Note 918 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 5)

This was the second Lord Lyttelton, commonly known as 'the wicked Lord Lyttelton.' Fox described him to Rogers as 'a very bad man—downright wicked.' Rogers's Table Talk, p. 95. He died Nov. 27, 1779. Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 292) wrote to Mason on Dec. 11 of that year:—'If you can send us any stories of ghosts out of the North, they will be very welcome. Lord Lyttelton's vision has revived the taste; though it seems a little odd that an apparition should despair of being able to get access to his Lordship's bed in the shape of a young woman, without being forced to use the disguise of a robin-red-breast.' In the Gent. Mag. 1815, i. 597, and 1816, ii. 421, accounts are given of this vision. In the latter account it is said that 'he saw a bird fluttering, and afterwards a woman appeared in white apparel, and said, "Prepare to die; you will not exist three days."' Mrs. Piozzi also wrote a full account of it. Hayward's Piozzi, i. 332.