Nightmare (A)

A sensation in sleep as if something heavy were sitting on our breast. (Anglo-Saxon, mara, an incubus.) This sensation is called in French cauchemar. Anciently it was not unfrequently called the night-hag, or the riding of the witch. Fuʹseli used to eat raw beef and pork chops for supper to produce nightmare, that he might draw his horrible creations. (See Mare’s Nest.)