If he was not
deaf, I should take much pleasure in his conversation; for he is
very intelligent, and his memory is surprisingly retentive -- These
are the happy effects of temperance, exercise, and good nature --
Notwithstanding all his innocence, however, he was the cause of
great perturbation to my man Clinker, whose natural superstition
has been much injured, by the histories of witches, fairies,
ghosts, and goblins, which he has heard in this country -- On the
evening after our arrival, Humphry strolled into the wood, in the
course of his meditation, and all at once the admiral stood
before him, under the shadow of a spreading oak. Though the
fellow is far from being timorous in cases that are not supposed
preternatural, he could not stand the sight of this apparition,
but ran into the kitchen, with his hair standing on end, staring
wildly, and deprived of utterance. Mrs Jenkins, seeing him in
this condition, screamed aloud, 'Lord have mercy upon us, he has
seen something!' Mrs Tabitha was alarmed, and the whole house in
confusion. When he was recruited with a dram, I desired him to
explain the meaning of all this agitation; and, with some
reluctance, he owned he had seen a spirit, in the shape of an old
man with a white beard, a black cap, and a plaid night-gown.
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