AN EARLY PRINTED REPORT ON THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL

Abstract

' N the history of Defoe studies', writes Professor James Sutherland, 'two Ithings have constantly been happening: what has long seemed to be unquestionable fact has been shown to be pure invention, and stories which have appeared to be undoubtedly fictions of Defoe's have turned out to be perfectly true.'' A recent discovery reveals that not only was Mrs. Bargrave's story widely circulated in London and Canterbury during the autumn of 1705, but it had also appeared in a London newspaper six months before the publication of Defoe's famous pamphlet. The traditional account of the origin of A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal is that Defoe composed it to promote the sale of Drelincourt's The Christian's Defense against the Fears of Death. Who but Defoe, wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'would have thought of summoning up a ghost from the grave to bear witness in favour of a halting body of divinity ?'z In 1895, however, George Aitken upset tradition and theory by presenting documentary evidence to show that the persons named in Defoe's A True Relation actually existed, and by finding an issue of that pamphlet with manuscript notes recording an interview with Mrs. Bargrave on 2I May 1714.3 His conclusion was that 'Defoe invented nothing, or next to nothing, but simply told, very skilfully, a ghost story which was attracting notice at the time'.4 This verdict was confirmed by Sir Charles Firth in this journal in I93I.s He printed Lucy Lukyn's letter about Mrs. Bargrave's story, dated 9 October 1705, and concluded of Defoe and his pamphlet, 'Probably he had more than one version of it at his disposal'. Lately another version of Mrs. Bargrave's seance has received attention. It was found by Rodney M. Baine and printed in June 1954.6 This account, though not published until 1766, was written by a Rev. Mr. Payne and (according to the publisher) is based on an interview with Mrs. Bargrave in 1722. Payne agrees in certain details with the then unpublished letter of Lucy Lukyn, and, though drawing upon Defoe, he undoubtedly had access to fresh and reliable sources of information.