An account

4, Elms Park Terrace, The Elms, Ramsgate. December 20th, 1883. The statement about my mother's death and the dream at sea is correct. The dream and the death occurred at the same time, or within a few days of each other. I was on board the ' Plantagenet,' East Indiaman, and we had just left the Cape of Good Hope, on our homeward bound voyage, at which place I had received letters from home stating ' All well.' There was more in the dream, concerning a post-mortem examination, but it is of too painful a nature to mention, relating to the difference of opinion concerning the nature of the complaint my mother died of, and the medical men were of different opinions about it. I think a very remarkable point about my dream at sea, in 1845, was that I thought a cousin of mine, a surgeon in the Royal Artillery, was present at my mother's death. This proved to be the case. I had thought he was away in China, and had no idea of when he would return to England ; but he had unexpectedly come back, and had been summoned to her bedside in consultation, as stated in the narrative. My cousin was James E. T. Parrett, late surgeon Royal Artillery, now deceased. This dream haunted me frequently during the rest of the voyage home, and on several occasions awoke me in the night thinking about it. I could not shake it off. In answer to inquiries, Mr. Woolcott says : — I have had startling dreams at other times, but they have not been concerning the death of any person. « j0HN Woolcott. [Here the time-coincidence cannot be brought with certainty closer than a few days. On the other hand, the detail of the cousin's presence is a strong evidential point.]