can be entertained with the common run of ghoſt and apparition ſtories, it ſeldom happens that the party is ſoon broken up; nor is there ever felt any want of ſpeakers on this, copious ſubject, or of an attentive audience.
A well-fed canon was able to relate many ſurpriſing ſtories of Number-Nip: the truth of them was eagerly combated, and as eagerly ſupported. The Counteſs, who found herſelf juſt in her element whenever ſhe could aſſume the didactic tone, and march forth in battle array againſt prejudices, placed herſelf at the head of the philoſophical party, and dreadfully embarraſſed, by her ſcepticiſm, a paralytic privy counſellor, who had nothing pliant about him but his tongue, and who took upon himſelf to be the attorney general of Number-Nip. ‘My own ſtory,’ continued the lady, ‘is an evident proof that every thing reported of that celebrated ſpirit is an empty dream. Did he hold his abode in the mountains here,
‘and
