Donne to declare what had befallen him in the
short time of his absence? to which Mr. Donne was not able to make a
present answer, but after a long and perplexed pause, said, "I have
seen a dreadful vision since I saw you: I have seen my dear wife pass
twice by me through this room, with her hair hanging about her
shoulders, and a dead child in her arms; this I have seen since I saw
you." To which Sir Robert replied, "Sure Sir, you have slept since I
saw you, and this is the result of some melancholy dream, which I
desire you to forget, for you are now awake." To which Mr. Donne's
reply was, "I cannot be surer that I now live, than that I have not
slept since I saw you, and am sure that at her second appearing, she
stopt and lookt me in the face and vanished." - Rest and sleep had not
altered Mr. Donne's opinion the next day, for he then affirmed this
vision with a more deliberate, and so confirmed a confidence, that he
inclined Sir Robert to a faint belief, that the vision was true. It is
truly said, that desire and doubt have no rest, and it proved so with
Sir Robert, for he immediately sent a servant to Drury-House, with a
charge to hasten back and bring him word whether Mrs. Donne were
alive ? and if alive, in what condition she was as to her health. The
twelfth day the messenger returned with this account-that he found and
left Mrs.
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