'Twixt two worlds : a narrative of the life and work of William Eglinton

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The Royal Family and Spiritualism. 99
been written by Sir Henry Ponsonby, her Majesty's private secretary, asserting that ' it is not
true that the members of the Royal Family are believers in Mr. Eglinton's Spiritualism ; ' and
also a letter from the Hon. Alexander Yorke, who was equerry to the late Duke of Albany, stating
that the notorious Bramah-lock double slate used by Mr. Eglinton was not given to him by his
Royal Highness. As to both these letters, knowing what I do, I can only describe them as
exceedingly diplomatic. Will Sir Henry Ponsonby, leaving out the qualification of ' Mr. Eglinton's
Spiritualism'— whatever that may be — plainly assert that none of the members of the Royal
Family have ever attended Spiritualistic seances, or that they have not arrived at a belief in
the possibility of communication with the unseen world And will the Hon. Alexander Yorke
kindly inform your readers who it really was who presented the Bramah-lock slate to Mr.
Eglinton I happen to be aware that he (Mr. Yorke) knows, and it would be interesting if
he would be ingenuous enough to state the fact. He could do so without any breach of confidence."
These questions have never been answered, although care was taken to send copies of
the paper to those concerned. Further, I learned that the original statement which drew forth
Sir Henry Ponsonby's letter, says nothing about Mr. Eglinton's Spiritualism, in fact does
not mention his name, so that the denial, if genuine, looks very like an evasion of the question.
Readers will draw their own conclusions. Mr. Alexander Yorke, I may here mention, has
attended a large number of seances with Mr. Eglinton.
Mr. E. Dawson Rogers has kindly supplied me with an account of a private sitting with
Mr. Eglinton, early in 1883, at the time when he was engaged in commercial pursuits.
" A seance was held at my residence, Rose Villa, Church End, Finchley, N., on the evening
of the 14th of January, the circle consisting of my wife, two sons, two daughters, and myself,
with Mr. Eglinton as medium. We sat in the dark and had long conversations with spirits,
who spoke with the direct voice. In the course
'
of the sitting one of them asked : Have
you any private note-paper with printed heading' I replied that he would find some in the
Davenport. Immediately afterwards we heard several strong pulls at a side drawer in the Davenport.
This drawer goes very stiffly, and we knew exactly what was being done by the noise
made by the drawer in being pulled out. The spirit had, in fact, gone to the particular
drawer in which my stock of note-paper is kept. Some quires were at once thrown on the
table, and I was immediately— that is, within two or three seconds— requested by the
voice to light up. Having done so, we found on a piece of the paper a message of
about eighty words, well and distinctly written in pencil. As soon as this had been read I
put out the light again, and had scarcely done so when light was once more called for. As
nearly as I can judge, not more than three seconds had elapsed ; but in that space of time
a pencil sketch (of which Fig. 12 is a facsimile-) had been executed on another sheet of
my private note-paper. The voice told us that the sketch might be taken as a general 'representation,'
though not exactly a likeness, of my daughter Kathleen, who has now been about
ten years in the other life. I should add that Mr. Eglinton sat between myself and my wife,
and we know that he did not move from his seat during the seance."
Another noteworthy account of a seance from the same pen is the following :
"On the 13th of March, 1883, I attended a seance held at the house of Mr. R. Pearce,
Holder's Hill, Hendon. The circle comprised Mr. and Mrs. Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. T. Everitt,
Mr. Frank Everitt, my wife, and myself; and Mr. Eglinton as the medium. We were sitting