. Lyon had made in favour of Mr. Home was 
 far from being her first testament. He discovered that she had 
 executed and revoked at least five wills, in favour of different persons.
 
 \ 
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 145 
 
 He found her untruthful, ignorant, violent, capricious one day 
 testifying the warmest affection for him, the next loading him with 
 abuse. A feeling of aversion gradually began to contend with the 
 affectionate gratitude that had at first been his only sentiment towards 
 her. On her side, Mrs. Lyon wearied of her caprice as she had 
 wearied of twenty others that had preceded it ; and the more speedily 
 because she found herself, in her own brutal phrase, " tied to a 
 dying man." She had taken a violent dislike to Home's little son; 
 and the thought that, if she and Mr. Home died, the boy would 
 inherit her property made her talk of changing her will. She was 
 grievously disappointed with her reception in the society where Home 
 moved, and to which he had introduced her. His friends saw as 
 little as possible of her; for she was as ignorant of the ways and 
 habits of well-bred people, as destitute of their breeding. With this 
 disappointment working on her violent temper, and surrounded by 
 persons who had sought her acquaintance in the hope of diverting her 
 wealth from Mr. Home to themselves, she determined to recall a 
 portion at least of her gifts ; and in May, 1867, consulted a retired 
 barrister who was acquainted both with Home and herself, as to the 
 means she should adopt to recover the second sum of ^30,000 that 
 she had forced upon her adopted son. " She told him," says Mr. 
 Home in his affidavit, " that she did not wish to disturb the gifts^of 
 ^24,000 and ;6,ooo to me, but thought she had been too lavish 
 in bestowing on me the subsequent gift." 
 
 Home, who was at Malvern, knew nothing of these proceedings. 
 He returned to London early in June; and his doctor having 
 prescribed a visit to some of the German baths, he informed Mrs. 
 Lyon of the fact, and invited her to accompany him. " I wisfi you 
 would go with me," he wrote. " I have been out of London more 
 than I wished, but I have ever asked you to join me." 
 
 " My dear Daniel," wrote Mrs. Lyon in reply: " I have this instant 
 got a letter from you that you are packing up to go away. I 
 perfectly approve of your determination. I think it will do you good; 
 and be assured I wish you every enjoyment, and that of health in 
 particular." 
 
 The letter closed with a request that Home would call on her. 
 He went at once : and throwing aside the pretended affection of her 
 letter, she demanded, in language of outrageous abuse and insult, 
 the return of the trust-deed that had conveyed the second ^30,000 
 to Mr. Home. 
 
 No situation could be more painful and perplexing than that in 
 which he found himself suddenly placed. He knew that, if he 
 surrendered the trust-deed thus insultinglv demanded of him. the 
 world would declare that he had yielded to Mrs. Lvon's threats 
 because he feared to stand a lawsuit. He consulted his friends in 
 London. One and all advised him not to give up the deed. In 
 spite, however, of their opinion that he could both leeallv and 
 honourably retain the whole ^60,000 bestowed on him, Mr. Home 
 finally determined to return that second ^30,000 to which he
 
 146 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 supposed Mrs. Lyon's demand to be still limited; but only on 
 condition that be received from her a written retractation of the 
 charges she had made against his honesty and that of his friends. He 
 wrote to make this offer. ' ' I was wholly ignorant at the time, ' ' he 
 explained in his affidavit, ' ' that she had filed her Bill in Chancery, 
 making charges against me and my friends. I was in very feeble 
 health at the time, and required rest and freedom from anxiety. I 
 had no ill-feeling towards the plaintiff; and I wrote without taking 
 advice of any one, and for the sake of peace and quiet. Had I 
 been aware of such Bill having been filed, I most certainly would 
 have scorned to make or accept any offer of compromise." 
 
 Dishonestly suppressing the facts that Mr. Home's intended journey 
 to Germany was prescribed by his medical adviser, that he had 
 requested her to accompany him, and that she had expressed entire 
 approval of his intention, Mrs. Lyon obtained a writ of Ne exeat 
 regno, upon which Mr. Home was arrested on the i8th of June, 1867. 
 He was liberated the following day, on depositing in the Court of 
 Chancery the deeds of gift relating to the ^60,000; and from the 
 moment of his arrest his friends Lord Adare and Lord Lindsay had 
 never left him. Their generous sympathy and companionship 
 lightened the trial of these twenty-four hours to Mr. Home; but 
 coming at a time when he was already prostrated by illness, the 
 shock to his sensitive nature had all but proved fatal. It was three 
 months before he had sufficiently recovered to give any instructions 
 to his legal advisers. 
 
 On adopting Mr. Home, Mrs. Lyon had taken possession of the 
 jewellery, lace, &c., that had belonged to his wife. She retained 
 them even after the close of the lawsuit, and some of the most 
 valuable objects were never restored. 
 
 In April, 1868, the cause of " Lyon against Home" came on for 
 hearing before Vice-Chancellor Giffard without a jury. The 
 plaintiff declared that she had been influenced to adopt Mr. Home 
 as her son by communications which she had believed to proceed 
 from the spirit of her late husband. She asserted that during her 
 first visit to the Spiritual Athenaeum the following words were spelt 
 out by rappings on the table: "My beloved Jane, I am Charles, 
 your own beloved husband. I live to bless you." Yet by her own 
 sworn statement, she was an entire stranger to Mr. Home when that 
 interview took place, and he had no means of knowing that her 
 husband's name had been Charles. 
 
 Here I may state a fact, known to others besides myself. When 
 Mrs. Lyon first manifested the intention of reclaiming part of her gifts, 
 Mr. Home was recommended by at least one of the friends whom he 
 consulted to place the money where it would be out of the reach of 
 any English Court, but has honourable nature rejected the advice. 
 
 The proof of mens eonscia recti that he crave in investing the whole 
 of the fortune bestowed on him in English securities, puzzled even 
 the most prejudiced and hostile of his critics. "It is difficult to 
 understand," said the Daily News of May 2, 1868, " why the object
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 147 
 
 of the widow's motherly bounty, and more than motherly affection, 
 should have invested the large sums so prodigally cast at his feet in 
 securities within the reach of a widow's second thoughts and of the 
 Court of Chancery. These mysteries are beyond our ken." 
 
 In his answer to the plaintiff's affidavit, Mr. Home absolutely 
 denied that any allusion to the late Charles Lyon had been made when 
 Mrs. Lyon called on him at the Spiritual Athenaeum, or that any 
 spiritual manifestations whatever took place. With regard to the 
 second interview, he similarly swore that no spirit-communications 
 were received. At the third interview, and after she had declared 
 her intention to adopt him, a manifestation took place which Mr. 
 Home fully described in his affidavit. It did not refer to the proposed 
 adoption. 
 
 Such are the prejudice and dishonesty of the world that the 
 English press in general treated Mrs. Lyon's account of what passed 
 on these occasions as if it had been worthy of credence conveniently 
 ignoring the fact that the witnesses called by Mr. Home had 
 convicted her of false swearing in very many other particulars of 
 her evidence, and that the Vice-Chancellor had declared it to be 
 impossible to believe her on her oath. In order to fling a stone 
 however muddy at Mr. Home, the press calmly assumed that, 
 although the plaintiff stood convicted of falsehood in almost every 
 other particular of her evidence, she was telling the truth as to those 
 interviews at which only herself and the defendant had been present. 
 
 Mr. Home could call no witnesses to what had passed at interviews 
 where no witnesses had been. All he could do, he did ; he brought 
 forward witness after witness to prove that she had never attributed 
 her adoption of him to the communications she now pretended to 
 have received, and had uniformly declared that she was influenced 
 only by her affection for him in the course she had taken. 
 
 Take, for instance, the evidence of Mr. Home's lawyer, Mr. 
 Wilkinson, a solicitor in large practice, whose bona -fides the Vice- 
 Chancellor held to be fully established, and whose costs he ordered 
 Mrs. Lyon to pay as he ordered her to pay her own costs. 
 
 " So far as it relates to matters within my own knowledge," said Mr. 
 Wilkinson in his affidavit, " the plaintiff's affidavit is almost wholly untrue, 
 and is at variance with the facts, or with her own previous and repeated 
 statements to me. ... I was the friend of the defendant Home, though I 
 seldom saw him. I have always found him a person of honour and integrity ; 
 end when I heard that he had been adopted by the plaintiff, and that she had 
 given him ^24,000, I was very glad of it, as a compensation for the unmerited 
 abuse to which he has been subjected. When, however, that munificent gift 
 had been made to him, I thought it was enough for all purposes, and any 
 further gifts I considered quite unnecessary. This made me very independent 
 in advising her, and very determined that she should do nothing more for him 
 upon my advice. I never told Mr. Home or any other person what I intended 
 to do in the way of questioning her when I took her will, but I questioned her 
 in the strictest way. ... If she had at the time she signed her will the 
 conviction that she was influenced by any spiritual cause, she not only con- 
 cealed it from me, but resolutely denied it, and gave as her reason that she did 
 it out of her liking for Mr. Home, and to make him independent. . . . 
 
 " She assured me repeatedly that she was not influenced in any way by
 
 148 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 spirit-communications, but only by her liking for him, and that if he were not 
 a medium at all, she should have the same affection for him. If it were 
 otherwise, she is alone to blame for concealing it from me and constantly 
 denying it, but I spoke to her so often against being led away by communica- 
 tions that the subject got quite threadbare between us. ... I have given 
 her the same advice, both when by ourselves and in the presence of the, 
 defendant Home ; and on such occasions he has always said the same to her. 
 I could have done nothing more than I did, except refusing altogether to carry 
 out her strict orders ; and had I done so, and she had gone to another solicitor, 
 and had told him the same as she told me, he would have had no alternative 
 but to act on her instructions. 
 
 " The plaintiff has repeatedly told me that she acted altogether on her own 
 judgment in what she was doing, and that it was the greatest pleasure to her 
 to have made such a use of her money, and to have found one who was such 
 a comfort to her." 
 
 How are these sworn statements of Mr. Wilkinson to be reconciled 
 with the plaintiff's assertion that spirit-communications had led her 
 to adopt Mr. Home? 
 
 What she had stated to Mr. Wilkinson concerning the motives of 
 the adoption, she stated to many besides ; some of whom came for- 
 ward in Court to swear to the fact, while others, residing at a dis- 
 tance from London, sent affidavits. She had told Lady Dunsany, 
 for instance, that she was not influenced by any spirit-communica- 
 tions and did not intend to be. She had made declarations of a 
 similar nature to Mr. Gerald Massey the poet and to numerous other 
 persons whose names are not before me. 
 
 Among the papers in my possession that relate to the Lyon law- 
 suit is an affidavit made by Dr. Robert Chambers, whom, on one of 
 his visits to London, Mr. Home had introduced to Mrs. Lyon. I 
 copy this interesting document. It will be seen that Mrs. Lyon 
 spoke to Dr. Chambers, as she had spoken to others, of her own 
 visions -previous to her acquaintance with Mr. Home, and added 
 that he identified him with the person she had seen in those visions. 
 A very different story this from the one she afterwards told in Court, 
 when all mention of her visions was suppressed, and in their place 
 imaginary communications made at her first interviews with Mr. 
 Home were substituted. 
 
 "I, Robert Chambers, LL.D., make oath and say as follows : I was 
 introduced by Mr. Home-Lyon to Mrs. Lyon, the plaintiff, at her house in 
 Albert Terrace, on the 4th of December last. I congratulated her on her 
 recent act of adopting Mr. Home as her son, as I knew him to be worthy of 
 her affection, as well as the fortune she had conferred upon him. She entered 
 into a recital of what had led her to do so. Mr. Home was a recent acquaint- 
 ance, and on seeing him she had recognised him as the person pointed out by 
 her husband in vision. . . . Her motives had sprung solely from her own 
 visions. Both on this occasion, and when I met Mrs. Lyon with her adopted 
 son at the house of a lady of rank in Onslow Square " (Lady Dunsany), 
 " Mrs. Lyon spoke of and to Mr. Home entirely as an affectionate mother. 
 
 " I have known Mr. Home for many years, and believe him to be of 
 irreproachable character. " ROBERT CHAMBERS. 
 
 " Sworn at St. Andrews, the fifth day of September, 1867." 
 
 In a letter written to Mr. Home shortly before making this 
 affidavit, Dr. Chambers says: "She" (Mrs. Lyon) "mentioned a 
 habit of visions from her youth." But surely for such a habit even
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 149 
 
 English law could not hold Mr. Home responsible? It was his 
 misfortune, not his fault, that on seeing him Mrs. Lyon should have 
 identified him with the figure seen in her visions, on whom her 
 ancient affections were to be lavished. 
 
 The pleadings in the suit of Lyon v. Home closed on May ist, 
 1868, and the Vice-Chancellor reserved judgment. The trial had, 
 in his own words, " quite discredited the plaintiff's testimony " ; and 
 the one or two persons who in some degree supported her statements 
 consisted of those very people who were most deeply interested in 
 seeing her gifts to Mr. Home revoked. His testimony, on the other 
 hand, was unshaken ; and his witnesses consisted of persons of rank 
 and character, unbiassed by those interested motives of which the 
 plaintiff's witnesses might very reasonably be suspected. At the 
 close of the case, those of his friends who knew little of law and 
 were sanguine enough to suppose that equity would rule a Court of 
 Equity, even when Spiritualism was in question, predicted con- 
 fidently that he would win. Their expectation was shared 
 mirabile dictu! by an authority so learned in the law as the Law 
 Times. In its issue of May 2, 1868, that journal said : 
 
 " Does she " (Mrs. Lyon) " show that she was imposed upon by the 
 defendant? Was it not rather that she imposed upon herself. . . . This is 
 not the common case of a weak mind enthralled by a strong one of advantage 
 taken of ignorance. . . . When feeling is put aside, and the strangeness 
 of the Spiritualists' creed forgotten, and we look only at the fact, that a 
 woman of more than common sagacity gave to a man, whom she believed to 
 possess certain miraculous powers, a large sum of money, from a desire, then 
 sincerely entertained by her, to benefit the object of her admiration, we shall 
 probably come to the conclusion that no sufficient case has been shown for the 
 interference of the law to undo the act of benevolence, now that her feelings 
 towards the object of it have changed, and she repents of her generosity. 
 Such a principle so established would be applicable to cases far beyond the 
 range of Spiritualism. It would affect many religious and not a few charitable 
 gifts." 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Home's counsel, Mr. Henry Matthews, 
 Q.C., had warned him to be prepared for an adverse judgment; and 
 one of his friends, a medical man in large practice, wrote to him : 
 
 " B. said last autumn to me, ' They will give it against Home, 
 whatever the evidence be. . . . ' Sir W. Bovill told me a week ago, 
 ' The precedents are against Home, though the evidence is for him.' 
 Lawyers go all by precedent, I find." 
 
 Delivered towards the end of May, 1868, the Vice-Chancellor's 
 judgment was adverse to Mr. Home on the grounds I have already 
 stated : that the proved false swearing of the plaintiff was im- 
 material, and that English law in a suit like this reversed the 
 ordinary maxims of jurisprudence, and held a defendant guilty unless 
 he could prove himself innocent. But, to the mind of every un- 
 prejudiced critic the evidence called for Mr. Home had established 
 his innocence. The Vice-Chancellor seems to have felt that 
 awkward fact, or why, besides ordering Mrs. Lyon to pay her own 
 costs, did he seek to give a colour of reason to his judgment by de- 
 nouncing Spiritualism in general terms, as " well calculated to de-
 
 i 5 o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 lude the vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious." Had 
 his candour been equal to his prejudices, Vice-Chancellor Giffard 
 would have said in so many words: " The law requires the defend- 
 ant to prove that he did not exercise undue influence over the 
 plaintiff. He has called evidence to show that he did not, and the 
 evidence is undisproved. Nevertheless, I decide against him; for, 
 as I hold Spiritualism to be a delusion, I must necessarily hold the 
 plaintiff to be the victim of a delusion, and no amount of evidence 
 will convince me to the contrary." 
 
 The reductio ad absurdum of the Vice-Chancellor's reasoning (?) 
 was wittily set forth in the Malvern News of June 6th, 1868 : 
 
 " We do not see how poor Mr. Home is henceforth ever to retain a bequest 
 or gift from anyone with whom he has ever sat at a table, for that may be 
 construed into a seance, and that again into an influence destructive of the 
 validity of the gift." 
 
 " The woman Lyon," says the same article in the Malvern News, " again 
 and again stated that she had believed in Spiritualism long before she knew 
 of Home's existence. She swore that he persuaded her to give the money, but 
 offered not a tittle of evidence to rebut the mass of written and oral evidence 
 that he had never attempted to persuade her. . . . From beginning to end 
 of the trial there was not a particle of evidence to show that Home had used 
 direct influence, based on spirit-communication, to cause the old woman to 
 give her money in the deliberate yet speedy way in which she did. Even the 
 judge admitted that there was no such evidence." 
 
 Mr. Home was subsequently taunted by the multitude of his pre- 
 judiced critics with not having prosecuted an appeal against the 
 judgment. Why should he have done so? His object in defending 
 the suit had been to vindicate his character, and that he had done 
 in the eyes of all whose opinion he valued. His friends did not 
 fall from him; on the contrary, they crowded the court during the 
 ten days the suit lasted, welcomed him when he entered and left 
 the building ; and both before and after the judgment was delivered, 
 those friends, who included persons of the highest standing in 
 English society, gave generous ?nd open testimony that their esteem 
 for him remained unchanged, because in the evidence given during 
 the suit of Lyon v. Home there was nothing that should cause him 
 to forfeit it. 
 
 English law being what it was, and popular prejudices against 
 Spiritualism what they were, it would have been useless for Mr. 
 Home to appeal. Any fresh judges before whom the suit came 
 would almost certainly have shared the prejudices of the Vice- 
 Chancellor against Spiritualism ; and sharing his prejudices, they 
 would have confirmed his judgment. Against a foregone conclusion 
 facts fight in vain. 
 
 The brief and imperfect outline of the suit Lyon v. Home that I 
 have given in the foregoing pages will prove to any impartial reader 
 that, if Mr. Home lost his case, he vindicated his character. As to 
 what passed during his first two or three interviews with the plaintiff, 
 he could but set his oath against hers; and her oath, on the 
 declaration of the Vice-Chancellor himself, was that of a person who 
 could not be believed. She pretended that on those occasions
 
 AMERICA, RUSSIA, AND ENGLAND 151 
 
 messages had been rapped out in which she was told to adopt him as 
 her son. Mr. Home conclusively established that at the time of the 
 adoption, and for several months afterwards, not only had she made 
 no mention of such messages she had, times without number, 
 emphatically denied being influenced by any spirit-communications. 
 On that head, the evidence of Mr. Wilkinson would alone be 
 conclusive, but it was confirmed by a number of other witnesses. 
 
 When Home passed from earth, various leading English journals 
 in their notices of his death grossly misstated the grounds on which 
 judgment was delivered against him in the suit of Lyon v. Home. 
 Vice-Chancellor Giffard, with all his prejudices, had gone no further 
 than to declare that putting the plaintiff's evidence aside 
 as worthless the defendant had failed to show to the 
 Vice-Chancellor's satisfaction that the gifts of Mrs. Lyon were the 
 well-understood acts of a reasonable being. Yet the Times of June 
 24, 1886, could state: "By 'messages' which were rapped out on 
 tables, she was induced to execute deeds of gift to him covering 
 sums of money amounting in all to about thirty thousand pounds." 
 Had the writer of these words taken the trouble to consult the records 
 of the Chancery suit, he would have found that the only evidence as 
 to these pretended messages was contained in the statements of the 
 plrintiff ,and that her testimony was discredited as perjured by the judge. 
 
 " Mr. Home," said a discreditable article in the Daily News of 
 the same date as the Times leader, " explained the meaning of this 
 utterance from another world to be that twenty-four thousand 
 pounds' worth of stock should be invested for him in the Bank of 
 England. Soon afterwards he declared it to be the spirit's will that 
 Mrs. Lyon should leave him everything she possessed." 
 
 Compare these statements not with the actual facts on record 
 but simply with the less garbled account published by the same 
 journal in May, 1868, immediately after the 'Vice-Chancellor had 
 delivered judgment. " Mrs. Lyon," said the Daily News of that 
 earlier date, "proposed to be Mr. Home's mother. . . . She 
 insisted on his acceptance of ,30,000 as a free and absolute gift 
 and of an equal sum in reversion, subject to her life interest. . . . 
 Mr. Home had the necessary deeds prepared with no undue haste, 
 and with reasonable caution." 
 
 How account for this extraordinary difference between two versions 
 of the Lyon lawsuit published at different times by the same journal ? 
 Probably by the fact that when the first version was published Mr. 
 Home was still within the protection of the law of libel. English 
 law, I am told, does not account it any offence to libel those who 
 have passed from earth. 
 
 "There is no such thing as fair play in this world," says Mr. 
 Serjeant Cox in one of his letters to Mr. Home; " at least, I have 
 never met with it." Home might justly have echoed the words after 
 the Lyon lawsuit. I will only add that the resignation with which 
 Home supported every trial of has life is perhaps an even rarer virtue 
 than fair-play and justice.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 ENGLAND 
 
 Evidence of the Earl of Dunraven and Lord Adare. The 
 Dialectical Society. Evidential seances. Insensibility to heat. 
 The effects of faith. Light and dark mediumship. Spirit 
 music. ' ' A hundred instances of levitation. ' ' The 
 Levitation at Ashley House. Dr. Carpenter's misstatement. 
 Captain Wynne's evidence. Dr. Carpenter as a Universal 
 Spiritualist. 
 
 COMPARATIVELY full records have been preserved of seances with Mr. 
 Home during the years 1867-8-9. The phenomena witnessed were 
 remarkable both for their nature and their variety. One of their 
 frequent investigators at this time was the present Earl of Crawford,* 
 then Lord Lindsay, whose scientific attainments might have been 
 expected to secure for his evidence the impartial consideration of the 
 scientific world; but the reception accorded to it only demonstrated 
 how very timid, prejudiced, and unfair that world can be. 
 
 A record of eighty seances with Mr. Home was preserved by the 
 Earl of Dunraven and his son, then Lord Adare, in a volume printed 
 for private circulation. In the preface the writers relate that the 
 occurrences of each day were noted down at the time, that when both 
 had been present at a seance both drew up an account of the 
 manifestations, and insured accuracy by comparing them; and that, 
 still further to test the correctness of the narrative, the record of every 
 seance was sent to the remaining persons who had been present, with 
 the request that they would state whether it coincided with their own 
 recollections. Every answer was in the affirmative. It is added 
 that, while nothing had been inserted that did not occur, or had been 
 exaggerated that did, it was found necessary to omit a great deal 
 a very important fact to bear in mind. In all such narratives it is 
 precisely the most vital part of the tale that is left untold, the 
 communication of private matters to the persons present at the seance, 
 and unknown to Home. 
 
 " Even in the original letters to my father," said Lord" Adare, " 1 
 was obliged to omit a few circumstances of great interest ; in some 
 cases on account of their having reference to persons who did not 
 wish those circumstances to be mentioned." 
 
 It was; always so, or almost always. Sometimes the witness would' 
 not speak, because the communications he had received so intimately 
 concerned himself ; sometimes he could not, because the startling 
 facts with which he was conversant had reference to other persons, 
 who declined to make them public to the world. It is thus that much- 
 remarkable evidence received and verified at seances with Home has 
 * The late Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. [Eo.] 
 152
 
 ENGLAND i 53 
 
 been lost to the world. There are very few who, like Lords Lindsay 
 and Dunraven, have placed the history of their investigations on 
 record. 
 
 An inquiry into the phenomena of Spiritualism was conducted by 
 the Dialectical Society in 1869; evidence, both oral and written, being 
 received, while various sub-committees were appointed to hold 
 seances. The committee appointed to meet Mr. Home contained some 
 of the most incredulous members of the Society, among others Mr. 
 Bradlaugh and Dr. Edmonds. Lord Adare and Lord Lindsay 
 
 attended the seances, which, to the number of four, were held in a 
 fully-lighted room. The manifestations did not extend beyond 
 slight raps and movements of the table ; and the illness of Mr. Home 
 preventing an extension of the inquiry, the committee were only able 
 to report that nothing material had occurred; adding that "during 
 the inquiry Mr. Home afforded every facility for examination." 
 
 It is a pity that circumstances prevented the Society's committee 
 from holding fourteen or twenty seances with Mr. Home instead of 
 four. In such a case numerous seances might be necessary to enable 
 the spirits to establish conditions rendering manifestations possible. 
 In what the difficulty of establishing such conditions consisted it 
 would be impossible to say, but that the mere fact of scepticism did 
 not constitute it was a hundred times proved. No scepticism could 
 have been more thorough or aggressive than that of Dr. Elliottson 
 when he came to his first seance with Home at Dieppe, but the 
 invisible forces went to work at once. Similarly, Thackeray, 
 
 Chambers, Mr. John Bright, Mr. Crookes, Dr. Huggins, and very 
 many others that I might name for instance, the Emperors of 
 Russia, France, and Germany were completely incredulous 
 concerning the phenomena when they first sat with Mr. Home; but 
 in none of these cases did the scepticism of the investigator paralyse 
 the manifestations. When Mr. Home sat with the Dialectical 
 Society's committee, either his variable power was almost absent at 
 the time, 1 or his state of health was such that the power, although 
 present, could not venture to manifest itself. 
 
 It is curious to notice with what ardour certain zealots of disbelief 
 maintain that the negative results of one or two seances constitute an 
 affirmative of their incredulity. If men of science are forced to avow 
 how little they comprehend of the nature of the visible 
 universe what must be their ignorance of the nature of a gift so 
 mysterious as that of Home, which passed the limits of human 
 experience, and whose source was connected with the origin and 
 mysteries of our spiritual being. 
 
 In a previous chapter I have collected instances of the proofs of 
 identity received at the seances of Home. The smallness of their 
 number, as I have already explained, is not due to the fact that these 
 convincing tokens were seldom forthcoming; on the contrary, they 
 
 1 " Whatever the nature of Mr. Home's power, it is very variable, and at 
 times entirely absent." Mr. Crookes: Experimental Investigation of a New 
 Force. 
 
 L
 
 154 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 were the invariable characteristics of his seances, and referred 
 constantly to matters of the most intimate and remarkable nature. 
 In the present chapter I shall deal chiefly with physical 
 manifestations; but first I am enabled to add one or two interesting 
 items to the facts establishing identity that have been already given. 
 Several of the seances described by Lord Adare took place at the 
 house of Mrs. Hennings, a lady residing in Thicket Road, Anerley, 
 who became a dearly valued friend of Mr. Home. She has very 
 kindly written for me a narrative of some of the experiences that 
 made her a Spiritualist, from which I extract the following details : 
 
 "At a stance in 1869, Mrs. Jencken, senior, Lord Adare, Mrs. Scott Russell, 
 and Mr. Bergheim being also present, Mr. Home fell into the trance condition, 
 rose from his seat, paced the room, and then knelt down by me, saying, 
 ' George is here ' (meaning my nephew, whom he had never met, and who 
 had recently passed away, in consequence of being thrown from his horse. 
 He had held a high legal position, and was employed against Mr. Home in the 
 Lyon trial). ' He wants to say something, but will not say it through me, 
 from prejudice ; therefore I have it from other spirits. ' 
 
 " Home then said to me : ' Do you remember that George, as a boy, had 
 an accident at your house in Dulwich, where, having teased a dog, the animal 
 flew at him, threw him down, and bit him severely in the groin?' I did 
 remember the occurrence perfectly, though it had occurred many years before ; 
 for the severe nature of the wound had caused us great alarm." 
 
 Of another communication Mrs. Hennings writes: "As a proof of 
 recognised identity this case stands unrivalled." Her narrative of 
 the incident is as follows: 
 
 " Seance of October 26th, 1867. Present, Mrs. Jencken, senior, Mrs. 
 Hennings, and Mr. Percival. The second of the seances especially addressed 
 to me, for the purpose of establishing the identity of communicant spirit 
 friends. The following circumstances occurred : 
 
 " D. D. Home fell into the trance state ; and after giving a few words to 
 each of the party from, or relating" to, departed spirit friends, drew a chair 
 close to me, took both my hands in his, and addressed me in the following 
 words : 
 
 ' The night before your father passed away, you played whist with him. 
 When it was his turn to play, he hesitated, and looked upwards with a smile, 
 as if entranced -that was the first glimpse he had of the spirit sphere. With 
 the dawn, he passed away without pain. 
 
 ' He had previously communicated with Mr. Hennings, who told him 
 " that he had taken care of Mary," in consequence of which your father left 
 you but little in comparison with the others. Now, through me, he wishes to 
 assure you this did not arise from any want of affection, but only from a 
 misapprehension of the state of affairs.' 
 
 " Home then returned to his former seat ; but, looking across the room, his 
 face became radiant with smiles, as he repeated : ' He is so pleased so 
 pleased. ' 
 
 " Mr. Home had never seen my father, nor heard anything about him ; and 
 most wonderful to me was this detail of such long-past events, known only to 
 myself. " M. HENNINGS." 
 
 Mrs. Scott Russell, who was one of the circle when Mrs. Hennings 
 received the remarkable proof of her nephew's identity narrated by 
 her above, was the wife of the eminent engineer of that name. She 
 was present at numerous seances with Mr. Home, and the 
 communications she received entirely convinced her of the reality of 
 spirit-communion. When he was about to bring out his second
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 155 
 
 volume of autobiography, Home consulted Mrs. Russell with regard 
 to the publication of her name as a witness to some of the facts 
 narrated, and received the following reply: 
 
 " WESTWOOD LODGE, SYDENHAM. 
 
 "My DEAR FRIEND, Certainly I have no objection to my name 
 being inserted as present at your seances. I thank God for it, and 
 shall always gratefully bear witness to what I have been permitted to 
 see. . . . Always affectionately yours, 
 
 " HARRIETTS SCOTT RUSSELL." 
 
 In spite of this kind and brave permission, Mr. Home, with his 
 invariable delicate consideration for his friends, omitted Mrs. Scott 
 Russell's name from his book. 
 
 "I never forget," writes Mrs. Scott Russell to Mr. Home in 
 1880, " my deep debt of gratitude to you for the faith which I believe 
 I never should have received through any other channel." 
 
 A number of English ladies and gentlemen who had been present 
 at seances with Mr. Home gave evidence of their experiences before 
 the committee of the Dialectical Society. Among them was a much 
 esteemed friend, Mrs. Honywood, who, like Mrs. Hennings, had 
 been present at various of the seances recorded by Lord 
 Adare, including some of the most remarkable. I have received 
 narratives of manifestations witnessed at the seances in question from 
 two or three of the most frequent sitters, and have compared them 
 with the records contained in Lord Dunraven's book. In every case 
 the various accounts agree perfectly ; and therefore in describing the 
 manifestations that Mrs. Honywood, Mrs. Hennings, Mr. 
 and Mrs. S. C. Hall, the Earls of Dunraven and 
 Crawford, Captain C. Wynne, and some fifty or sixty other persons 
 witnessed during the years of 1867-8-9, I shall generally be enabled 
 to do so on the authority of more than one of the beholders who were 
 present. Sometimes I have two or three records by different sitters 
 of the phenomena of the same seance. It is obvious that, within the 
 limits of a single volume intended to include the whole range of Mr. 
 Home's fife on earth, I cannot print them all textually. 
 
 In their evidence given before the Dialectical Society, Mrs. 
 Honywood and the Earl of Crawford described the very startling 
 phenomena that occurred at a seance held on the iyth of March, 1869, 
 
 at the residence of a Mrs. E , who did not permit her name 
 
 to be published. I extract some of the most interesting particulars. 
 
 There were present Mrs. Honywood, Mrs. E , the Earl of 
 
 Crawford (then Lord Lindsay), Captain Gerard Smith, of the Scots 
 Fusilier Guards, and Mr. Home. The room was well lighted all the 
 time of the seance: 
 
 " Mr. Home," deposed Mrs. Honywood and Lord Lindsay, " passed into a 
 trance, and went to the table, on which stood a moderator lamo. Taking off 
 the globe, he placed it on the table, and deliberately clasped the chimney of 
 the lamp with both hands ; then, advancing to the lady of the house, he asked
 
 156 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 her to touch it ; but she refused, knowing it was hot. Mr. Home said, ' Have 
 you no faith? Will you not trust in Dan if he says it is cool?' She replied, 
 ' Certainly ' ; and, placing her fingers on the glass, exclaimed, ' Oh, it is not 
 at all hot!' This was corroborated by Lord Lindsay and myself, who, in 
 turn, laid our finger on the glass several times, to test it. ... Holding it 
 
 towards Mr. , Mr. Home turned, apparently addressing someone, and 
 
 said: ' It is necessary, to confirm the faith of others, that it should be made 
 
 hot for him.' Mr. now touched it; and exclaimed, ' You have indeed 
 
 made it hot!' shaking his hand and showing me a red mark. So hot was 
 the glass when the fourth person touched it, that it raised a blister, which I 
 saw some days subsequently peeling." 
 
 The ' ' Mr. ' ' who suffered to confirm the faith of others 
 
 was Captain Smith, of the Scots Fusilier Guards. A letter from Mrs. 
 Honywood to me relates this remarkable incident as follows. Mr. 
 Home, be it remembered, was holding all the while, in a well-lighted 
 room, the large glass chimney that Mrs. Honywood and Lord Lindsay 
 had just touched and found cool: 
 
 " I placed my finger on the top part of the glass several times to test it. 
 Each time the heat appeared to recede like a wave of the sea. I cannot 
 describe the sensation in any other words, but the heat seemed to be with- 
 drawn each time. Mr. Home then laughed, and said, turning to Captain S., 
 ' We will make it hot for you !' Turning his head, he appeared to listen, and 
 his expression changed ; then, speaking in a sad tone of voice, he said : ' It is 
 .necessary, to confirm the faith of others, that the glass should be made hot 
 for you.' Captain Smith now touched it, and cried out, ' By Jove ! you have,* 
 shaking his finger, and showing a red mark. He had a blister which lasted 
 several days." 
 
 I resume the joint narrative of Mrs. Honywood and Lord 
 Lindsay : 
 
 " Mr. Home then walked to the fireplace, and thrust the chimney among 
 the red-hot coals, where he left it for four or five minutes, then took it in both 
 hands. He went to the table, took a lucifer match from a box, and, handing 
 it to the lady of the house, desired her to touch the glass with it. The match 
 instantly ignited ; and having called our attention to this fact, he observed : 
 ' The tongue and lips are the most sensitive parts of the body,' and thrust the 
 heated glass into his mouth, applying especially his tongue to it. ... 
 
 " Going to the fire, Mr. Home moved the red embers about with his hand, 
 and selected a small red-hot coal, which he placed in the glass chimney. He 
 approached Mrs. E. ; and saying, ' I have a present for you,' shook it out on 
 her white muslin dress. Catching up the coal in dismay, Mrs. E. tossed it to 
 Lord Lindsay, who, unable to retain it in his hand, threw it from palm to 
 palm, till he reached the grate and flung it in. While we were all looking at 
 the white muslin dress and wondering that it was not singed or soiled, Mr. 
 Home approached, and, in a hurt tone of voice, said : ' No, no, you will not 
 find a mark did you think that we would injure your dress.' ' 
 
 * 
 
 This wonderful phenomenon of preservation from fire was repeated 
 with a spray of white flowers, taken from a vase on the table, which 
 flowers were held by Mr. Home in the fire of the grate and then in 
 the smoke rising from the coals, without their being injured or their 
 pure white colour so much as dimmed. Shortly afterwards Mr. 
 Home awoke from his trance, and the seance closed. 
 
 Again and again was the phenomenon of the instantaneous with- 
 drawal of intense heat from burning coals and other objects, and its
 
 ENGLAND 157 
 
 equally instantaneous restoration, witnessed at seances with Home. I 
 could fill many pages with the names and narratives of those who 
 beheld and tested the facts; but must limit myself to two or three 
 extracts from the mass of testimony. In the narrative just given, it 
 will be observed that the intensely hot lamp-glass was handled without 
 harm by Mrs. Honywood and Lord Lindsay, as well as 
 by Mr. Home ; and the same innocuous contact with an intense 
 heat was experienced by persons whose testimony is equally above 
 suspicion, on each of the occasions about to be described. In all / 
 these cases it was declared by the spirits that, to prevent harm from 
 happening, it was necessary for the person experimenting to have 
 a perfect faith that no injury 7 would be received. 
 
 The present Earl of Dunraven, while Lord Adare, was among 
 those who had the opportunity of personally satisfying themselves 
 that the invisibles at work could so deal with fire that it would not 
 burn. In the winter of 1868, there was a seance at Mrs. Hennings' 
 house at Anerley. The sitters consisted of Mrs. Hennings, Mrs. 
 Jencken, senior, Lord Adare, Mr. Jencken, Mr. Saal, Mr. Hurt, and 
 Mr. Home. A full relation of the seance was written by Lord Adare, 
 and the most remarkable manifestation of the evening was also 
 described by Mr. Jencken in one of the Spiritualist journals. 
 
 Mr. Home, in the trance-state, went to the fire, and with his hand 
 stirred the red embers into flame. " Then, kneeling down," records 
 Lord Adare, " he placed his face right among the burning coals, 
 moving it about as though bathing it in water." 
 
 " He placed his hands and then his face in the flames and on the 
 burning coals," says Mr. Jencken. " I had the amplest opportunity 
 of watching the exact movements, and quite satisfied myself of the 
 fact that Mr. Home touched the burning coals." 
 
 Taking from the fire a burning ember, " about twice the size of an 
 orange," Mr. Home carried it to the sitters. 
 
 " Home held it within four or five inches of Mr. Saal's and Mr. 
 Hurt's hands," relates Lord Adare. " They could not endure the 
 heat. He came to me, and said : ' Now, if you are not afraid, hold 
 out your hand.' I did so; and having made two rapid passes over my 
 hand, he placed the coal in it. I must have held it for half a 
 minute, long enough to have burned my hand fearfully : the coal felt 
 scarcely warm. Home then took it away, laughed, and seemed much 
 pleased." 
 
 At some of the seances at Anerley with Mrs. Hennings and her 
 neighbours, the Jencken family, there was present Mr. J. H. Simpson, 
 of 10, Campden Grove, Kensington, a gentleman of considerable 
 scientific attainments and a total disbeliever in Spiritualism. I do not 
 know that Mr. Simpson ever succeeded in convincing himself of the 
 spiritual origin of the manifestations ; but, after having submitted the 
 phenomena witnessed by him at Anerley to every test he could con- 
 trive, he was compelled to admit that they were real and occurred 
 independently of Mr. Home. That Mr. Simpson was a very keen 
 and sceptical inquirer, the following fact may help to attest. He 
 went to a " dark seance " in January, 1868, with a " medium " who
 
 158 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 need not be named here; and, in spite of the obscurity, succeeded in 
 demonstrating so plainly both the fact of fraud and the modus 
 operandi that the proceedings came to an abrupt end. The letter to 
 Mr. Home in which he narrates the whole occurrence concludes with 
 the following words: 
 
 " There could be no greater contrast than that of the disgusting 
 dark affair of last night with the beautiful, light-loving series ot 
 phenomena which I had the privilege of witnessing the previous night, 
 thanks to yourself. Your sincerely obliged J. H. SIMPSON." 
 
 In a paper read before the Dialectical Society in July, 1869, Lord 
 Lindsay thus narrates his night vision at Norwood and the proof 
 afforded next morning that the form he had seen was no creation of 
 his fancy: 
 
 " I first met Mr. Home at the house of a friend of his and mine, Mrs. 
 Gregory ; and when we left the party I asked him to come into my rooms in 
 Grosvenor Square to smoke a cigar. I heard a shower of raps run along a 
 beam that crosses the ceiling. This was the first thing of the sort I had ever 
 heard ; and naturally I was interested, and wished for more, but in vain : 
 nothing more happened ; and soon after he went away. 
 
 " On the Sunday following, I was asked by Mr. Jencken to come to his 
 house in Norwood to dine, and afterwards to have a stance. I went. . . . 
 and that evening I missed the last train to Crystal Palace, and had to stay at 
 Norwood. I got a shake-down on a sofa in Home's room. I was just going 
 to sleep, when I was roused by feeling my pillow slipping from under my 
 head, and I could also feel what seemed to be a hand under it, which was 
 pulling it away. Soon after this ceased. 
 
 " Then I saw at the foot of my sofa a female figure standing in profile to 
 me, and asked Home if he saw anything. He answered, ' A woman, looking 
 at me.' Our beds were at right angles to one another, and about twelve feet 
 apart. I saw the features perfectly, and impressed them upon my memory. 
 She seemed to be dressed in a long wrap, going down from the shoulders, and 
 not gathered in at the waist. Home then said : ' It is my wife ; she often 
 comes to me.' And then she seemed to fade away. . . . 
 
 " The next morning, before I went to London, I was looking at some 
 photographs, and I recognised the face I had seen in the room upstairs over- 
 night. I asked Mrs. Jencken who it was, and she said it was Home's wife." 
 
 Lord Lindsay also described in his paper various phenomena that 
 he beheld after the disappearance of the figure ; the following being 
 one of the most striking: - 
 
 " I saw on my knee a flame of fire about nine inches high. I passed my 
 hand through it, bat it burnt on, above and below. . . . The flame, which 
 had been flitting about me, now left me, and crossed the room about four feet 
 from the ground, and reached the curtains of Home's bed. These proved no 
 obstruction ; for the light went right through them, settled on his head, and 
 then went out." 
 
 Lord Lindsay was another of the numerous witnesses whose 
 experiences enabled them to testify that they had not only seen Mr. 
 Home expose himself for minutes at a time to the contact of fire 
 without being burned, but had experienced a similar protection in 
 their own persons. " Eight times," he told the Dialectical Society, 
 " I myself have held a red-hot coal in my hands without injury, when 
 it scorched my face on raising my hand. Once I wished to see if 
 they really would burn; and I said so, and touched a coal with the
 
 ENGLAND 159 
 
 middle finger of my right hand. I got a blister as large as a sixpence. 
 I instantly asked Home to give me the coal ; and I held the part that 
 had burnt me for three or four minutes in the middle of my hand 
 without the least inconvenience." 
 
 Both Lord Lindsay and Lord Adare witnessed more than once the 
 strange phenomenon of the alternate elongation and shrinking of the 
 form of Mr. Home. It is my belief that this manifestation did great 
 physical harm to him ; fortunately, it was of rare occurrence. One of 
 the most remarkable instances was witnessed in the year 1868 at the 
 house of Mr. and Mrs. Hall. Among the persons present at the 
 time was Mr. H. T. Humphreys, a journalist, who subsequently 
 published an account of the occurrence, as follows: 
 
 " I formed one of a party of nine or ten. We sat in a room well lighted 
 with gas. . . . Mr. Home was seen by all of us to increase in height to 
 the extent of some eight or ten inches, and then sank to some six or eight 
 inches below his normal stature. Having returned to his usual height, he 
 took Lord Adare (now the Earl of Dunraven) and the Master of Lindsay (now 
 the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), and, placing one boside each post of the 
 folding doors, lay down on the floor, touching the feet of one with his head 
 and the feet of the other with his feet. He was then again elongated, and 
 pushed both Lord Adare and the Master of Lindsay backward along the floor 
 with his head and feet as he was stretched out, his arms and hands remaining 
 motionless by his side." 
 
 Mr. S. C. Hall says that he measured the extent of this elongation, 
 and found that Lord Lindsay and Lord Adare were pushed to a 
 distance of more than seven feet apart, Mr. Home's head still 
 touching the one, his feet the other. 
 
 The form seen by Lord Lindsay at Norwood, when he shared 
 Home's room, was again seen on thie evening of February pth, 1869, 
 by Viscount Adare, Captain Gerard Smith, and Dr. Gully, of 
 Malvern, at the rooms of the first-named in London. The three 
 were sitting with Mr. Home in a small room, the objects in which 
 were dimly visible by the faint light that came in from the window, 
 when Home was impressed to rise and place himself near the latter. 
 Another form slowly revealed itself beside his that of Mrs. Home. 
 
 " Her form," wrote Lord Adare the next day, " gradually became apparent 
 to us ; she moved close to Home and kissed him. She stood beside him 
 against the window, intercepting the light as a solid body, and appeared fully 
 as material as Home himself ; no one could have told which was the mortal 
 body and which the spirit. It was too dark, however, to distinguish features. 
 I could see that she had her full face turned towards us, and either that her 
 hair was parted in the middle and flowed down over her shoulders, or that 
 she had on what appeared to be a veil." 
 
 This was witnessed, be it noted, in Lord Adare's own rooms in 
 London. At his request, Captain Gerard Smith wrote to him attesting 
 the fact that he had equally beheld the form, and furnished his 
 observations of the apparition in the following words: 
 
 " Home rose, and stood at the window with his right arm extended ; 
 and the spirit seemed to sweep down until it rested both hands on his 
 outstretched arm, looking up into his face. From the position in 
 which I sat the profile of the face was perfectly visible to me, and
 
 i6o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 when the two faces approached each other to kiss, there was no 
 apparent difference in the density of the two figures." 
 
 Apparitions of other persons than Mrs. Home are also related by 
 Lord Adare to have been seen by him at different times. In August, 
 
 1868, he beheld a luminous form standing at the foot of Home's bedi; 
 and at Adare Manor, in March, 1869, a figure that was white and 
 slightly luminous appeared to him. He approached it, and it 
 vanished. 
 
 Mr. Home spent some weeks at Adare Manor in the early spring of 
 
 1869. On the night of the 4th of March, Lord Dunraven, Lord 
 Adare, Captain C. Wynne, and Mr. Home visited the ruins of the 
 Abbey of Adare, and startling phenomena occurred. On March 
 1 2th, a remarkable seance was held at Garinish, a cottage of Lord 
 Dunraven's on the Kerry coast. There were present Lord Dunraven, 
 Lord Adare, Major Blackburn, and Mr. Home. After twice forming 
 a circle without result, the sitters were about to give up the hope of 
 manifestations for that evening, when Lord Adare felt the cold air 
 blowing over him, the presence of which always heralded further 
 phenomena. Manifestations sometimes occurred at seances when no 
 such chill current had been noticed to pass round the circle ; but I do 
 not think there was ever an instance of its presence being remarked 
 when it was not the precursor of other phenomena. 
 
 On this night at Garinish it heralded a seance full of interest. Home 
 went into a trance, arranged the position of the chairs and tables in 
 the room, as if for unseen guests, placed the miniature portrait of Mrs. 
 Home on one table, and on another the photograph of a little friend 
 of his who had lately passed away; all the while, says Lord Adare, 
 appearing to consult with some presence invisible to the other sitters. 
 He then put out the candles, leaving the little room (all the rooms 
 at Garinish are very small) illuminated by the glow of the firelight; 
 and taking his seat with the rest of the party, arranged two vases of 
 flowers on the table, in such a way as to make with Pressense's " Life 
 of Christ," which he had placed between them, the figure of a cross. 
 Almost immediately aferwards he awoke from his trance. 
 
 Currents of cold air then blew round the circle very strongly, the 
 table vibrated, rose clear of the ground, and remained for some time 
 poised in the air. A hand formed itself above one of the vases of 
 flowers placed on the small table round which the party of four were 
 grouped, and carried a flower to Lord Dunraven. Lord Adare and 
 Mr. Home saw the hand ; the other two sitters only the flower moving 
 through the air; whereupon Lord Dunraven remarked that he was 
 very desirous also to see a hand. Presently one became distinctly 
 visible to him just above the vase of flowers. The miniature of Mrs. 
 Home was now brought from the other table. None but Home saw 
 the hand that held it they could see only the miniature approach 
 them and place itself gently upon Home's hands, as they rested on the 
 table in full view. The photograph above referred to was next 
 carried to the sitters in the same way; but this time Lord Adare 
 distinctly saw a hand holding it, and soon afterwards a whole hand
 
 ENGLAND 161 
 
 and arm, white and slightly luminous, that hovered in the air between 
 the sitters and the window. 
 
 Again flowers were carried to the sitters ; but the recipients saw no 
 hand holding them, only the blossoms moving through the air. A 
 book that lay on the other table, six or eight feet away from the 
 circle, rose, floated through the air, and placed itself on the seance 
 table. Hands were again seen, and the flowers that remained in the 
 vases were stirred; then the round table from which Mrs. Home's 
 miniature had been brought rose into the air, no one touching it and 
 none of the sitters being near it, and placed itself gently on the 
 larger oblong table at which the four persons present were seated. 
 Immediately afterwards loud sounds like high-pitched voices were 
 heard at a little distance. The suspicion of ventriloquism was 
 impossible ; for Lord Adare relates that Mr. Home continued speaking 
 during the whole time that these voices were heard, and that the 
 louder he spoke the louder the sounds became. A lady who had 
 retired to rest in the room beneath Mrs. Blackburn told the others 
 of the party at Garinish next day that she had heard strange sound.-, 
 and imitated them so well, that, says Lord Dunraven, we at once 
 recognised that she had really heard the voices. No articulate words 
 were distinguished, but the effect is described as having been most 
 weird. 
 
 Manifestations similar to the wonderful phenomenon recorded at 
 Garinish of spirit-voices sounding in the air, while Mr. Home, by 
 talking incessantly, negatived the theory of ventriloquism, were ot 
 rare, but not very rare occurrence. In August, 1868, Lord Adare 
 and Mr. Home were about to start for the Continent together ; and on 
 the eve of their departure Home came to stay at his friend's rooms 
 in London. They had just retired for the night when a phenomenon 
 attracted their attention, of which, to obviate any suspicion ot 
 exaggeration, I will cite Lord Adare 's own description, written at the 
 time : 
 
 " We both heard music, much the same as at Norwood, but more powerful 
 and distinct. Home said that the music formed words ; that, in fact, it was 
 a voice speaking, and not instrumental music. I could hear nothing but the 
 chords like an organ or harmonium played at a distance. Home became 
 quite excited because I could not distinguish the words, thinking that, if I 
 could not hear them, it must have been his imagination. He asked the spirit.-. 
 if possible, to make the words sufficiently clear for me also to hear them. 
 They said ' Yes ' (by raps) ; and the music became louder and louder, until I 
 distinctly heard the words, " Hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise the Lord God 
 Almighty.' It was no imagination, or the result of anxiety on my part to 
 hear the same as Home did. Every now and then I could not distinguish 
 words, although he said he could ; but I repeatedly heard the words above 
 mentioned as plainly as possible. I cannot in the least explain to you how 
 the voice articulated ; the words were not separately spoken, neither did it 
 resemble a human voice. The sound was slightly reedy and metallic, not very 
 unlike the vox humana on an organ. If you can imagine an organ pipe of 
 some rather reedy stop speaking to you, it will be as near it as anything I 
 can describe." 
 
 Of a similar, but less remarkable manifestation, that occurred 
 during the third seance at which he was present, Lord Adare says:
 
 i6a LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 ' ' During the time the sounds were heard Home was talking, which 
 I was glad of, as I wished to feel sure the sounds were not the result 
 of ventriloquism on his part." 
 
 As already mentioned, the records of seances made by Lord Adare, 
 Lord Lindsay, and others are chiefly confined to the physical 
 manifestations witnessed. These embraced every variety ot 
 phenomena. Tables were raised in the air when neither Home nor 
 any other person was touching them; chairs and sofas moved across 
 the floor in full light when no one was near them ; flowers, books, and 
 other objects were carried to the sitters by hands that they sometimes 
 saw distinctly, and that on other occasions were invisible to them; 
 music was played without the touch of any mortal hand on the 
 instrument, and was frequently heard when no instrument of any sort 
 was there. It need hardly be remarked that at those seances to which 
 accordions were brought to see if they would be played upon, it was 
 always one or more of the sitters who brought the accordions, and 
 never Mr. Home. At Malvern, for instance, in November, 1867 
 (present an American lady, Mrs. Thayer, Lord Adare, whose first 
 seance it was; and a total disbeliever in Spiritualism, Mr. Earl), Mrs. 
 Thayer sent out a servant to borrow an accordion from a friend, and 
 it played, first an air resembling a voluntary on the organ, and then 
 an air asked for by Mr. Earl. At Adare Manor, on March 4th, 
 1869, Captain Wynne fetched an accordion. It played very 
 beautifully, both while held by Mr. Home with one hand and when 
 his hand was withdrawn. The air, " Oft in the Stilly Night," was 
 softly played ; and the late Earl of Dunraven, who was one of the 
 sitters, records that this air had many years before been one of his 
 greatest favourites. The room in which the seance was held was lighted 
 by one candle and a fire. 
 
 No seance with Mr. Home was ever held in total darkness; but 
 occasionally messages were rapped out, desiring the lights to be 
 momentarily extinguished, in order that the phenomenon of the 
 production of other lights by the spirits might be witnessed to 
 advantage. These evanescent, but wonderful manifestations, were ot 
 a very varied character. Sometimes a white, pure light would fill the 
 room, rendering every object distinctly visible; sometimes vivid 
 meteors darted through the air, or rested on the heads and hands ot 
 the sitters. The ridiculous theories thrown out by persons who were 
 never present at a seance with Mr. Home did not suggest themselves 
 to the minds of the investigators who beheld and were impressed by 
 these strange phenomena. " I have taken precautions to avoid being 
 imposed upon by phosphorised oil, or other means," wrote Mr. 
 Crookes, in the Quarterly Journal of Science for January, 1874. 
 " Moreover, many of these lights are such as I have tried to imitate 
 artificially, but cannot." Yet Mr. Crookes, who could not in his 
 laboratory imitate these lights that were beheld in the houses of a 
 hundred different people during seances with Mr. Home, is one of the 
 most distinguished of modern chemists. 
 
 The notes of Mr. Crookes on ' ' Luminous Appearances ' ' refer
 
 ENGLAND 163 
 
 principally, but not entirely, to his experiences with Mr. Home. The 
 following describe phenomena witnessed at seances with Home. 
 
 " I have seen," says Mr. Crookes, " luminous points of light 
 darting about and settling on the heads of different persons ; I have 
 had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a desired 
 number of times in front of my face. ... I have had an alphabetic 
 communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the 
 air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. . . . In the 
 light, I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side 
 table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady." 
 
 These luminous appearances were sometimes perceptible to the 
 touch as well as to the sight. On November 24th, 1868, Lord 
 Lindsay and Mr. Home returned from Norwood about n p.m. to the 
 rooms of Lord Adare in London ; and, together with the latter, sat 
 down at a table, the room being nearly dark. It may be noted here 
 that the few seances that Mr. Home held in a dim light (never in total 
 darkness) were with friends who had already seen much of the 
 phenomena in strong light, and were convinced of their reality. On 
 this occasion a variety of manifestations occurred, one of which was 
 that luminous bodies, described by Lord Adare as "balls of light," 
 flitted about the room, and sometimes touched the sitters, feeling to 
 the latter " like a material substance and highly electrical." 
 
 Lord Adare, Lord Lindsay, &c. , were frequently witnesses of that 
 singular manifestation described in an early chapter, the retention on 
 the surface of a table inclined at an angle not far from the 
 perpendicular of the various objects that had been lying there before 
 the table was tilted. During a seance at Mrs. Hennings' house at 
 Anerley, Home, in a trance, brought a book to Lord Adare, and 
 placed the hand of the latter flat upon the cover that was uppermost. 
 Raps came on the volume; and Home then withdrew his own hand 
 from it, leaving the book suspended in air beneath Lord Adare's open 
 hand. " My fingers," says Lord Adare, " were not near the edges, 
 my hand was extended flat upon the cover. I could not have grasped 
 and retained the book in any way; it simply adhered to my hand 
 .... The book felt to me as though supported from beneath by a 
 cushion or column of air." 
 
 The most startling of the hundred or more recorded instances of the 
 levitation of Mr. Home was witnessed by Lord Lindsay, Lord Adare, 
 and Captain C. Wynne. Before turning to it, I may add to the 
 numerous instances already given of the more frequent physical 
 phenomena, the following narrative of a seance in London. Mrs. 
 Honywood, who was present, has kindly furnished it to me from her 
 notes made at the time. 
 
 " On the 23rd of June, 1869," writes Mrs. Honywood, " I was invited by 
 Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall to meet Mr. Home for a seance. We sat at a heavy 
 round table, seven in number ; Mr. and Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Senior, Lord Louth, 
 Mr. Musgrave, Mr. Home, and myself. After quietly talking for a little while, 
 raps were heard and vibrations felt in the table and floor. Before a stance 
 Mr. Home always took off all his rings, lest inadvertently they might make 
 any sound. 
 
 Mr. Home held the accordion in one hand, and notes were sounded upon
 
 164 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 the instrument to indicate the letters of the alphabet in various messages given. 
 The air ' Auld Lang Syne ' was then most beautifully and touchingly played. 
 
 " A small, but very solid table upon castors, with a heavy stereoscope resting 
 on it, containing 50 glass slides, moved across the floor from the window 
 where it stood, and placed itself between Mr. Home and myself, having glided 
 about six or seven feet. Mr. Home requested Lord Louth to come and place 
 his hand on this table. Raps sounded distinctly on it, and the vibration was 
 felt very strongly by Lord L. We all heard a strange noise inside the camera, 
 and thought the slides were breaking ; but, although shaken violently, none 
 were cracked or broken. 
 
 " A chair now moved up between Mr. Home and Mr. Hall, a second chair 
 followed, a third, and then a fourth, also a very large arm-chair. A small 
 chair rose from the floor, and moved up and down close to Mr. Hall, appearing 
 to float in the air. 
 
 " After the seance, Lord Louth measured the distance each chair had 
 traversed, and found it to range from six to nine feet. The little table had 
 moved seven feet from the window to Mr. Home. This was the first seance 
 at which Lord Louth had ever been present." 
 
 Of the many wonderful phenomena witnessed in connection with 
 Mr. Home, none has been the subject of more discussion than that of 
 his levitation, and none is established by more conclusive testimony. 
 After having carefully considered that testimony, Mr. Crookes wrote, 
 in the Quarterly Journal of Science for January, 1874: 
 
 " There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home's rising from 
 the ground, in the presence of as many separate persons ; and I have heard 
 from the lips of the three witnesses to the most striking occurrence of this 
 kind the Earl of Dunraven, Lord Lindsay, and Captain C. Wynne their 
 own most minute accounts of what took place. To reject the recorded evidence 
 on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever ; for no fact in sacred 
 or profane history is supported by a stronger array of proofs. 
 
 " The accumulated testimony establishing Mr. Home's levitations is over- 
 whelming. It is greatly to be desired that some person, whose evidence would 
 be accepted as conclusive by the scientific world if indeed there lives a person 
 whose testimony in favour of such phenomena would be taken would seriously 
 and patiently examine these alleged facts." 
 
 The desire expressed by Mr. Crookes was not responded to by his 
 scientific brethren. 
 
 Mr. Crookes was enabled by his seances with Mr. Home to add his 
 own testimony to that already in existence concerning the phenomenon 
 of levitation. "On three separate occasions," he writes, "have I 
 seen Mr. Home raised completely from the floor of the room. Once 
 sitting on an easy chair, once kneeling on his chair, and once 
 standing up. On each occasion I had full opportunity of watching 
 the occurrence as it was taking place." (" Notes of an Inquiry into 
 the Phenomena called Spiritual.") 
 
 The present Earl of Crawford, when giving his testimony before the 
 Dialectical Society concerning the strange things he had seen in 
 Home's presence, was questioned as to the possibility of explaining 
 the phenomena by contrivance. " The more I studied them," he 
 answered, " the more satisfied was I that they could not be explained 
 by mere mechanical trick. I have had the fullest opportunity for 
 investigation." 
 
 It was asked if the phenomenon of levitation did not invariably 
 occur in semi-darkness. " No," replied Lord Crawford (then Lord
 
 ENGLAND 165 
 
 Lindsay), "/ once saw Home in full light standing in the 
 air seventeen inches from the ground." 
 
 In November, 1868, Lord Adare and Lord Lindsay saw Mr. Home 
 raised in the air about four or five feet. On December 2oth of the 
 same year, Lords Adare and Lindsay, Captain C. Wynne, and Mr. 
 Arthur Smith Barry were present when he again rose from the ground. 
 During the manifestations in the ruined abbey at Adare, Home was 
 seen by Lord Dunraven, Lord Adare, and Captain Wynne to float 
 above the ground for a distance of ten or twelve yards at a height that 
 carried him over a broken wall two feet high. He passed close by 
 the three watchers during this aerial journey. 
 
 Of another instance of levitation Lord Lindsay gave the following 
 description: "Home floated round the room, pushing the pictures 
 out of their places as he passed along the walls. They were far 
 beyond the reach of a person standing on the ground. The light was 
 sufficient to enable me to see clearly." (Evidence given before the 
 Dialectical Society.) 
 
 But the most striking of the many occasions on which Home was 
 seen to float in the air was that to which Mr. Crookes so particularly 
 alludes in the passage I have quoted from him. This event occurred 
 in London, on December i6th 1868, in the presence of three 
 unimpeachable witnesses, Lord Lindsay, Lord Adare, and Captain 
 Charles Wynne, a cousin of the latter. 
 
 A seance was in progress ; and Home, who had been in the trance 
 state for some time, began to walk about uneasily, and finally went 
 into the adjoining room. At that moment a startling communication 
 was made to Lord Lindsay. " I heard," he related in his evidence 
 before the Dialectical Society, " a voice whisper in my ear, ' He will 
 go out of one window and in at another. ' I was alarmed and shocked 
 at the thought of so dangerous an experiment. I told the company 
 what I had heard, and we then waited for Home's return." 
 
 Mr. Home was at the moment in the room adjoining that where the 
 three sitters waited. Besides his evidence given before the Dialectical 
 Society, Lord Lindsay published a second and more minute 
 description of the levitation, in which he thus narrated the events that 
 immediately followed the spirit-intimation he had received, and had 
 communicated to Lord Adare and Captain Wynne : 
 
 " We heard," writes Lord Lindsay, " the window in the next room lifted 
 up, and almost immediately afterwards we saw Home floating in the air 
 outside our window. 
 
 " The moon was shining full into the room. My back was to the light ; 
 and I saw the shadow on the wall of the window-sill, and Home's feet about 
 six inches above it. He remained in this position for a few seconds, then 
 raised the window and glided into the room feet foremost, and sat down. 
 
 " Lord Adare then went into the next room to look at the window from 
 which he had been carried. It was raised about eighteen inches, and he 
 expressed his wonder how Mr. Home had been taken through so narrow an 
 aperture. 
 
 " Home said (still in a trance), ' I will show you ' ; and then, with his back 
 to the window, he leaned back and was shot out of the aperture head first, 
 with the body rigid, and then returned quite quietly. 
 
 " The window is about seventy feet from the ground. I very much doubt
 
 166 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 whether any skilful rope-dancer would like to attempt a feat of this descrip- 
 tion, where the only means of crossing would be a perilous leap. 
 
 " The distance between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and 
 there was not more than a twelve-inch projection to each window, which 
 served as a ledge to put flowers on." 
 
 One of the other two witnesses of the scene, Lord Adare, had the 
 distances between the windows and other details measured, and 
 included them in the record written by him of the occurrence. Lord 
 Adare's testimony is as follows: 
 
 " Wynne and I went over to Ashley House after dinner. There we found 
 Home and the Master of Lindsay. Home proposed a sitting. We accordingly 
 sat round a table in the small room. There was no light in the room, but the 
 light from the window was sufficient to enable us to distinguish each other, 
 and to see the different articles of furniture. Home went into a trance. . . . 
 
 " Lindsay suddenly said: 'Oh, good heavens! I know what he is going to 
 do ; it is too fearful. ' 
 
 " Adare : ' What is it?' 
 
 " Lindsay : ' I cannot tell you ; it is too horrible. A spirit says that I must 
 tell you. He is going out of the window in the other room, and coming in at 
 this window. 1 
 
 " We heard Home go into the next room, heard the window thrown up, and 
 presently Home appeared standing upright outside our window. He opened 
 the window, and walked in quite coolly. ' Ah,' he said, ' you were good this 
 time ' ; referring to our having sat still and not wished to prevent him. . . . 
 * Adare, shut the window in the next room.' 
 
 " I got up, shut the window, and in coming back remarked that the window 
 was not raised a foot, and that I could not think how he had managed to 
 squeeze through. He arose, and said, ' Come and see.' I went with him : 
 he told me to open the window as it was before. I did so : he told me to 
 stand a little distance off ; he then went through the open space, head first, 
 quite rapidly, his body being nearly horizontal and apparently rigid. He came 
 in again, feet foremost ; and we returned to the other room. It was so dark 
 I could not see clearly how he was supported outside. He did not appear to 
 grasp, or rest upon, the balustrade, but rather to be swung out and in. Out- 
 side each window is a small balcony or ledge, nineteen inches deep, bounded 
 by stone balustrades, eighteen inches high. The balustrades of the two 
 windows are seven feet four inches apart, measuring from the nearest point. 
 A string-course, four inches wide, runs between the windows at the level of 
 the bottom of the balustrade ; another, three inches wide, at the level of the 
 top. Between the window at which Home went out and that at which he 
 came in the wall recedes six inches. The rooms are on the third floor. 
 
 " I asked Lindsay how the spirit had spoken to him. He could scarcely 
 explain ; but said it did not sound like an audible human voice, but rather as 
 if the tones were whispered or impressed inside his ear. When Home awoke, 
 he was much agitated ; he said he felt as if he had gone through some fearful 
 peril, and that he had a most horrible desire to throw himself out of window. 
 He remained in a very nervous condition for a short time, then gradually 
 became quiet. 
 
 " We now had a series of very curious manifestations. Lindsay and Wynne 
 saw tongues or jets or flames proceeding from Home's head. We then all 
 distinctly heard, as it were, a bird flying round the room, whistling and 
 chirping, but saw nothing ; except Lindsay, who perceived an indistinct form 
 resembling a bird. There then came a sound as of a great wind rushing 
 through the room ; we also felt the wind strongly : the moaning, rushing 
 sound was the most weird thing I ever heard." 
 
 It will be seen that the testimony of the two observers is in perfect 
 agreement. Lord Adare's narrative was written quite independently 
 of that of Lord Lindsay, but precisely the same facts are recorded in
 
 ENGLAND 167 
 
 each. It is clearly established that Lord Lindsay, as Home left the 
 room, received an intimation of what was about to happen, and 
 communicated it to his two companions, that Mr. Home was carried 
 out of one window and in at another, at a height of seventy feet from 
 the ground; that, on Lord Adare expressing surprise at his having 
 been carried through the aperture of a window only raised a foot, 
 Home, before his eyes, was a second time floated through that opening 
 into the space outside, and back again. As Lord Adare gives the 
 measurements between the windows, &c., his figures are naturally more 
 precise than those of Lord Lindsay, who judged by the eye. They 
 establish that the ledges of the two windows were seven feet four 
 inches apart, between the nearest points. Along the wall ran two 
 string-courses, the lower of these four inches wide, the upper three. 
 It was obviously impracticable that anyone could walk along the 
 lower of these two very narrow shelves, as the space 
 between it and the upper ledge was only eighteen inches. The 
 sceptic as to the phenomenon of levitation is reduced therefore to two 
 alternatives either to accept the testimony of Lords Adare and 
 Lindsay as an exact narrative of facts, or to suppose that Mr. Home 
 chose to attempt, late at night, the impossible feat of walking along a 
 ledge three inches wide, at a height of seventy feet from the ground, 
 and successfully accomplished the impossible. Yet even this theory 
 would not explain the second levitation of which Lord Adare was the 
 witness, when Home, before his eyes, was floated out of the partly- 
 opened window into the empty air beyond. 
 
 Dr. W. B. Carpenter, V.P.R.S., imagined, indeed, another theory, 
 and communicated his imaginations to the public under circumstances 
 more daring than honest. The narrative of Lord Lindsay informed 
 him that there had been a third sitter present when the levitation 
 occurred Captain Wynne, the cousin of Lord Adare. In the 
 absence of any detailed testimony from this gentleman, Dr. Carpenter 
 chose to assume that his evidence, if made public, would have 
 contradicted that of Lords Lindsay and Adare. A little inquiry would 
 have informed Dr. Carpenter that Captain Wynne had narrated to Mr. 
 Crookes, Mr. S. C. Hall, and others what he saw, and that his 
 evidence exactly corresponded with that of Lord Adare and Lord 
 Lindsay. This trained man of science, this exact investigator made 
 no inquiry, however. He took his hypothesis concerning Captain 
 "Wynne for granted singular conduct on the part of the very man 
 who had always been loudest in accusing Spiritualists and inquirers 
 into Spiritualism of basing their conclusions on insufficient evidence, 
 but quite consistent with the whole method of Dr. Carpenter's warfare 
 against Spiritualism. The temper in which he conducted his assaults 
 was not that of a philosopher desirous to arrive at the 
 truth and nothing but the truth, but of a theorist who thought no 
 sacrifice of the truth too great to make in the interests of his favourite 
 doctrine of "unconscious cerebration." To throw doubt on the 
 phenomenon of the levitation of Mr. Home, he ventured on one of 
 the boldest of those sacrifices. Knowing all the while that his 
 assumption concerning; Captain Wynne was sheer supposition, he
 
 168 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 deliberately stated it to the world as a fact. Of course, no names were 
 mentioned; that would have been to court investigation, and Dr. 
 Carpenter was aware that his statements would not bear it. It was 
 sufficient for him to tell the public, in an article published in the 
 Contempary Review of January, 1867 : 
 
 " The most diverse accounts of the facts of a stance will be given by a 
 believer and a sceptic. ... A whole party of believers will affirm that 
 they saw Mr. Home float out of one window and in at another, whilst a single 
 honest sceptic declares that Mr. Home was sitting in his chair all the time. 
 And in this last case we have an example of a fact, of which there is ample 
 illustration, that, during the prevalence of an epidemic delusion, the honest 
 testimony of any number of individuals, on one side, if given under a pre- 
 possession, is of no more weight than that of a single adverse witness if so 
 much." 
 
 It seems to me that, written under the circumstances I have just 
 detailed, nothing could well be more discreditable to Dr. Carpenter 
 than this passage. Published in a widely-circulated organ of opinion, 
 it could not but leave, and was evidently intended to leave, on the 
 minds of all who read it the impression that Dr. Carpenter's " honest 
 sceptic ' ' had actually been present with Lords Adare and Lindsay on 
 the only occasion when Home ever floated out of one window and in 
 at another, and had, to the knowledge of Dr. Carpenter, declared 
 " that Mr. Home was quietly sitting in his chair all the while." If 
 so, this "single adverse witness" could be no other than Captain 
 Wynne. Only once had Mr. Home been seen to float out of a window 
 and in at another in Ashley Place, S.W., on the i6th of December, 
 1868. Three persons in all had observed the phenomenon: two of 
 them, Lords Lindsay and Adare, had printed their testimony to the 
 occurrence. They were, therefore, Dr. Carpenter's "party of 
 believers " Lord Lindsay, who told the Dialectical Society, " I have 
 no theory to explain these things ; " and Lord Adare, who wrote: " 1 
 make no attempt to offer any explanation of the phenomena, or to 
 build up any theory upon them ; I only say that they have occurred as 
 I have stated them." The third and last sitter present when Mr. 
 Home was carried out of one window of Ashley House and in at 
 another more than seven feet distant was Captain Charles Wynne. To 
 him, therefore, Dr. Carpenter's statements concerning the "honest 
 sceptic" referred. Every one understood them so to refer, Captain 
 Wynne included ; and his answer to them is contained in a letter 
 written by him to Mr. Home under the following circumstances. 
 
 In or about the year 1876, an American of the name of Hammond 
 published a foolish book wherein he gave Dr. Carpenter's fable of the 
 ' ' honest sceptic ' ' a niche among numerous fables of his own 
 concerning the experiments of Mr. Crookes ; his ingenuous method or 
 dealing with the latter being to pass over the most conclusive in 
 silence, substitute for the remainder dummy experiments that in no 
 way resembled them, and then proceed to triumphantly demolish the 
 shams he had himself created. In retailing as fact the fictions of Dr. 
 Carpenter, Dr. Hammond took occasion to find for those airy nothings 
 "a local habitation and a name," and boldly stated that the
 
 ENGLAND 169 
 
 levitation referred to was that in Ashley Place, and that Dr. 
 Carpenter's " honest sceptic " was the cousin of Lord Dunraven. His 
 book came under the notice of Mr. Home, who wrote to Captain 
 Wynne as follows: 
 
 " NICE, January $th, 1877. 
 
 " MY DEAR WYNNE, I have been reading a book intensely stupid and 
 absurd called Spiritualism and Nervous Derangement : by W. A. Hammond, 
 M.D. On page 81 of his book I found the following question regarding the 
 very extraordinary manifestation you witnessed in Ashley Place, when I was 
 brought in at a window eighty feet from the ground, in the presence of your 
 cousin, Viscount Adare (now Earl of Dunraven), Lord Lindsay, and yourself: 
 
 " ' There were three gentlemen present in the room besides Mr. Home. 
 Lord Adare, we may admit, accepts the account given by Lord Lindsay. 
 Indeed, he may be said to be the father of it. But why have we no word 
 from the " cousin of his " who formed one of the company? There cannot 
 be too much evidence on so important a point as this.' 
 
 " I would have paid no attentioin to this question, but on the same page I 
 found the following reply, which perfectly suited this Dr. Hammond ; and he 
 has either arranged it so as to be a reply to the above question, or it may be 
 that it is an arrangement of Dr. Carpenter's. I am sorry to say that Dr. 
 Carpenter is not innocent, as regards these little arrangements to suit his own 
 convenience. Hammond says : 
 
 " ' But, as these lines are being written, the true ' (save the mark !) 
 ' explanation comes to hand, showing that both Lord Lindsay and Lord Adare 
 suffered from a hallucination. In an interesting paper, Dr. Carpenter, 
 evidently referring to the account of Lord Lindsay, says, " A whole party of 
 believers will affirm that they saw Mr. Home float out of one window and in 
 at another, while a single honest sceptic declares that Mr. Home was sitting 
 in his chair all the time." This " honest sceptic " is probably the cousin 
 incidentally mentioned by Lord Lindsay. It is scarcely necessary to pursue the 
 inquiry further.' 
 
 " Under ordinary circumstances, I would have paid no attention even to 
 this, but in December, 1876, Dr. Carpenter, at the London Institution, made a 
 statement so utterly at variance with the truth that it is just as well to remind 
 him that, whatever his peculiar prejudices may be, he does wrong in stooping 
 to falsehoods. I give you his words, as reported in the public prints : ' Mr. 
 Crookes had admitted that . . . Mr. Home having exhibited marvels, Mr. 
 Crookes afterwards devised scientific tests, but the marvels were no longer 
 shown. That was Mr. Crookes' statement.' Mr. Crookes never made such a 
 statement, 1 and it is a most audacious and wilful falsehood on the part of Dr. 
 Carpenter to have said so. 
 
 " You will fully understand why I wish a reply to this. You have read the 
 statement as given to the world by Lord Lindsay and Lord Adare. Is it, or 
 is it not, a simple and concise statement of the facts just as they took place? 
 
 " I am well pleased that this question should have been asked while you 
 were here to give your testimony. Else these would-be great men who 
 condescend to untruthful statements might have found those capable of giving 
 credence to their inventions. Ever yours, " D. D. HOME." 
 
 Captain Wynne's reply to the above letter of Mr. Home is before 
 me as I write. It will be observed from it that he had already publicly 
 contradicted Dr. Carpenter's mendacious reference to him: 
 
 " Feb. 2, '77. 
 
 " DEAR DAN, Your letter has just come before me. I remember that Dr. 
 Carpenter wrote some nonsense about that trip of yours along the side of the 
 house in Ashley Place. I wrote to the Medium to say that I was present and 
 a witness. Now, I don't think that anyone who knows me would for one 
 
 1 For proofs of the absolute untruth of this assertion of Dr. Carpenter's, see 
 the chapter of this work that treats of the experiments of Mr. Crookes. 
 
 M
 
 i;o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 moment say that I was a victim to hallucination or any other humbug of the 
 kind. The fact of your having gone out of the window and in at the other I 
 can swear to; but what is the use of trying to convince men who won't 
 believe anything not even if they see it. I don't care a straw whether Dr. 
 Carpenter or Mr. Hammond believe me or not it does not prevent the fact 
 having occurred. But this I will say, that if you are not to believe the' 
 corroborative evidence of three unimpeached witnesses, there would be an end 
 to all justice and courts of law. . . . Ever yours, " C. WYNNE. 
 
 " P.S. Honest, but not a sceptic." 
 
 By which postscript Captain Wynne meant that, like Lord Adare 
 and Lord Lindsay, he believed the testimony of his eyesight. He was 
 precisely the kind of witness whose testimony Dr. Carpenter would 
 have accepted with rapture, had it been unfavourable to Mr. Home 
 a frank soldier and gentleman, with no bias towards Spiritualism, but 
 who, happening to have been present with Lords Adare and Lindsay 
 on the occasion of Home's remarkable levitation, candidly added his 
 testimony to theirs. 
 
 In face of his letter, what becomes of the reputation of the Vice- 
 President of the Royal Society for common candour? Dr. 
 Carpenter had a perfect right, if he thought it consistent with his 
 reputation as a man of intellect, to propound the astonishing dictum 
 that, given a hundred persons equally honest, of whom ninety-nine 
 testified that Mr. Home had risen in the air, while the hundredth 
 declared he had not, the testimony of the one ought to outweigh that 
 of the ninety-nine. But what of has conduct in inventing the 
 " honest sceptic who declares that Mr. Home was sitting in his chair 
 all the time," and his presentation of this fiction to the readers of the 
 Contemporary Review as a fact, when all the while Dr. Carpenter was 
 aware that the anonymous " honest sceptic," on whose authority he 
 dismissed the evidence of Lords Lindsay and Adare as hallucination, 
 was himself a hallucination, and the coinage of his own brain ? 
 
 In parting with Dr. Carpenter, let me remark that the tone which 
 unbounded egotism, and the eagerness of a timid man to stand well 
 with the world, induced him to take publicly on the subject of 
 Spiritualism and the phenomena associated with Mr. Home was some- 
 what modified in private. It will perhaps be news to those who have 
 " read, marked, and inwardly digested " Dr. Carpenter's various 
 onslaughts on Spiritualism in the Quarterly Review, the Contemporary 
 Review, &c., to learn that he regarded Mr. Home as an honest man, 
 and that he not only believed in the continued existence of the 
 departed, but thought it possible nay, probable that spirits influence 
 the minds of the dwellers on earth. 
 
 A letter has been sent to me that was written by Dr. Carpenter 
 under the following circumstances. In November, 1877, a young 
 journalist, who was acquainted with Mr. Home, wrote to Dr. 
 Carpenter apropos of the lectures on " Spiritualism, Mesmerism, 
 &c.," that the latter had recently republished in book form. Two or 
 three letters followed ; and finally, at the invitation of Dr. Carpenter, 
 his correspondent called on him with a view to further discussion. He 
 found Dr. Carpenter's private views somewhat inconsistent with his
 
 ENGLAND 171 
 
 published utterances, as, indeed, had been already demonstrated to 
 him by the letter he has placed in my possession. Mr. Home never 
 saw this letter, and was wholly ignorant that any correspondence 
 between Dr. Carpenter and its recipient had taken place. 
 Dr. Carpenter writes as follows: 
 
 " 56, REGENT'S PARK ROAD, N.W., Nov. 27, 1877. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I am greatly obliged to you for your letter, and shall be very 
 glad to communicate further with you on the subject of it. You will have 
 observed that I do not anywhere call in question the continued existence of 
 departed spirits, or their influence over living minds. This is a matter 
 altogether distinct from that of the reality of the ' physical manifestations ' ; 
 and there seems to me nothing inconsistent with possibility or even with 
 probability in such spiritual influence. For, altho' Mr. Home and a great 
 many other persons rank me as a Materialist, my philosophy (as my British 
 Association Address would show) is much more like Priestley's a universal 
 Spiritualism. 
 
 " I hold myself open to new evidence in favour of the existence in particular 
 individuals of a power of direct communication of mind with mind, which 
 would solve many difficulties and clear up many obscurities. But all my 
 experience has led me to see such an amount of self-deception and unconscious 
 fitting-together in such revelations, that I distrust all stories that I have not 
 the power of myself verifying. 
 
 41 I always used to regard Mr. Home as an honest man, believing in him- 
 self ; but I must own that my faith was shaken by the Lyon trial. The 
 publication of this book " (Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism), " on the 
 other hand, has given me a more favourable opinion of him ; and you will 
 have remarked that the only thing I have said in depreciation of him has been 
 in regard to the ' physical manifestations.' 
 
 " Should you be able to call upon me here on any morning this week before 
 ii a.m., I shall be glad to see you. . . . Yours truly, 
 
 " WILUAM B. CARPENTER." 
 
 Coming from the author of the bitter attack on Mr. Crookes and 
 others that appeared in the Quarterly Review for October, 1871, this 
 letter is a very curious production. In public, Dr. Carpenter imputed 
 the physical phenomena of Spiritualism to fraud, and explained the 
 mental by his pet theory of " unconscious cerebration; " in private, he 
 sees " nothing inconsistent with possibility or even with probability " 
 in the exercise by the spirits of the departed of an influence over us 
 who are still on earth. 
 
 In private, Dr. Carpenter " used always to regard Mr. Home as an 
 honest man, believing in himself." It would be easy to collect from 
 his published writings a dozen passages that impute or hint the 
 contrary. On his own confession, then, Dr. Carpenter could think one 
 thdng and say another. 
 
 Not only does his letter contradict his published statements, but one 
 part of it contradicts another. He holds Mr. Home honest, yet he 
 considers the physical manifestations witnessed at Home's seances to 
 have been imposture. It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Home was, 
 in his opinion, an honest man who spent his life in deceiving others. 
 It is fortunate for Dr. Carpenter's reputation that he went with the 
 world of his day on the question of Spiritualism. Had he been a 
 Spiritualist, what severe things would that world have said of him 
 and of his muddled, illogical habits of thought !
 
 172 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 As Dr. Carpenter never was present at a seance with Mr. Home, it is 
 obvious that he was incapable of expressing an opinion of any value 
 on the phenomena, whether mental or physical, that were witnessed at 
 the seances of the latter. The intelligent reader who has impartially 
 considered the facts I have here published, will perhaps share my 
 conclusion that the opinions of such a thinker as Dr. Carpenter on such 
 a subject as Spiritualism would have been of no great value in any 
 case. 
 
 Mr. Home, who, in 1868, had readily engaged in controversy with 
 such an antagonist as Professor Tyndall, never took the trouble to 
 contradict publicly the false statements of Dr. W. B. Carpenter 
 concerning the levitation in Ashley Place. He considered the inventor 
 of the " honest sceptic " a foeman somewhat unworthy of his steel. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, let me ask the reader, sceptical or 
 otherwise, what proof of a fact could be more complete than the proof 
 here given that, on December i6th, 1868, Mr. Home was floated out 
 of one window of Ashley House and in at another window nearly seven 
 and a half feet distant? There were three witnesses of the 
 occurrence Lord Adare, Lord Lindsay, and Captain Charles Wynne. 
 I have printed here the testimony of all three in their own words. If, 
 on comparing the evidence of these three unimpeachable witnesses and 
 finding it identical, the reader still objects : " For all that, I decline to 
 believe the impossible, ' ' I can only answer : ' ' The thing would have 
 seemed equally impossible to Viscount Adare, the Master of Lindsay, 
 and Captain Wynne, if their eyesight had not assured them that it was- 
 a fact."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 PUBLIC READINGS SCOTLAND FRANCE 
 
 Home as a public reader. Seance at Edinburgh. Mr. Alexander's 
 narrative. Enormous correspondence. Home's benefactions. 
 Franco-German War of 1870. His experience at Versailles. 
 On the Battlefield. Saving a German officer. Story of the 
 German Sergeant. 
 
 THERE is no branch of the dramatic art in which failures are more 
 numerous and triumph more difficult than the career of the public 
 reader. In the theatre, scenery and costumes count for much of the 
 effect produced on the spectator, and often render him indulgent to 
 indifferent acting. The reader has no such ready-painted pictures to 
 offer; and, as a consequence, he finds his audience colder and more 
 exacting than that of the/ actor. When the curtain rises on the first 
 scene of a play, the interest of the house is already evoked before a 
 word has been spoken ; but the platform-reader must speak, and speak 
 to some purpose, if he is to carry his hearers with him. In nine cases 
 out of ten he fails to do so. The number of readers who weary their 
 hearers is legion, and, even of those who really succeed in interesting 
 an audience, how few can carry that interest to the pitch that Home 
 did. He could not only convulse his hearers with laughter by his fun 
 and humour, but he had the much rarer faculty of touching them by 
 his pathos so deeply as to call forth tears. None who heard them 
 could readily forget his renderings of such pieces as The Vagabonds, 
 Jane Conquest, The Death 0' th 1 Owd Squire, and Mr. Hamilton 
 Aide's Lost and Found. I may quote one or two of many press 
 tributes to his powers of pathos : "His pathetic yet forcible rendering 
 of The Death of the Old Squire won for the reciter the honour of a 
 double recall," says the Era of March 2Oth, 1870. " Mr. D. D. 
 Home, who is now established as one of our best readers, caused a 
 marked sensation amongst the audience many of whom were melted 
 to tears by his admirable recital of The Vagabond" (Court Circular, 
 Aug. 14, 1869). 
 
 Besides his wonderful pathos and humour, he had a fire such as few 
 readers possess, and his rendering of battle pieces was stirring to the 
 last degree. The usual resource of the reader who attempts martial 
 poetry is to stun his listeners by the noise he makes ; with Home there 
 was no noisy rendering, but the power and fire of the reader held his 
 audience breathless. I have already related the singular tribute paid 
 to his genius in New York, by the Southerner whose feelings his 
 impassioned recitation of the Bay Fight had wrought beyond 
 control. " I don't see how he could help flying^ at you," wrote an 
 American friend to Home, on reading a notice of the incident in the
 
 174 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 newspapers; " for your rendering brings the scene to life. We see it 
 with our eyes; and to that Southerner it must have been like going 
 through it all again." 
 
 It was constantly remarked by his press critics sometimes with 
 approbation, at other times with astonishment that Mr. Home's 
 readings were ' ' thoroughly natural. ' ' They could not be otherwise ; 
 for his good taste and his exquisite sense of the ludicrous gave him a 
 horror of anything ' ' stagy ' ' ; and he would rather have missed an 
 effect than have obtained it by the means some readers do not scruple 
 to employ. It is, above all, the amateur of the Penny Reading who 
 revels in a superabundance of such sham effect ; and it was the fortune 
 of Home on one occasion to be present at a recitation by one of the 
 most melodramatic of the species. He added A Penny Reader's 
 Charge of the Light Brigade to his repertory from that evening ; and 
 there are none of his humorous pieces over which his auditors have 
 laughed more heartily. 
 
 It was a common thing for him to be made to deliver a reading 
 twice, and even a third time. " Though only down in the programme 
 three times, he had to appear on six occasions " (Glasgow Herald). 
 ' ' He was recalled every time he read ; once he had to appear a third 
 time " (Ladies' Own Journal). Home was fond of relating an 
 incident that occurred to him in connection with Tennyson's 
 Grandmother, a poem that was an especial favourite of his, and the 
 homely pathos of which he rendered with inimitable effect. He read 
 The Grandmother to a North of England audience, and was 
 enthusiastically recalled. The poem is long, and the programme of 
 the evening was long, too; and Home, having made his acknowledg- 
 ments, was pleading the latter fact, when a man in one of the back 
 
 seats jumped up. " The programme be ," he interrupted; 
 
 " cut all the rest of it out, and give us the old lady again." 
 
 A master of the pathetic, the humorous, and the stirring, Home was 
 no less successful in the weird. His Raven was a memory to haunt 
 for days those who listened breathless to his dialogue with the " grim, 
 ungainly, ghastly" bird of Poe's conception; and the music of the 
 same poet's Bells could not be more perfectly rendered than it was by 
 Home. In his last illness he often passed hours in repeating the 
 poems that had been his favourites ; and only a day or two before the 
 end came, has doctor, visiting him one morning, found him reciting 
 The Bells, and rendering their melody with an effect as exquisite as 
 any that had ever delighted the hearers of former years. 
 
 When in the vein, he improvised additions to a narrative with 
 irresistible effect. The reading that lent itself the most readily to 
 such treatment was The Widow Bedott, a rambling monologue that, I 
 forget what American writer, has placed in the mouth of a Yankee 
 Mrs. Gamp, as she sits by her fireside relating the history of her 
 courtship to a neighbour, and wandering continually from her 
 narrative to discuss matters and people that have no relation to it. 
 When he had ceased to read in public, Home continued to charm his 
 friends with his readings ; and on such occasions it was his custom, 
 when he impersonated The Widow Bedott, to make her introduce on
 
 PUBLIC READINGS, SCOTLAND, FRANCE 175 
 
 the spur of the moment references to various of the party assembled. 
 One evening his guests included a clergyman I will name him Smith 
 who had never heard Widow Bedott before, and who, unluckily for 
 both himself and the reader, was innocent of any sense of humour. 
 Home did not know this, or the Widow would hardly have included 
 the divine among those of her auditors of whom she had something to 
 say; but, in the belief that he would see the joke, she presently 
 wandered away from her narrative in his direction, with the remark : 
 " Phineas," ses I, " thet reminds me of our parson. ' Mr. Smith,' 
 ses I to him the other day " 
 
 " Me! " said the worthy man, astonished. " I beg Mr. Home's 
 pardon for interrupting him, but surely he must be mistaking me for 
 some one else." 
 
 Home, much tempted to laugh, but thinking that This time, at any 
 rate, the reverend gentleman would see the joke, answered, as 
 Widow Bedott: "Ah, deary me! it's them learned men as have 
 short memories. The many times I've listened to Mr. Smith telling 
 us we're all poor sinners, and now he ses to me ses he " 
 
 But Mr. Smith, more bewildered than ever, had turned to his wife, 
 who was sitting next him. " Have you any recollection, my dear, of 
 hearing me say to Mr. Home that we are all poor sinners ? " he asked, 
 solemnly. 
 
 Widow Bedott got no further with her gossip that evening. 
 
 Even under the most favourable circumstances, the readings that 
 Mr. Home gave during the years 1869 and 1870 in London, Edinburgh, 
 Glasgow, Liverpool, and fifty other places in England and Scotland, 
 would have been an exhausting drain on the energies of a nature so 
 nervous and sensitive. To the last he retained a horror of the trying 
 hur that preceded his appearance and his successes; and those who 
 saw him agitated by the fear of failure, and distrustful both of his 
 ability and his memory, were astonished when, a few minutes later, he 
 presented himself before the audience another being, and entered on 
 the task before him with the happiest ease and self-possession. But 
 the emotions natural to his highly-strung temperament were not all he 
 had to contend against. The events of the year 1868 had not only 
 injured his health, but had burdened him with heavy debts that he 
 was anxious to discharge as speedily as possible. He had a young 
 son to provide for ; and there were numerous relatives and friends who 
 looked to him for a continuation of the assistance he had generously 
 afforded them, and was desirous still to give. Such anxieties would 
 have preyed on any man ; on Home they preyed tenfold, for he had 1 
 been constituted to feel both sorrow and joy more keenly than his 
 fellows. It was, therefore, under conditions the most discouraging 
 that he commenced his career as a reader; and what efforts it cost 
 him to present himself night after night to his audiences, and lavish 
 all his rich resources of humour and pathos for their amusement, only 
 he could know. But he always faced his trying task bravely, and 
 went through it with brilliant success. 
 
 Among the letters of Mr. Home to Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall that 
 have been placed at my disposal, there are several belonging to this
 
 176 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 trying time. Written with the perfect simplicity and unreserve that 
 mark all his letters to his friends, they form a journal of his daily life 
 that tells, better than any words of mine can, how full it was of care 
 and struggle. A brief extract or two is all with whUch I shall 
 supplement my narrative. 
 
 From Edinburgh, on January 3oth, 1870, Home writes: 
 
 " DEAR FRIENDS, The agent here was very unwilling to engage me, and 
 
 told me that readings ' did not take ' that ' Miss was a dead failure, 
 
 and that had been hissed off the platform.' At last he engaged me for a 
 
 merely nominal sum. ... Of course, knowing that others had been hissed 
 off, I went on with fear and trembling. I had six or seven friends in the 
 house, and I truly believe that these were the only ones who applauded when 
 I came on. Oh, the silence was fearful! I began my piece ' Scotch Words,* 
 and before it was half over I had round after round of applause, and such an 
 encore. My every piece was encored, and at the termination of the last they 
 would not have the singers, and I had to go on three times. I am curious to 
 see what the papers will say to-morrow. 
 
 " I have just learnt such a poem! 1 It is beautiful; above all where he 
 speaks of the light from a burning ship as it enters the cottage-window in the 
 dark night : 
 
 " ' It shone with a radiant glory on the face of the dying child, 
 
 Like a fair first ray of the shadowless day in the land of the undefiled.' 
 I will not tell you the story, but I know the poem will deeply touch you. I 
 am far from being well, but the result of last night has cheered me." 
 
 Either during this or a subsequent visit to Scotland for the purpose 
 of giving public readings, Mr. Home became acquainted with a well- 
 known Edinburgh medical man, a relative of Sir James Simpson. Dr. 
 Doun was an entire sceptic on the subject of Spiritualism. Home had 
 not intended to hold any seances in Edinburgh; he went there as 
 a reader ; but a train of circumstances too long to detail here led to his 
 becoming the guest of Dr. Doun, and by the doctor's wish he held 
 several seances in the doctor's house. The result was that the beliefs 
 of the doctor were revolutionised in spite of himself ; and he became 
 convinced of the continued existence of the so-called dead, and of 
 their ability under exceptional circumstances to hold communion with 
 us. 
 
 I could have wished to narrate here some of the experiences that 
 made the doctor a Spiritualist, were it in my power; but my 
 knowledge of the facts is limited to the information contained in a 
 small volume, entitled, Spiritualism: A Narrative with a Discussion. 
 By Patrick Proctor Alexander, M.A., Author of Mill and Carlyle, 
 Moral Causation, &c. Edinburgh: W. P. Nirnrno: 1871. This little 
 book is ably written, and evidently the work of a candid, clear-headed 
 man a sceptic, but a sceptic who investigated, instead of prejudging. 
 Mr. Alexander, an old friend of Dr. Doun, attended a seance with Mr. 
 Home at the doctor's house. He obtained permission to bring with 
 him his friend, Dr. Findlater, as a fellow-observer. Neither had 
 previously attended any seance ; both were educated, intelligent, hard- 
 headed Scotchmen, entirely incredulous on the subject of Spiritualism, 
 and much astonished that what they conceived to be hallucinations 
 should have taken such hold of such a man. 
 
 *" Jane Conquest."
 
 PUBLIC READINGS, SCOTLAND, FRANCE 177 
 
 " On an evening fixed," writes Mr. Alexander, " I presented myself at ihe 
 house, taking with me (by permission) Dr. Findlater, a man very well known 
 in Edinburgh intellectual circles not hitherto suspected by his friends of a 
 tendency to undue credulity in any matter ; a friend, and in some sense disciple, 
 of Mr. John Stuart Mill ; with a couple of good sharp eyes in his head, and 
 perhaps as accurate notions as most men as to what may constitute Evidence, 
 and the conditions of scientific inquiry. We found a small party assembled, 
 and to Mr. Home we were, of course, introduced. . . . His manners were 
 simple and quiet, and very much those of a gentleman. There was no trace 
 in him whatever of the charlatan ; and, except for an occasional wildness in 
 his eye so slight that I may have merely imagined it none of the Magus, or 
 seer, accustomed to hold awful commune with spirits, either evil or good. . . . 
 
 " I may premise that I cannot readily conceive conditions much more 
 favourable to Dr. Findlater and myself, as regards the interest of truth, than 
 those under which this little experiment was made more unfavourable to Mr. 
 Home, presumed a mere juggler and impostor. Had Mr. Home advertised an 
 entertainment to take place in a hired apartment of his own, I don't think I 
 should have cared to go to see him, any more than I ever cared to go to see 
 Professor Anderson bring puddings out of a hat, or pour liquors from his magic 
 bottle. But the room was Mrs. Doun's drawing-room, and could scarce in any 
 way have been prepared by Mr. Home without her or Dr. Doun's connivance 
 a theory of the matter, in my own mind, and, I venture to say, that of 
 every one who has ever had the pleasure of their acquaintance, disposed of as 
 utterly inadmissible, in virtue of the known and high character of both. 
 Further, it is certified to me beyond question, that the ' manifestations,* as 
 they are termed, took place indifferently in any or every room in the house, 
 and most particularly in Dr. Doun's bedroom, which could scarce have been 
 tampered with by Mr. Home without his becoming aware of it. None of the 
 company had any relations with Mr. Home, excepting as we ourselves had, 
 per favour of our host and hostess ; or could thus, any more than we, be 
 suspected of complicity with Mr. Home. The drawing-room was fully and 
 brightly lit with gas 1 ; and the table, which was good enough to vouchsafe us 
 intelligence from the Spirit-world, an old acquaintance, at which I had afore- 
 time taken tea, undreaming of Mr. Home or of Spirits. If conditions more 
 favourable can be suggested by any scientific gentleman, I shall be glad to 
 have the benefit of his wisdom." 
 
 For a detailed description of the phenomena witnessed and 
 searchingly investigated by Mr. Alexander and Dr. Findlater, I must 
 refer the reader to the interesting brochure of the former. ' ' Both of 
 us were a good deal perplexed," says Mr. Alexander, " and remain 
 so as quite unable to suggest any plausible explanation of the 
 wonders we witnessed. As to the obvious explanation of mala -fides 
 and jugglery on Mr. Home's part, the only little objection to it is (and. 
 perhaps may be thought but a little one), that, with our very best will 
 and care to that effect, and the best opportunities for doing so, we 
 utterly failed to detect any trace of these whatever. ' ' 
 
 The host and hostess (Dr. and Mrs. Doun), Mr. Alexander, Dr. 
 Findlater, and other Edinburgh ladies and gentlemen to the number 
 of nine, formed, with Mr. Home, a circle about "an ordinary round 
 drawing-room tea-table, solidly built, and thus of considerable 
 weight; " and waited some time without any manifestations occurring. 
 " The first hint or foreshine we had of the ' phenomena,' " writes Mr. 
 Alexander, " came in the form of certain tremors which began to 
 pervade the apartment. These were of a somewhat peculiar kind; 
 and they gradually increased till they became of considerable violence. 
 
 1 Italicised thus by Mr. Alexander.
 
 i;3 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Not only did the floor tremble, but the chair of each person, as distinct 
 from it, was felt to rock and as we Scots say dirl under him." 
 
 Ice-cold blasts of air were felt by some of the sitters drifting across 
 their hands. Mr. Alexander and Dr. Findlater did riot experience this 
 sensation so frequent a forerunner of other phenomena; but, in 
 common with the remaining sitters, they heard the rappings that 
 followed. " Presently, as to the ear it seemed, exactly in the centre 
 of the table," says the former 
 
 " Came a tap, tap, tapping, regular, continuous, and prolonged ; on hearing 
 which Mr. Home announced that he was now nearly sure we should have 
 1 manifestations ' of some sort ; and, turning to me, he suggested that, a9 
 naturally I might wish to test the thing a little curiously, I had better go 
 under the table, and satisfy myself as to whether there was anything there to 
 account for what would probably take place. Accordingly though a little 
 loth, as suspecting a slight degradation in it I performed what Mr. Darwin 
 would call an act of ' reversion ' ; and, in the enthusiasm of scientific inquiry, 
 was content, for the nonce, to relapse into the condition of an ' ape-like 
 progenitor ' or member of the genus Quadrumana. As such, I crept quietly 
 under the table, and kept steady watch there for the space of ten minutes or 
 so ; Dr. Findlater, as an observer of the genus Homo, keeping the like steady 
 watch above. I may remark that the I'ght under the table, though necessarily 
 dimmer than above, was yet amply sufficient for purposes of clear observation. 
 For a good while nothing took place but raps, which flew about all over the 
 table ; and I could indicate, when desired by Mr. Home to do so, the precise 
 locale upon the table of each rap as it occurred. Meantime, by anything 
 beneath the table, the raps were entirely unaccounted for ; and Mr. Home, in 
 particular, had his feet steadily at rest beneath his chair : his hands, as 
 observed by Dr. Findlater, were quietly before him on the table." 
 
 Various movements of the table followed. During their occurrence, 
 it was certified by Mr. Alexander that Mr. Home's feet were motionless 
 beneath his chair, by Dr. Findlater that his hands were at rest above. 
 The former resumed his seat; and the sitters proceeded to try if the 
 table would become light and heavy at command. Mr. Alexander 
 describes the result of the experiment: 
 
 " ' Be light,' said the operator; and the table, when softly solicited, moved 
 readily from beneath his fingers. ' Be heavy!' and the table seemed weighted 
 to the floor with lead, and could only at all be moved by a great expenditure 
 of force. Every one of the party in succession tried this : Dr. Findlater care- 
 fully twice ; I twice, with scrupulous care, and invariably with the above 
 results. On my trying the experiment the second time of course, if possible, 
 with some additional care and scruple it actually seemed to me that the table 
 sprang from under my fingers, almost before the initial touch could take the 
 form of distinct pressure the difficulty of moving it afterwards being well- 
 nigh, in proportion, great. These results certainly seemed curious, as to 
 every one present quite unaccountable." 
 
 Five raps presently called for the alphabet; and various 
 communications were spelt out, one of them being from a departed 
 friend of certain of the sitters present. Other manifestations occurred, 
 which I pass over, and quote Mr. Alexander's account of the 
 phenomenon that seems to have impressed him the most : 
 
 " Two accordions," he writes, " were on the table, one of which Mr. Home 
 selected. The instrument, he explained, was not his, but the property of Dr. 
 
 G (a gentleman present I had not before met, but very well known to me 
 
 by reputation), who had been good enough to bring it with him. This Dr.
 
 PUBLIC READINGS, SCOTLAND, FRANCE 179 
 
 G confirmed ; and it is to be in fairness supposed he could scarce be 
 
 mistaken as to its being his own accordion. . . . Taking the instrument 
 in one hand by the end unfurnished with keys, Mr. Home put it under the 
 table. It almost immediately began to emit sounds ; and, having begun, went 
 on to play pretty briskly. Guiding the instrument in his direction, Mr. Home 
 then desired Dr. Findlater to go under the table, and, after careful examina- 
 tion, return and give an account of what he saw there. Dr. Findlater did so. 
 He remained some little time under the table, the accordion the while con- 
 tinuing to sound as before; and then, resuming his chair, he reported that the 
 instrument held motionless in Mr. Home's one hand his other hand being, 
 of course, all the time on the table was moving and giving out sound, 
 precisely as if it were worked by a hand at the other end of it ; whilst, to 
 account for this phenomenon, not to be questioned, except in so far as his 
 eyesight might be, nothing whatever was visible. . . . Going down to 
 make strict examination, I came up in a little to report precisely as Dr. 
 Findlater had before done. The accordion, held motionless in Mr. Home's 
 one hand at an angle of about forty-five degrees, was moving backward and 
 forward, and continuing to play, just as if a couple of hands had beert 
 manipulating it ; and to account for this nothing was visible. Meantime there 
 was no hint of a tune in the sounds produced ; they made just such an aimless 
 monotony as a child, let us say, might produce, amusing itself with the 
 instrument." 
 
 It was at this instant that raps came again on the table, and the 
 message already referred to was spelt out. 
 
 " It appeared," writes Mr. Alexander, " that this deceased Colin Campbell, 
 a gentleman of Aberdeenshire, had been intimately known to two or three of 
 the party. . . . Almost instantly after, the five raps were again heard ; 
 ' He docs not forget ' was rapped out by the spirit of the faithful though 
 defunct Colin ; and odd as it may seem the accordion under the table, still 
 held in Mr. Home's one hand, played distinctly ' Auld Lang Syne!' (the 
 reader may laugh if he likes, as indeed to myself, had I not been present to 
 witness it, such a thing must needs have seemed at once ludicrous and 
 incredible). The tune was played distinctly, recognisably, and yet withal a 
 little bunglingly ; and then, as if Colin had suspected a certain deficiency in 
 his own performance, it was played over again, this time in tones of exquisite 
 modulation, which moved the admiration of all present." 
 
 Public readings and the seances that, wherever he went, he was 
 pressed to hold, filled up Home's time so largely that he had less of 
 it than ever to bestow on those thousands of voluminous correspondents 
 who, by the number and merciless length of their letters, must have 
 made the postman's knock a horror to him. " I am behind again 
 with all my correspondence," he writes to a friend. " My head is in 
 a whirl. This morning brought me in a mass of letters. One is from 
 Mrs. - , who writes that ' the Dublin doctors are killing her,' and 
 she sends me what she calls a statement of her case. You will imagine 
 my feelings when I tell you it consists of sixty pages of letter paper 
 crossed. Not being very well, I get so dreadfully nervous with these 
 things that I know not what to do. G - declares that he will 
 burn all my letter paper, and allow me to write only to you and a very 
 few others." 
 
 " I know," writes Mr. Home another time to Mrs. Hall, " you will 
 feel for me, and that in your prayers I shall not be forgotten. My 
 sister is in a very delicate state of health her lungs are very weak. 
 .... Does it not seem strange that I, who am young myself, 
 should thus be called upon to see the nearest and dearest pass to the 
 summer land before me?"
 
 i8o LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 The Russian lawsuit still dragged on, and was likely to do so for 
 several years more. With the utmost exertions and economy, Mr. 
 Home could only pay off very slowly the sums he had borrowed to 
 defray the heavy legal expenses that had been forced on him in 
 England. Some of his friends advised him to sell his jewels, but he 
 would not part with them. It was not their value or beauty that 
 influenced him in this determination, but the associations connected 
 with these stones. Every ring or other jewel was a testimony to the 
 fact that the royal donor had learned to regard Home with goodwill 
 and esteem. Whatever the original scepticism of these high 
 personages and it is an idle fancy to suppose that their investigations 
 of the phenomena were entered on in a credulous spirit they had 
 ended by being convinced of the reality of the manifestations, and had 
 also recognised that Mr. Home's other qualities worthily accorded 
 with his wondrous gifts. 
 
 I have said enough to show that the years 1869 and 1870 were not 
 among the happiest of a life that had more cloud than sunshine in it. 
 But, whatever the accumulated cares and difficulties of his own 
 existence, Home had always a heart to feel for others, and a brain and 
 hand active to relieve their distresses. The world knew nothing of 
 his many deeds of kindness; even those nearest and dearest to him 
 often knew nothing; for it was his choice to do good unseen, and to 
 keep silence afterwards concerning it. But among his papers I find 
 many letters filled with expressions of gratitude and thankfulness. 
 Now it is a young and unknown artist, for whose brush Home's 
 generous efforts have found employment; now a distressed working 
 man writes of his sick wife's life saved by comforts and medical help 
 that Home had provided ; now a mother thanks him for the start in 
 life that he has secured for her son. 
 
 Home's charity was not the cheap kindness that begins and ends 
 with the giving of money. That he gave freely of his scanty means, 
 the letters before me show ; but they bear witness also to many acts of 
 a rarer and higher benevolence, they prove how much time and thought 
 he devoted to helping others, when the circumstances of his life would 
 have led most men to think only of their own needs and cares. There 
 is, for instance, a letter written to Mr. Home about the date when his 
 pressing difficulties led certain friends to recommend him to sell his 
 jewels, and others to offer him aid that was gratefully declined. 
 The first few words are all I need quote : ' ' Dear Sir, 
 You must allow me to express how exceedingly kind I feel it for you to 
 take so much trouble in introducing my work." How many of the 
 Brewsters and Brownings who misrepresented Home would have been 
 capable of a benevolence so real, unpretending, and self sacrificing as 
 this, in the midst of such depressing anxieties as then beset him? 
 
 I need hardly say that I have no thought of printing here the 
 numerous letters in my possession that testify to the active and 
 constant benevolence of Mr. Home. It would give pain to those of 
 the writers who are still on earth; and He himself would be the last to 
 desire that the details of kindness so modest should be vaunted before 
 the world. These letters must remain in the same obscurity as the
 
 PUBLIC READINGS, SCOTLAND, FRANCE 181 
 
 generous actions that led to their being written; but there is one 
 written to him in the summer of 1870 from which I cannot help 
 copying a few lines. Probably they will not seem so touching to the 
 reader as to me, who know the circumstances that called them forth: 
 
 " SIR, I have learnt from day to day through my son in London with what 
 fatherly goodness you have come to our rescue, and proved a saviour to my 
 poor son, whose sad case is so distressing. No words of mine can convey 
 sufficiently the gratitude which I feel I owe you for that pure goodness of 
 heart alone which could have prompted you to it. The future of my poor 
 son's life will be devoted to rewarding you ; and time, I am sure, will prove 
 that he is worthy of what you have done for him. 
 
 " Again I pray you accept the heartfelt gratitude of an afflicted father, who 
 can never reward you for your charitable goodness, and but for which the 
 poor boy could never have been rescued." 
 
 The writer of this letter was then ill in the country ; and, I believe, 
 passed from earth without ever having met his son's preserver. If I 
 were to relate that son's story, it would furnish one proof more that 
 the realities of Home's life were stranger than any fiction. But the 
 fact has already been sufficiently demonstrated in these pages ; and, 
 except to illustrate it, the history could serve no useful purpose. I 
 leave it untold, therefore, and pass to other events of the year to which 
 it belongs 1870. 
 
 Very soon after a kindness beyond all price had been acknowledged 
 in the touching letter to Mr. Home, of which I have quoted a part, he 
 left England, in company with a friend, for the theatre of the great 
 war then raging. They reached the German headquarters within a 
 few hours of the battle of Sedan; and next day Home went over the 
 field. The sight would have tried any nerves; to a nature so sensitive 
 and keenly compassionate of suffering as his it was agonising. He was 
 able, while he followed the operations of the German armies, to be ot 
 frequent service to victims of the war ; but the months of September, 
 October, and November, 1870, did irreparable damage to his health. 
 The spectator of a great war needs a heart of steel and nerves of iron, 
 and Home had neither. 
 
 He witnessed the investment of Paris and the greater part of the 
 siege, including more than one of the sorties attempted by the 
 garrison. During his stay at Versailles, he acted as correspondent of 
 an English newspaper I believe of more than one; but my 
 information on this head is scanty, and I have only in my possession 
 one of the letters that he wrote the last of the series, dated November 
 2jrd. " We are told at least twenty times a day," it begins, " that 
 we are about to witness one of the greatest events in history the 
 capitulation of Paris ; and for a few minutes we reconcile ourselves to 
 this dreadful monotony. The very sight of these spiked helmets 
 begins to weary one. I am half -inclined to think that there is a strong 
 undercurrent of sympathy for France, at least in the outer circle ; and 
 though it would be akin to treason to repeat such a thought, yet I am 
 convinced that the greater part of the men would be rejoiced to 
 terminate this starving-out process. . . .
 
 i82 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " I send you the menu of a dinner given to an English diplomatist, 
 to which I had the honour of being invited. When we sit down to a 
 dinner like this, the thought of so many within a few miles of us, who 
 are actually suffering for the necessities of life, rises like an unbidden 
 Banquo to the feast. I know it does so in my own case, and am 
 equally certain of its so doing with the rest of the guests." 
 
 The remainder of the long letter consists of anecdotes relating to 
 the siege. The most interesting of them has often been narrated; 
 how a German officer with his men visited a chateau on which they 
 were not quartered ; how they destroyed furniture and pictures, drank 
 the best of the wine in the cellar and spilled the rest ; and how finally 
 the Prussian officer turned the mistress of the chateau out of her room, 
 and occupied it; taking his leave afterwards with the explanation, 
 ' ' Madam, when I was a little boy, I have often heard my mother relate 
 the cruel treatment she had to endure at the hands of a French officer 
 and his men. I took an oath, even when a boy, that I would take 
 revenge; and I have now done so. It is unfortunate that you should 
 have been the victim, but so it had to; be." " Si non e vero e ben 
 trovato," says Home, in telling the story. 
 
 Furnished with a safe-conduct from the German headquarters, 
 Home came and went freely. I have related in an earlier chapter the 
 circumstances of his meeting with King William (a few months later 
 Emperor of Germany), at Versailles, in October, 1870; when, as the 
 Daily Telegraph correspondent, who was present, wrote to that 
 journal: " The King promptly recognised Mr. Home, and addressed 
 him very kindly reminding him of the wonders that he (Mr. Home) 
 had been the means of imparting to him, and inquiring about the spirits 
 in by no means a sceptical tone." It was a dramatic incident, that 
 few minutes' conversation of the crowned representative of force 
 triumphant with the man who had been so wonderfully made the means 
 of proving to his contemporaries that around them were forces of 
 whose existence they had little dreamed. 
 
 On two occasions during the siege of Paris probably on more 
 Home, found himself under fire. The second time, he went under the 
 fire of the forts after a sortie to assist in removing the wounded. He 
 came on a young German officer, who had received a bullet in the 
 thigh and was in imminent danger of bleeding to death. Home bound 
 up the wound to the best of his ability ; and there being no assistance 
 at hand, lifted the sufferer and carried him to the ambulance an 
 exertion that threatened to have cost him his own life from the effect 
 it had on his lungs, which just then were in a condition more than 
 weak. His kindness did not end here. He visited his protege 
 constantly while the wounded man remained in hospital at Versailles, 
 cheering him and alleviating his sufferings by every comfort in his 
 power; and, finally, took a cordial leave of him when the young officer 
 was included in a party of disabled Germans who were sent back to the 
 Fatherland. The two never met again; but a year later Home 
 received a long letter from Beyrout in Syria, in which Lieutenant 
 Sauer related all his fortunes since their parting. I append an exact
 
 PUBLIC READINGS, SCOTLAND, FRANCE 183 
 
 translation of as much of this interesting document as I have space to 
 quote : 
 
 " BEYROUT, SYRIA, November 2ist, 1871. 
 
 " HONOURED SIR, More than a year has passed since I left Versailles and 
 saw you no more ; and although I have so long remained silent to one who 
 alleviated the most dreadful moments of my existence, I now offer my sincerest 
 thanks for all the bountiful aid you rendered to a poor victim of war, who 
 was on the point of perishing but for your assistance. Perhaps you will accuse 
 me of ingratitude for not having written ere this, but sad events have trans- 
 pired to hinder my good intentions. I trust, however, you will excuse my 
 neglect when I relate the following events. You may remember the transport 
 party to which I belonged left Versailles the 8th November, 1870. Although 
 fearful weather prevailed, five days later we arrived at Nanteuil, where our 
 privations partially ceased. You can form some idea of the discomfort such 
 a journey upon rough waggons would entail even upon healthy persons, how 
 much more to those whose sad condition was aggravated by continual rain 
 and snow, falling upon partially frozen limbs? Our joy was unbounded on 
 reaching Nanteuil at finding a Wurtemberg train prepared for the comfortable 
 reception of poor suffering creatures, who hailed the succour as just in time 
 to save them. . . 
 
 " Towards Christmas I was able to walk with the support of a stick, 
 although the ball could not be extracted from my leg ; so I carry it even now 
 in sad remembrance of that memorable day for us Germans. I must here 
 remark that after a few days' sojourn in Gorlitz, I received the cross which 
 his Majesty had hitherto only lent me. . . . 
 
 " When I again sought my regiment, I heard from the doctor that I was 
 totally unfitted for further duty, and applied for permission to quit the service. 
 I could have wished to remain an officer, though no doubt my wound would 
 have proved a serious obstacle to my progress. Upon casting aside my regi- 
 mentals, it became necessary to seek some occupation for my future existence ; 
 and on application I received offers from Beyrout, where I formerly resided. 
 These I accepted ; so at present I am surrounded by loving friends, who had 
 anxiously followed my career on French territory. 
 
 " Should these lines reach you, be assured that one being on earth is 
 indebted to you for his preservation, and only longs for an opportunity to prove 
 his gratitude to one he must ever remember with intense thankfulness. May 
 I ask you to complete your kindness by letting me know that these lines have 
 reached you? Hoping some day to thank you personally, I remain, your ever 
 grateful, " R. SAUER, 
 
 " Lieutenant of the Reserve, ist Westphalian Grenadier Regiment." 
 
 The " memorable day for us Germans " of which the writer speaks 
 was one of the struggles that took place in the direction of Bougival, 
 when the besiegers of Paris were attacked by the besieged. In the 
 same month October, 1870 another sortie of the French led to an 
 occurrence that Home could never speak of without emotion. 
 
 The morning of the sortie, he had left his lodging with his pocket 
 filled with cigars, many hundreds of which he distributed at this time 
 among the troops and the wounded, though I doubt if he ever smoked 
 a cigar himself. As he passed along a boulevard where some French 
 children were playing it was at Versailles he noticed a non- 
 commissioned officer sitting on a bench near them, who seemed to be 
 talking to one of the smallest. Home, interested by the scene, 
 stopped as he came near; and was astonished and amused to hear the 
 grizzled Prussian sergeant chatting away amicably to his small com- 
 panion in the best of German. 
 
 " But, my friend," he said to the soldier, " the boy doesn't under- 
 stand a word you're saying to him."
 
 184 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " Ja, ja," answered the Prussian seriously, "he understands me 
 well enough; " and then, patting the child's head and smiling at 
 Home's look of astonishment: " I have eight of them at home," he 
 said simply, " the big and the little waiting for the old father to 
 come back to them." 
 
 The words, and something in the way they were spoken, brought 
 the tears to Home's eyes. He sat down and talked with the soldier; 
 and when in a few minutes the veteran rose to go: " Stop," said 
 Home, pulling out a handful of cigars ; ' ' here is something to help 
 you to pass the time, sergeant." 
 
 The same day the besieged attacked the German positions near 
 Buzenval. When the skirmish was over, and the French columns 
 were retreating on Paris, Home joined a party that went out to seek 
 the wounded. On the battlefield, they came on his acquaintance the 
 sergeant again dead. The cigars were in his pocket still. But the 
 hand that had placed them there was already cold ; and as the search- 
 ing party turned away to look for those who were not past help, Home 
 thought of the bench where he had sat only a few hours before with 
 the brave sergeant at Versailles, and seemed still to hear him speaking 
 of his German home and the children who were waiting his return. 
 
 Of the many miseries of war that he witnessed during the great 
 siege, there was none that he remembered with a sadder heart.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 ENGLAND: SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 
 
 The Investigation of Professor Crookes. Rigid tests. Wild theory 
 of Professor Balfour Stewart. The evidence of recording 
 instruments. Matter through matter. Materialised hands. A 
 reversal of the law of gravity. Refusal of organised Science to 
 investigate. Their mediaeval attitude. Dr. Higgins in public 
 and in private. Sergeant Cox, O.C. Dr. Carpenter in the 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 " VIEWS or opinions I cannot be said to possess on a subject I do not 
 pretend to understand." 
 
 Mr. W. Crookes, F.R.S., published this declaration in July, 1870, 
 shortly after the announcement had been made in the Athenceum that 
 he was commencing a scientific investigation of Spiritualism. As 
 nineteen-twentieths of mankind come by their opinions in the manner 
 of the historic jury that proposed to return its verdict without hearing 
 the evidence, the public naturally concluded that Mr. Crookes shared 
 this common weakness of humanity, and he was deluged with letters 
 inquiring what his opinions of Spiritualism were. By way of general 
 response, he published a short article, Spiritualism Viewed by the 
 Light of Modern Science, that opens with the explanation above 
 quoted. 
 
 " I consider it the duty of scientific men who have learnt exact modes of 
 working," Mr. Crookes continued, " to examine phenomena which attract the 
 attention of the public, in order to confirm their genuineness, or to explain, if 
 possible, the delusions of the honest, and to expose the tricks of deceivers. . . . 
 
 " In the present case, I prefer to enter upon the inquiry with no preconceived 
 notions whatever as to what can or cannot be, but with all my senses alert 
 and ready to convey information to the brain ; believing, as I do, that we have 
 by no means exhausted all human knowledge or fathomed the depths of all the 
 physical forces. 
 
 " The modes of reasoning of scientific men appear to be generally misunder- 
 stood by Spiritualists with whom I have conversed ; and the reluctance of the 
 trained scientific mind to investigate this subject is frequently ascribed to 
 unworthy motives. I think it will be of service if I illustrate the modes of 
 thought current amongst those who investigate science, and say what kind of 
 experimental proof science has a right to demand before admitting a new 
 department of knowledge into her ranks. We must not mix up the exact and 
 the inexact. The supremacy of accuracy must be absolute." 
 
 After passing some very severe reflections on " pseudo-scientific 
 spiritualists," Mr. Crookes declares that: " In investigations which so 
 completely baffle the ordinary observer, the thorough scientific man 
 has a great advantage." The nature of that advantage he indicates 
 as follows: 
 
 " The Spiritualist tells of bodies weighing 50 or 100 Ibs. being lifted up into 
 the air without the intervention of any known force ; but the scientific chemist 
 is accustomed to use a balance which will render sensible a weight so small 
 that it would take ten thousand of them to weigh one grain ; he is therefore 
 
 185 N
 
 i86 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 justified in asking that a power, professing to be guided by intelligence, which 
 will toss a heavy body up to the ceiling, shall also cause his delicately-poised 
 balance to move under test conditions. 
 
 " The Spiritualist tells of tapping sounds which are produced in different 
 parts of a room when two or more persons sit quietly round a table. The 
 scientific experimenter is entitled to ask that these taps shall be produced on 
 the stretched membrane of his phonautograph. 
 
 " The Spiritualist tells of rooms and houses being shaken, even to injury, 
 by superhuman power. The man of science merely asks for a pendulum to be 
 set vibrating when it is in a glass case and supported on solid masonry. 
 
 " The Spiritualist tells of heavy articles of furniture moving from one room 
 to another without human agency. But the man of science has made instru- 
 ments which will divide an inch into a million parts ; and he is justified in 
 doubting the accuracy of the former observations, if the same force is powerless 
 to move the index of his instrument one poor degree." 
 
 I omit from my quotation the last of the tasks that Mr. Crookes, in 
 the name of science, requested the spirits to perform an important 
 exception. Later in this chapter I will explain what the demand was, 
 and what the answer he received. 
 
 It will be by this time plain to the reader, I hope, that Mr. Crookes 
 did not approach in anything like a credulous frame of mind an 
 investigation which he states, in the same preliminary paper, to have 
 been suggested to him ' ' by eminent men exercising great influence on 
 the thought of the country." His attitude towards Spiritualism was 
 absolutely neutral and impartial an attitude that science ought surely 
 to maintain in investigating any subject whatever, but that Faraday 
 and Tyndall had failed to preserve. Of Dr. Carpenter's attitude 
 towards Spiritualism I say nothing. I think I have already proved in 
 these pages that he had at least two sets of opinions one for the 
 public, another for himself but both of them contradictory and 
 illogical. 
 
 An often-quoted passage from Lord Lytton's Strange Story seems 
 to express exactly the temper in which Mr. Crookes began his inquiry. 
 ' I have no belief," Lytton makes the hero of his romance say. 
 " True science has none. True science questions all things, takes 
 nothing upon credit. It knows but three states of the mind denial, 
 conviction, and that vast interval between the two, which is not belief, 
 but suspense of judgment." 
 
 Mr. Crookes, then, until his investigations were completed, had 
 suspended judgment. Like everybody else who had heard the subject 
 of Spiritualism discussed, he had his impressions; but unlike the 
 great body of the world especially of the scientific world he was 
 able to distinguish those impressions from convictions, and to banish 
 them from his mind in entering on his task. What they were, he has 
 plainly stated in the paper from which I have already quoted : ' ' Like 
 other men who thought little of the matter and saw little, I believed 
 that the whole affair was a superstition, or at least an unexplained 
 trick." And that his expectation in July, 1870, was to be able to refer 
 the phenomena to natural causes, and demonstrate those causes, the 
 concluding words of the same paper prove : ' ' The increased 
 employment of scientific methods. . . . will produce a race of 
 observers who will drive the worthless residuum of spiritualism hence 
 into the unknown limbo of magic and necromancy."
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 187 
 
 The announcement of Mr. Crookes' investigation, and his statement 
 of its aim and methods, were received by the English press with high 
 favour. At last the scientific St. George had stepped into the lists 
 who was to slay the dragon of Spiritualism. The press was jubilant, 
 and had nothing but compliments for Mr. Crookes. His proved 
 ability and his high standing in the scientific world were loudly but a 
 little too hastily extolled by writers who were confident that their 
 accepted prophet would prophesy as they wished. One leading 
 journal expressed " profound satisfaction that the subject was about to 
 be investigated by a man so thoroughly qualified ; ' ' another was 
 ' ' gratified to learn that the matter was now receiving the attention of 
 cool and clear-headed men of recognised position in science; " a third 
 declared that " no one could doubt Mr. Crookes' ability to conduct 
 the investigation with rigid philosophical impartiality ; ' ' and the 
 proclamation of a fourth to its readers ran in these words: " If men 
 like Mr. Crookes grapple with the subject, taking nothing for 
 granted until it is proved, we shall soon know how much to believe." 
 
 The history of Balaam often repeats itself; but the world of our 
 days is not so clear-sighted as the ass of the prophet, and has much 
 to learn from her. Prolonged and rigid investigation compelled Mr. 
 Crookes to bless where he should have cursed ; and his late panegyrists 
 united heartily in a chorus of invective when that eminently respectable 
 authority, Dr. Carpenter, came forward to deride and calumniate Mr. 
 Crookes and all who had shared his labours. 
 
 For the phenomena, it need hardly be said, had not been witnessed 
 and tested by Mr. Crookes alone. Often the experiments were of such 
 a character that at least two observers were necessary to ensure the 
 scientific accuracy which the principal investigator desiderated. His 
 chemical assistant took part in the researches ; his brother, Mr. 
 Walter Crookes, was also present at several seances; and from time to 
 time Mr. Crookes invited various of his scientific brethren to witness 
 his investigations and assist in them. The two secretaries of the Royal 
 Society were asked by him to meet Mr. Home at his house. Both of 
 them declined the invitation. It was quite within their right to do so; 
 but really, after these and other refusals, the uncandid assertion that 
 Mr. Home shunned meeting scientific observers might with decency 
 have been abandoned at least in England. 
 
 Of the various well known men who accepted the invitation of Mr. 
 Crookes, two names came prominently before the public, those of Dr. 
 Huggins, F.R.S., the eminent physicist and astronomer, and Mr. 
 Serjeant Cox. Both the distinguished man of science and the shrewd 
 lawyer attested publicly the accuracy of a narrative contributed by Mr. 
 Crookes to the Quarterly Journal of Science for July, 1871. 
 
 This record dealt only with the phenomena witnessed and the tests 
 applied at one particular seance. It was far from being the most 
 remarkable of the series that took place at the house of Mr. Crookes ; 
 but he was influenced by weighty reasons in selecting it for publication. 
 Not only had Dr. Huggins and Serjeant Cox been present, but Mr. 
 Crookes had contrived for the occasion special apparatus to be 
 employed in testing two of the most frequent physical phenomena,
 
 i88 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 should they occur; the alteration in the weight of bodies and the 
 playing of an accordion when no human hand was touching the keys. 
 In the course of the evening both phenomena were searchingly and 
 satisfactorily tested. 
 
 In dealing with the subject of Spiritualism, scientific critics 
 repeatedly showed themselves as unfair and hasty as the rest of man- 
 kind. They did so on the publication of the results of this seance. Mr. 
 Crookes had taken care to state that numerous other seances and 
 experiments had preceded it; but his critics either did not notice the 
 declaration or did not choose to notice it. They accused him of 
 having rashly arrived at a conclusion on the strength of one or two 
 experiments hastily performed. How thoroughly baseless was the 
 charge even a sketch of Mr. Crookes' preceding investigations will 
 show. 
 
 In July, 1870, he published the explanation of the nature and aims 
 of his inquiry from which I have quoted. Mr. Home returned from 
 Russia at the end of March, 1871; and immediately afterwards the 
 series of experiments commenced that enabled Mr. Crookes ' ' to 
 affirm conclusively the existence of a new force." 
 
 The investigation had neither been avoided nor courted by Mr. 
 Home. I repeat what I have already said, that he was indifferent 
 whether Science concerned herself with his strange gift or not. He 
 was perfectly ready to meet' scientific men if they wished it; but he 
 was by no means disposed to admit that either Spiritualism or himself 
 was honoured by their attentions, and considered that he best main- 
 tained the dignity of his cause by preserving an absolutely passive 
 attitude in the matter, and neither seeking the notice of the scientific 
 world nor shunning it. He rightly felt, too, that, if the manifestations 
 were experimented upon, the experimenters ought to be men who 
 showed themselves capable of approaching the subject in an unbiassed 
 and impartial manner. Faraday and Tyndall had prefaced their 
 condescending intimation thlat they were willing to come to a seance 
 by prejudging the question of the phenomena and insulting himself. 
 I have in my possession a letter to Home written in the year 1868, at 
 the time of his controversy with Professor Tyndall, the writer of which 
 (Mr. Bertolacci) tells him that Tyndall had declared that " if his own 
 senses were convinced of the reality of Spiritualism, he would deny his 
 own senses." Was Mr. Home to go out of his way to court " with 
 bated breath and whispering humbleness ' ' the notice of such 
 philosophy ? 
 
 Unlike Professor Tyndall, Mr. Crookes had the courtesy to approach 
 Mr. Home as one gentleman usually approaches another by obtaining 
 an introduction. The acquaintance who gave it was Lady Burton, wife 
 of the distinguished traveller and Orientalist. Home's absence at 
 the scene of war, and afterwards in Russia, delayed the proposed series 
 of experiments for some months, but on his return from St. Petersburg 
 the sittings began. 
 
 In addition to this main series of experiments, Mr. Crookes 
 investigated the pretensions of various persons claiming to be endowed 
 with a gjft akin to that of Home. With these researches I have no
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 189 
 
 concern, nor am I called upon to offer an opinion as to their value. 
 I am writing only of Mr. Home, on whom the gift that St. Paul terms 
 " discerning of spirits," and that Serjeant Cox and Mr. Crookes 
 termed " the development of psychic force," was conferred in greater 
 measure than on any other man or woman of his time. 
 
 Home imposed no conditions whatever on the investigator, but 
 placed himself unreservedly in the hands of Mr. Crookes. The 
 seances that ensued were held in a strong light. Here are the words 
 of Mr. Crookes: 
 
 " Of all persons endowed with a powerful development of this Psychic Force, 
 Mr. Daniel Dunglas Home is the most remarkable, and it is mainly owing to 
 the many opportunities I have had of carrying on my investigation in his 
 presence that I am enabled to affirm so conclusively the existence of this 
 Force. . . . 
 
 " It is a well-ascertained fact that when the force is weak a bright light 
 exerts an interfering action on some of the phenomena. The power possessed 
 by Mr. Home is sufficiently strong to withstand this antagonistic influence ; 
 consequently, he ahvays objects to darkness at his seances. Except on two 
 occasions, when, for some particular experiments of my own, light was 
 excluded, everything which I have -witnessed with him has taken place in the 
 light. . . . 
 
 " There is a wide difference between the tricks of a professional conjuror, 
 surrounded by his apparatus and aided by any number of concealed assistants 
 and confederates, deceiving the senses by clever sleight-of-hand on his own 
 platform, and the phenomena occurring in the presence of Mr. Home, which 
 take place in the light, in a private room that almost up to the commencement 
 of the seance has been occupied as a living room, and surrounded by private 
 friends of my own, who not only will not countenance the slightest deception, 
 but who are watching narrowly everything that takes place. Moreover, Mr. 
 Home has frequently been searched before and after the stances, and he always 
 offers to allow it. During the most remarkable occurrences, I have occasion- 
 ally held both his hands, and placed my feet on his feet. On no single occasion 
 have I proposed a modification of arrangements for the purpose of rendering 
 trickery less possible which he has not at once assented to, and frequently he 
 has himself drawn attention to tests which might be tried." (Quarterly 
 Journal of Science, 1871 and 1874.) 
 
 What could investigator ask more than to conduct his inquiry under 
 circumstances so favourable to exact research? Here were no 
 darkened cabinets, rendering necessary the invention of a phosphorus 
 lamp to bring the eyesight into play at all. The room was always 
 fully lighted; Mr. Home imposed no conditions, and objected to no 
 tests. The seances were held in Mr. Crookes' house, the sitters were 
 selected by himself. " With the exception of cases specially 
 mentioned," he writes, " the occurrences have taken place in my own 
 house, in the light, and with only private friends present besides the 
 medium." (" Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called 
 Spiritual.") The italics are Mr. Crookes' own. 
 
 Of the ability of Mr. Crookes to conduct an inquiry, especially 
 scientific in its character, no fair-minded man could have a doubt. 
 His scientific training had commenced before he was sixteen, and at 
 the time of his seances with Mr. Home had continued during a quarter 
 of a century. " My scientific education," he declared in his reply to 
 the spiteful calumnies of Dr. Carpenter, " has been one continuous 
 lesson in exactness of observation." His labours have extended over 
 
 ;
 
 190 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 a wide field of science ; and their valuable nature has been repeatedly 
 recognised by various scientific bodies, including the Royal Society, 
 of which he was elected a Fellow so long ago as 1863. Recent 
 honours conferred upon him by that body will be fresh in the minds 
 of English scientific readers. The reception accorded by the Royal 
 Society to the papers in which he detailed some of his experiments 
 with Mr. Home only demonstrated that scientific men in general are 
 creatures of their age and share its prejudices. 
 
 Not till June I5th, 1871, did Mr. Crookes submit to the Royal 
 Society a description of certain of the phenomena he had witnessed 
 in Mr. Home's presence, and of the scientific tests he had applied to 
 them. By that time a great number of seances had been held. Mr. 
 Crookes had keenly scrutinised the phenomena witnessed, and had 
 called in the help of other scientific men to aid him in scrutinising 
 them. Unsatisfied with the testimony of their senses and his own, he 
 had proceeded to call in better witnesses still, witnesses that could not 
 exaggerate or be mistaken. Various of the phenomena he had 
 witnessed seemd to negative that cardinal article of scientific faith, 
 the invariable action of the force of gravitation. Mr. Crookes accord- 
 ingly proceeded to construct instruments capable of registering this 
 fact, if a fact it were. Having perfected his apparatus, he employed it 
 again and again; and on every occasion it recorded the fact that 
 appeared so incredible to him. How incredible it had appeared, let 
 his own words testify: 
 
 " The phenomena I am prepared to attest are so extraordinary, and so 
 directly oppose the most firmly-rooted articles of scientific belief amongst 
 others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the force of gravitation that, 
 even now, on recalling the details of what I witnessed, there is an antagonism 
 in my mind between reason, which pronounces it to be scientifically impossible, 
 and the consciousness that my senses, both of touch and sight and these 
 corroborated, as they were, by the senses of all who were present are not 
 lying witnesses when they testify against my preconceptions." 
 
 Lying witnesses, however, some of the scientific brethren of Mr. 
 Crookes insisted them to have been. Professor Balfour Stewart, for 
 instance, hazarded the theory that Mr. Home was simply a man 
 possessed of great " electro-biological power," by means of which he 
 influenced those present at his seances in plain words that he was a 
 mesmeriser who could mesmerise at once a whole room-full of 
 people. In reply, Mr. Crookes pointed to the apparatus that he had 
 invented and the results that it had recorded. " However susceptible 
 the persons in the room might have been to that assumed influence," 
 he wrote, " it will hardly be contended that Mr. Home biologised the 
 recording instruments." 
 
 Probably Professor Stewart, if reduced to select between this 
 hypothesis and a confession that the evidence adduced by Mr. 
 Crookes could not be overset, would have boldly pronounced for the 
 former, and have declared that he saw no reason why instruments 
 might not be susceptible to mesmeric influences as well as human 
 beings. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that Mr. Crookes has never published an 
 exhaustive account of his experiences with Mr. Home. He had
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 191 
 
 intended, he wrote in January, 1874, to embody the results of his 
 lengthy investigations of Spiritualism, or, as he preferred to term it, 
 of " Psychic Force," in the form of one or two articles 
 supplementary to those he had already published in the 
 Quarterly Journal of Science. " However, on going over my notes," 
 he adds, " I find such a wealth of facts, such a superabundance of 
 evidence, so overwhelming a mass of testimony, all of which will have 
 to be marshalled in order, that I could fill several numbers of the 
 Quarterly. I must therefore be content on this occasion with an 
 outline only of my labours." 
 
 It may be asked what origin Mr. Crookes attributed to the 
 phenomena of which he so emphatically attested the existence. He 
 hesitated to propoun'd a theory at least to propound it publicly. " I 
 have desired," he wrote in December, 1871, "to examine the 
 phenomena from a point of view as strictly physical as their nature 
 will permit. I wish to ascertain the laws governing the appearance of 
 very remarkable phenomena. . . . That a hitherto unrecognised 
 form of Force whether it be called psychic force or x force is of little 
 consequence is involved in this occurrence, is not with me a matter 
 of opinion, but of absolute knowledge; but the nature of that force, 
 or the cause which immediately excites its activity, forms a subject 
 on which I do not at present feel competent to offer an opinion." 
 
 And again, in January, 1874: "It is obvious that a 'medium' 
 possesses a something which is not possessed by an ordinary being. 
 Give this something a name. Call it ' x ' if you like. Mr. Serjeant 
 Cox calls it Psychic Force." 
 
 This last passage occurs in a paper entitled " Notes of an Enquiry 
 into the Phenomena called Spiritual." By far the greater portion of 
 the notes refer to phenomena observed at seances with Home. " 1 
 speak chiefly of Mr. Home, "writes Mr. Crookes, " as he is so much 
 more powerful than most of the other, mediums I have experimented 
 with." A few extracts from these interesting and valuable notes will 
 convey some idea of the number and variety of the phenomena 
 witnessed and tested by Mr. Crookes in Mr. Home's presence during 
 an inquiry extending over several months of 1871. 
 
 Mr. Crookes classifies the phenomena in question under thirteen 
 different headings. The first treats of the movements of tables and 
 other heavy bodies when the hands of the sitters were laid on them. 
 This manifestation he dismisses with brief remark. 
 
 " It varies in degree," he writes, " from a quivering or vibration of the 
 room and its contents, to the actual rising into the air of a heavy body when 
 the hand is placed on it. The retort is obvious that if people are touching a 
 thing when it moves, they push it, or pull it, or lift it ; I have proved experi- 
 mentally that this is not the case in numerous instances, but as a matter of 
 evidence I attach little importance to this class of phenomena by itself, and 
 only mention them as a preliminary to other movements of the same kind, 
 but without contact." 
 
 More interesting to Mr. Crookes was the remarkable phenomenon 
 that thousands before him had noted at seances with Mr. Home. 
 
 " These movements," he continues, " and, indeed, I may say the same of 
 every kind of phenomenon, are generally preceded by a peculiar cold air, 
 sometimes amounting to a decided wind. I have had sheets of paper blown
 
 192 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 about by it, and a thermometer lowered several degrees. On some occasions 
 I have not detected any actual movements of the air, but the cold has been so 
 intense that I could only compare it to that felt when the hand has been within 
 a few inches of frozen mercury." 
 
 Passing to that means of communication with the sitters ordinarily 
 employed by the intelligences at work, the manifestation popularly 
 termed "rappings," and by Mr. Crookes "percussive and other 
 allied sounds, ' ' he says : ' ' The popular name of ' raps ; conveys a 
 very erroneous impression of this class of phenomena." I have 
 quoted in an early chapter his description of their varied nature. 
 " With a full knowledge," he adds, " of the numerous theories which 
 have been started, chiefly in America, to explain these sounds, I have 
 tested them in every way that I could devise, until there has been no 
 escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences 
 not produced by trickery or mechanical means." 
 
 Concerning the messages conveyed by means of these " percussive 
 sounds," Mr. Crookes says very little. A discussion of this most 
 important subject of all would have led him beyond the scope of his 
 inquiry, which he wished to limit as much as possible to phenomena 
 that he could make the subject of scientific experiment. In other 
 words, he devoted has attention to the physical phenomena of 
 Spiritualism, passing over the psychical with the remark: 
 
 " At a very early stage of the inquiry, it was seen that the power producing 
 the phenomena was not merely a blind force, but was associated with or 
 governed by intelligence : thus the sounds to which I have just alluded will be 
 repeated a definite number of times, they will come loud or faint, and in 
 different places at request ; and, by a pre-arranged code of signals, questions 
 are answered, and messages given with more or less accuracy. . . . The 
 intelligence is sometimes of such a character as to lead to the belief that it 
 does not emanate from any person present." 
 
 Towards the close of his article, Mr. Crookes reverts to the question 
 of the intelligence directing the phenomena, and narrates the 
 following occurrence, among others, in support of his testimony that 
 he had "observed some circumstances which seem conclusively to 
 point to the agency of an outside intelligence, not belonging to any 
 human being in the room ' ' : 
 
 " During a seance with Mr. Home, a small lath, which I have before 
 mentioned, moved across the table to me, in the light, and delivered a message 
 to me by tapping my hand ; I repeating the alphabet, and the lath tapping me 
 at the right letters. The other end of the lath was resting on the table, some 
 distance from Mr. Home's hands. 
 
 " The taps were so sharp and clear, and the lath was evidently so well 
 under control of the invisible power which was governing its movements, that 
 I said, ' Can the intelligence governing the motion of this lath change the 
 character of the movements, and give me a telegraphic message through the 
 Morse alphabet by taps on my hand?' (I have every reason to believe that the 
 Morse code was quite unknown to any other person present, and it was only 
 imperfectly known to me.) Immediately I said this, the character of the taps 
 changed, and the message was continued in the way I had requested. The 
 letters were given too rapidly for me to do more than catch a word here and 
 there, and consequently I lost the message ; but I heard sufficient to convince 
 me that there was a good Morse operator at the other end of the line, wherever 
 that might be."
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 193 
 
 Under his third heading, Mr. Crookes deals with the alteration of 
 the weight of bodies. For particulars he refers to former papers 
 published by him, of which I shall presently speak, including the 
 experiments witnessed by Dr. Muggins and Serjeant Cox. 
 
 The fourth and fifth sections treat of a phenomenon that has been 
 witnessed on thousands of occasions at seances with Home, and that 
 always startled those who observed it for the first time the movement 
 of articles of furniture when no person was near them. Sometimes 
 these bodies glided across the floor towards the sitters, at other times 
 they rose clear of the ground ; the one and the other manifestation, 
 let it be remembered, taking place in full light. 
 
 " A chair," writes Mr. Crookes, " was seen by all present to move slowly 
 up to the table from a far corner, when all were watching it ; on another 
 occasion an arm-chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly 
 back again (a distance of about three feet) at my request. On three successive 
 evenings a small table moved slowly acro.s the room, under conditions which 
 I had specially pre-arranged, so as to answer any objection which might be 
 raised to the evidence. I have had several repetitions of the experiment con- 
 sidered by the Committee of the Dialectical Society to be conclusive, viz., the 
 movement of a heavy table in full light, the chairs turned with their backs to 
 the table about a foot off, and each person kneeling on his chair, with hands 
 resting over the backs of the chairs, but not touching the table. 
 
 " On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a few inches 
 and i$ feet off the floor, under special circumstances, which rendered trickery 
 impossible. . . . On another occasion the table rose from the floor, not 
 only when no person was touching it, but under conditions which I had pre- 
 arranged so as to assure unquestionable proof of the fact. 
 
 " A remark," adds Mr. Crookes, " is generally made when occurrences of 
 this kind are mentioned, Why is it only tables and chairs which do these 
 things? Why is this property peculiar to furniture? I might reply that I 
 only observe and record facts, and do not profess to enter into the Why and 
 Wherefore ; but, indeed, it will be obvious that if a heavy inanimate body in 
 an ordinary dining-room has to rise off the floor it cannot very well be any- 
 thing else but a table or a chair. That this propensity is not specially attached 
 to furniture, I have had abundant evidence ; but, like other experimental 
 demonstrators, the intelligence or power, whatever it may be, which produces 
 these phenomena can only work with the materials which are available." 
 
 On three separate occasions Mr. Crookes saw Mr. Home in full light 
 rise clear of the floor of the room and float in the air. I have already 
 quoted his description of these levitations. 
 
 Besides the movements of heavy bodies, such as tables and chair-, at 
 a distance from the sitters, Mr. Crookes witnessed similar phenomena 
 in connection with smaller articles, the room being always fully lighted. 
 "It is idle," he wrote, " to attribute these results to trickery, for I 
 would again remind my readers that what I relate has not been 
 accomplished at the house of a medium, but in my own house, where 
 preparations have been quite impossible. A medium, walking into my 
 dining-room, cannot, while seated in one part of the loom with a 
 number of persons keenly watching him, by trickery make an accordion 
 play in my own hand when I hold it keys downwards, or cause the 
 same accordion to float about the room playing all the time. He 
 cannot introduce machinery which will wave window-curtains or pull 
 up Venetian blinds eight feet off, tie a knot in a handkerchief and
 
 i 9 4 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 place it in a far corner of the room, sound notes on a distant piano 
 
 cause a fan to move about and fan the company, or set in 
 
 motion a pendulum when enclosed in a glass case firmly cemented to 
 the wall." 
 
 The last of these phenomena, it will be remembered, was among 
 the demands that Mr. Crookes, in the name of science, had put forth 
 in his preliminary paper. The remaining tests there indicated by him 
 as satisfactory were all furnished to him at one time or another during 
 his seances with Home, with the exception of the last. I designedly 
 omitted that concluding demand in quoting the others : it was as 
 follows : 
 
 " The Spiritualist," wrote Mr. Crookes in July, 1870, " tells of flowers with 
 the fresh dew on them, of fruit, and living objects being carried through closed 
 windows, and even solid brick-walls. The scientific investigator naturally 
 asks that an additional weight (if it be only the i.oooth part of a grain) be 
 deposited on one pan of his balance when the case is locked. And the chemist 
 asks for the i.oooth part of a grain of arsenic to be carried through the sides 
 of a glass tube in which pure water is hermetically sealed." 
 
 No " flowers with the dew on them," &c., had ever been brought 
 through closed windows or solid brick walls at seances with Home. 
 Such phenomena generally occur only in absolute darkness. Tha 
 answer made by the spirits to the last of Mr. Crookes' demands was 
 that the passage of matter through matter was impossible ; and some 
 manifestations having occurred at his house that seemed to contravert 
 this statement, it was affirmed in the following manner : 
 
 " The circumstance I will relate," says Mr. Crookes, " occurred in the light 
 one Sunday evening, only Mr. Home and members of my family being present. 
 My wife and I had been spending the day in the country, and had brought 
 home a few flowers we had gathered. On reaching home we gave them to a 
 servant to put in water. Mr. Home came soon after ; and we at once pro- 
 ceeded to the dining-room. As we were sitting down, a servant brought in the 
 flowers, which she had arranged in a vase. I placed it in the centre of the 
 dining-table, which was without a cloth. This was the first time Mr. Home 
 had seen these flowers. 
 
 " After several phenomena had occurred, the conversation turned upon some 
 circumstances which seemed only explicable on the assumption that matter 
 had actually passed through a solid substance. Thereupon a message was- 
 given by means of the alphabet : ' It is impossible for matter to pass through 
 matter, but we will show you what we can do.' We waited in silence. 
 Presently a luminous appearance was seen hovering over the bouquet of 
 flowers, and then in full view of all present, a piece of china-grass, 15 inches 
 long, which formed the centre ornament of the bouquet, slowly rose from the 
 other flowers, and then descended to the table in front of the vase between it 
 and Mr. Home. It did not stop on reaching the table, but went straight 
 through it, and we all watched it till it had entirely passed through. Imme- 
 diately on the disappearance of the grass, my wife, who was sitting near Mr. 
 Home, saw a hand come up from under the table between them, holding the 
 piece of grass. It tapped her on the shoulder two or three times with a sound 
 audible to all, then laid the grass on the floor, and disappeared. Only two 
 persons saw the hand, but all in the room saw the piece of grass moving 
 about as I have described. During the time this was taking place, Mr. 
 Home's hands were seen by all to be quietly resting on the table in front of 
 him. The place where the grass disappeared was 18 inches from his hands. 
 The table was a telescope dining-table, opening with a screw ; there was no
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 195 
 
 leaf in it, and the junction of the two sides formed a narrow crack down the 
 middle. The grass had passed through this chink, which I measured, and 
 found to be barely &th inch wide. The stem of the piece of grass was far too 
 thick to enable me to force it through this crack without injuring it, yet we 
 had all seen it pass through quietly and smoothly ; and, on examination, it did 
 not show the slightest signs of pressure or abrasion." 
 
 With such phenomena and others still more marvellous constantly 
 occurring under the circumstances that he, Mr. Home, had arranged, it 
 was impossible for Mr. Crookes to resist conviction. And I cannot 
 too often repeat, for the benefit of the reader who is accustomed to 
 associate Spiritualism with the idea of darkness, that Mr. Crookes 
 carried on his investigations with Mr. Home in strong light trying 
 now one kind of light, now another, with a view to observing the effect 
 of each. " I have had many opportunities," he wrote, " of testing 
 the action of light of different sources and colours, such as sunlight, 
 diffused daylight, moonlight, gas, lamp, and candle light, electric light 
 from a vacuum tube, homogeneous yellow light, &c. The interfering 
 rays appear to be those at the extreme end of the spectrum." 
 
 In the narrative just quoted, Mr. Crookes speaks of a luminous 
 appearance that was seen by all present to hover over the vase of 
 flowers, and of a hand that subsequently became visible of Mrs. 
 Crookes and another of the sitters. In various portions of this work 
 I have quoted testimony showing that these apparitions were seldom 
 visible to all the persons present at a seance. Lord Dunraven 
 repeatedly records this fact, so does Mr. Crookes. " The hands and 
 fingers," he wrote, " do not always appear to me to be solid and life- 
 like. Sometimes, indeed, they present more the appearance of a 
 nebulous cloud partly condensed into the form of a hand. This is not 
 equally visible to all present. For instance, a flower or other small 
 object is seen to move; one person present will see a luminous cloud 
 hovering over it, another will detect a nebulous looking hand, whilst 
 others will see nothing but the moving flower. I have more than 
 once seen, first an object move, then a luminous cloud appear to form 
 about it, and lastly, the cloud condense into shape and become a 
 perfectly formed hand." 
 
 In view of these facts, attested by Mr. Crookes, Lord Dunraven, and 
 many other observers, what becomes of the silly fable of mechanical 
 contrivances ? Will any reasoning being maintain that this theory is 
 tenable in face of such evidence; and that, when Mr. Crookes and his 
 friends were observing the phenomena in full light, it would have 
 been possible for one to mistake a wax cast, glove at the end of a wire, 
 or other contrivance for a hand ; for another to fail to see anything, 
 and for a third to behold the contrivance as a luminous cloud con- 
 densing gradually into a perfectly formed hand ? 
 
 Only when fully formed, says Mr. Crookes, did the spirit-hand 
 become visible to all present. "It is not always a mere form," he 
 writes, "but sometimes appears perfectly life like and graceful, the 
 fingers moving and the flesh apparently as human as that of any in the 
 room. At the wrist, or arm, it becomes hazy, and fades off into a 
 luminous cloud."
 
 t 9 6 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Here is his further testimony to these appearances : 
 
 " In the light I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side 
 table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady ; and on some occasions 
 I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand 
 and carry small objects about. . . . 
 
 " A beautifully-formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table 
 and gave me a flower ; it appeared and then disappeared three times at inter- 
 vals, affording me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real 
 in appearance as my own. This occurred in the light in my own room, whilst 
 I was holding the medium's hands and feet. 
 
 " At another time a finger and thumb were seen to pick the petals from a 
 flower in Mr. Home's button-hole, and lay them in front of several persons 
 who were sitting near him. 
 
 " A hand has repeatedly been seen by myself and others playing the keys of 
 an accordion, both of the medium's hands being visible at the same time, and 
 sometimes being held by those near him. 
 
 " To the touch, the hand sometimes appears icy-cold and dead, at other 
 times warm and life-like, grasping my own with the firm pressure of an old 
 friend." 
 
 Did Mr. Crookes, it will be asked, resort to no decisive means to 
 assure himself of the unearthly nature of these apparitions ? Yes. 
 
 " I have retained one of these hands in my own," he wrote, 
 " firmly resolved not to let it escape. There was no struggle or effort 
 made to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapour, 
 and faded in that manner from my grasp." 
 
 At the Tuileries in 1857 a spirit-hand, as I have already related, 
 lifted a pencil that was lying on the table, and, in presence of the 
 Emperor and Empress, wrote on a sheet of paper the single word 
 " Napoleon." Mr. Crookes, during a seance in 1871, expressed the 
 desire to witness a similar phenomenon. The result was the 
 manifestation thus described by him : 
 
 ' ' A good failure,' " he writes, " ' often teaches more than the most suc- 
 cessful experiment.' It took place in the light, in my own room, with only a 
 few private friends and Mr. Home present. Several circumstances, to which I 
 need not further allude, had shown that the power that evening was strong. 
 I therefore expressed a wish to witness the actual production of a written 
 message such as I had heard described a short time before by a friend. 
 Immediately an alphabetic communication was made as follows : ' We will 
 try.' A pencil and some sheets of paper had been lying on the centre of the 
 table ; presently the pencil rose up on its point, and, after advancing by hesitat- 
 ing jerks to the paper, fell down. It then rose, and again fell. A third time 
 it tried, but .with no better result. After three unsuccessful attempts, a small 
 wooden lath which was lying near upon the table slid towards the pencil, and 
 rose a few inches from the table ; the pencil rose again, and propping itself 
 against the lath, the two together made an effort to mark the paper. It fell, 
 and then a joint effort was again made. After a third trial the lath gave it 
 up and moved back to its place, the pencil lay as it fell across the paper, and 
 an alphabetic message told us ' We have tried to do as you asked, but our 
 power is exhausted.' ' 
 
 The appearance of the full human figure was as rare as apparitions 
 of hands were frequent. The Why is easy to indicate. By whatever 
 means spirits produced these impressions on the senses of sight and 
 touch, it is obvious that to make a hand visible would be a work of less 
 difficulty to the intelligences operating than to render manifest the full 
 form. When the latter did appear, it was under conditions that
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 197 
 
 rendered the thought of trickery impossible. There was no darkened 
 recess with a ' ' medium ' ' shut inside to operate the production of a 
 "materialised spirit " at his leisure. There among the observers sat 
 Home ; and there, distinct and separate from him, stood the phantom. 
 Mr. Crookes' testimony concerning the phantom forms beheld by 
 him is as follows : 
 
 " These are the rarest of the phenomena I have witnessed. The conditions 
 requisite for their appearance appear to be so delicate, and such trifles inter- 
 fere with their production, that only on very few occasions have I witnessed 
 them under satisfactory test conditions. I will mention two of these cases. 
 
 " In the dusk of the evening, during a seance with Mr. Home at my house, 
 the curtains of a window about eight feet from Mr. Home were seen' to move. 
 A dark, shadowy, semi-transparent form, like that of a man, was then seen 
 by all present standing near the window, waving the curtain with his hand. 
 As we looked, the form faded away and the curtains ceased to move. 
 
 " The following is a still more striking instance. A phantom form came 
 from the corner of the room, took an accordion in its hand, and then glided 
 about the room playing the instrument. The form was visible to all present 
 for many minutes, Mr. Home also being seen at the same time. Coming 
 rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest of the company, 
 she gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished." 
 
 I have now summarised a few and only a few of the experiences 
 of Mr. Crookes, as related by himself. In view of them, it was not 
 surprising that he should write to Mr. Home on April izth, 1871 : 
 
 ' ' What a wonderful seance it was last night ! The more I think of 
 it, the more impressed I am with its extraordinary character. Pray do 
 not hesitate to mention me as one of the firmest believers in you. Half 
 a dozen such seances as that, with a few picked scientific men (I have 
 the list of eligibles already drawn out), and the scientific recognition of 
 these truths would be as undoubted as are the facts of electricity." 
 
 The " eligibles," with hardly an exception, declined the invitation 
 of Mr. Crookes to co-operate in his researches. 
 
 " I confess," he told the readers of the Quarterly Journal of Science, in 
 July, 1871, " I am surprised and pained at the timidity or apathy shown by 
 scientific men in reference to this subject. Some little time ago, when an 
 opportunity for examination was first presented to me, I invited the co-opera- 
 tion of seme scientific friends in a systematic investigation ; but I soon found 
 that to obtain a scientific committee for the investigation of this class of facts 
 was out of the question, and that I must be content to rely on my own- 
 endeavours, aided by the co-operation from time to time of a few scientific 
 and learned friends who were willing to join in the inquiry. I still feel that 
 it would be better were such a committee of known men to be formed, who 
 would meet Mr. Home in a fair and unbiassed manner, and I would gladly 
 assist in its formation ; but the difficulties in the way are great." 
 
 They proved insuperable, but they were raised by Science, not by 
 Mr. Home. In default of a regular committee, Mr. Crookes called 
 to ftis aid the scientific and learned friends to whom he refers. Only 
 the names of Dr. Huggins and Mr. Serjeant Cox came before the 
 public, and these in connection with only a single seance of several at 
 which these two well-known men had been present. That seance was, 
 as I have said, selected for publication because of the searching tests 
 that had been applied to the phenomena observed.
 
 198 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 " In the afternoon," wrote Mr. Crookes, " I called for Mr. Home 
 at his apartments, and when there he suggested that, as he had to 
 change his dress, perhaps I should not object to continue our 
 conversation in his bedroom. I am therefore enabled to state 
 positively that no machinery, apparatus, or contrivance of any sort was 
 secreted about his person." 
 
 The two then proceeded to the house of Mr. Crookes. The 
 investigators who were present that evening consisted of Dr. Huggins, 
 F.R.S., Mr. Serjeant Cox, Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., his brother 
 Mr. Walter Crookes, and his chemical assistant. 
 
 To test the playing of the accordion, should that phenomenon 
 occur, Mr. Crookes had prepared a cage consisting of a drum-shaped 
 wooden frame, with insulated copper wire wound round it. The strands 
 of wire were then firmly netted together with string, " so as to form, ' ' 
 says Mr. Crookes, " meshes rather less than two inches long by one 
 inch high. The height of this cage was such that it would just slip 
 under my dining table, but be too close to the top to allow of the hand 
 being introduced into the interior, or to admit of a foot being pushed 
 underneath it. In another room were two Grove's cells, wires being 
 led from them into the dining-room for connection, if desirable, with 
 the wire surrounding the cage." 
 
 The accordion had been provided by Mr. Crookes. " It was a 
 new one," he writes, " having been purchased by myself for the 
 purpose of these experiments. Mr. Home had neither handled nor 
 seen the instrument before the commencement of the test-experi- 
 ments. ' ' 
 
 To test another frequent phenomenon, the alteration of the weight 
 of bodies, Mr. Crookes had fitted up an apparatus the salient feature 
 of which was a mahogany board three feet long. 
 
 " At each end a strip of mahogany i^ inches wide was screwed on, forming 
 feet. One end of the board rested on a firm table, whilst the other end was 
 supported by a spring balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand. The 
 balance was fitted with a self-registering index, in such a manner that it would 
 record the maximum weight indicated by the pointer. The apparatus was 
 adjusted so that the mahogany board was horizontal, its foot resting flat on 
 the support. In this position its weight was 3 Ibs., as marked by the pointer 
 of the balance." (Quarterly Journal of Science, July, 1871.) 
 
 ft was designed by the constructor of this apparatus that Mr. Home 
 should place his finger-tips on that end of the mahogany board which 
 rested on the table. If the index of the balance then descended, it 
 would be conclusively demonstrated that muscular force was not the 
 agent at work, since no pressure applied by Mr. Home's fingers to the 
 end of the board farthest from the balance could cause the index to 
 descend. 
 
 Both the cage and the other apparatus had been constructed without 
 any intimation of their nature being communicated to Mr. Home 
 " Before Mr. Home entered the room," says Mr. Crookes, "the 
 apparatus had been arranged in position, and he had not even the 
 object of some parts of it explained before sitting down." 
 
 The experiment with the accordion was first tried. The room was
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 199 
 
 fully lighted with gas. Mr. Home sat in a low easy chair at the side 
 of the table. 
 
 " In front of him under the table," says Mr. Crookes, " was the aforesaid 
 cage, one of his legs being on each side of it. I sat close to him on his left, 
 and another observer sat close to him on his right. . . . When anything 
 of importance was occurring, the observers on each side of Mr. Home kept 
 their feet respectively on his feet, so as to be able to detect the slightest move- 
 ment. 
 
 " Mr. Home took the accordion between the thumb and middle finger of 
 one hand at the opposite end to the keys. Having previously opened the bass 
 key myself, and the cage being drawn from under the table so as just to allow 
 the accordion to be passed in with its keys downwards, it was pushed back 
 as close as Mr. Home's arm would permit, but without hiding his hand from 
 those next to him." 
 
 Presently the accordion played. 
 
 " Dr. Huggins now looked under the table, and said that Mr. Home's hand 
 appeared quite still, whilst the accordion was moving about emitting distinct 
 sounds. 
 
 " Mr. Home still holding the accordion in the usual manner in the cage, 
 his feet being held by those next him, and his other hand resting on the table, 
 we heard distinct and separate notes sounded in succession, and then a simple 
 air was played. As such a result could only have been produced by the various 
 keys of the instrument being acted upon in harmonious succession, this was 
 considered by those present to be a crucial experiment. But the sequel was 
 still more striking. 
 
 " Mr. Home removed his hand altogether from the accordion, and taking 
 his hand quite out of the cage, placed it in the hand of the person next to 
 him." His other hand remained on the table. " The instrument," writes 
 Mr. Crookes, " then continued to play, no person touching it and no hand 
 being near it." 
 
 The current from the battery was now passed round the insulated 
 wire of the cage. The accordion again played. Mr. Home a second 
 time removed his hand from it, and laid that hand upon the table, 
 where it was taken by the observer next to him. 
 
 " Both his hands," says Mr. Crookes, " were now seen by all present. I 
 and two of the others present saw the accordion distinctly floating about inside 
 the cage with no visible support. 
 
 " Mr. Home presently re-inserted his hand in the cage and again took hold 
 of the accordion. It then commenced to play, at first chords and runs, and 
 afterwards a well-known sweet and plaintive melody, which it executed per- 
 fectly in a very beautiful manner. Whilst this tune was being played, I 
 grasped Mr. Home's arm, below the elbow, and gently slid my hand down it 
 until I touched the top of the accordion. He was not moving a muscle. His 
 other hand was on the table, visible to all, and his feet were under the feet 
 of those next to him. 
 
 " Having met with such striking results in the experiments with the 
 accordion in the cage, we turned to the balance apparatus." 
 
 I have already quoted Mr. Crookes' description of that apparatus. 
 It is figured by woodcuts in his pages, as also are the experiments 
 with the accordion. 
 
 " Mr. Home," writes Mr. Crookes, " placed the tips of his fingers lightly 
 on the extreme end of the mahogany board which was resting on the support, 
 whilst Dr. Huggins and myself sat, one on each side of it, watching for any 
 effect which might be produced. Almost immediately the pointer of the 
 balance was seen to descend. After a few seconds it rose again. This move- 
 ment was repeated several times, as if by successive waves of the Psychic 
 Force."
 
 200 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Only the scientific reader can fully appreciate the impression made 
 by this phenomenon on the little party of scientific men observing it. 
 Here was a downward pull applied to the balance before their eyes, 
 when the conditions rendered it impossible for Mr. Home to make the 
 index of that balance descend. 
 
 The board was arranged perfectly horizontally. The wooden foot 
 screwed beneath it and resting on the table was i inches wide. 
 Across the upper surface of the board, at the same distance of i 
 inches from the end, Mr. Crookes, with the acquiescence of Dr. 
 Huggins, drew a line in pencil. Beyond this line Mr. Home's fingers 
 were not at any time advanced. 
 
 " Now, the wooden foot," writes Mr. Crookes, " being also i^ inches wide, 
 and resting flat on the table, it is evident that no amount of pressure exerted 
 within this space of ij inches could produce any action on the balance. 
 
 " Again, it is also evident that when the end furthest from Mr. Home sank, 
 the board would turn on the further edge of this foot as on a fulcrum. The 
 arrangement was consequently that of a see-saw, 36 inches in length, the 
 fulcrum being i inches from one end ; were he, therefore, to have exerted a 
 downward pressure, it would have been in opposition to the force which was 
 causing the other end of the board to move down." 
 
 In other words, it would have been as easy for Mr. Home to have 
 caused his chair to rise into the air by sitting on it, as to have caused 
 the index of the balance to descend by pressing on that end of the 
 board where his fingers rested. 
 
 When the descent of the balance was noted, 
 
 " Mr. Home of his own accord took," writes Mr. Crookes, " a small hand- 
 bell and a little card match-box, which happened to be near, and placed one 
 under each hand, to satisfy us, as he said, that he was not producing the 
 downward pressure. The very slow oscillation of the spring balance became 
 more marked, and Dr. Huggins, watching the index, said that he saw it 
 descend to 65 Ibs. The normal weight of the board as so suspended being 
 3 Ibs., the additional downward pull was therefore 3^ Ibs. On looking imme- 
 diately afterwards at the automatic register, we saw that the index had at 
 one time descended as low as 9 Ibs., showing a maximum pull of 6 Ibs. upon 
 a board whose normal weight was 3 Ibs." 
 
 Wishing to try whether it were possible to produce much effect on 
 the spring balance by pressure on that end of the board where Mr. 
 Home's fingers had rested, Mr. Crookes stood on one foot at the end 
 of the board. Dr. Huggins watched the index of the balance, and 
 recorded that the whole weight of Mr. Crookes' body (140 Ib.) when 
 thus applied only sank the index i Ib., and when he jerked up and 
 down 2lb. And this result was only obtained because the foot of Mr. 
 Crookes extended beyond the fulcrum, which the fingers of Mr. Home 
 had never passed. 
 
 "Mr. Home had been sitting in a low easy chair," adds Mr. 
 Crookes, " and could not, had he tried his utmost, have exerted any 
 material influence on the results. I need scarcely add that his feet 
 as well as his hands were closely guarded by all in the room. This 
 experiment appears to me more striking, if possible, than the one with 
 the accordion."
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 201 
 
 On putting into the form of an article the notes of these facts made 
 at the time, Mr. Crookes sent proofs of his paper to Dr. Huggins and 
 Mr. Serjeant Cox. The former attested as follows the correctness of 
 the statements it contained : 
 
 " June 9, 1871. 
 
 " DEAR MR. CROOKES, Your proof appears to me to contain a correct 
 statement of what took place in my presence at your house. My position at 
 the table did not permit me to be a witness to the withdrawal of Mr. Home's 
 hand from the accordion, but such was stated to be the case at the time by 
 yourself and by the person sitting on the other side of Mr. Home. 
 
 " The experiments appear to me to show the importance of further investiga- 
 tion, but I wish it to be understood that I express no opinion as to the cause 
 of the phenomena which took place. Yours very truly, 
 
 " WILLIAM HUGGINS." 
 
 Being intended for publication, the expressions of Dr. Huggins 
 were naturally weighed by him with the utmost caution. He wished, 
 if possible, to give his testimony to facts without offending the in- 
 grained prejudices of the scientific world. But " no man can serve 
 two masters "; and Dr. Carpenter, in the name of the world of 
 science, attacked his brother F.R.S. as venomously as if Dr. Huggins 
 had stated a belief that the phenomena were the work of disem- 
 bodied spirits. 
 
 In private, Dr. Huggins was more outspoken. " I saw Huggins 
 yesterday," writes Mr. Crookes to Mr. Home on July i8th, 1871. 
 "He has been doing good work with his tongue. Although a 
 coward with his pen, he is as bold as a lion in talking." 
 
 In a lengthy letter to Mr. Crookes, Mr. Serjeant Cox not only 
 attested in his turn the exactitude of the account of the experiments 
 furnished by the principal investigator, but proceeded to theorise as 
 to the origin of the phenomena which neither of the two scientific 
 observers had done. I extract a portion of the learned Serjeant's 
 testimony : 
 
 " June 8, 1871. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Having been present, for the purpose of scrutiny, at the 
 trial of the experiments reported in this paper, I readily bear my testimony to 
 the perfect accuracy of your description of them, and to the care and caution 
 with which the various crucial tests were applied. 
 
 " The results appear to me conclusively to establish the important fact that 
 there is a force proceeding from the nerve-system capable of imparting motion 
 and weight to solid bodies within the sphere of its influence. . . . 
 
 " I venture to suggest that the force be termed the Psychic Force; and the 
 persons in whom it is manifested in extraordinary power Psychics. 
 
 " Permit me, also, to propose the early formation of a Psychological Society, 
 purposely for the promotion of the study of that hitherto neglected Science. 
 I am, &c., " EDVVD. WM. Cox." 
 
 I believe the Society now flourishing under the name suggested by 
 Serjeant Cox owes its origin to his efforts. He devoted much time 
 to the investigation of the phenomena, and Mr. Home, at his 
 entreaty, held several seances at the learned Serjeant's residence. 
 
 At one of these a person of the name of Spiller was present, who, 
 on the publication of Mr. Crookes' papers, darkly intimated in the 
 columns of the Echo that " an' he would " etc. Pressed by 
 
 o
 
 202 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Mr. Crookes to explain, Mr. Spiller made several assertions concern- 
 ing the seance at the house of Mr. Serjeant Cox. Not only did 
 they furnish no explanation of the phenomena, but one and all were 
 easily proved by Mr. Crookes to be direct misstatements of fact, 
 conflicting with Mr. Spiller's own declaration at the time of the 
 seance. The most important was that a light, assumed to be a 
 spirit-light, had been seen playing about Mr. Home's hands. It 
 was a reflection, said the veracious Mr. Spiller, " from the shining 
 surface of Mr. H.'s monster locket." In reply, Mr. Crookes 
 showed that no one but Mr. Spiller himself had spoken of having 
 seen this light. It would have been strange indeed if more candid 
 inquirers had seen it ; for the locket (which still exists) is not only 
 small, but is of dull platinum. It is so covered on both sides 
 with ornamental engraving, " that," writes Mr. Crookes, in dis- 
 cussing Mr. Spiller's statements, " there is not a particle of polished 
 platinum about it. I have," he adds, " carefully examined the 
 optical properties of this locket. Tested in an accurate photometer, 
 the reflecting power of each side is found to be equal to that of a 
 silvered glass speculum less than one-tenth of an inch square." 
 
 Such were the weapons with which an attack on the testimony of 
 Mr. Crookes was conducted by a person professing to be a scientific 
 controversialist ! 
 
 Were it worth while, I might here show, from the letters of Ser- 
 jeant Cox to Mr. Home, that the former had many experiences at 
 seances with Home which he found his theory of "psychic force" 
 quite insufficient to explain. Always, when this was the case, the 
 learned Serjeant proceeded to supp 1 ement his pet hypothesis by other 
 theories, some sober, a few wild. He was a typical representative 
 of a class of persons not uncommon, who are better fitted to observe 
 facts than to deduce inferences from them. Mr. Serjeant Cox, un- 
 truly styled by Dr. Carpenter in the Quarterly Review an infatuated 
 Spiritualist, conducted his researches with Mr. Home in a spirit of 
 keen and sceptical inquiry. He was slow in arriving at conviction 
 nay, even when convinced, the antagonism between reason and the 
 evidence of his senses that Mr. Crookes found in his own mind was 
 equally present in the mind of Serjeant Cox. Under its influence, 
 he submitted for Home's consideration one conjecture after another 
 respecting the origin of the phenomena, constructing them with a 
 rashness in inverse proportion to the wary scepticism with which he 
 had investigated the phenomena themselves. 
 
 I may here mention that Serjeant Cox was present at some of the 
 manifestations recorded by Lords Dunraven and Adare. "I re- 
 member' once with you at Sydenham," he writes to Mr. Home in 
 1878, " seeing a hand in the daylight come over the table and hand 
 a flower to Lord Dunraven. ... I have never seen any pheno- 
 mena to compare with yours." Under the date of 1876, I shall 
 quote an interesting letter written in that year by Serjeant Cox to Mr. 
 Home, in which the Serjeant avows how entirely opposed to his pre- 
 judices and preconceptions were the convictions impressed on him by 
 his seances with Home.
 
 ENGLAND: SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 203 
 
 Desiring to experiment still further with the phenomenon of altera- 
 tions in the weight of bodies, Mr. Crookes planned an addition to 
 his apparatus. " On trying these experiments for the first time," 
 he explains, " I thought that actual contact between Mr. Home's 
 hands and the suspended body whose weight was to be altered was 
 essential to the exhibition of the force ; but I found afterwards that 
 this was not a necessary condition." 
 
 Mr. Crookes had already sent to the Royal Society a paper con- 
 taining an account of his experiments made in the presence of Dr. 
 Huggins and Serjeant Cox ; at the same time inviting the two 
 secretaries, Professors Sharpey and Stokes, to meet Mr. Home at his 
 house. Both declined the invitation. Professor Stokes also formu- 
 lated objections to the experiment made with the mahogany board 
 and the balance, based on the assumption that Mr. Home might 
 have exercised a pressure on the board beyond the fulcrum. In 
 reply Mr. Crookes showed that, granting all the hypotheses of Pro- 
 fessor Stokes, a simple mathematical formula gave the amount of 
 force necessary to have been exerted by Mr. Home as 74^1bs. 
 "Considering that he was sitting in a low easy chair," continued 
 Mr. Crookes, " and that four pair of sharp, suspicious eyes were 
 watching to see that he exerted no force at all, but kept the tips 
 of his fingers lightly on the instrument, it is sufficiently evident that 
 an exertion of this pressure was impossible." 
 
 In another letter to Professor Stokes, Mr. Crookes wrote : " I 
 am now fitting up apparatus in which contact is made through water 
 only, in such a way that transmission of mechanical movement to the 
 board is impossible; and I am also arranging an experiment in which 
 Mr. Home will not touch the apparatus at all. This will only work 
 when the power is very strong ; but last night I tried an experiment 
 of this kind, and obtained a considerable increase of tension on the 
 spring balance when Mr. Home's hands were thnee inches off." 
 
 The apparatus in which the intervention of water was employed by 
 Mr. Crookes consisted of the same mahogany board and spring 
 balance, a large glass vessel filled with water being placed on the 
 board, exactly over the fulcrum. A massive iron stand, separated 
 by a distance of two inches from the mahogany board, was furnished 
 with an arm and a ring. In the latter rested a wide, shallow copper 
 vessel, perforated beneath with several holes. This vessel was so 
 adjusted as to dip i inches into the water of the larger glass vessel. 
 
 " Shaking or striking the arm or the copper vessel," wrote Mr. Crookes, 
 " produces no appreciable mechanical effect on the board, capable of affecting 
 the balance. Dipping the hand to the fullest extent into the water in the 
 copper vessel does not produce the least appreciable action on the balance. 
 
 " As the mechanical transmission of power is by this means entirely cut off 
 between the copper vessel and the board, the power of muscular control is 
 thereby completely eliminated." 
 
 To the index of the balance Mr. Crookes had soldered a fine 
 steel point. In front of this a sheet of plate-glass smoked over a 
 flame was made to travel by clockwork. The mark impressed on 
 this smoked surface by the steel point registered the results of the
 
 204 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 experiment. The balance being at rest, the result was a perfectly 
 straight horizontal line. The tension on the balance varying, the 
 result was a curved tracing. 
 
 " The apparatus having been properly adjusted before Mr. Home entered 
 the room," wrote Mr. Crookes, " he was brought in, and asked to place his 
 fingers in the water in the copper vessel. He stood up and dipped the tips of 
 the fingers of his right hand in the water, his other hand and his feet being 
 held. When he said he felt a power, force, or influence proceeding from his 
 hand, I set the clock going, and almost immediately the end of the board 
 attached to the balance was seen to descend slowly and remain down for about 
 ten seconds ; it then descended a little further, and afterwards rose to its 
 normal height. . . . The lowest point marked on the glass was equivalent 
 to a direct pull of about 5,000 grains." 
 
 In a subsequent experiment, Mr. Crookes removed the glass vessel, 
 iron stand, and copper vessel, and placed Mr. Home at a distance 
 of one foot from the remaining apparatus, his hands and feet being 
 held. The force proceeding from him still acted on the apparatus, 
 and the index registered an increase of weight. On another 
 occasion, when the power appeared to be very .strong, Mr. Home was 
 placed at a distance of no less than three feet from the apparatus, 
 his hands and feet being again held. Even at this distance the 
 power showed itself capable of causing a marked increase of weight. 
 "The clock," writes Mr. Crookes, " was set going when he gave 
 the word, and the end of the board attached to the balance soon 
 descended and again rose in an irregular manner." Calculating by 
 the diagram that Mr. Crookes appends of the line traced on the 
 smoked glass, the maximum increase of weight recorded during this 
 remarkable experiment was, as nearly as possible, lib. 8oz. Troy. 
 This when Mr. Home was three feet away from the portion of the 
 mahogany board nearest to him. Could experiment be more 
 conclusive ! 
 
 Papers detailing these and other experiments were sent in by Mr. 
 Crookes to the Royal Society. They were declined without any 
 reason being assigned for the course taken. 
 
 Early in 1872 Dr. Carpenter exhibited to a public audience in 
 London an experiment which he pretended to be a reproduction of 
 that conducted by Mr. Crookes with the glass vessel of water and 
 the copper vessel suspended above. Dr. Carpenter's design was to 
 show that, in the words of Mr. Crookes himself, the latter " was 
 ignorant of the merest rudiments of mechanics, and was deluded by 
 an experiment the fallacy of which any intelligent schoolboy could 
 have pointed out." A published protest followed from Mr. Crookes, 
 who conclusively established the correctness of his statement : 
 " Dr. Carpenter's experiment was not my experiment, but an un- 
 justifiable misrepresentation of it." 
 
 " Called upon to apologise for the wrong he had thus publicly 
 done to me," wrote Mr. Crookes, " Dr. Carpenter threw the res- 
 ponsibility from himself upon others whom he stated to have been 
 his informants. I print the conespondence, and leave it to the 
 judgment of the scientific world."
 
 ENGLAND : SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE 205 
 
 That judgment must be taken to have been unfavourable to Dr. 
 Carpenter, whom even so friendly a critic as Professor Stokes ad- 
 mitted to have wholly misrepresented the experiment conducted by 
 Mr. Crookes with the vessel of water. 
 
 The crowning and most convincing experiments of the series those 
 in which an increase of weight was recorded by the apparatus when 
 Mr. Home stood at a distance from it, Dr. Carpenter and other 
 Royal Society critics passed over in silence. It surpassed even 
 their facility of invention to suggest how Mr. Home could possibly 
 have influenced an apparatus that he had not touched. 
 
 In the Quarterly Review for October, 1871, appeared the article 
 entitled " Spiritualism and its Recent Converts" to which I have 
 already referred. An edifying illustration of the candour and fair- 
 mindedness of its author, Dr. Carpenter, was furnished by the fact 
 that, for simply writing the letter quoted a ferw pages back, his 
 scientific superior, Dr. Huggins, was designated by him " a convert 
 to Spiritualism." 
 
 One would almost suspect, in reading this Quarterly Review 
 article, that Dr. Carpenter's anger arose from his looking on Mr. 
 Crookes in the light of an interloper who had usurped an inquiry that 
 ought to have been conducted by himself. What is certain is that 
 his criticisms took the form of a gross personal attack on Mr. 
 Crookes, Dr. Huggins, and Mr. Serjeant Cox, to which the former 
 felt himself constrained to reply publicly. 
 
 To the facts recorded by Mr. Crookes, and attested by Dr. 
 Huggins and Serjeant Cox, the Quarterly reviewer had no reply to 
 make, and attempted none. His plan of warfare was to attack the 
 experimenters, and not the experiments. "No case: abuse the 
 plaintiff's witnesses," is, I believe, a time-honoured maxim at the 
 bar; but whether Dr. Carpenter advanced his reputation by import- 
 ing such tactics into scientific controversy, I leave it to impartial 
 judges' to decide.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA FLORENCE NICE 
 
 Last Journey to Russia. Second Marriage. Testimony of Pro- 
 fessor Boutlerow. Failure of Power. Second Series of 
 Incidents. Death of Daughter. Failing Health. The 
 Artist Waiter. "Most Marvellous of Missionaries." 
 Seance at Nice. 
 
 EARLY in 1871, Mr. Home visited Russia. During his stay at St. 
 Petersburg he enjoyed the friendly hospitality of Baron Meyendorff, 
 the father of his old friend, and one of the principal officers of the 
 Court. He was summoned by the Emperor as soon as his arrival 
 became known. His Majesty welcomed him with his accustomed 
 kindness, the remembrance of which was so prized by Home. Several 
 seances were held at the Winter Palace; but Home followed his in- 
 variable custom on such occasions, and preserved strict silence as 
 to the manifestations. A person ge of the Court who took part in 
 the seances was subsequently more communicative, and related two 
 incidents that had reference to the Emperor Alexander II, and to 
 her Majesty, the present Empress. During a seance and in full 
 light, a spirit-hand opened a locket contrived in one of the buttons 
 of the uniform that the Emperor wore, and containing the portrait 
 of the defunct heir to the throne. This manifestation was followed 
 by tiny raps struck on the button itself, that spelt out a communica- 
 tion confirming his Majesty's belief as to their author. 
 
 In another seance the present Empress received a token of 
 identity not less striking, by means of a message in Danish from her 
 grandfather, who addressed her Majesty by a pet name that he had 
 given her in her childhood, and no one had ever employed but 
 himself. 
 
 The Emperor Alexander II. more than one signalised the favour 
 with which he regarded Home by authorising him to request some 
 mark of the Imperial good-will. The only supplication that he 
 ever addressed to his Majesty and that was granted on the spot 
 was for the pardon of a culprit, one of whose relatives, knowing 
 Home's interest with the Emperor, had entreated him to exert it on 
 behalf of the condemned. 
 
 On the eve of this journey to Russia, a forecast of the future had 
 been made to Home by the spirits. Our marriage realised it ; and 
 the object of his journey was attained by his gaining the lawsuit in 
 which he had been involved concerning the little fortune of his 
 first wife, unjustly disputed with him by the Countess Pouchkine, 
 the rich heiress of his late brother-in-law, Count Koucheleff- 
 Besborodka;. 
 
 I first saw Mr. Home in February, 1871. Expecting to find a 
 personage occupied with his own celebrity, I was agreeably surprised 
 
 206
 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 207 
 
 to meet, on the contrary, a man in whom there was no trace of pre- 
 tension. A smile of seductive good-humour reflected a winning 
 nature, and gave a marked charm to his expressive features. His 
 form and bearing both denoted race. His affable disposition in- 
 dicated that Scottish nationality of which he was justly proud. 
 Such was the impression I retained of him after our conversation ; 
 but at the moment of his being presented to me, I had no power to 
 analyse my sentiments : I heard only a voice saying to me, " Here is 
 your husband." Home at the same instant received the same im- 
 pression. It was so real, so instantaneous, that it did not even 
 come on me with a feeling of surprise ; and a mutual accord was 
 established at once between us. The evening closed with, a very 
 interesting seance; and all that passed at it seemed as familiar and 
 sympathetic to me as if I had been habituated to these manifestations 
 of the invisible watchers over us. 
 
 It was nearly six years since Mr. Home had been in Russia, and 
 the society of St. Petersburg besieged him for seances. He held 
 many too many, for his nervous system had recently suffered terribly 
 from the scenes through which he had passed as a spectator of the 
 Franco-German war. 
 
 I might fill pages with extracts from letters written to Home by his 
 friends in Russia; but a series of proofs of the friendship and 
 gratitude he inspired would probably have little interest for the 
 reader. I will give, as a single example of this correspondence, a 
 portion of one of the numerous letters of a valued friend, the 
 Baroness de Lieven : 
 
 " ST. PETERSBURG, March JJ, '75. 
 
 " MY DEAREST FRIEND, The blossoms you sent me were yet in full scent, 
 and I kept them for many days in my room, enjoying their delightful perfume, 
 that spoke of a better and happier land, where flowers and young lives do not 
 shiver and fade, deprived of the blessed influence of the sunshine. ... I 
 was deeply touched by your sending me these flowers for his birthday, my 
 very dear Daniel ; and I repeat I cannot thank you enough for them. Your 
 letters are full of such words as nobody but yourself can find for a soul full 
 of anguish and sorrow. You feel so keenly all that the spirit goes through 
 in its most cruel sufferings, that your words go to the heart's deepest feelings. 
 God bless you for it, and make your own sufferings lighter for the sympathy 
 that you bear to others. How very much struck I was with the vision you 
 had so many months before the unhappy day that bereaved us of our own 
 beloved angel ! How miraculous that you should have so well understood the 
 meaning of all you saw and heard one more proof that it was so ordained 
 long before the doom was fulfilled. . . . Believe me, ever most affection- 
 ately, your true friend, " M. LIKVKN-'* 
 
 The Baroness de Lieven 's touching letter may acquire some ad- 
 ditional interest to English readers when they learn that it is not a 
 translation but a transcript of the original, and a proof of the in- 
 telligence with which its amiable and gifted writer had studied the 
 English tongue. 
 
 On the 24th of February, 1871, Mr. Home gave a lecture on 
 Spiritualism. The hall could scarcely contain the audience. At 
 the close of his address, he related some particulars of a seance 
 that he had recently held in presence of a distinguished savant of
 
 208 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 the University of St. Petersburg, whose investigations of the pheno- 
 mena had resulted in a recognition of their genuineness. Home, 
 with his habitual delicacy, refrained fram naming the inquirer ; and 
 only added that, if it should prove agreeable to other scientific men 
 to investigate the phenomena, he would place himself at their dis- 
 position ; it being of course understood that he was unable to promise 
 that manifestations should occur. On this Professor von Boutlerow 
 (of the Academy of Science in St. Petersburg) rose from his place 
 among the audience, and announced himself as the investigator to 
 whom the lecturer had just referred, adding that he wished to attest 
 the exactitude of the account of the seance given by Mr. Home, 
 whose discretion concerning himself he fully appreciated. This 
 action on the part of a well-known scientific man, with regard to a 
 subject so little understood in Russia, was an honourable proof that 
 Boutlerow possessed the courage of his opinions, and the more 
 deserving of appreciation from the fact that such courage is very 
 rare in Russia, as in other countries. 
 
 A committee of five scientific men of the University, including 
 Boutlerow, was forthwith constituted, and a seance appointed for 
 March iQth. The committee stipulated that it should take place in 
 one of the rooms of the University, and that a table with a glass top 
 should be provided by the investigators. This was a novel experi- 
 ment, but Home raised no objection. Unfortunately, in the 
 interval occupied by the formation of the committee and its prepara- 
 tions for the seance, he fell ill, and his power diminished. Frequjent 
 seances had exhausted him, and the severity of a Russian winter 
 always tried him terribly. Unwilling to expose himself to the re- 
 marks that an abandonment of the seance would have called forth, 
 he kept his appointment with the committee, who were enabled to 
 verify the fact of his illness. Slight oscillations of the table 
 were the only manifestations observed, and the investigators, over- 
 joyed at the failure of the seance, proclaimed the fact to the 
 world. These grave and learned men were confounded when a 
 colleague in science gave them the following lesson : 
 
 ' The explanation of this failure," wrote Mr. Crookes in the 
 July following, " which is all that they have accused him of, 1 appears 
 to me quite simple. Whatever the nature of Mr. Home's power, it is 
 very variable, and at times entirely absent. It is obvious that the 
 Russian experiment was tried when the force was at a minimum. 
 The same thing has frequently happened within my own experience. 
 A party of scientific men met Mr. Home at my house, and the results 
 were as negative as those at St. Petersburg. Instead, however, of 
 throwing up the inquiry, we patiently repeated the trial a second 
 and third time, when we met with results which were positive." 
 
 A second seance was appointed with the St. Petersburg committee 
 which the continued illness of Mr. Home prevented from taking 
 place. The date of his departure from Russia had been fixed 
 some weeks before ; and he was unable to delay it. It was his in- 
 tention to have placed himself again at the disposal of the Russian 
 
 1 The italics are Mr. Crookes' own.
 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 209 
 
 committee in the following winter ; but before then our marriage had 
 taken place ; and as I did not cire at all whether the scientific world 
 was converted or not, and felt very anxious about Home's health, 
 which over-frequent seances fatigued, I entreated him not to carry 
 out his intention. 
 
 When Mr. Home saw the Emperor Alexander II. for the last 
 time in March, 1871, his Majesty congratulated him on his approach- 
 ing marriage, and sent to him a ring consisting of a magnificent 
 sapphire surrounded with diamonds. We had agreed that the 
 wedding should take place quietly in Paris; and in October, 1871, 
 we were married there at the Russian Church and afterwards at the 
 English Embassy. We visited England ; and in December re- 
 turned to St. Petersburg, where the number of fetes that were given 
 to us on our arrival compeletely exhausted Mr. Home. 
 
 Professor von Boutlerow sought and obtained numerous oppor- 
 tunities of resuming his experiments with Home during the visit 
 that, after our marriage, we paid to Russia, and on the occasions of 
 subsequent visits. " I am informed by my friend Professor von 
 Boutlerow," wrote Mr. Crookes in his papers on the phenomenon of 
 increase of weight, " that he tried almost the same experiments as 
 those here detailed, and with still more striking results. The nor- 
 mal tension on the dynamo-meter being 100 Ibs., it was increased 
 to about 150 Ibs., Mr. Home's hands being placed in contact with 
 the apparatus in such a manner that any exertion of power on his 
 part would diminish, instead of increase, the tension." 
 
 The result of a long and scientifically-conducted series of experi- 
 ments was that Boutlerow in Russia fully endorsed the conclusions 
 at which another distinguished chemist, Crookes, had arrived in 
 England. 
 
 Because the single seance that the St. Petersburg University com- 
 mittee held was without result, the majority of that committee 
 assumed that thousands of previous inquirers many of them far 
 above their own intellectual standard had been the victims of a 
 delusion. When men of science venture to set up such a colossus 
 of a presumption, the sight of it may well astonish the world. 
 
 But the curious thing with certain of this class of inquirers was, 
 that when their senses testified to facts that their prejudices denied, 
 they meekly proceeded to class themselves with those very victims of 
 hallucination at whom they had lately sneered. Rather than own 
 themselves convinced, they accused their senses of being liars. The 
 only credit they took to themselves was that they had not believed 
 their own eyes, and were, therefore, still philosophically superior 
 to the foolish people who had taken a fact for a fact. " In 
 ordinary investigations," ran the creed of these invulnerable sceptics, 
 " a fact is a fact ; but the facts of Spiritualism are hallucinations. 
 I did not accept them on your testimony shall I now believe them 
 because my own senses have turned traitors ? No ! I am hallucina- 
 ted thou art hallucinated he is hallucinated we are hallucinated 
 all." 
 
 On December 26th, 1872, the Times published a four-column
 
 210 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 article headed " Spiritualism and Science." Its author (unnamed) 
 had been present at two seances with Mr. Home in London. 1 The 
 first was the counterpart of that at St. Petersburg; " nothing what- 
 ever occurred " is the concise summary of the writer in the Times. 
 On the second occasion he was more fortunate a sufficient reply to 
 the hypothesis of those who would attribute the former negative 
 result to the presence of such a sceptical and shrewd investigator. 
 It is to be presumed that he had not parted with his shrewdness in 
 the interval between the two seances and he furnishes emphatic 
 evidence that he had not lost any of his scepticism. I extract a 
 portion of his narrative : 
 
 " The room was at first well-lighted from a gas-burner overhead. 
 To give a detailed account of everything which occurred would need more 
 space than we can now spare. Suffice it to say, that the table was made light 
 and heavy at our wish, that it moved in every direction, that there were 
 vibrations of the floor and of our chairs, that on Mr. Home holding the 
 accordion (which we took to pieces and tried, and found to be in every respect 
 an ordinary instrument) under the table in his right hand and by the end 
 farthest from the keys, it played a distinct tune, Mr. Home's left hand being 
 on the table and his feet so raised as to be visible. All other hands were on 
 the table. At the same time, and under the same conditions, a small hand-bell 
 was rung in different parts of the space beneath the table. The gas was now 
 turned out and the two spirit-lamps lit ; these gave a fair light. The raps 
 became louder, and in the usual method directed us to take a leaf out of the 
 table. This was done, when the table appeared to float up about eight inches 
 off the floor, settling down again in a gentle swaying manner. The thin 
 wooden lath lying on the cloth was seen by the whole party to be in motion. 
 It tilted up sideways and endways, and then seemed to float backwards and 
 forwards. Holding our hand three inches, as near as we could guess, above 
 the cloth, the lath rose three times ; the last time it touched our hand, and 
 directly afterwards the table jumped and shook violently, and loud raps seemed 
 to come from all parts of it and of the floor." 
 
 The Times writer describes other phenomena ; the most notable 
 of which was the fact that the accordion played when he held it 
 himself. " We held it with the keys downward," he relates; " it 
 seemed to be pushed up towards our hand, and played a few bars. 
 
 "We tried," continues the Times narrative, "every test we could 
 think of. A subdued light, darkened as the evening went on, was 
 one of the conditions we were obliged to comply with. ' ' 
 
 Hardly so, I may point out, for, on the evidence of the writer 
 himself, the room was " at first well-lighted from a gas-burner 
 overhead," and the movements of the table, vibrations of the floor 
 and chairs, increase and lessening of the weight of the table, play- 
 ing of a tune on the accordion, &c., took place while the room was 
 thus lighted. 
 
 1 Note by Mr. H. T. Humphreys : " The writer of the article in the Times 
 was Mr. Broome, and it was not till it had been in the office for several 
 months that it appeared, and in criticising his language it is but fair to say 
 that it was much altered, or we should say, ' toned down ' in the office before 
 it was allowed to appear. It did much good, however, for a long correspondence 
 afterwards appeared in the Times in which A. R. Wallace and others took part. 
 This was suddenly put an end to on account, it is said, of strong remonstrances 
 to Mr. Delane (then editor of the Times) by certain of the higher clergy of 
 the Church of England."
 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 211 
 
 It would seem that in his secret heart the Times investigator felt 
 that his determination not to accept the evidence of his own senses 
 had much more to do with his incredulity than the fact of the light 
 having been subdued as the evening went on, for he had the fairness 
 to add : " Mr. Home seemed to wish to conceal nothing, and gave 
 us every opportunity, consistent with the above conditions tot 
 
 satisfying our scepticism By his request, we got under 
 
 the table with a lamp a great many times, and insisted always on 
 seeing his hands and feet, or on having them held firmly. As to 
 the hand with which Mr. Home held the accordion under the table, 
 all we know is that on one of our sub-mahogany expeditions with 
 the spirit-lamp, we saw that hand quite still, and saw the accordion 
 moving up and down and playing music. . . . There was nothing 
 during the whole evening except the phenomena themselves to suggest 
 imposture. We tried our best to detect it, but could find no trace 
 of it. We searched Mr. Home, and found nothing whatever upon 
 him but his clothes. 
 
 ' Yet even with all this," concludes the sceptic of the Times 
 triumphantly, " we are not a Spiritualist, and do not even believe in 
 a ' Psychic Force.' ' Of course not. The writer gives a fair and 
 candid account of what he saw, with the exception of the somewhat 
 misleading reference to the light ; but he had evidently made his mind 
 up, once and for ever, that facts can be disputed, when they relate to 
 the phenomena of Spiritualism. The warfare between his senses and 
 his prepossessions is amusingly illustrated in two passages of his 
 article. In the first he writes, " The table appeared to float up off 
 the floor." When he penned the words, prejudice had evidently got 
 the upper hand ; the writer distrusted the testimony of his eyesight. 
 Towards the close of his narrative he reverts to this same occurrence, 
 and says: "We are certain that the table rose from the ground." 
 For the moment, reason had resumed her sway; and while writing 
 this second passage the investigator believed, if but for an instant, 
 that what his eyes had seen they had seen. 
 
 Early in 1872, Mr. Home published that second volume of 
 Incidents in My Life to which I have made occasional reference. 
 He included in it the principal affidavits sworn on both sides during 
 the progress of the Lyon lawsuit ; and would have published the 
 remainder in a third volume, had his health allowed him to carry out 
 his intention of continuing his autobiography ; but during the years 
 1872 and 1873 he passed few days that were free from, suffering. 
 
 In April, 1872, we installed ourselves at Paris, hoping to enjoy 
 there a calmer life than we had led in Russia ; but our hope was 
 shattered by a bitter trial. In the autumn we lost our child. Home, 
 who adored our little daughter, was heart-broken by the blow ; and his 
 health failed more and more. At the moment of her parting from 
 this world, we, and all the others who were present, heard as it were 
 a hail of tiny sounds on the pillow where the beautiful little head 
 rested, and in every part of the room: we heard also the sounds of 
 music and of voices. The little coffin was laid in a vault at St. 
 Germain, and Home expressed the desire that he might be buried there 
 himself.
 
 212 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Following the counsels given to us, we passed the winter at Nice. 
 From this moment, the health of Home became my sole care. A 
 complete repose was necessary to him, and I entreated that he would 
 hold seances very seldom. Change of air and scene were always of 
 benefit to him; and in June, 1873, he went to visit his friends in 
 England; on his return we took refuge from the summer heats in 
 Switzerland. 
 
 In November, 1873, Home received news of a young friend whose 
 acquaintance he had made two years earlier under interesting 
 circumstances. 
 
 Shortly after the fall of the Commune, Home was in Paris; and 
 while one day dining alone at a restaurant, he was waited on by a young 
 man who seemed very little accustomed to the calling he was exercising. 
 One of the impressions that Home so often received came to him at 
 this moment, and he said suddenly to the young Frenchman, " You are 
 not a waiter what are you doing here ? " 
 
 Seeing the embarrassment that the question caused him, Home 
 hastened to set him at his ease. His evident interest soon gained him 
 the confidence of the other, who ended by relating his history. He 
 was a young painter whom the siege and the Commune between them 
 had ruined. Reduced at last to the greatest distress, he had preferred 
 becoming a gar con de cafe to dying of hunger ; and had only been exer- 
 cising his new calling for three or four days when Home's notice was 
 attracted to him. 
 
 Such a story awoke all the generous sympathies of the listener. He 
 exerted himself so effectually to be of benefit to his new acquaintance, 
 that he ended by finding him artistic employment in England. I have 
 in my possession several letters to Home from his protege, all of them 
 written in a strain of enthusiastic affection and gratitude. " I ask 
 myself every day," he writes in his first letter after crossing the Channel, 
 " if I shall ever have talent enough to prove myself worthy of all the 
 good you have done me morally even more than materially when my 
 heart was full of bitterness and discouragement. I thank God every 
 day for the friend He has given me, and pray Him to bless you 
 ALEXIS." 
 
 In November, 1873, the writer of these words returned to Paris. 
 Home had just before written to him, and received in reply the letter 
 of which I translate a portion. 
 
 " PARIS, i8th November, 1873. 
 
 " MY DEAR DANIEL, The years change you in nothing you are always the 
 same generous heart, on which it is so good to lean. I cannot tell you how 
 sad it has made me to learn the state of your health, and now I hope for 
 better news. Send me a word from the heart that has known so often how to 
 cheer a friend, who always blesses God for having known you. 
 
 " ALEXIS." 
 
 The untiring kindness of Home did not always select its objects so 
 happily. He could not resist a tale of distress ; his only impulse was 
 to relieve. Ingratitude that would have hardened any ordinary heart 
 had no effect on him. 
 
 We left Switzerland late in December, 1873, and went to Nice. The 
 following summer found us in Florence, where Home found, as
 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 213 
 
 everywhere, old friends who welcomed his coming, and added new ones 
 to their number. He could not refuse the requests for seances pressed 
 on him; and several took place while we were at Florence. 
 
 Mrs. Webster (an English lady residing at Florence) was one of 
 the sitters. I extract a few lines from a letter written by Mrs. 
 Webster to me after these seances : 
 
 " I cannot tell how to express to you how much the two seances at which 
 I have had the happiness to be present have interested me, how deeply I am 
 moved by what I have seen and experienced, and how grateful I am to Mr. 
 Home, as well as to yourself, for having had the kindness to accord us these 
 seances in spite of the critical state of his health. 
 
 " He is the most marvellous missionary of modern times in the greatest of 
 all causes, and the good that he has done cannot be reckoned. . . Believe 
 me, I am not seeking to say flattering things to him, but I speak from the 
 depths of my soul and express my profound convictions. Where Mr. Home 
 passes, he bestows around him the greatest of all blessings, the certainty of a 
 future life." 
 
 We spent the winter of 1874 at Nice, and most of the ten winters 
 following. The blue sky and brilliant sunshine of the Riviera did 
 something to lighten for Home the burden of almost ceaseless physical 
 suffering ; and it was pleasant to him to meet many of the friends of 
 former years. Among those whom we found at Nice in the winter 
 of '74-5, was his old and prized friend Count Alexander de Komar. 
 Count de Komar welcomed his arrival with joy, sought every oppor- 
 tunity of being in his society, and took the greatest pleasure in 
 recalling the memories of long-past days in Paris. There was also 
 in Nice at the time another of Home's friends of 1857, the Countess 
 Potocka, who often joined in these conversations, and added her own 
 memories of remarkable manifestations that she had witnessed. One 
 evening, when the talk thus ran on the seances of 1857, Countess 
 Potocka earnestly entreated Mr. Home to hold at least one seance 
 that winter at Nice. A few days later, on December 23rd, we met 
 to the number of seven at her residence. The circle was composed 
 
 of the Countess Potocka, Count de Komar, the Countess de M , 
 
 Mdlle. de Komar, Mons. d'Attainville, Mr. Home and myself. The 
 salon was brilliantly lit; and on the chimney-piece there were placed, 
 in addition, two large candelabra. We had no sooner taken our 
 places round a large table than we all felt a distinct vibration, which 
 was communicated to our chairs and the floor of the apartment. Five 
 raps were struck on the table a call for the alphabet; and com- 
 munications to several of the sitters were spelt out. A small hand 
 caressed Count de Komar, and rested a little while in his- 
 
 I will not describe in detail the manifestations we witnessed, but 
 will pass at once to the startling phenomenon with the interruption of 
 which the seance closed. 
 
 Mr. Home had passed into a trance ; he walked about the room 
 with closed eyes, then approached the fireplace an open fireplace. 
 A large fire was burning brightly on the hearth ; and kneeling down. 
 Home bathed his face and hands in the flames, as if in water. We 
 saw his head encircled by the flame in which it was plunged; and 
 at the sight Count de Komar started from his chair, crying " Daniel !
 
 214 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 Daniel ! " At the cry, Home recoiled brusquely from his position; 
 and after some instants, during which none of us ventured to address 
 him, he said, in the low, clear voice with which he always spoke when 
 in a trance : " You might have caused great harm to Daniel by your 
 want of faith; and now we can do nothing more." We were not 
 told what other manifestations the spirits had intended to produce. 
 This remarkable phenomenon of bathing his face without injury in 
 flames had been witnessed more than once previously in England. 
 
 During this stay at Nice in 1874, Home one morning received a 
 letter written in a hand evidently disguised. " I am here in 
 passing," it ran; " and if you have not forgotten me, your heart will 
 tell you what friend has the same affection for you always." There 
 was neither address nor signature. Home puzzled over the enigma ; 
 and at last : " It is he it is he ! " he exclaimed, delighted ; and on 
 my asking who: "Alexis Tolstoy, and if it is really Alexis, we 
 
 shall find him at the Hotel . " We went there at once ; and there 
 
 we found the Count, imprisoned to his room by illness and suffering 
 severely ; but always the same noble, frank, loyal, affectionate nature 
 that Home had now known for so many years. I shall never forget 
 Tolstoy's delight at seeing his friend, and at Home's having divined 
 from whom the mysterious note proceeded. He was passing through 
 Nice to Mentone, and insisted on our visiting him there. We did 
 not fail to pay this visit ; and on our departure, it was agreed that 
 we should pass the following winter together at Florence- The project 
 was never realised ; for when the time came that should have brought 
 Tolstoy to us, the Count had passed from this world. There 
 remained of him here the memory of a noble nature, and the fame 
 of a true poet. 
 
 In the spring of 1875, Home's spirit-guides prescribed to him a 
 course to be followed for the improvement of his health ; and in 
 pursuance of these counsels we passed some months in Italy, where 
 he experienced much relief from the remedies he had been directed 
 to employ. We wintered again at Nice; and there met the Countess 
 Sant' Amaro, whom Mr. Home had known twenty years before, as 
 well as her husband. Time had not weakened or changed her friendly 
 sentiments ; and we passed some agreeable evenings at her house, 
 where in February a seance was held. The circle consisted of the 
 Countess Sant' Amaro. three of her friends, Mr. Home and myself. 
 The Countess, who had long been widowed, was deeply touched by 
 the manifestations of the evening, which were principally addressed 
 to her. Her husband communicated several proofs of his identity ; 
 and among them there were rappings that spelt out in Portuguese a word 
 none of the other sitters comprehended, but that the Countess at once 
 and joyfully recognised ; for it w r as the name by which he had been 
 accustomed familiarly to call her. We all heard a noise as of some- 
 thing being torn; and at the same instant five raps demanded the 
 alphabet. "There is no death," was spelt out; "therefore, no 
 mourning." The Countess had never laid black aside since her 
 husband's death. Before she could well grasp the meaning of the 
 message, she felt some object placed in her lap ; and on lifting this,
 
 RUSSIA, GENEVA, FLORENCE, NICE 215 
 
 it proved, to her great astonishment, to be her handkerchief, from 
 which the black border had been torn. After that evening, the 
 Countess laid aside her mourning. 
 
 This winter of 1875, Mr. Home saw pass from earth his friend 
 Count Alexander de Komar, who came to him three days afterwards, 
 and gave him the simple and touching message, " Console my 
 children." 
 
 Numerous as are the witnesses whose testimony I have gathered 
 together in these pages, they do not attest the twentieth part of the 
 facts, as true as strange, that were the means of convincing thousands 
 that 
 
 " There is no death what seems so is transition : 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but the suburb of the life Elvsian, 
 Whose portal we call Death."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 18761886 
 
 " Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism." Home a stern critic. Dark 
 days of Spiritualism. Serjeant Cox. Disappointment of Crookes. 
 Home and Mark Twain. A dishonest friend. Return of N. 
 Aksakoff. Spiritual messages. The transcendental philosophy. 
 Cruel sufferings. Joyful and beautiful end. 
 
 DURING the whole of 1876, Mr. Home was occupied with the work 
 that he published the following year under the title of "Lights and 
 Shadows of Spiritualism." He passed in review in those pages the 
 phenomena both of ancient and of modern times. A large portion 
 of the volume was devoted to an exposure of the noxious abuses that 
 every day were making Spiritualism more and more of a byword and 
 reproach. Home had long watched with pain and indignation the 
 growth of those abuses ; and the conviction was forced upon him that 
 it was his duty to speak out in earnest protest. The task was neither 
 a light nor a pleasant one. He well knew what would be the fury 
 of the impostors who traded in sham spiritual phenomena; and that 
 even a louder outcry would come from the enthusiasts whose self-love 
 he wounded. 
 
 With his accustomed frankness, he made publicly known his inten- 
 tion of exposing the impostures that usurped the name of Spiritualism 
 the impostures, not the impostors, be it noted ; for it was not his 
 intention to sully his pages by compiling a list of detected cheats, 
 but simply to put too credulous persons on their guard. The manner 
 in which his advertisement was received by some persons professing 
 to be Spiritualists, he described in the chapter introductory to that 
 portion of his work which dealt with the shadows the very dark 
 shadows of Spiritualism : 
 
 " I was assailed, both openly and anonymously, with slander, lying charges, 
 foul personalities, venomous abuse, in short, with every weapon which the 
 most unscrupulous partisan hatred can direct against the object of its hostility. 
 It was what I expected, and what I had been forewarned of. If the attacks 
 made on me have moved me at moments, the support I have received from 
 within and without, and the consciousness of the rectitude of my intentions, 
 have made the effect but that of a moment." 
 
 The book appeared. It made no attacks on individual impostors ; 
 and the persons who had feared to find their names in its pages 
 breathed again. Each could proclaim with reference to the facts 
 compiled from a hundred different sources, that they concerned his 
 neighbours not himself. 
 
 While the book was in progress, and after its publication, Home 
 received numerous letters from friends in England concerning the 
 very dark shadows that rested upon Spiritualism there. Among these 
 correspondents, Serjeant Cox was one of the most frequent. The 
 
 216
 
 1876 i886 217 
 
 burden of the learned Serjeant's complaint was always the same 
 that he could find nowhere else the opportunities for thorough and 
 systematic investigation of the phenomena that he had enjoyed a few 
 years earlier with Mr. Home. 
 
 " In the investigations in which you so kindly assisted me," wrote Serjeant 
 Cox on March 8th, 1876, " there was nothing of this precaution and mystery. 
 You sat with me anywhere, at any time ; in my garden, and in my house ; by 
 day and by night ; but always, with one memorable exception, in full light. 
 You objected to no tests ; on the contrary, you invited them. I was permitted 
 the full use of all my senses. The experiments were made in every form that 
 ingenuity could devise ; and you were as desirous to learn the truth and the 
 meaning of it as I was. You sat alone with me, and things were done which, 
 if four confederates had been present, their united efforts could not have 
 accomplished. Sometimes there were phenomena, sometimes there were none. 
 When they occurred they were often such as no human hand could have pro- 
 duced without the machinery of the Egyptian Hall. But these were in my 
 own drawing-room, and library, and garden, where no mechanism was possible. 
 In this manner it was that I arrived at the conviction opposed to all my 
 prejudices and preconceptions that there are forces about us of some kind, 
 having both power and intelligence, but imperceptible to our senses, except 
 under some imperfectly-known conditions. I did not, and with subsequent 
 extended inquiry I cannot now, arrive at the conclusion you have come to that 
 these invisible agents are spirits of the dead." 
 
 As a pendant to the epistle of Serjeant Cox, the following letter 
 may find a place here. It was written by a gentleman who is a 
 relative of Lord Dunraven, and who had shared in a portion of his 
 investigations of the phenomena : 
 
 " ATHENJBUM CLUB, nth Oct., 1875. 
 
 " MY DEAR HOME, ... I feel more than half inclined to run over to 
 Paris, merely to have a talk with you. 
 
 " The phenomena I have witnessed through your kindness are the only 
 things left to which I attach any hope. All the other phenomena of so-called 
 Spiritualism of which I have been a witness except those accruing through 
 you have been in the last degree unsatisfactory ; and altho' I could offer no 
 explanation of them, they seemed to me more likely to be the result of trick 
 than of the action of disembodied spirits. Are you yourself absolutely and fully 
 certain that the phenomena which undoubtedly occur thro' your mediumship 
 are the acts of the spirits of those who have already lived, and that there is no 
 other explanation possible of these phenomena? . . . Very truly yours, 
 
 " B. NIXON." 
 
 In January, 1877, Mr. Nixon writes : " While what I have seen 
 when you were present, and what I have heard of as vouched for 
 by men like Crookes, Serjeant Cox and others, thoroughly accustomed 
 to the investigation of physical phenomena and the value of evidence, 
 seem to me to place the reality of the phenomena beyond all doubt or 
 question whenever I have tried lately to acquire personally any 
 fresh light or evidence, I have always been placed under circumstances 
 and conditions of the most unsatisfactory and suspicious character." 
 
 " If anything can kill Spiritualism, it will be the follies and con- 
 temptible meannesses of the Spiritualists themselevs. As to the fact 
 of Spiritualism, and the grand importance of the establishment of the 
 reality of spirit-life, there can be no question about them, and they 
 must be the solid comfort of every thinking man ; but what ridiculous 
 and mischievous stuff we see imported into the movement every day ! ' 
 
 p
 
 2i8 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 These words were written from Italy to Home, in the spring of 1876, 
 by a very old friend whom he had not seen for years, the well-known 
 author, William Howitt. Mr. Howitt's convictions impressed on 
 him by his seances with Mr. Home some fifteen years earlier were 
 unchanged ; but he had long watched with despair the condition into 
 which English Spiritualism was sinking, and had withdrawn from 
 all connection with the movement. 
 
 Another of Home's correspondents of 1876 was a still older friend, 
 an Englishman by birth, an Italian by long residence the celebrated 
 artist, Seymour Kirkup, of Florence, on whom the title of Baron 
 had been conferred ; a recognition by Italy, I believe, of his labours 
 in connection with the poems of Dante. 
 
 " Dearest old friend," writes Baron Kirkup in April, 1876 : " You were very 
 young when you knew me in Florence ; and it is impossible for me ever to 
 forget you. . . . How I long for your new book ! I never trusted these 
 dark seances : I could have done by trick all I saw accomplished. But to deny 
 the true because of the false is like saying there is no good coin because one 
 has met with a bad shilling. I have seen much, and so have thousands of 
 competent witnesses. Yours for ever, " SEYMOUR KIRKUP." 
 
 " In a letter from Wilkinson lately," writes Mr. William Howitt 
 to Mr. Home in February, 1876, "he said he had seen Crookes, 
 who said he could not get on with his experiments on Spiritualism 
 because the mediums in London are such cheats." Mr. Howitt's 
 testimony to the more than unfavourable opinion of Mr. Crookes 
 concerning the materials with which he had endeavoured to carry on 
 his experiments after the departure of Mr. Home from England is 
 given at third-hand, it will be noticed. None the less, it was abso- 
 lutely correct. " I am so disgusted with the whole thing," wrote 
 Mr. Crookes to Mr. Home on November 24th, 1875, " that, were 
 it not for the regard we bear to you, I would cut the whole Spiritual 
 connection, and never read, speak, or think of the subject again." 
 And writing to Mr. Home nine years later, in 1884, Mr. Crookes 
 says : " My belief is the same as ever, but opportunities are wanting." 
 
 I might multiply such plaints by the dozen from letters written 
 about this time to Mr. Home. It never seemed to occur to the writers 
 that their misfortunes were very much their fault. The phenomena 
 they had witnessed and tested at seances with Home were " light- 
 loving phenomena," as one scientific investigator, Mr. Simpson, 
 justly styled them. The light might be daylight or artificial light, 
 but there was always light. Home imposed no conditions on the 
 investigator. So far from avoiding tests, he welcomed them ; and 
 the more stringent they were, the better they pleased him. Let the 
 sceptic be never so sceptical (and I have surely accumulated in these 
 pages sufficient testimony to the original incredulity of Robert 
 Chambers, Dr. Elliottson, Mr. Serjeant Cox, Mr. Crookes, and a 
 hundred other inquirers named by me), a candid, careful investigation 
 of the phenomena always resulted in his acceptance of them as facts. 
 He might, with Mr. Serjeant Cox, attribute the marvels he had seen 
 and tested to " psychic force;" or, with Lord Lytton, conjecture 
 the existence of a race of beings alien to mankind ; or, with Robert
 
 1876 1886 219 
 
 Chambers, Robert Bell, and many others, feel it impossible to doubt 
 longer of the continued existence of our lost friends and their nearness 
 to us; but if he were honest, and honestly spoke out his mind, he 
 invariably admitted that it was impossible to conceive of the mani- 
 festations as otherwise than genuine. 
 
 I have shown by the evidence of hundreds of witnesses that Mr. 
 Home had no concealments, but always urged the observers present 
 to scrutinise in the most rigid manner every phenomenon that 
 occurred. Thousands in every country did so; and the accumulation 
 of proof upon proof forced them to recognise, that the phenomena 
 were neither delusions nor deceptions, but facts. Like Serjeant Cox, 
 the inquirer might find this conviction " opposed to all his prejudices 
 and preconceptions; " but he could only add, with Mr. Crookes, " I 
 am conscious that my senses, both of touch and sight and these 
 corroborated, as they were, by the senses of all who were present 
 are not lying witnesses when they testify against my preconceptions." 
 
 Once convinced of the existence of the phenomena, investigators 
 commonly began to ask themselves: "If they occur in Home's 
 presence, why not in the presence of others? It is improbable that 
 he is the sole person in the world who possesses this marvellous gift. ' ' 
 It was natural that they should so reason, and that they should seek 
 to test their conjectures by experiment. What was their plain duty 
 in conducting these researches for new marvels? Surely to 
 experiment as they had experimented with Mr. Home ; to investigate 
 only in tRe light, and if phenomena occurred, to subject them to a 
 rigid scrutiny. " Where the conditions imposed are just such as are 
 calculated to prevent detection if trickery is designed," says Serjeant 
 Cox in one of his letters to Home, ' ' we are bound to look with the 
 utmost suspicion upon all that is done ; and, indeed, we should refuse 
 to take part in any such unsatisfactory experiment." 
 
 An excellent precept, but did the learned Serjeant and others act 
 upon it? On the contrary, their eagerness to experiment further 
 was such, that when they were unable to do so under conditions 
 favourable to the interests of truth, they resigned themselves to 
 conditions that bore a suspicious air of having been imposed to 
 prevent the detection of trickery. With Mr. Home they had 
 investigated in full light ; but the persons with whom they afterwards 
 sat insisted on a darkness that would have discouraged owls. With 
 Mr. Home they had subjected the phenomena to the strictest scrutiny 
 and the most searching tests ; but these new phenomena were too coy 
 for either scrutiny or tests. What could result from " investigations " 
 so conducted but loss of time and temper? Either the inquiry was 
 abandoned in disgust when it was found that the " manifestations " 
 obstinately persisted in refusing to occur in the light or the inquirer 
 persisted in his discouraging task till, emboldened by previous 
 impunity, the exhibitor of the spurious phenomena ventured on more 
 open trickery and was convicted of imposture. 
 
 " Light," wrote Mr. Home in The Lights and Shadmvs of 
 Spiritualism, " is the single test necessary, and it is a test which can 
 and must be given. By no other means are scientific inquirers to be
 
 220 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 convinced. Where there is darkness, there is the possibility of 
 imposture, and the certainty of suspicion." 
 
 It was retorted on Mr. Home by certain Spiritualists that 
 occasionally his own seances had been held in a very feeble light. 
 " Every form of phenomena," he replied (Lights and Shadows, p. 
 333), "ever occurring through me at the few dark seances has been 
 repeated over and over again in the light, and I now deeply regret 
 ever having had other than light seances. What we used to term 
 darkness consisted in extinguishing the lights in the room, and then 
 we used to open the curtains, or, in very many instances, have the fire 
 lit (which, if burning, was never extinguished), when we could with 
 perfect ease distinguish the outline form of everyone in the room. 
 
 " Of another class," he justly added, " are the dark seances at 
 present held." 
 
 Home might have also replied that the seances he held in a feeble 
 light had been with friends who had previously tested the phenomena 
 in a strong light and satisfied themselves of their genuineness. 
 Those who are already convinced do not need to be a second time 
 converted. Nor, I repeat, were his seances ever dark seances. The 
 light might be dim but still it was light, not darkness. 
 
 The disappointing results of subsequent investigations undertaken 
 by Mr. Crookes, Serjeant Cox, &c., so far from detracting from the 
 value of those made with Home, added one more proof of the 
 convincing nature of the phenomena witnessed in his presence. That 
 they did so may easily be made clear to the candid reader, whether 
 Spiritualist or sceptic. 
 
 A hundred English inquirers whom I might name began their 
 investigations with Mr. Home as sceptics. They confidently 
 expected to be able to attribute the phenomena to deception or 
 delusion. They were compelled by overwhelming proof to recognise 
 them as facts. 
 
 No longer sceptics but believers, they sought elsewhere for new 
 marvels with what result? That they met with imposture, and 
 discovered it to be imposture. Yet they were now convinced of the 
 existence of the phenomena ; whereas when, according to their shallow 
 critics, they had been deceived by Mr. Home, they were 
 as sceptical concerning the phenomena as any of those critics. 
 Imposture failed to dupe them when they became believers; 
 yet the assertion is loudly advanced that these very same observers 
 were duped while they were still sceptics. A candid thinker will 
 scarcely find the theory plausible. 
 
 Lights and Shadows had many readers in England and very many 
 in America. The book was abused by the foolish and welcomed by 
 the sensible. " I cannot understand," wrote to Mr. Home an 
 esteemed American Spiritualist, Mr. Hudson Turtle, " why 
 Spiritualists so oppose your book. It only tells the truth. I said in 
 my review of your Lights and Shadows that it was the beginning of a 
 
 new era Spiritualism here is now slowly approaching the 
 
 scientific plane that I have laboured for twenty years to have it
 
 1876 i886 221 
 
 reach. I regard your Lights and Shadows as the opening cannonade 
 of the battle. " 
 
 " The book made you sad!" wrote Home to Mrs. S. C. Hall. " So it did 
 me, and doubly so does the so-called Spiritualism of the day. Right-minded 
 people have left and are every day leaving the movement. ... I see just 
 such rays of ' Light ' as are granted to you, but I also see ' Shadows," which 
 when they began to form were no bigger than a man's hand, but they have 
 increased with a most alarming rapidity, and at last are to be found intercept- 
 ing the very light we are praying and hoping for. My work is not written to 
 obtain the praise of men ; it is written to expose the falsehoods which are fast 
 obscuring a truth which is all-important to mankind. If I had a thousand 
 years to live on earth, I would rather speak out, and bear the heavy burden 
 of blame which I know will be cast upon me, than remain silent, and feel the 
 certitude that I, too, was playing a dishonest part in keeping silence." 
 
 The years with which I am dealing were years of much suffering to 
 Mr. Home; but from time to time it was relieved in a way that 
 surprised his medical advisers, who did not know to what to attribute 
 these unexpected improvements in his health. They were still more 
 astonished by the manner in which our spirit guardians sustained his 
 physical forces beneath the burden laid on them. Again and again 
 celebrated physicians declared his case to be hopeless; and in 1877 
 one of the most eminent of French medical authorities predicted that 
 he had not three months to live. Yet he lived on, and was supported 
 through all. I have often seen during the night a light shine round 
 him, while a hand issuing from a luminous cloud made passes over his 
 face, as if blessing him, and ended by making on his forehead the sign 
 of the cross. Often the spirits dictated long communications to him ; 
 cheering him with words of encouragement and love that, above all, 
 were needed while he was busy with his task of exposing the abuses 
 of Spiritualism ; for no effort was spared by those hostile to that task 
 to make him renounce it. Take, for example, a sentence in a letter 
 written from St. Petersburg in March, 1876, which went so far as to 
 say that it was improper for him to write this book " even if he had 
 at his disposal the most convincing evidence." Nothing could be 
 more dishonourable than the duplicity of such principles to the truth 
 that it was Home's mission to proclaim. " No man can serve two 
 masters ; ' ' and Home was not able to range himself on the side of such 
 a conscience. Nor could he think, with his correspondent, that it is 
 ever unbecoming to speak the truth. It is not astonishing that 
 Spiritualism should sink very low in Russia, when the truth has such 
 pioneers as this Russian champion to sustain it. 
 
 In April, 1876, a leading French journal published a telegram 
 announcing Home's sudden death. The news was speedily telegraphed 
 to the chief newspapers in Europe and America, and the whole 
 civilised worlrfcwas thus informed that " D. D. Home had been found 
 dead in a railway carriage while travelling between Berlin and St. 
 Petersburg." The exact origin of the first false telegram was never 
 traced ; but it is significant that in certain quarters dark hints had been 
 thrown out that Home would not live to complete his work. If some 
 of the silliest of the Theosophists spoke the truth, he had been solemnly 
 cursed by the high priestess of their superstition ; and her curses, it was
 
 222 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 added, always slew. Others of his ill-wishers were either ignorant of 
 these baleful curses, or doubted their efficacy ; for Home received more 
 than one anonymous letter threatening his life, if he persisted in his 
 task. As he paid no attention to the threats, his enemies took his 
 life by means of the newspapers. 
 
 Day after day during the month of April, 1876, he continued to 
 receive from all quarters obituary notices of himself, in a dozen 
 different languages a class of reading that it has fallen to the lot 
 of few men, besides Home to enjoy. Some of these biographers re- 
 lated the facts of his life with no more distortion than was inevitable 
 to a hasty and badly-informed writer ; others, French journalists 
 especially, indulged in an unblushing license of romance that outdid 
 anything ever published in England. It is not every day that this 
 peculiar kind of genius obtains such scope for its exercise as the 
 author of the false report of Home's death had afforded to it. 
 
 In May we left Nice for the baths of La Malou. " Alexander 
 Dumas ills is here," wrote Home to a friend in England; " and I 
 went to call on him yesterday. You would have laughed to see the 
 way he stared at me, and said : ' In the first place, you died a month 
 or two ago; and in the next place you look positively younger than 
 when I last saw you seventeen years ago.' These baths are doing 
 wonders for me, and I walk now without a stick." 
 
 Among the American readers of the report of Home's death was 
 the aunt who had adopted him in his infancy and whose old age he 
 had provided for. The following extract from a newspaper of 
 May, 1876, tells the effect on her of the cruel falsehood : 
 
 " At Elwood, on the 6th of May, passed from earth Mrs. Mary 
 McNeil Cook, aged 70, the aunt, and mother by adoption, of D. D. 
 Home, Esq. Our readers will be pained to hear that her departure 
 was caused by the shock of hearing the false intelligence of Mr. 
 Home's sudden death. A paralytic seizure was the result, and 
 the poor lady never rallied." 
 
 Probably this announcement never reached the eyes of the inventor 
 of the story of Home's death, and the worthy being in question may 
 thus have been deprived of the gratification of learning what bitter 
 pain his lie had given. 
 
 I may relate here an incident in Home's life of a date six years 
 later. One of his friends in France was the author and journalist 
 Henri Delaage, whose acquaintance with Home dated back to 1857. 
 Delaage died at Paris on the isth of July, 1882. We were then 
 travelling in Switzerland; and on July i7th arrived at Mornex, a 
 little village near Annecy, in Savoy. Fatigued with the journey, 
 Home had sat down to rest himself ; but on entering the room a few 
 minutes afterwards, I was surprised to see him standing at the open 
 window looking fixedly into a large garden outside. " Look," he 
 said, "there is Delaage;" and then added, "No, I see nothing 
 now; and yet a moment ago he was there." 
 
 It was some months since we had received any news of Delaage, 
 but the last had left him in his usual health. Home felt sure, how-
 
 1876 i886 223 
 
 ever, that his friend had quitted earth ; he had seen the form too 
 distinctly to doubt of its identity ; and to make certainty more certain, 
 a few hours later we heard rappings, and the following message 
 was spelt out : " I keep my word. H. D." 
 
 " If it was an illusion," wrote Home, the next day to Paris, in describing 
 his vision, " I shall be much astonished; for we had made each other a 
 promise on this subject, and I remember very well that when the report of my 
 death was spread some years ago, Delaage said to whoever would listen to 
 him : ' What nonsense ! If Home were dead, he would have come to tell me 
 so.' ... I await with impatience the Figaro, to which I subscribe, and 
 which will certainly speak of him if he is no more of this world. Unfor- 
 tunately, the numbers addressed to me go first to Loeche, so that the date of 
 the last received by me is the i3th. ... If the good fellow is as usual, 
 say nothing to him of what I have told you." 
 
 The recipient of Home's letter carried it at once to the Paris 
 Figaro ; and the whole story was related in that journal on July 22nd, 
 under the heading, " Home et Delaage." 
 
 During the years that followed the publication of " Lights and 
 Shadows," Home's spirit-guides enjoined on him complete repose 
 from all occupation involving mental labour or anxiety. We travelled 
 constantly ; for change of scene and climate were among the necessary 
 conditions of his life. The summers of 1877 and 1878 saw us in 
 Russia ; and part of each was passed in the far south-east, on an 
 estate in the Government of Samara. The scenery is among the most 
 charming in Russia; and Home was enchanted with it. "I have 
 just accomplished a journey of 250 miles in a posting carriage," 
 he writes to a friend in England. " Such a lovely country, my dear 
 John. Hill and dale, forest and field, river and rivulet and lake, 
 and in the dim distance the Ural Mountains. I am trying the cele- 
 brated cure of ' Koumis ' mare's milk prepared in a certain way. I 
 have a Tartar who has been on the steppes many years, and nine 
 mares are milked twice a day for me." 
 
 At Paris in 1879, Home saw a good deal of the first of American 
 humourists, who came to one or two of the private readings to which 
 he from time to time invited his friends, and was charmed, like all 
 other listeners, by the alternate humour and pathos of the narrator. 
 Home enjoyed greatly the work that Mr. Clemens had just com- 
 pleted, " A Tramp Abroad " ; and wishing to give an idea of it to 
 friends at St. Petersburg, had one of its most laughable episodes, 
 the famous "Modern French Duel," translated into Russian with 
 the author's permission. Mark Twain's remark on receiving a copy 
 of the translation (of which he could not read a word) was charac- 
 teristic. " It seems an excellent translation," he wrote to Home; 
 " at any rate it looks funnier than it does in English. If it has a 
 defect, it has escaped me." 
 
 Year after year Mr. Home continued to be oppressed by the burden 
 of an enormous correspondence. To whatever corner of Europe we 
 fled, hundreds of letters pursued ; and it was often physically im- 
 possible for him, a constant invalid, to reply to one half of his 
 correspondents. Spiritualists in Spain, Holland, Italy, and other 
 countries wrote entreating him to visit them and found societies,
 
 224 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 or stimulate with his presence the vitality of a languishing cause. 
 Inquirers sent requests for seances or for information ; and correspon- 
 dents by the score inflicted on him at merciless length their particular 
 opinions concerning Spiritualism. It was happy for him that his 
 indifference to the small troubles of life was so great and his temper 
 so sweet, or he would have lost the latter almost every time a fresh 
 batch of letters reached us. 
 
 His patience, and that generous belief in others which no dis- 
 appointments could kill in him, were destined to be severely tried. 
 A blind and absolute confidence had led him to deposit on a simple 
 acknowledgment (and even for that Home did not ask) a large sum 
 of money in the hands of one whom he believed to be a friend ; and 
 this person now refused to render up the charge confided to him. 
 Home would not take legal proceedings to punish this breach of trust, 
 more painf ul morally than materially ; although his Russian advocate 
 wrote to him : " You have a full right to reclaim this deposit, and 
 there is no doubt that the tribunal would decide in your favour." 
 In the end restitution of the money was made without a lawsuit ; but 
 this cruel affair gave a shock to Home's nervous system from which 
 he never recovered. His sufferings became still more acute, his 
 strength diminished more and more; and in the end this event cost 
 him his life. 
 
 In September, 1881, we received at Geneva a letter from my 
 uncle, His Excellency N. Aksakoff, who was neither a Spiritualist 
 nor a believer in the life after this. Its writer spoke of the interest 
 with which he had read reviews of " Lights and Shadows of 
 Spiritualism," and of his great desire to read the book itself. He 
 urged Home to have so interesting and valuable a work translated into 
 French without further delay. " I wish to read your book as soon 
 as possible," he wrote. " Have it translated and printed, and send 
 me a copy of so honourable and interesting a work. Your affectionate 
 friend. N. AKSAKOFF." 
 
 My uncle quitted this life before the translation of " Lights and 
 Shadows " was ready; and Mr. Home dedicated the book to his 
 beloved memory. "As a feeble tribute," ran the inscription, " in 
 return for the proofs of esteem and affection that he constantly gave 
 me. I was the prouder of his friendship in that he united to the 
 nobleness of his name that other nobleness which comes of greatness 
 of soul and goodness of heart. 
 
 In April, 1882, some weeks after his departure from this world, 
 we received at St. Petersburg the following communication : 
 
 " He begins to believe that he lives, but he often fears that it is 
 a dream." 
 
 Hardly had these words been spelt out when we heard sounds 
 resembling footsteps the very step of my uncle in the apartment 
 adjoining that in which we were ; and the portiere between the two 
 was drawn back. We saw a hand separate the curtains and then 
 let them fall into their place. I distinctly saw the full form of the 
 spirit as he approached us. The rappings, which had been silent for 
 a moment, recommenced. " It is true it is true," \vas spelt out;
 
 1876 i886 225 
 
 " and there is my shadow " (at that instant I felt something placed 
 in my hand), " the shadow of him who loved you dearly. The 
 shadow of the past in no way resembles the being of the present; 
 but affection has not changed rather, it has augmented. Take it; 
 it is I who give it to you. You have touched my hand I have, then, 
 a hand. I live: God Is." These last words were spelt out by 
 louder sounds, more slowly struck ; as if wishing to make us feel all 
 the reverence they expressed. Then the message recommenced : " My 
 beloved Daniel, I love you more than ever We must go; " and the 
 rappings ceased. We heard again the sound of the well-known step 
 growing gradually more distant. I lit a candle, to see what object 
 had been placed in my hand ; and found it to be a framed photograph 
 of my uncle, that had been taken from the adjoining drawing-room. 
 It was indeed his shadow ; and the phrase was characteristic, for in 
 this world, when jesting at the notion of a future life, his habitual 
 sarcasm had been : " You will see my shade appear to you by and 
 by." 
 
 From that night he was often with us, and gave us the most con- 
 vincing proofs, of his identity, and of his continued affection. 
 
 To relate in detail Home's life during these last years on earth 
 would be simply to tell a story of great suffering patiently and 
 cheerfully borne. In place of this, let me, now that I approach the 
 close of my work, state briefly the substance of many communications 
 made concerning the life beyond this. 
 
 The greater part of such communications were given through Home 
 while he was in a state of trance. When he passed into this condi- 
 tion, the expression of his countenance became singularly sweet; 
 " angelic," writes one who had seen him many times in the trance, 
 Mr. S. C. Hall. There was nothing resembling excitement in these 
 trances; look, manner, and voice were calm. " The change which 
 takes place in him," wrote Lord Dunraven, " is very striking; he 
 becomes as it were a being of a higher type. There is a union of 
 sweetness, tenderness, and earnestness in his voice and manner which 
 is very attractive." As a rule, Home's eyes were fast closed in the 
 trance; but he moved about the room as readily and naturally as if 
 they had been open, appearing to follow some unseen guide. 
 
 The communications already detailed as having been made in 1876 
 by Home's old American friend, Ward Cheney, and in 1882 con- 
 cerning my uncle, show that the spirit, on passing from earth, had 
 often the greatest difficulty in realising the new conditions of his 
 being; that the change seemed to him a dream. The world in which 
 he found himself was so like this spiritually like this, not materi- 
 ally; himself was so thoroughly himself, that he refused to believe 
 he had quitted earth ; and the greater his attachment to earth had 
 been, the more obstinate was his incredulity. Hundreds of com- 
 munications given through Home refer to this gradual wakening of 
 the spirit to the consciousness that the second birth called death was 
 an accomplished fact. To some that awakening comes swiftly, to 
 others slowly ; but it does not seem that it is ever instantaneous. 
 
 One very noticeable fact with regard to these messages is that in
 
 226 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 the spirit-world the idea of good is so intimately associated with 
 light, that of evil with darkness, that the spirits employ ' light ' and 
 ' good ' as synonymous terms, ' darkness ' and ' evil ' as also 
 synonymous. " We can see all light," was said in the course of one 
 of the trance-communications, " the most beautiful combinations of 
 light. We see the progress either of growth or decay, that is taking 
 place in everything." " To us," another message ran, " the spirit- 
 land of higher spheres is like a beautiful planet, luminous, shining 
 forth as our goal and spheres higher and higher still brighten as 
 we advance in the vista of everlasting progress." 
 
 This last word progress is the keynote of the messages, one and all. 
 I would have written " of the teachings," but the expression would 
 be misunderstood. Home's mission was to teach by facts, not by 
 words. He was passive with regard to the words spoken through 
 him in the trance, as passive as the wire that conveys the electric 
 current. When he woke, he had no more consciousness of that which 
 he had uttered than has the wire of the message that has just passed 
 over it. To those who questioned him whether these supramundane 
 declarations were to be regarded as worthy of credence or not, he 
 responded invariably : ' ' Do as I do ; try all communications by 
 the help of your conscience and your reason." 
 
 Mrs. Hennings, some of whose experiences have been narrated in 
 a former chapter, relates that she had often begun to speak to Mr. 
 Home concerning messages given through him in the trance, and that 
 he had always stopped her. At last, she asked him why he did so. 
 Home thereupon explained that, as he had not the faintest recollec- 
 tion of anything which occurred in the trance, he preferred not to 
 receive particulars ; for they mixed themselves up in his memory with 
 the facts of his waking life, until he became unable to separate one 
 from the other. 
 
 It has been often objected that the wide-spread acceptance by 
 humanity of the noble conception of a life of infinite progress, in 
 place of the fancies of heaven and hell, would encourage the sinful 
 to put off, with Felix, their reformation to "a more convenient 
 season " that, in fact, men would abandon themselves to a life of 
 vice here on earth, with the convenient resolution of leading a life of 
 virtue in the world to come. One might ask in reply what the 
 accepted teachings of heaven and hell have done for the world at 
 large? Is its condition of to-day an outcome of those teach- 
 ings? And, if so, is that outcome one to be regarded with 
 satisfaction? But the true answer to such an objection is that the 
 same revelations which speak of progress as an eternal condition 
 of our being, speak of punishment as an eternal condition 
 of our sins. There is no escape, say the spirit-messages. Evil and 
 misery are one; and they who miss the knowledge of that truth on 
 earth are preparing for themselves a terrible awakening to it hereafter. 
 In all these communications it is earnestly inculcated that " Now is 
 the appointed time." " If you strive earnestly and prayerfully here, 
 you enter your true life in a state fitted for it." " Only a perfect 
 submission to the crosses of earth can work out for you a higher and
 
 18761886 227 
 
 purer life." " Follow Christ's teaching, and carry out His mission." 
 " We know all your sufferings and shortcomings, and what you have 
 to contend with ; for have not we, too, been mortals, have we not 
 wearied on the roadside, and had our times of agony and doubt." 
 I might go on to make scores of such extracts from even the few 
 fragments that have been preserved of the trance-communications 
 spoken through Home. The vast majority of those communications 
 were never written down, and live only in the minds of the hearers. 
 
 " I shall never forget," writes one of those hearers, " the awfully 
 
 thrilling way in which M spoke through Home, the desolation 
 
 of the picture she drew of her feelings. The words I do not recollect 
 the effect of them I shall always remember." 
 
 Why, it was asked at one seance, do not spirits manifest their 
 presence frequently to us, and aid us to shun the wrong and seek 
 the right? as if we can judge how far spirits do actually influence 
 us, or can form any conception of the difficulties under which they 
 labour in seeking to make their presence known. The answer given 
 through Home in a trance is well worthy of attention. 
 
 " You should take a higher view of it than that. You wonder why spirits 
 do not help you. Are you not a spirit? You only have the earthly envelope 
 about you. Rouse yourself, and help yourself ; do not expect others to help 
 you if you do not act yourself. Yet do spirits interfere in a thousand ways 
 that you little dream of, and never notice. It is a common thing for people 
 to say, ' If spirits are about us, why don't they manifest themselves?' Is not 
 God everywhere? Is He not about you? Why, then, does He not manifest 
 Himself? God has so ordained that, though many of you spend your lives 
 looking for evidence of His existence, yet every day you pass by unnoticed the 
 most wonderful and beautiful evidences." 
 
 A circumstance of these communications not always sufficiently 
 borne in mind by the recipients was that their makers experienced 
 great difficulty in endeavouring to convey to men still in the material 
 body an idea of the life of man in the spiritual body. They could 
 say, for instance, that such a spiritual body clothed them, that it 
 was "exactly like the material body, only slightly smaller"; 
 but the impression the words left was frequently either vague or 
 erroneous. It was hard for the hearers of those words to conceive 
 of a spiritual body, that took form from the spirit itself, and was 
 beautiful or hideous as the spirit was good or evil. Our beauty or 
 deformity in the world beyond this is of our own making ; and it is 
 here on earth that we mould our souls into one or the other form. 
 At the touch of Death the veil of clay drops from us, and shows us 
 as we are. 
 
 " How do you make us see you? " a sitter asked of the spirits 
 while Home was in the trance. " Sometimes," was the answer, 
 " we make the actual resemblance of what we were, so that we 
 appear exactly as we were known to you on earth ; sometimes we pro- 
 ject an image that you see, sometimes we cause it to be produced 
 upon your brain ; sometimes you see us as we are, with a cloud-like 
 aura of light around uts." 
 
 In the spirit-world, as in this, likeness attracts, unlikeness repels; 
 but far more strongly than on earth. This declaration was re-
 
 228 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 peated and emphatic in the trance-messages given through Home. It 
 is the key to some of the most difficult problems of Spiritualism. 
 The popular conception of the happiness of hereafter is a state in 
 which spirits can commune at will with each other. The spirits 
 say that no such illimitable communion exists ; that in the next 
 world, as in this, there are difficulties of intercourse. Here the 
 great obstacle is distance from those we love. We seek at will the 
 society of a friend in the next street ; we communicate less freely 
 with one a hundred miles off ; we may hear nothing for years of a 
 third in the interior of Africa. These earthly obstacles to inter- 
 change of thought and sympathy have their spiritual counterparts. 
 Distance in the next world is the distance of soul from soul ; and it 
 is sometimes so great as to render communion imposisible. " Between 
 us there is a great gulf fixed," are words that take a very solemn 
 meaning in view of those declarations from the ispirit- world. Con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, we are working to widen that gulf every 
 day that we live on earth ; and according to our works we shall find 
 it set hereafter between us and the evil, or between us and the 
 good. In the latter event, declares Spiritualism, it may be bridged : 
 but how slowly and how painfully ! 
 
 Spirits tell us that the peace of the life to come is peace from the 
 doubts, sorrows, and struggles of earth ; that the adoration they offer 
 to the Creator is obedience to His will ; that their joys, the joys we 
 cannot conceive or measure are found in forgetfulness of self and 
 love of others. They tell us that to live for others is to draw nearer 
 to God. " From the Eternal Source," says a trance-message 
 spoken through Home, " goes forth the Eternal Light to which we 
 aspire." Light Love Good; in the comprehension of the spirits 
 of the blest, these three are one. 
 
 When the human mind tries to conceive of Eternity, it commonly 
 falls into the error of figuring it as endless Time. In these trance 
 communications, the spirits invariably declare that the word time 
 had lost its meaning for them. " We know not of time," says a 
 message now before me; " to us yesterday, to-day, to-morrow are 
 all one. Had we hourjs, days, years, even ages, like you, we 
 should say time passes slowly or time passes fast. We never tire; 
 we are eternity." That is to say, eternity does not present itself 
 to us after death as endless Time, the passage of which we mark, 
 but as an infinite State, wherein we progress. 
 
 A question was once asked at a seance concerning the compara- 
 tive truth of different religions. The answer given through Home 
 in the trance was : " Even the poor Pagan who bows down before 
 his idol possesses the germ of truth, inasmuch as he worships some- 
 thing outside and beyond himself." It seems to me that there is a 
 whole sermon in these words. 
 
 In March, 1883, Mr. Home passed at Nice his fiftieth birthday. 
 His health had been too feeble all winter for him to go much into 
 society ; but he received his friends as often as possible friends 
 whose number was constantly being added to. On his birthday, 
 the 20th of March, a crowd of the foreign colony of Nice assembled
 
 1876 i886 229 
 
 to fete the invalid, whom they surrounded with a prodigious heap of 
 baskets and bouquets of flowers. Home, although a prisoner to 
 his arm-chair and suffering severely, preserved all his accustomed 
 exquisite affability in welcoming and thanking his friendly visitors ; 
 and complied with the general desire by reciting to them several 
 pieces in French and English, among them a poem that I have 
 already referred to as being one of his favourites, the " Grand- 
 mother " of Tennyson. He never rendered it with more effect; 
 and the same was the case with the little piece that followed 
 " Carcassonne," the masterpiece of Nadaud. 
 
 We passed the following winter in Russia, part of it at Moscow. 
 While we were there, the Countess Tolstoy arranged an amateur 
 performance in aid of the poor, and Mr. Home took part in it ; 
 so did my cousin John Aksakoff, the well-known Slavophil leader, 
 not less celebrated as a poet. He had not heard Home recite 
 before ; and, the reading over, ran up to him in a transport of 
 enthusiasm. " It was perfect it was perfect! " he exclaimed; 
 ' I never before heard anything so perfect." 
 
 Towards the close of 1884, Home predicted to me that his malady 
 was approaching a crisis, and that it would be long and painful. 
 He described minutely all that would happen ; and, in speaking of 
 the increased sufferings through which he foresaw that he was about 
 to pass, said, " God, who sends the trial, knows better than we why 
 He sends it : I trust myself wholly in His hands. I shall recover 
 if no complication supervenes : if it does, His will be done. I 
 am not anxious for you God will support you. I shall not suffer 
 at the last." 
 
 All that he had predicted was realised even to the superhuman 
 force God sent me. He suffered cruelly long and cruelly. 
 There were intervals of repose from pain, then increased suffering. 
 These few words tell all that need be 'told of the story of eighteen 
 months. 
 
 In June, 1886, the complication of which he had foretold the 
 danger supervened, and attacking the lungs, proved quickly fatal. 
 The last three days we both knew that all was ended for us on earth. 
 He retained full consciousness to the last; and resignation an 
 ineffable resignation illumined his features, as the thin thread that 
 held the spirit to the body slowly parted. His one thought was 
 to inspire me with strength to survive him, and to make me feel that 
 he was but gone a little way before me ; and he spoke to me much of 
 God's great goodness to us, and of friends :.n heaven. They were 
 around him ; he saw them, named them, and stretched forth his hands 
 to them with joy. He had ceased to suffer ; death came to him, as he 
 had predicted it would come, without a pang. During these last 
 hours, he seemed no more of this world ; the soul, disengaged from 
 all that was material, already anticipated its union with the Supreme 
 Being and the life eternal. It was no dream, no hope to him, that 
 life ; he had prepared himself for it by his life on earth ; and now, 
 in this moment of a sublime and tranquil death, he saw it open 
 bright before him, while slowly, painlessly, the last ties of spirit 
 and body were gently loosed.
 
 230 LIFE AND MISSION OF HOME 
 
 It was his desire, as I have elsewhere said, to be buried in the 
 same vault with our little daughter. As she was laid in the Russian 
 cemetery near Paris, it was necessary, I learned, for the interment to 
 be conducted according to the ritual of the Greek Church. Our Lord 
 pays no heed to forms, but judges each according to his works ; and 
 I had no hesitation in complying. Home had received the sacrament 
 some days before with a devotion that deeply touched the priest, 
 who said, in leaving him, that we should rejoice and not mourn when 
 God finds a soul so ready to be called to Him. 
 
 In quitting its earthly envelope, the spirit had left imprinted on 
 the face an expression of celestial happiness ; a peace neither of sleep 
 nor of death, but of immortality, that seemed to say, with the 
 Apostle, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy 
 victory !" That tranquil happiness did not pass from his features; 
 and I had a photograph taken of them, in which the shadow of its 
 beauty is preserved. 
 
 Home wished, and had always wished, that his interment should 
 be simply conducted, and should be without show of mourning. " I 
 desire my funeral to be as simple as possible," he wrote in his will, 
 " and that all tokens and signs known as mourning may be entirely 
 discarded." In accordance with his injunctions, the vanities of 
 funereal pomp were absent from the interment ; and when the service 
 in the Russian church was performed, the priests, instead of being 
 robed in black, wore their festival attire of white and gold. No 
 shadow darkened that mystic and imposing service, the noble chants 
 of which were admirably rendered. The coffin, buried in flowers 
 and raised on a brilliantly-lit dais, had nothing dismal in its aspect ; 
 it became a simple token of our loving farewell to the mortal garment 
 of him whom God had called from earth before us. 
 
 The sentiment of all who were present at the church found expres- 
 sion in the words of a friend : " The whole effect was grand, 
 solemn, and suggestive, as the full voices of the choir rose and fell 
 in solemn cadence, and the rich soft strains of swelling harmony 
 filled the building, dying away in distant echoes repeated from dome 
 to dome." 
 
 Home's grave is at St. Germain. A plain cross of white marble 
 rises from a Calvary, on which is engraved : ' ' Daniel Dunglas Home. 
 Born to earth-life near Edinburgh (Scotland), March zoth, 1833. 
 Born to spirit-life : ' To another discerning of spirits' (ist Corinthians, 
 i2th chapter, loth verse) : June 2ist, 1886." 
 
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