Presages of Death

The Note by Mr. C. FORBES (Vol. ii., p. 84.) on "High Spirits considered a Presage of impending Calamity or Death," reminded me of a collection of authorities I once made, for academical purposes, of a somewhat analogous bearing, —I mean the ancient belief in the existence of a power of prophecy at that period which immediately precedes dissolution. The most ancient, as well as the most striking instance, is recorded in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis:— "And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together *that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days*.... And…