"From this eventful night the hauntings began to diminish, and have gradually ceased altogether.

But even now, though the house has recently been entirely renovated, none of the servants can be persuaded to live there."

It is almost unnecessary to point out that William Fletcher's clairvoyance was corroborated by facts unknown to him, and which occurred entirely apart from his mediumship, and spontaneously, the witnesses being not only Madame Z., but the servants who heard the sounds and could not be persuaded to remain in the house during the night. It is one of the most complete and connected pieces. of evidence of spirit-identity in every point that I am acquainted with, and I can only express my regret that private reasons prevented Madame Z. from openly identifying herself with the history she has permitted to be so far recorded, and from testifying publicly to its truth.

Two thoughtful and penetrating letters on our medium's seership have been published in the American spiritual journal, the Banner of Light, from the pen of the wellknown author, Mrs. Florence Marryat, who has privately expressed to me her high appreciation of its character. The accounts of her interviews are of unusual interest, and well merit re-publication on this side of the Atlantic.

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'Having heard," she writes, "the most marvellous reports of the clairvoyant powers of Mr. J. W. Fletcher, I determined to test them for myself, and consequently made an appointment with that gentleman at his residence. in Gordon Street. For the sake of the faithless and unbelieving I must premise that I had not previously met Mr. Fletcher, except on Sunday evenings in the Steinway Hall, when I had listened to some excellent lectures from

him in explanation of the doctrines of spiritualism. I had seen many clairvoyants before, both in public and private, and been witness to wonderful feats of skill on their part in naming and describing concealed objects, and reading print or writing when held far beyond their reach of sight. But I knew the trick of all that. I had found it out for myself, and that there was, as poor Charles Matthews used to say, 'nothing in it.' If Mr. Fletcher is going to treat me to any mental legerdemain' of that kind, I thought, as I made my way to Gordon Street, I shall have wasted both my time and my trouble upon him; and as I approached the house I confess I felt doubtful whether I might not be deceived against my senses by the clever gentleman whose eloquence had charmed me into wishing for a more intimate acquaintance. Nothing could be further removed from one's ideas of a haunt of mystery and magic, or of the abode of a man who was forced to descend to trickery in order to gain a livelihood. In a few minutes Mr. Fletcher entered the room and saluted me with the air of a gentleman. We did not proceed to business, however, until he had taken me round his rooms and introduced me to his favourite pictures, including a portrait of the famous Sara Bernhardt, etched by herself, in the character of Mrs. Charkson, in L'Etrangère. When we had said as much about them as seemed good to us, we returned to the back room, and without darkening the window or adopting any precautionary means whatever, took our seats upon the causeuse, facing eath other, whilst Mr. Fletcher laid his left hand in mine.

"Many years ago I attended a clairvoyant séance with Miss Lottie Fowler, the American medium, whose powers.

G

of prophecy are known to more men of science in London than would be brave enough to come forward and confess the truth. She (who was not even acquainted with my name) commenced with my birth, and mentioning dates, places, and people, narrated every incident of importance that had occurred to me up to the time I was sitting by her side. She then told truthfully all that was taking place at the moment, and read the coming events of the next three or four years in a manner which their subsequent fulfilment has rendered really marvellous. Should these lines reach her eyes, I trust she will accept my thanks for the insight she gave me to clairvoyance on that occasion, and be pleased to hear her guides were so successful. Yet had the sitting I held with Mr. Fletcher brought similar results I might not have written this account of it. It would have been convincing to me perhaps, but not to the public, for the events of my past life are no secret, and predictions of the future become interesting only on their fulfilment.

"Mr. Fletcher (Winona) perhaps guessed my thoughts, for he commenced by saying that he would not waste my time on facts that he might have gathered from the world, but would confine himself to speaking of my inner life. Thereupon, with the most astonishing astuteness, he told me of my thoughts and feelings, reading them off as though from a book. He repeated to me words and actions that had been said and done in the utmost privacy, and hundreds of miles away. He detailed the characters of my various acquaintance, shewing who were true and who were false, giving me their names, places of residence, and description. He even repeated the contents of letters lying locked up at

my own house, and revealed to me what I should learn by one that should (and subsequently did) reach me the same evening. He detailed the motives I had had for certain actions, and what was more strange, revealed truths concerning myself which I had never recognised until they were presented to me through the medium of a perfect stranger. Every question that I asked was accurately answered, and I was repeatedly invited to draw further revelations from him. The fact being that I was struck almost dumb by what I had heard, and rendered incapable of doing anything but marvel at the wonderful gift that enabled a man not only to read every thought that had passed through my brain, but to see, as in a glass, scenes that were being enacted miles away, with the actors concerned in them, and the motives that were animating them. Mr. Fletcher read the future for me as well as the past, and the first distinct prophecy he uttered has already come, most unexpectedly, to pass. But there could be no greater astonishment for me than had been caused by his reading of myself, and I have heard my opinion echoed by several friends, who have also tested his miraculous powers.

"As I wended my way homeward, and recalled the thoughts and acts which Mr. Fletcher had put into words for me, the lines from the inspired writings entered my mind, 'Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did.'"

The second letter is hardly less interesting, and written as it is by one whose long experience of the facts of spiritualism entitles her to be heard with attention, I give the greater part of it with pleasure.

“I have been asked to comment upon Mr. Fletcher's capabilities as a speaker, and would commence by saying that his appearance on the platform, his manner, enunciation, and mode of delivery, are all calculated to attract his hearers more and more to the religion which he professes to expound. His voice is clear, simple, and unaffected; he grasps the subject he may have chosen to handle plainly and decisively, and he does not leave it until he has exhausted it. His lectures on the future condition of the spirit have been especially interesting, and opened a world of speculation for those who had never thought before. To meet him on the platform is to see him in his own home. He is, however, of a very cheerful temperament in domestic life (which the semi-entranced condition of the platform might lead a casual spectator to doubt), and is as ready to see a joke, or make one, as the liveliest of his friends. But he never quite loses the dreamy appearance of one who is in such constant communion with the other world, and it is difficult to lose consciousness of the spiritual atmosphere by which he is surrounded. This idea is heightened in those who have had the privilege of sitting' with him, because Mr. Fletcher, whilst under control, is so perfectly natural and like himself, that it is difficult to believe that another spirit is inhabiting his body and speaking through his lips. I told you in my letter of last year that I had held a séance with him of so private a nature that it was impossible to make it public. During that interview Winona made several startling prophecies concerning what was then the future, and it may interest your readers to hear that several of those prognostications have already been fulfilled, and that the rest seem likely to be.