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303
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
119
SIR
GEORGE
VILLIERS'
GHOST.
The
variations
in
the
narratives
of
Sir
George
Villiers'
appearance
to
an
old
servant
of
his,
or
old
protege,
and
the
warning
communicated
by
this
man
to
Villiers'
son,
the
famous
Duke
of
Buckingham,
are
curious
and
instructive.
The
tale
is
first
told
in
print
by
William
Lilly,
the
astrologer,
in
the
second
part
of
a
large
tract
called
Monarchy
or
No
Monarchy
in
England
(London,
1651),
twenty-three
years
after
Buckingham's
murder.
But
while
prior
in
publication,
Lilly's
story
was
probably
written
after,
though
independent
of
Lord
Clarendon's,
in
the
first
book
of
his
History
of
the
Rebellion,
begun
on
18th
March,
1646,
that
is
within
eighteen
years
of
the
events.
Clarendon,
of
course,
was
in
a
position
to
know
what
was
talked
of
at
the
time.
Next,
we
have
a
letter
of
Mr.
Douch
to
Glanvil,
undated,
but
written
after
the
Restoration,
and,
finally,
an
original
manuscript
of
1652.
Douch
makes
the
warning
arrive
"some
few
days"
before
the
murder
of
Buckingham,
and
says
that
the
ghost
of
Sir
George,
"in
his
morning
gown,"
bade
one
Parker
tell
Buckingham
to
abandon
the
expedition
to
La
Rochelle
or
expect
to
be
murdered.
On
the
third
time
of
appearing
the
vision
pulled
a
long
knife
from
under
his
gown,
as
a
sign
of
the
death
awaiting
Buckingham.
He
also
communicated
a
"private
token"
to
Parker,
the
"percipient,"
Sir
George's
old
servant.
On
each
occasion
of
the
appearance,
Parker
was
reading
at
midnight.
Parker,
after
the
murder,
told
one
Ceeley,
who
told
it
to
a
clergyman,
who
told
Douch,
who
told
Glanvil.
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