Historical dream account · English · original historical text
The stairs that did not reach heaven
Samuel Sewall (1652–1730)
Diary of Samuel Sewall, vol. I (1674–1700), in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. V, fifth series, second edition (1878) · Diary, printed pp. 10–11
Dreamer identified by the source: Samuel Sewall
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This said Saturday night, in a dream, I fancyed myself to have Mrs. Richardson's child in my arms, and herself following me up a pair of stairs going to heaven, all sorrowfull and weeping. I went up innumerable steps and still saw nothing, so that I was discouraged, doubting with myself whether there was such a place as sedes beatorum. Yet I strengthened myself as well as I could, considering how apt things only heard of are to be doubted (if difficultly obtained and not of a long time) though they be never so true. Thus thinking, I went on; at last I came to a fair chamber with goodly lodgings. When I saw that was all, I earnestly prayed that God would help us, or else we should never get to our journey's end. Amazed I was, not being able to conceive how furniture should be brought up those stairs so high. Afterward it was a chamber in the N. Building, [at the College], after, part of an old [house] (Goff, as I take it) that joined to it, of the same height. A schollar told me that those things were drawn up by a pully, and so took in at a window which was all ranshacled like that in Goff Colledge over the Fellows' chamber, and all things began to seem more vile. Herabout I waked, being much troubled at the former part, and much wondring at the latter of my dream. 'Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne.' Deus det, deus misericors et benignus, me, et comites meos, non tantum et de somnis, sed vere tandem divinis gradibus ad cœlum usque ascendere.
The diary says “This said Saturday night” after the 31 July entry under 1675; an exact dream date is not supplied.
Source & context
A complete firsthand diary account across printed pp. 10–11. The writer's awakening, distress, quoted Latin line and closing Latin prayer remain; the prayer asks for eventual ascent to heaven in truth, not only in dreams. Source editorial brackets remain. The unrelated bottom-of-page editorial war/almanac notes, running page header and preceding waking fire tragedy are excluded. The source says 'This said Saturday night' after the July 31 entry under 1675; no modern date has been inferred.
Samuel Sewall (1652–1730), own diary, Diary of Samuel Sewall, vol. I (1674–1700), in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. V, fifth series, second edition (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1878), Diary, printed pp. 10–11. Original Committee of Publication: George E. Ellis; William H. Whitmore; Henry Warren Torrey; James Russell Lowell (Committee of Publication). Original-edition witness: Internet Archive, University of California Libraries scan funded by MSN. Original dates, spelling, source brackets and author qualifications retained; descriptive title and navigation metadata added by Synastry.
The diary says “This said Saturday night” after the 31 July entry under 1675; an exact dream date is not supplied.
Public domain in the United States (1878 edition) ↗
Original 1878 second edition of seventeenth-century diary text, visually verified from title page and verso. IA metadata marks US status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT. Publication predates 1931; Samuel Sewall (1652–1730) and the original nineteenth-century publication committee are long deceased. This uses the old published text and an expired-US-publication basis, not a modern edited transcription or new Creative Commons licence. No blanket worldwide clearance is asserted.
Source locator and text provenance
Diary, printed pp. 10–11
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Only original-scan-witnessed OCR repairs, line/page furniture removal and punctuation/spacing normalization. Editorial title and navigation metadata added. No synthetic filling, modern translation, calendar conversion or omitted authored qualification.
- Account text SHA-256
- eacc3c5958a4ce9cee70da9acbe2fc8c1e3ce96bfcebfdb9bfa4a70602af2e00
- Source file SHA-256
- eaa1f091386a5868396edfbe46cbf2d8897e7c36f00fd278bac82319517d10d0
Content notes
- Historical recollection
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.