The Book of Dreams and Ghosts | Page 6

of the innumerable multitude of dreams,
some must coincide, accidentally, with facts. They strove to forget that
though dreams in sleep are universal and countless, "dreams" in waking
hours are extremely rare-- unique, for instance, in Lord Brougham's
own experience. Therefore, the odds against chance coincidence are
very great.
Dreams only form subjects of good dream-stories when the vision
coincides with and adequately represents an unknown event in the past,
the present, or the future. We dream, however vividly, of the murder of
Rizzio. Nobody is surprised at that, the incident being familiar to most
people, in history and art. But, if we dreamed of being present at an
unchronicled scene in Queen Mary's life, and if, after the dream was
recorded, a document proving its accuracy should be for the first time
recovered, then there is matter for a good dream-story. {8} Again, we
dream of an event not to be naturally guessed or known by us, and our
dream (which should be recorded before tidings of the fact arrive)
tallies with the news of the event when it comes. Or, finally, we dream
of an event (recording the dream), and that event occurs in the future.

In all these cases the actual occurrence of the unknown event is the
only addition to the dream's usual power of crumpling up time and
space.
As a rule such dreams are only mentioned after the event, and so are
not worth noticing. Very often the dream is forgotten by the dreamer
till he hears of or sees the event. He is then either reminded of his
dream by association of ideas or he has never dreamed at all, and his
belief that he has dreamed is only a form of false memory, of the
common sensation of "having been here before," which he attributes to
an awakened memory of a real dream. Still more often the dream is
unconsciously cooked by the narrator into harmony with facts.
As a rule fulfilled dreams deal with the most trivial affairs, and such as,
being usual, may readily occur by chance coincidence. Indeed it is
impossible to set limits to such coincidence, for it would indeed be
extraordinary if extraordinary coincidences never occurred.
To take examples:--
THE PIG IN THE DINING-ROOM
Mrs. Atlay, wife of a late Bishop of Hereford, dreamed one night that
there was a pig in the dining-room of the palace. She came downstairs,
and in the hall told her governess and children of the dream, before
family prayers. When these were over, nobody who was told the story
having left the hall in the interval, she went into the dining-room and
there was the pig. It was proved to have escaped from the sty after Mrs.
Atlay got up. Here the dream is of the common grotesque type;
millions of such things are dreamed. The event, the pig in the palace, is
unusual, and the coincidence of pig and dream is still more so. But
unusual events must occur, and each has millions of dreams as targets
to aim at, so to speak. It would be surprising if no such target were ever
hit.
Here is another case--curious because the dream was forgotten till the
corresponding event occurred, but there was a slight discrepancy
between event and dream.

THE MIGNONETTE
Mrs. Herbert returned with her husband from London to their country
home on the Border. They arrived rather late in the day, prepared to
visit the garden, and decided to put off the visit till the morrow. At
night Mrs. Herbert dreamed that they went into the garden, down a long
walk to a mignonette bed near the vinery. The mignonette was black
with innumerable bees, and Wilburd, the gardener, came up and
advised Mr. and Mrs. Herbert not to go nearer. Next morning the pair
went to the garden. The air round the mignonette was dark with wasps.
Mrs. Herbert now first remembered and told her dream, adding, "but in
the dream they were bees". Wilburd now came up and advised them not
to go nearer, as a wasps' nest had been injured and the wasps were on
the warpath.
Here accidental coincidence is probable enough. {10} There is another
class of dreams very useful, and apparently not so very uncommon, that
are veracious and communicate correct information, which the dreamer
did not know that he knew and was very anxious to know. These are
rare enough to be rather difficult to believe. Thus:--
THE LOST CHEQUE
Mr. A., a barrister, sat up one night to write letters, and about half-past
twelve went out to put them in the post. On undressing he missed a
cheque for a large sum, which he had received during the day. He
hunted everywhere in vain, went to bed, slept, and dreamed that he saw