that I had found out ſome favourable Conjunctions in the Planets above, that might be too ſtrong for all the united Intereſts of the beſt Man and Prince and the happieſt People among the Nations below. When behold one Night, which I ſhall never forget, and Great Britain muſt ever remember with Joy, (it was on the 20th of January, 1728,) as I lay in my Bed, agreeably ſoothing my Spleen, with theſe pleaſing Proſpects I had been contemplating in the Stars; I was ſurpriz'd to ſee my Door which was faſt lock'd, and my Curtains which were cloſe drawn, opening ſuddenly of themſelves, and a great Light filling my Chamber, in the midſt of which I ſaw a beautiful Appearance of ſomething like what we uſually imagine Angels to be.
I began to fancy my ſelf in the famous Van Helmont's Condition, who ſays,[1] he once plainly ſaw his Soul in an human Shape, but, as he modeſtly ſpeaks, without diſtinction of Sex; or like that Piſander, who, as a certain Greek Author tells us, was afraid of meeting his own Soul, which he apprehended would appear to him ſeparated from
- ↑ Chap. I. p. 9.
his
