Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2
Author: Poe, Edgar Allan
Language: English
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THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE

VOLUME II

The Raven Edition

[Redactor’s Note--Some endnotes are by Poe and some were added by
Griswold. In this volume the notes are at the end.]

Contents:

     The Purloined Letter
     The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
     A Descent into the Maelström
     Von Kempelen and his Discovery
     Mesmeric Revelation
     The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
     The Black Cat
     The Fall of the House of Usher
     Silence--a Fable
     The Masque of the Red Death
     The Cask of Amontillado
     The Imp of the Perverse
     The Island of the Fay
     The Assignation
     The Pit and the Pendulum
     The Premature Burial
     The Domain of Arnheim
     Landor’s Cottage
     William Wilson
     The Tell-Tale Heart
     Berenice
     Eleonora



THE PURLOINED LETTER

     Nil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio.

                                _Seneca_.

At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I was
enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company
with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or
book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain. For
one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence; while each, to
any casual observer, might have seemed intently and exclusively occupied
with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the
chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally discussing certain topics
which had formed matter for conversation between us at an earlier period
of the evening; I mean the affair of the Rue Morgue, and the mystery
attending the murder of Marie Rogêt. I looked upon it, therefore, as
something of a coincidence, when the door of our apartment was thrown
open and admitted our old acquaintance, Monsieur G--, the Prefect of the
Parisian police.

We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the
entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen
him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now
arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again, without
doing so, upon G.’s saying that he had called to consult us, or rather
to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business which had
occasioned a great deal of trouble.

“If it is any point requiring reflection,” observed Dupin, as he
forebore to enkindle the wick, “we shall examine it to better purpose in
the dark.”

“That is another of your odd notions,” said the Prefect, who had a
fashion of calling every thing “odd” that was beyond his comprehension,
and thus lived amid an absolute legion of “oddities.”

“Very true,” said Dupin, as he supplied his visiter with a pipe, and
rolled towards him a comfortable chair.

“And what is the difficulty now?” I asked. “Nothing more in the
assassination way, I hope?”

“Oh no; nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is very simple
indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently well
ourselves; but then I thought Dupin would like to hear the details of
it, because it is so excessively odd.”

“Simple and odd,” said Dupin.

“Why, yes; and not exactly that, either. The fact is, we have all been
a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet baffles us
altogether.”

“Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at
fault,” said my friend.

“What nonsense you do talk!” replied the Prefect, laughing heartily.

“Perhaps the mystery is a little too plain,” said Dupin.

“Oh, good heavens! who ever heard of such an idea?”

“A little too self-evident.”

“Ha! ha! ha--ha! ha! ha!--ho! ho! ho!” roared our visiter, profoundly
amused, “oh, Dupin, you will be the death of me yet!”

“And what, after all, is the matter on hand?” I asked.

“Why, I will tell you,” replied the Prefect, as he gave a long, steady
and contemplative puff, and settled himself in his chair. “I will tell
you in a few words; but, before I begin, let me caution you that this
is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that I should most
probably lose the position I now hold, were it known that I confided it
to any one.”

“Proceed,” said I.

“Or not,” said Dupin.

“Well, then; I have received personal information, from a very high
quarter, that a certain document of the last importance, has been
purloined from the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it is
known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, also,
that it still remains in his possession.”

“How is this known?” asked Dupin.

“It is clearly inferred,” replied the Prefect, “from the nature of the
document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would at
once arise from its passing out of the robber’s possession; that is to
say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to employ it.”

“Be a little more explicit,” I said.

“Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives its holder
a certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely
valuable.” The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy.

“Still I do not quite understand,” said Dupin.

“No? Well; the disclosure of the document to a third person, who shall
be nameless, would bring in question the honor of a personage of most
exalted station; and this fact gives the holder of the document an
ascendancy over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace are so
jeopardized.”

“But this ascendancy,” I interposed, “would depend upon the robber’s
knowledge of the loser’s knowledge of the robber. Who would dare--”

“The thief,” said G., “is the Minister D--, who dares all things, those
unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the theft was
not less ingenious than bold. The document in question--a letter, to
be frank--had been received by the personage robbed while alone in the
royal boudoir. During its perusal she was suddenly interrupted by the
entrance of the other exalted personage from whom especially it was her
wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain endeavor to thrust it in
a drawer, she was forced to place it, open as it was, upon a table. The
address, however, was uppermost, and, the contents thus unexposed, the
letter escaped notice. At this juncture enters the Minister D--. His
lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognises the handwriting
of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and
fathoms her secret. After some business transactions, hurried through in
his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one
in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in
close juxtaposition to the other. Again he converses, for some fifteen
minutes, upon the public affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes
also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful
owner saw, but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the
presence of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister
decamped; leaving his own letter--one of no importance--upon the table.”

“Here, then,” said Dupin to me, “you have precisely what you demand
to make the ascendancy complete--the robber’s knowledge of the loser’s
knowledge of the robber.”

“Yes,” replied the Prefect; “and the power thus attained has, for some
months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a very dangerous
extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced, every day, of
the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot be
done openly. In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the matter to
me.”

“Than whom,” said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, “no more
sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined.”

“You flatter me,” replied the Prefect; “but it is possible that some
such opinion may have been entertained.”

“It is clear,” said I, “as you observe, that the letter is still in
possession of the minister; since it is this possession, and not any
employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the employment
the power departs.”

“True,” said G.; “and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first care
was to make thorough search of the minister’s hotel; and here my chief
embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his knowledge.
Beyond all things, I have been warned of the danger which would result
from giving him reason to suspect our design.”

“But,” said I, “you are quite au fait in these investigations. The
Parisian police have done this thing often before.”

“O yes; and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the
minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is frequently absent from
home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at a
distance from their master’s apartment, and, being chiefly Neapolitans,
are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with which I can
open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a night has
not passed, during the greater part of which I have not been engaged,
personally, in ransacking the D-- Hotel. My honor is interested, and, to
mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So I did not abandon
the search until I had become fully satisfied that the thief is a more
astute man than myself. I fancy that I have investigated every nook and
corner of the premises in which it is possible that the paper can be
concealed.”

“But is it not possible,” I suggested, “that although the letter may
be in possession of the minister, as it unquestionably is, he may have
concealed it elsewhere than upon his own premises?”

“This is barely possible,” said Dupin. “The present peculiar condition
of affairs at court, and especially of those intrigues in which D--
is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the
document--its susceptibility of being produced at a moment’s notice--a
point of nearly equal importance with its possession.”

“Its susceptibility of being produced?” said I.

“That is to say, of being destroyed,” said Dupin.

“True,” I observed; “the paper is clearly then upon the premises. As for
its being upon the person of the minister, we may consider that as out
of the question.”

“Entirely,” said the Prefect. “He has been twice waylaid, as if by
footpads, and his person rigorously searched under my own inspection.”

“You might have spared yourself this trouble,” said Dupin. “D--, I
presume, is not altogether a fool, and, if not, must have anticipated
these waylayings, as a matter of course.”

“Not altogether a fool,” said G., “but then he’s a poet, which I take to
be only one remove from a fool.”

“True,” said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from
his meerschaum, “although I have been guilty of certain doggrel myself.”

“Suppose you detail,” said I, “the particulars of your search.”

“Why the fact is, we took our time, and we searched every where. I have
had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, room
by room; devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We examined,
first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every possible drawer;
and I presume you know that, to a properly trained police agent, such a
thing as a secret drawer is impossible. Any man is a dolt who permits a
‘secret’ drawer to escape him in a search of this kind. The thing is so
plain. There is a certain amount of bulk--of space--to be accounted for
in every cabinet. Then we have accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a
line could not escape us. After the cabinets we took the chairs. The
cushions we probed with the fine long needles you have seen me employ.
From the tables we removed the tops.”

“Why so?”

“Sometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of
furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; then
the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, and the
top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in the same
way.”

“But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?” I asked.

“By no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding
of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged to
proceed without noise.”

“But you could not have removed--you could not have taken to pieces all
articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to make a
deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed into
a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a large
knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into the rung of
a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the chairs?”

“Certainly not; but we did better--we examined the rungs of every
chair in the hotel, and, indeed the jointings of every description of
furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been
any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect it
instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have been
as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the glueing--any unusual gaping
in the joints--would have sufficed to insure detection.”

“I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the plates,
and you probed the beds and the bed-clothes, as well as the curtains and
carpets.”

“That of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle of
the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We divided
its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so that
none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square inch
throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately adjoining,
with the microscope, as before.”

“The two houses adjoining!” I exclaimed; “you must have had a great deal
of trouble.”

“We had; but the reward offered is prodigious!”

“You include the grounds about the houses?”

“All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively
little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it
undisturbed.”

“You looked among D--‘s papers, of course, and into the books of the
library?”

“Certainly; we opened every package and parcel; we not only opened
every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not contenting
ourselves with a mere shake, according to the fashion of some of our
police officers. We also measured the thickness of every book-cover,
with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to each the most
jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the bindings been
recently meddled with, it would have been utterly impossible that the
fact should have escaped observation. Some five or six volumes, just
from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, longitudinally, with
the needles.”

“You explored the floors beneath the carpets?”

“Beyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with the
microscope.”

“And the paper on the walls?”

“Yes.”

“You looked into the cellars?”

“We did.”

“Then,” I said, “you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter
is not upon the premises, as you suppose.”

“I fear you are right there,” said the Prefect. “And now, Dupin, what
would you advise me to do?”

“To make a thorough re-search of the premises.”

“That is absolutely needless,” replied G--. “I am not more sure that I
breathe than I am that the letter is not at the Hotel.”

“I have no better advice to give you,” said Dupin. “You have, of course,
an accurate description of the letter?”

“Oh yes!”--And here the Prefect, producing a memorandum-book proceeded
to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and especially of the
external appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing
the perusal of this description, he took his departure, more entirely
depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. In
about a month afterwards he paid us another visit, and found us occupied
very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair and entered into some
ordinary conversation. At length I said,--

“Well, but G--, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have at
last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the
Minister?”

“Confound him, say I--yes; I made the re-examination, however, as Dupin
suggested--but it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be.”

“How much was the reward offered, did you say?” asked Dupin.

“Why, a very great deal--a very liberal reward--I don’t like to say how
much, precisely; but one thing I will say, that I wouldn’t mind giving
my individual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who could
obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming of more and more
importance every day; and the reward has been lately doubled. If it were
trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done.”

“Why, yes,” said Dupin, drawlingly, between the whiffs of his
meerschaum, “I really--think, G--, you have not exerted yourself--to the
utmost in this matter. You might--do a little more, I think, eh?”

“How?--in what way?’

“Why--puff, puff--you might--puff, puff--employ counsel in the
matter, eh?--puff, puff, puff. Do you remember the story they tell of
Abernethy?”

“No; hang Abernethy!”

“To be sure! hang him and welcome. But, once upon a time, a certain rich
miser conceived the design of spunging upon this Abernethy for a medical
opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary conversation in a
private company, he insinuated his case to the physician, as that of an
imaginary individual.

“‘We will suppose,’ said the miser, ‘that his symptoms are such and
such; now, doctor, what would you have directed him to take?’

“‘Take!’ said Abernethy, ‘why, take advice, to be sure.’”

“But,” said the Prefect, a little discomposed, “I am perfectly willing
to take advice, and to pay for it. I would really give fifty thousand
francs to any one who would aid me in the matter.”

“In that case,” replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing
a check-book, “you may as well fill me up a check for the amount
mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter.”

I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken.
For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking
incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed
starting from their sockets; then, apparently recovering himself in some
measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant stares,
finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand francs, and
handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter examined it carefully
and deposited it in his pocket-book; then, unlocking an escritoire, took
thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This functionary grasped it
in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with a trembling hand, cast a rapid
glance at its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to the
door, rushed at length unceremoniously from the room and from the house,
without having uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill
up the check.

When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanations.

“The Parisian police,” he said, “are exceedingly able in their way.
They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the
knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand. Thus, when G--
detailed to us his mode of searching the premises at the Hotel D--,
I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory
investigation--so far as his labors extended.”

“So far as his labors extended?” said I.

“Yes,” said Dupin. “The measures adopted were not only the best of
their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter been
deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, beyond
a question, have found it.”

I merely laughed--but he seemed quite serious in all that he said.

“The measures, then,” he continued, “were good in their kind, and well
executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case, and
to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the
Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his
designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow, for
the matter in hand; and many a schoolboy is a better reasoner than he. I
knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in the game
of ‘even and odd’ attracted universal admiration. This game is simple,
and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a number of
these toys, and demands of another whether that number is even or odd.
If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he loses one. The
boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. Of course he
had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere observation and
admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For example, an arrant
simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his closed hand, asks, ‘are
they even or odd?’ Our schoolboy replies, ‘odd,’ and loses; but upon the
second trial he wins, for he then says to himself, ‘the simpleton
had them even upon the first trial, and his amount of cunning is just
sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second; I will therefore
guess odd;’--he guesses odd, and wins. Now, with a simpleton a degree
above the first, he would have reasoned thus: ‘This fellow finds that in
the first instance I guessed odd, and, in the second, he will propose to
himself, upon the first impulse, a simple variation from even to odd,
as did the first simpleton; but then a second thought will suggest that
this is too simple a variation, and finally he will decide upon putting
it even as before. I will therefore guess even;’--he guesses even, and
wins. Now this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows
termed ‘lucky,’--what, in its last analysis, is it?”

“It is merely,” I said, “an identification of the reasoner’s intellect
with that of his opponent.”

“It is,” said Dupin; “and, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he
effected the thorough identification in which his success consisted, I
received answer as follows: ‘When I wish to find out how wise, or how
stupid, or how good, or how wicked is any one, or what are his thoughts
at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as accurately as
possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then wait to see
what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or
correspond with the expression.’ This response of the schoolboy lies at
the bottom of all the spurious profundity which has been attributed to
Rochefoucault, to La Bougive, to Machiavelli, and to Campanella.”

“And the identification,” I said, “of the reasoner’s intellect with that
of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright, upon the accuracy
with which the opponent’s intellect is admeasured.”

“For its practical value it depends upon this,” replied Dupin; “and the
Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of this
identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather through
non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are engaged. They
consider only their own ideas of ingenuity; and, in searching for
anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which they would have
hidden it. They are right in this much--that their own ingenuity is a
faithful representative of that of the mass; but when the cunning of the
individual felon is diverse in character from their own, the felon foils
them, of course. This always happens when it is above their own, and
very usually when it is below. They have no variation of principle in
their investigations; at best, when urged by some unusual emergency--by
some extraordinary reward--they extend or exaggerate their old modes of
practice, without touching their principles. What, for example, in this
case of D--, has been done to vary the principle of action? What is
all this boring, and probing, and sounding, and scrutinizing with the
microscope and dividing the surface of the building into registered
square inches--what is it all but an exaggeration of the application of
the one principle or set of principles of search, which are based upon
the one set of notions regarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect,
in the long routine of his duty, has been accustomed? Do you not see he
has taken it for granted that all men proceed to conceal a letter,--not
exactly in a gimlet hole bored in a chair-leg--but, at least, in some
out-of-the-way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought
which would urge a man to secrete a letter in a gimlet-hole bored in
a chair-leg? And do you not see also, that such recherchés nooks for
concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be
adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment,
a disposal of the article concealed--a disposal of it in this recherché
manner,--is, in the very first instance, presumable and presumed; and
thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, but altogether
upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the seekers; and
where the case is of importance--or, what amounts to the same thing in
the policial eyes, when the reward is of magnitude,--the qualities in
question have never been known to fail. You will now understand what I
meant in suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden any where
within the limits of the Prefect’s examination--in other words, had the
principle of its concealment been comprehended within the principles of
the Prefect--its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond
question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified;
and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the
Minister is a fool, because he has acquired renown as a poet. All fools
are poets; this the Prefect feels; and he is merely guilty of a non
distributio medii in thence inferring that all poets are fools.”

“But is this really the poet?” I asked. “There are two brothers, I know;
and both have attained reputation in letters. The Minister I believe has
written learnedly on the Differential Calculus. He is a mathematician,
and no poet.”

“You are mistaken; I know him well; he is both. As poet and
mathematician, he would reason well; as mere mathematician, he could
not have reasoned at all, and thus would have been at the mercy of the
Prefect.”

“You surprise me,” I said, “by these opinions, which have been
contradicted by the voice of the world. You do not mean to set at naught
the well-digested idea of centuries. The mathematical reason has long
been regarded as the reason par excellence.”

“‘Il y a à parièr,’” replied Dupin, quoting from Chamfort, “‘que toute
idée publique, toute convention reçue est une sottise, car elle a
convenue au plus grand nombre.’ The mathematicians, I grant you, have
done their best to promulgate the popular error to which you allude, and
which is none the less an error for its promulgation as truth. With an
art worthy a better cause, for example, they have insinuated the term
‘analysis’ into application to algebra. The French are the originators
of this particular deception; but if a term is of any importance--if
words derive any value from applicability--then ‘analysis’ conveys
‘algebra’ about as much as, in Latin, ‘ambitus’ implies ‘ambition,’
‘religio’ ‘religion,’ or ‘homines honesti,’ a set of honorablemen.”

“You have a quarrel on hand, I see,” said I, “with some of the
algebraists of Paris; but proceed.”

“I dispute the availability, and thus the value, of that reason which
is cultivated in any especial form other than the abstractly logical.
I dispute, in particular, the reason educed by mathematical study. The
mathematics are the science of form and quantity; mathematical reasoning
is merely logic applied to observation upon form and quantity. The great
error lies in supposing that even the truths of what is called pure
algebra, are abstract or general truths. And this error is so egregious
that I am confounded at the universality with which it has been
received. Mathematical axioms are not axioms of general truth. What is
true of relation--of form and quantity--is often grossly false in regard
to morals, for example. In this latter science it is very usually untrue
that the aggregated parts are equal to the whole. In chemistry also the
axiom fails. In the consideration of motive it fails; for two motives,
each of a given value, have not, necessarily, a value when united, equal
to the sum of their values apart. There are numerous other mathematical
truths which are only truths within the limits of relation. But the
mathematician argues, from his finite truths, through habit, as if
they were of an absolutely general applicability--as the world indeed
imagines them to be. Bryant, in his very learned ‘Mythology,’ mentions
an analogous source of error, when he says that ‘although the Pagan
fables are not believed, yet we forget ourselves continually, and make
inferences from them as existing realities.’ With the algebraists,
however, who are Pagans themselves, the ‘Pagan fables’ are believed, and
the inferences are made, not so much through lapse of memory, as
through an unaccountable addling of the brains. In short, I never yet
encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out of equal
roots, or one who did not clandestinely hold it as a point of his faith
that x2+px was absolutely and unconditionally equal to q. Say to one of
these gentlemen, by way of experiment, if you please, that you believe
occasions may occur where x2+px is not altogether equal to q, and,
having made him understand what you mean, get out of his reach as
speedily as convenient, for, beyond doubt, he will endeavor to knock you
down.

“I mean to say,” continued Dupin, while I merely laughed at his
last observations, “that if the Minister had been no more than a
mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of giving
me this check. I know him, however, as both mathematician and poet,
and my measures were adapted to his capacity, with reference to the
circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a courtier, too,
and as a bold intriguant. Such a man, I considered, could not fail to be
aware of the ordinary policial modes of action. He could not have
failed to anticipate--and events have proved that he did not fail to
anticipate--the waylayings to which he was subjected. He must have
foreseen, I reflected, the secret investigations of his premises. His
frequent absences from home at night, which were hailed by the Prefect
as certain aids to his success, I regarded only as ruses, to afford
opportunity for thorough search to the police, and thus the sooner to
impress them with the conviction to which G--, in fact, did finally
arrive--the conviction that the letter was not upon the premises. I
felt, also, that the whole train of thought, which I was at some pains
in detailing to you just now, concerning the invariable principle of
policial action in searches for articles concealed--I felt that this
whole train of thought would necessarily pass through the mind of the
Minister. It would imperatively lead him to despise all the ordinary
nooks of concealment. He could not, I reflected, be so weak as not to
see that the most intricate and remote recess of his hotel would be
as open as his commonest closets to the eyes, to the probes, to the
gimlets, and to the microscopes of the Prefect. I saw, in fine, that
he would be driven, as a matter of course, to simplicity, if not
deliberately induced to it as a matter of choice. You will remember,
perhaps, how desperately the Prefect laughed when I suggested, upon our
first interview, that it was just possible this mystery troubled him so
much on account of its being so very self-evident.”

“Yes,” said I, “I remember his merriment well. I really thought he would
have fallen into convulsions.”

“The material world,” continued Dupin, “abounds with very strict
analogies to the immaterial; and thus some color of truth has been
given to the rhetorical dogma, that metaphor, or simile, may be made
to strengthen an argument, as well as to embellish a description. The
principle of the vis inertiæ, for example, seems to be identical in
physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former, that a large
body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that
its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it
is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster capacity, while more
forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those
of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed
and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress. Again:
have you ever noticed which of the street signs, over the shop-doors,
are the most attractive of attention?”

“I have never given the matter a thought,” I said.

“There is a game of puzzles,” he resumed, “which is played upon a map.
One party playing requires another to find a given word--the name of
town, river, state or empire--any word, in short, upon the motley and
perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks to
embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely lettered names;
but the adept selects such words as stretch, in large characters, from
one end of the chart to the other. These, like the over-largely lettered
signs and placards of the street, escape observation by dint of being
excessively obvious; and here the physical oversight is precisely
analogous with the moral inapprehension by which the intellect suffers
to pass unnoticed those considerations which are too obtrusively and too
palpably self-evident. But this is a point, it appears, somewhat above
or beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He never once thought
it probable, or possible, that the Minister had deposited the letter
immediately beneath the nose of the whole world, by way of best
preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it.

“But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, and discriminating
ingenuity of D--; upon the fact that the document must always have been
at hand, if he intended to use it to good purpose; and upon the decisive
evidence, obtained by the Prefect, that it was not hidden within the
limits of that dignitary’s ordinary search--the more satisfied I
became that, to conceal this letter, the Minister had resorted to the
comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not attempting to conceal it at
all.

“Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green spectacles,
and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the Ministerial
hotel. I found D-- at home, yawning, lounging, and dawdling, as usual,
and pretending to be in the last extremity of ennui. He is, perhaps,
the most really energetic human being now alive--but that is only when
nobody sees him.

“To be even with him, I complained of my weak eyes, and lamented the
necessity of the spectacles, under cover of which I cautiously and
thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment, while seemingly intent only
upon the conversation of my host.

“I paid especial attention to a large writing-table near which he sat,
and upon which lay confusedly, some miscellaneous letters and other
papers, with one or two musical instruments and a few books. Here,
however, after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to
excite particular suspicion.

“At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a
trumpery fillagree card-rack of pasteboard, that hung dangling by a
dirty blue ribbon, from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of
the mantel-piece. In this rack, which had three or four compartments,
were five or six visiting cards and a solitary letter. This last
was much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly in two, across the
middle--as if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely up
as worthless, had been altered, or stayed, in the second. It had a
large black seal, bearing the D-- cipher very conspicuously, and was
addressed, in a diminutive female hand, to D--, the minister, himself.
It was thrust carelessly, and even, as it seemed, contemptuously, into
one of the uppermost divisions of the rack.

“No sooner had I glanced at this letter, than I concluded it to be
that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance,
radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so
minute a description. Here the seal was large and black, with the D--
cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the S--
family. Here, the address, to the Minister, diminutive and feminine;
there the superscription, to a certain royal personage, was markedly
bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of correspondence. But,
then, the radicalness of these differences, which was excessive; the
dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with
the true methodical habits of D--, and so suggestive of a design to
delude the beholder into an idea of the worthlessness of the document;
these things, together with the hyper-obtrusive situation of this
document, full in the view of every visiter, and thus exactly in
accordance with the conclusions to which I had previously arrived; these
things, I say, were strongly corroborative of suspicion, in one who came
with the intention to suspect.

“I protracted my visit as long as possible, and, while I maintained a
most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which I knew
well had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention
really riveted upon the letter. In this examination, I committed to
memory its external appearance and arrangement in the rack; and also
fell, at length, upon a discovery which set at rest whatever trivial
doubt I might have entertained. In scrutinizing the edges of the paper,
I observed them to be more chafed than seemed necessary. They presented
the broken appearance which is manifested when a stiff paper, having
been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded in a reversed
direction, in the same creases or edges which had formed the original
fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that the letter
had been turned, as a glove, inside out, re-directed, and re-sealed. I
bade the Minister good morning, and took my departure at once, leaving a
gold snuff-box upon the table.

“The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when we resumed, quite
eagerly, the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged,
however, a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately beneath
the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of fearful
screams, and the shoutings of a terrified mob. D-- rushed to a casement,
threw it open, and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the
card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced it by
a fac-simile, (so far as regards externals,) which I had carefully
prepared at my lodgings--imitating the D-- cipher, very readily, by
means of a seal formed of bread.

“The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic
behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of women
and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and the
fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When
he had gone, D-- came from the window, whither I had followed him
immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterwards I bade him
farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay.”

“But what purpose had you,” I asked, “in replacing the letter by a
fac-simile? Would it not have been better, at the first visit, to have
seized it openly, and departed?”

“D--,” replied Dupin, “is a desperate man, and a man of nerve. His
hotel, too, is not without attendants devoted to his interests. Had
I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have left the
Ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard
of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. You
know my political prepossessions. In this matter, I act as a partisan of
the lady concerned. For eighteen months the Minister has had her in his
power. She has now him in hers--since, being unaware that the letter is
not in his possession, he will proceed with his exactions as if it
was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself, at once, to his political
destruction. His downfall, too, will not be more precipitate than
awkward. It is all very well to talk about the facilis descensus Averni;
but in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani said of singing, it is far
more easy to get up than to come down. In the present instance I have
no sympathy--at least no pity--for him who descends. He is that monstrum
horrendum, an unprincipled man of genius. I confess, however, that I
should like very well to know the precise character of his thoughts,
when, being defied by her whom the Prefect terms ‘a certain personage’
he is reduced to opening the letter which I left for him in the
card-rack.”

“How? did you put any thing particular in it?”

“Why--it did not seem altogether right to leave the interior blank--that
would have been insulting. D--, at Vienna once, did me an evil turn,
which I told him, quite good-humoredly, that I should remember. So, as
I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the
person who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not to give him a
clue. He is well acquainted with my MS., and I just copied into the
middle of the blank sheet the words--

“‘-- -- Un dessein si funeste, S’il n’est digne d’Atrée, est digne de
Thyeste. They are to be found in Crebillon’s ‘Atrée.’”



THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE

                     Truth is stranger than fiction.

                              OLD SAYING.

HAVING had occasion, lately, in the course of some Oriental
investigations, to consult the Tellmenow Isitsoornot, a work which (like
the Zohar of Simeon Jochaides) is scarcely known at all, even in Europe;
and which has never been quoted, to my knowledge, by any American--if
we except, perhaps, the author of the “Curiosities of American
Literature”;--having had occasion, I say, to turn over some pages of the
first-mentioned very remarkable work, I was not a little astonished to
discover that the literary world has hitherto been strangely in error
respecting the fate of the vizier’s daughter, Scheherazade, as that
fate is depicted in the “Arabian Nights”; and that the denouement there
given, if not altogether inaccurate, as far as it goes, is at least to
blame in not having gone very much farther.

For full information on this interesting topic, I must refer the
inquisitive reader to the “Isitsoornot” itself, but in the meantime, I
shall be pardoned for giving a summary of what I there discovered.

It will be remembered, that, in the usual version of the tales, a
certain monarch having good cause to be jealous of his queen, not only
puts her to death, but makes a vow, by his beard and the prophet, to
espouse each night the most beautiful maiden in his dominions, and the
next morning to deliver her up to the executioner.

Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a
religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him
as a man of devout feeling and excellent sense, he was interrupted one
afternoon (no doubt at his prayers) by a visit from his grand vizier, to
whose daughter, it appears, there had occurred an idea.

Her name was Scheherazade, and her idea was, that she would either
redeem the land from the depopulating tax upon its beauty, or perish,
after the approved fashion of all heroines, in the attempt.

Accordingly, and although we do not find it to be leap-year (which
makes the sacrifice more meritorious), she deputes her father, the grand
vizier, to make an offer to the king of her hand. This hand the king
eagerly accepts--(he had intended to take it at all events, and had put
off the matter from day to day, only through fear of the vizier),--but,
in accepting it now, he gives all parties very distinctly to understand,
that, grand vizier or no grand vizier, he has not the slightest design
of giving up one iota of his vow or of his privileges. When, therefore,
the fair Scheherazade insisted upon marrying the king, and did actually
marry him despite her father’s excellent advice not to do any thing of
the kind--when she would and did marry him, I say, will I, nill I, it
was with her beautiful black eyes as thoroughly open as the nature of
the case would allow.

It seems, however, that this politic damsel (who had been reading
Machiavelli, beyond doubt), had a very ingenious little plot in her
mind. On the night of the wedding, she contrived, upon I forget what
specious pretence, to have her sister occupy a couch sufficiently near
that of the royal pair to admit of easy conversation from bed to bed;
and, a little before cock-crowing, she took care to awaken the good
monarch, her husband (who bore her none the worse will because he
intended to wring her neck on the morrow),--she managed to awaken him, I
say, (although on account of a capital conscience and an easy digestion,
he slept well) by the profound interest of a story (about a rat and a
black cat, I think) which she was narrating (all in an undertone, of
course) to her sister. When the day broke, it so happened that this
history was not altogether finished, and that Scheherazade, in the
nature of things could not finish it just then, since it was high time
for her to get up and be bowstrung--a thing very little more pleasant
than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.

The king’s curiosity, however, prevailing, I am sorry to say, even over
his sound religious principles, induced him for this once to postpone
the fulfilment of his vow until next morning, for the purpose and with
the hope of hearing that night how it fared in the end with the black
cat (a black cat, I think it was) and the rat.

The night having arrived, however, the lady Scheherazade not only put
the finishing stroke to the black cat and the rat (the rat was blue)
but before she well knew what she was about, found herself deep in the
intricacies of a narration, having reference (if I am not altogether
mistaken) to a pink horse (with green wings) that went, in a violent
manner, by clockwork, and was wound up with an indigo key. With this
history the king was even more profoundly interested than with the
other--and, as the day broke before its conclusion (notwithstanding
all the queen’s endeavors to get through with it in time for the
bowstringing), there was again no resource but to postpone that ceremony
as before, for twenty-four hours. The next night there happened a
similar accident with a similar result; and then the next--and then
again the next; so that, in the end, the good monarch, having been
unavoidably deprived of all opportunity to keep his vow during a
period of no less than one thousand and one nights, either forgets it
altogether by the expiration of this time, or gets himself absolved of
it in the regular way, or (what is more probable) breaks it outright, as
well as the head of his father confessor. At all events, Scheherazade,
who, being lineally descended from Eve, fell heir, perhaps, to the whole
seven baskets of talk, which the latter lady, we all know, picked up
from under the trees in the garden of Eden--Scheherazade, I say, finally
triumphed, and the tariff upon beauty was repealed.

Now, this conclusion (which is that of the story as we have it upon
record) is, no doubt, excessively proper and pleasant--but alas! like
a great many pleasant things, is more pleasant than true, and I am
indebted altogether to the “Isitsoornot” for the means of correcting the
error. “Le mieux,” says a French proverb, “est l’ennemi du bien,” and,
in mentioning that Scheherazade had inherited the seven baskets of talk,
I should have added that she put them out at compound interest until
they amounted to seventy-seven.

“My dear sister,” said she, on the thousand-and-second night, (I quote
the language of the “Isitsoornot” at this point, verbatim) “my dear
sister,” said she, “now that all this little difficulty about the
bowstring has blown over, and that this odious tax is so happily
repealed, I feel that I have been guilty of great indiscretion in
withholding from you and the king (who I am sorry to say, snores--a
thing no gentleman would do) the full conclusion of Sinbad the sailor.
This person went through numerous other and more interesting adventures
than those which I related; but the truth is, I felt sleepy on the
particular night of their narration, and so was seduced into cutting
them short--a grievous piece of misconduct, for which I only trust that
Allah will forgive me. But even yet it is not too late to remedy my
great neglect--and as soon as I have given the king a pinch or two in
order to wake him up so far that he may stop making that horrible noise,
I will forthwith entertain you (and him if he pleases) with the sequel
of this very remarkable story.”

Hereupon the sister of Scheherazade, as I have it from the
“Isitsoornot,” expressed no very particular intensity of gratification;
but the king, having been sufficiently pinched, at length ceased
snoring, and finally said, “hum!” and then “hoo!” when the queen,
understanding these words (which are no doubt Arabic) to signify that
he was all attention, and would do his best not to snore any more--the
queen, I say, having arranged these matters to her satisfaction,
re-entered thus, at once, into the history of Sinbad the sailor:

“‘At length, in my old age,’ [these are the words of Sinbad himself, as
retailed by Scheherazade]--‘at length, in my old age, and after enjoying
many years of tranquillity at home, I became once more possessed of a
desire of visiting foreign countries; and one day, without acquainting
any of my family with my design, I packed up some bundles of such
merchandise as was most precious and least bulky, and, engaged a porter
to carry them, went with him down to the sea-shore, to await the arrival
of any chance vessel that might convey me out of the kingdom into some
region which I had not as yet explored.

“‘Having deposited the packages upon the sands, we sat down beneath some
trees, and looked out into the ocean in the hope of perceiving a ship,
but during several hours we saw none whatever. At length I fancied that
I could hear a singular buzzing or humming sound; and the porter, after
listening awhile, declared that he also could distinguish it. Presently
it grew louder, and then still louder, so that we could have no doubt
that the object which caused it was approaching us. At length, on
the edge of the horizon, we discovered a black speck, which rapidly
increased in size until we made it out to be a vast monster, swimming
with a great part of its body above the surface of the sea. It came
toward us with inconceivable swiftness, throwing up huge waves of foam
around its breast, and illuminating all that part of the sea through
which it passed, with a long line of fire that extended far off into the
distance.

“‘As the thing drew near we saw it very distinctly. Its length was equal
to that of three of the loftiest trees that grow, and it was as wide as
the great hall of audience in your palace, O most sublime and munificent
of the Caliphs. Its body, which was unlike that of ordinary fishes, was
as solid as a rock, and of a jetty blackness throughout all that portion
of it which floated above the water, with the exception of a narrow
blood-red streak that completely begirdled it. The belly, which floated
beneath the surface, and of which we could get only a glimpse now and
then as the monster rose and fell with the billows, was entirely covered
with metallic scales, of a color like that of the moon in misty weather.
The back was flat and nearly white, and from it there extended upwards
of six spines, about half the length of the whole body.

“‘The horrible creature had no mouth that we could perceive, but, as if
to make up for this deficiency, it was provided with at least four
score of eyes, that protruded from their sockets like those of the green
dragon-fly, and were arranged all around the body in two rows, one above
the other, and parallel to the blood-red streak, which seemed to answer
the purpose of an eyebrow. Two or three of these dreadful eyes were much
larger than the others, and had the appearance of solid gold.

“‘Although this beast approached us, as I have before said, with the
greatest rapidity, it must have been moved altogether by necromancy--for
it had neither fins like a fish nor web-feet like a duck, nor wings like
the seashell which is blown along in the manner of a vessel; nor yet
did it writhe itself forward as do the eels. Its head and its tail were
shaped precisely alike, only, not far from the latter, were two small
holes that served for nostrils, and through which the monster puffed
out its thick breath with prodigious violence, and with a shrieking,
disagreeable noise.

“‘Our terror at beholding this hideous thing was very great, but it was
even surpassed by our astonishment, when upon getting a nearer look, we
perceived upon the creature’s back a vast number of animals about the
size and shape of men, and altogether much resembling them, except that
they wore no garments (as men do), being supplied (by nature, no doubt)
with an ugly uncomfortable covering, a good deal like cloth, but fitting
so tight to the skin, as to render the poor wretches laughably awkward,
and put them apparently to severe pain. On the very tips of their heads
were certain square-looking boxes, which, at first sight, I thought
might have been intended to answer as turbans, but I soon discovered
that they were excessively heavy and solid, and I therefore concluded
they were contrivances designed, by their great weight, to keep the
heads of the animals steady and safe upon their shoulders. Around
the necks of the creatures were fastened black collars, (badges of
servitude, no doubt,) such as we keep on our dogs, only much wider
and infinitely stiffer, so that it was quite impossible for these poor
victims to move their heads in any direction without moving the body at
the same time; and thus they were doomed to perpetual contemplation of
their noses--a view puggish and snubby in a wonderful, if not positively
in an awful degree.

“‘When the monster had nearly reached the shore where we stood, it
suddenly pushed out one of its eyes to a great extent, and emitted from
it a terrible flash of fire, accompanied by a dense cloud of smoke, and
a noise that I can compare to nothing but thunder. As the smoke cleared
away, we saw one of the odd man-animals standing near the head of the
large beast with a trumpet in his hand, through which (putting it to
his mouth) he presently addressed us in loud, harsh, and disagreeable
accents, that, perhaps, we should have mistaken for language, had they
not come altogether through the nose.

“‘Being thus evidently spoken to, I was at a loss how to reply, as I
could in no manner understand what was said; and in this difficulty
I turned to the porter, who was near swooning through affright, and
demanded of him his opinion as to what species of monster it was, what
it wanted, and what kind of creatures those were that so swarmed
upon its back. To this the porter replied, as well as he could for
trepidation, that he had once before heard of this sea-beast; that it
was a cruel demon, with bowels of sulphur and blood of fire, created
by evil genii as the means of inflicting misery upon mankind; that the
things upon its back were vermin, such as sometimes infest cats and
dogs, only a little larger and more savage; and that these vermin had
their uses, however evil--for, through the torture they caused the beast
by their nibbling and stingings, it was goaded into that degree of wrath
which was requisite to make it roar and commit ill, and so fulfil the
vengeful and malicious designs of the wicked genii.

“This account determined me to take to my heels, and, without once even
looking behind me, I ran at full speed up into the hills, while the
porter ran equally fast, although nearly in an opposite direction, so
that, by these means, he finally made his escape with my bundles, of
which I have no doubt he took excellent care--although this is a point I
cannot determine, as I do not remember that I ever beheld him again.

“‘For myself, I was so hotly pursued by a swarm of the men-vermin (who
had come to the shore in boats) that I was very soon overtaken, bound
hand and foot, and conveyed to the beast, which immediately swam out
again into the middle of the sea.

“‘I now bitterly repented my folly in quitting a comfortable home to
peril my life in such adventures as this; but regret being useless, I
made the best of my condition, and exerted myself to secure the goodwill
of the man-animal that owned the trumpet, and who appeared to exercise
authority over his fellows. I succeeded so well in this endeavor that,
in a few days, the creature bestowed upon me various tokens of his
favor, and in the end even went to the trouble of teaching me the
rudiments of what it was vain enough to denominate its language; so
that, at length, I was enabled to converse with it readily, and came to
make it comprehend the ardent desire I had of seeing the world.

“‘Washish squashish squeak, Sinbad, hey-diddle diddle, grunt unt
grumble, hiss, fiss, whiss,’ said he to me, one day after dinner--but
I beg a thousand pardons, I had forgotten that your majesty is not
conversant with the dialect of the Cock-neighs (so the man-animals were
called; I presume because their language formed the connecting
link between that of the horse and that of the rooster). With your
permission, I will translate. ‘Washish squashish,’ and so forth:--that
is to say, ‘I am happy to find, my dear Sinbad, that you are really a
very excellent fellow; we are now about doing a thing which is called
circumnavigating the globe; and since you are so desirous of seeing the
world, I will strain a point and give you a free passage upon back of
the beast.’”

When the Lady Scheherazade had proceeded thus far, relates the
“Isitsoornot,” the king turned over from his left side to his right, and
said:

“It is, in fact, very surprising, my dear queen, that you omitted,
hitherto, these latter adventures of Sinbad. Do you know I think them
exceedingly entertaining and strange?”

The king having thus expressed himself, we are told, the fair
Scheherazade resumed her history in the following words:

“Sinbad went on in this manner with his narrative to the caliph--‘I
thanked the man-animal for its kindness, and soon found myself very much
at home on the beast, which swam at a prodigious rate through the ocean;
although the surface of the latter is, in that part of the world, by
no means flat, but round like a pomegranate, so that we went--so to
say--either up hill or down hill all the time.’

“That I think, was very singular,” interrupted the king.

“Nevertheless, it is quite true,” replied Scheherazade.

“I have my doubts,” rejoined the king; “but, pray, be so good as to go
on with the story.”

“I will,” said the queen. “‘The beast,’ continued Sinbad to the caliph,
‘swam, as I have related, up hill and down hill until, at length, we
arrived at an island, many hundreds of miles in circumference, but
which, nevertheless, had been built in the middle of the sea by a colony
of little things like caterpillars’” (*1)

“Hum!” said the king.

“‘Leaving this island,’ said Sinbad--(for Scheherazade, it must be
understood, took no notice of her husband’s ill-mannered ejaculation)
‘leaving this island, we came to another where the forests were of solid
stone, and so hard that they shivered to pieces the finest-tempered axes
with which we endeavoured to cut them down.”’ (*2)

“Hum!” said the king, again; but Scheherazade, paying him no attention,
continued in the language of Sinbad.

“‘Passing beyond this last island, we reached a country where there
was a cave that ran to the distance of thirty or forty miles within the
bowels of the earth, and that contained a greater number of far more
spacious and more magnificent palaces than are to be found in all
Damascus and Bagdad. From the roofs of these palaces there hung myriads
of gems, like diamonds, but larger than men; and in among the streets
of towers and pyramids and temples, there flowed immense rivers as black
as ebony, and swarming with fish that had no eyes.’” (*3)

“Hum!” said the king. “‘We then swam into a region of the sea where
we found a lofty mountain, down whose sides there streamed torrents of
melted metal, some of which were twelve miles wide and sixty miles long
(*4); while from an abyss on the summit, issued so vast a quantity of
ashes that the sun was entirely blotted out from the heavens, and it
became darker than the darkest midnight; so that when we were even at
the distance of a hundred and fifty miles from the mountain, it was
impossible to see the whitest object, however close we held it to our
eyes.’” (*5)

“Hum!” said the king.

“‘After quitting this coast, the beast continued his voyage until we met
with a land in which the nature of things seemed reversed--for we here
saw a great lake, at the bottom of which, more than a hundred feet
beneath the surface of the water, there flourished in full leaf a forest
of tall and luxuriant trees.’” (*6)

“Hoo!” said the king.

“Some hundred miles farther on brought us to a climate where the
atmosphere was so dense as to sustain iron or steel, just as our own
does feather.’” (*7)

“Fiddle de dee,” said the king.

“Proceeding still in the same direction, we presently arrived at the
most magnificent region in the whole world. Through it there meandered
a glorious river for several thousands of miles. This river was of
unspeakable depth, and of a transparency richer than that of amber.
It was from three to six miles in width; and its banks which arose on
either side to twelve hundred feet in perpendicular height, were crowned
with ever-blossoming trees and perpetual sweet-scented flowers, that
made the whole territory one gorgeous garden; but the name of this
luxuriant land was the Kingdom of Horror, and to enter it was inevitable
death’” (*8)

“Humph!” said the king.

“‘We left this kingdom in great haste, and, after some days, came to
another, where we were astonished to perceive myriads of monstrous
animals with horns resembling scythes upon their heads. These hideous
beasts dig for themselves vast caverns in the soil, of a funnel shape,
and line the sides of them with rocks, so disposed one upon the other
that they fall instantly, when trodden upon by other animals, thus
precipitating them into the monster’s dens, where their blood is
immediately sucked, and their carcasses afterwards hurled contemptuously
out to an immense distance from “the caverns of death.”’” (*9)

“Pooh!” said the king.

“‘Continuing our progress, we perceived a district with vegetables that
grew not upon any soil but in the air. (*10) There were others that
sprang from the substance of other vegetables; (*11) others that derived
their substance from the bodies of living animals; (*12) and then again,
there were others that glowed all over with intense fire; (*13) others
that moved from place to place at pleasure, (*14) and what was still
more wonderful, we discovered flowers that lived and breathed and moved
their limbs at will and had, moreover, the detestable passion of mankind
for enslaving other creatures, and confining them in horrid and solitary
prisons until the fulfillment of appointed tasks.’” (*15)

“Pshaw!” said the king.

“‘Quitting this land, we soon arrived at another in which the bees and
the birds are mathematicians of such genius and erudition, that they
give daily instructions in the science of geometry to the wise men
of the empire. The king of the place having offered a reward for the
solution of two very difficult problems, they were solved upon the
spot--the one by the bees, and the other by the birds; but the king
keeping their solution a secret, it was only after the most profound
researches and labor, and the writing of an infinity of big books,
during a long series of years, that the men-mathematicians at length
arrived at the identical solutions which had been given upon the spot by
the bees and by the birds.’” (*16)

“Oh my!” said the king.

“‘We had scarcely lost sight of this empire when we found ourselves
close upon another, from whose shores there flew over our heads a flock
of fowls a mile in breadth, and two hundred and forty miles long; so
that, although they flew a mile during every minute, it required no less
than four hours for the whole flock to pass over us--in which there were
several millions of millions of fowl.’” (*17)

“Oh fy!” said the king.

“‘No sooner had we got rid of these birds, which occasioned us great
annoyance, than we were terrified by the appearance of a fowl of another
kind, and infinitely larger than even the rocs which I met in my
former voyages; for it was bigger than the biggest of the domes on your
seraglio, oh, most Munificent of Caliphs. This terrible fowl had no head
that we could perceive, but was fashioned entirely of belly, which was
of a prodigious fatness and roundness, of a soft-looking substance,
smooth, shining and striped with various colors. In its talons, the
monster was bearing away to his eyrie in the heavens, a house from which
it had knocked off the roof, and in the interior of which we distinctly
saw human beings, who, beyond doubt, were in a state of frightful
despair at the horrible fate which awaited them. We shouted with all our
might, in the hope of frightening the bird into letting go of its prey,
but it merely gave a snort or puff, as if of rage and then let fall upon
our heads a heavy sack which proved to be filled with sand!’”

“Stuff!” said the king.

“‘It was just after this adventure that we encountered a continent of
immense extent and prodigious solidity, but which, nevertheless, was
supported entirely upon the back of a sky-blue cow that had no fewer
than four hundred horns.’” (*18)

“That, now, I believe,” said the king, “because I have read something of
the kind before, in a book.”

“‘We passed immediately beneath this continent, (swimming in between the
legs of the cow), and, after some hours, found ourselves in a wonderful
country indeed, which, I was informed by the man-animal, was his own
native land, inhabited by things of his own species. This elevated the
man-animal very much in my esteem, and in fact, I now began to feel
ashamed of the contemptuous familiarity with which I had treated him;
for I found that the man-animals in general were a nation of the most
powerful magicians, who lived with worms in their brain, (*19) which,
no doubt, served to stimulate them by their painful writhings and
wrigglings to the most miraculous efforts of imagination!’”

“Nonsense!” said the king.

“‘Among the magicians, were domesticated several animals of very
singular kinds; for example, there was a huge horse whose bones were
iron and whose blood was boiling water. In place of corn, he had black
stones for his usual food; and yet, in spite of so hard a diet, he was
so strong and swift that he would drag a load more weighty than the
grandest temple in this city, at a rate surpassing that of the flight of
most birds.’” (*20)

“Twattle!” said the king.

“‘I saw, also, among these people a hen without feathers, but bigger
than a camel; instead of flesh and bone she had iron and brick; her
blood, like that of the horse, (to whom, in fact, she was nearly
related,) was boiling water; and like him she ate nothing but wood or
black stones. This hen brought forth very frequently, a hundred chickens
in the day; and, after birth, they took up their residence for several
weeks within the stomach of their mother.’” (*21)

“Fa! lal!” said the king.

“‘One of this nation of mighty conjurors created a man out of brass and
wood, and leather, and endowed him with such ingenuity that he would
have beaten at chess, all the race of mankind with the exception of the
great Caliph, Haroun Alraschid. (*22) Another of these magi constructed
(of like material) a creature that put to shame even the genius of him
who made it; for so great were its reasoning powers that, in a second,
it performed calculations of so vast an extent that they would have
required the united labor of fifty thousand fleshy men for a year. (*23)
But a still more wonderful conjuror fashioned for himself a mighty thing
that was neither man nor beast, but which had brains of lead, intermixed
with a black matter like pitch, and fingers that it employed with such
incredible speed and dexterity that it would have had no trouble in
writing out twenty thousand copies of the Koran in an hour, and this
with so exquisite a precision, that in all the copies there should not
be found one to vary from another by the breadth of the finest hair.
This thing was of prodigious strength, so that it erected or overthrew
the mightiest empires at a breath; but its powers were exercised equally
for evil and for good.’”

“Ridiculous!” said the king.

“‘Among this nation of necromancers there was also one who had in his
veins the blood of the salamanders; for he made no scruple of sitting
down to smoke his chibouc in a red-hot oven until his dinner was
thoroughly roasted upon its floor. (*24) Another had the faculty of
converting the common metals into gold, without even looking at them
during the process. (*25) Another had such a delicacy of touch that he
made a wire so fine as to be invisible. (*26) Another had such quickness
of perception that he counted all the separate motions of an elastic
body, while it was springing backward and forward at the rate of nine
hundred millions of times in a second.’” (*27)

“Absurd!” said the king.

“‘Another of these magicians, by means of a fluid that nobody ever yet
saw, could make the corpses of his friends brandish their arms, kick out
their legs, fight, or even get up and dance at his will. (*28) Another
had cultivated his voice to so great an extent that he could have made
himself heard from one end of the world to the other. (*29) Another had
so long an arm that he could sit down in Damascus and indite a letter
at Bagdad--or indeed at any distance whatsoever. (*30) Another commanded
the lightning to come down to him out of the heavens, and it came at his
call; and served him for a plaything when it came. Another took two
loud sounds and out of them made a silence. Another constructed a
deep darkness out of two brilliant lights. (*31) Another made ice in a
red-hot furnace. (*32) Another directed the sun to paint his portrait,
and the sun did. (*33) Another took this luminary with the moon and the
planets, and having first weighed them with scrupulous accuracy, probed
into their depths and found out the solidity of the substance of which
they were made. But the whole nation is, indeed, of so surprising a
necromantic ability, that not even their infants, nor their commonest
cats and dogs have any difficulty in seeing objects that do not exist at
all, or that for twenty millions of years before the birth of the nation
itself had been blotted out from the face of creation.”’ (*34)

“Preposterous!” said the king.

“‘The wives and daughters of these incomparably great and wise magi,’”
 continued Scheherazade, without being in any manner disturbed by
these frequent and most ungentlemanly interruptions on the part of her
husband--“‘the wives and daughters of these eminent conjurers are every
thing that is accomplished and refined; and would be every thing that is
interesting and beautiful, but for an unhappy fatality that besets them,
and from which not even the miraculous powers of their husbands and
fathers has, hitherto, been adequate to save. Some fatalities come in
certain shapes, and some in others--but this of which I speak has come
in the shape of a crotchet.’”

“A what?” said the king.

“‘A crotchet’” said Scheherazade. “‘One of the evil genii, who are
perpetually upon the watch to inflict ill, has put it into the heads of
these accomplished ladies that the thing which we describe as personal
beauty consists altogether in the protuberance of the region which lies
not very far below the small of the back. Perfection of loveliness, they
say, is in the direct ratio of the extent of this lump. Having been long
possessed of this idea, and bolsters being cheap in that country, the
days have long gone by since it was possible to distinguish a woman from
a dromedary-’”

“Stop!” said the king--“I can’t stand that, and I won’t. You have
already given me a dreadful headache with your lies. The day, too, I
perceive, is beginning to break. How long have we been married?--my
conscience is getting to be troublesome again. And then that dromedary
touch--do you take me for a fool? Upon the whole, you might as well get
up and be throttled.”

These words, as I learn from the “Isitsoornot,” both grieved and
astonished Scheherazade; but, as she knew the king to be a man of
scrupulous integrity, and quite unlikely to forfeit his word, she
submitted to her fate with a good grace. She derived, however, great
consolation, (during the tightening of the bowstring,) from the
reflection that much of the history remained still untold, and that the
petulance of her brute of a husband had reaped for him a most righteous
reward, in depriving him of many inconceivable adventures.



A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM.

  The ways of God in Nature, as in Providence, are not as our
  ways;  nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the
  vastness, profundity, and unsearchableness of His works, which have
  a depth in them greater than the well of Democritus.

  Joseph Glanville.

WE had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag. For some minutes the
old man seemed too much exhausted to speak.

“Not long ago,” said he at length, “and I could have guided you on this
route as well as the youngest of my sons; but, about three years past,
there happened to me an event such as never happened to mortal man--or
at least such as no man ever survived to tell of--and the six hours of
deadly terror which I then endured have broken me up body and soul. You
suppose me a _very_ old man--but I am not. It took less than a single
day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken
my limbs, and to unstring my nerves, so that I tremble at the least
exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. Do you know I can scarcely look
over this little cliff without getting giddy?”

The “little cliff,” upon whose edge he had so carelessly thrown himself
down to rest that the weightier portion of his body hung over it, while
he was only kept from falling by the tenure of his elbow on its extreme
and slippery edge--this “little cliff” arose, a sheer unobstructed
precipice of black shining rock, some fifteen or sixteen hundred feet
from the world of crags beneath us. Nothing would have tempted me to
within half a dozen yards of its brink. In truth so deeply was I excited
by the perilous position of my companion, that I fell at full length
upon the ground, clung to the shrubs around me, and dared not even
glance upward at the sky--while I struggled in vain to divest myself of
the idea that the very foundations of the mountain were in danger from
the fury of the winds. It was long before I could reason myself into
sufficient courage to sit up and look out into the distance.

“You must get over these fancies,” said the guide, “for I have brought
you here that you might have the best possible view of the scene of that
event I mentioned--and to tell you the whole story with the spot just
under your eye.”

“We are now,” he continued, in that particularizing manner which
distinguished him--“we are now close upon the Norwegian coast--in the
sixty-eighth degree of latitude--in the great province of Nordland--and
in the dreary district of Lofoden. The mountain upon whose top we sit is
Helseggen, the Cloudy. Now raise yourself up a little higher--hold on to
the grass if you feel giddy--so--and look out, beyond the belt of vapor
beneath us, into the sea.”

I looked dizzily, and beheld a wide expanse of ocean, whose waters wore
so inky a hue as to bring at once to my mind the Nubian geographer’s
account of the _Mare Tenebrarum_. A panorama more deplorably desolate no
human imagination can conceive. To the right and left, as far as the eye
could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines
of horridly black and beetling cliff, whose character of gloom was but
the more forcibly illustrated by the surf which reared high up against
its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking forever. Just
opposite the promontory upon whose apex we were placed, and at a
distance of some five or six miles out at sea, there was visible
a small, bleak-looking island; or, more properly, its position was
discernible through the wilderness of surge in which it was enveloped.
About two miles nearer the land, arose another of smaller size,
hideously craggy and barren, and encompassed at various intervals by a
cluster of dark rocks.

The appearance of the ocean, in the space between the more distant
island and the shore, had something very unusual about it. Although,
at the time, so strong a gale was blowing landward that a brig in the
remote offing lay to under a double-reefed trysail, and constantly
plunged her whole hull out of sight, still there was here nothing like a
regular swell, but only a short, quick, angry cross dashing of water in
every direction--as well in the teeth of the wind as otherwise. Of foam
there was little except in the immediate vicinity of the rocks.

“The island in the distance,” resumed the old man, “is called by
the Norwegians Vurrgh. The one midway is Moskoe. That a mile to the
northward is Ambaaren. Yonder are Islesen, Hotholm, Keildhelm, Suarven,
and Buckholm. Farther off--between Moskoe and Vurrgh--are Otterholm,
Flimen, Sandflesen, and Stockholm. These are the true names of the
places--but why it has been thought necessary to name them at all, is
more than either you or I can understand. Do you hear anything? Do you
see any change in the water?”

We had now been about ten minutes upon the top of Helseggen, to which
we had ascended from the interior of Lofoden, so that we had caught no
glimpse of the sea until it had burst upon us from the summit. As the
old man spoke, I became aware of a loud and gradually increasing sound,
like the moaning of a vast herd of buffaloes upon an American prairie;
and at the same moment I perceived that what seamen term the _chopping_
character of the ocean beneath us, was rapidly changing into a current
which set to the eastward. Even while I gazed, this current acquired
a monstrous velocity. Each moment added to its speed--to its headlong
impetuosity. In five minutes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was lashed
into ungovernable fury; but it was between Moskoe and the coast that the
main uproar held its sway. Here the vast bed of the waters, seamed
and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into
phrensied convulsion--heaving, boiling, hissing--gyrating in gigantic
and innumerable vortices, and all whirling and plunging on to the
eastward with a rapidity which water never elsewhere assumes except in
precipitous descents.

In a few minutes more, there came over the scene another radical
alteration. The general surface grew somewhat more smooth, and the
whirlpools, one by one, disappeared, while prodigious streaks of foam
became apparent where none had been seen before. These streaks,
at length, spreading out to a great distance, and entering into
combination, took unto themselves the gyratory motion of the
subsided vortices, and seemed to form the germ of another more vast.
Suddenly--very suddenly--this assumed a distinct and definite existence,
in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. The edge of the whirl was
represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray; but no particle of this
slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel, whose interior, as far
as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet-black wall of
water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees,
speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion,
and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half
roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of Niagara ever lifts up in
its agony to Heaven.

The mountain trembled to its very base, and the rock rocked. I threw
myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of
nervous agitation.

“This,” said I at length, to the old man--“this _can_ be nothing else
than the great whirlpool of the Maelström.”

“So it is sometimes termed,” said he. “We Norwegians call it the
Moskoe-ström, from the island of Moskoe in the midway.”

The ordinary accounts of this vortex had by no means prepared me
for what I saw. That of Jonas Ramus, which is perhaps the most
circumstantial of any, cannot impart the faintest conception either
of the magnificence, or of the horror of the scene--or of the wild
bewildering sense of _the novel_ which confounds the beholder. I am not
sure from what point of view the writer in question surveyed it, nor at
what time; but it could neither have been from the summit of Helseggen,
nor during a storm. There are some passages of his description,
nevertheless, which may be quoted for their details, although their
effect is exceedingly feeble in conveying an impression of the
spectacle.

“Between Lofoden and Moskoe,” he says, “the depth of the water is
between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but on the other side, toward Ver
(Vurrgh) this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage
for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens
even in the calmest weather. When it is flood, the stream runs up the
country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the
roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarce equalled by the loudest
and most dreadful cataracts; the noise being heard several leagues off,
and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth, that if a ship
comes within its attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and carried down
to the bottom, and there beat to pieces against the rocks; and when
the water relaxes, the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these
intervals of tranquility are only at the turn of the ebb and flood,
and in calm weather, and last but a quarter of an hour, its violence
gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury
heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile
of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding
against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens
frequently, that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by
its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and
bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A
bear once, attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the
stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on
shore. Large stocks of firs and pine trees, after being absorbed by the
current, rise again broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew
upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks,
among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the
flux and reflux of the sea--it being constantly high and low water every
six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday,
it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the
houses on the coast fell to the ground.”

In regard to the depth of the water, I could not see how this could have
been ascertained at all in the immediate vicinity of the vortex. The
“forty fathoms” must have reference only to portions of the channel
close upon the shore either of Moskoe or Lofoden. The depth in the
centre of the Moskoe-ström must be immeasurably greater; and no better
proof of this fact is necessary than can be obtained from even the
sidelong glance into the abyss of the whirl which may be had from the
highest crag of Helseggen. Looking down from this pinnacle upon the
howling Phlegethon below, I could not help smiling at the simplicity
with which the honest Jonas Ramus records, as a matter difficult of
belief, the anecdotes of the whales and the bears; for it appeared to
me, in fact, a self-evident thing, that the largest ship of the line in
existence, coming within the influence of that deadly attraction, could
resist it as little as a feather the hurricane, and must disappear
bodily and at once.

The attempts to account for the phenomenon--some of which, I remember,
seemed to me sufficiently plausible in perusal--now wore a very
different and unsatisfactory aspect. The idea generally received is that
this, as well as three smaller vortices among the Ferroe islands, “have
no other cause than the collision of waves rising and falling, at flux
and reflux, against a ridge of rocks and shelves, which confines the
water so that it precipitates itself like a cataract; and thus the
higher the flood rises, the deeper must the fall be, and the natural
result of all is a whirlpool or vortex, the prodigious suction of which
is sufficiently known by lesser experiments.”--These are the words of
the Encyclopædia Britannica. Kircher and others imagine that in the
centre of the channel of the Maelström is an abyss penetrating the
globe, and issuing in some very remote part--the Gulf of Bothnia being
somewhat decidedly named in one instance. This opinion, idle in itself,
was the one to which, as I gazed, my imagination most readily assented;
and, mentioning it to the guide, I was rather surprised to hear him say
that, although it was the view almost universally entertained of the
subject by the Norwegians, it nevertheless was not his own. As to the
former notion he confessed his inability to comprehend it; and here I
agreed with him--for, however conclusive on paper, it becomes altogether
unintelligible, and even absurd, amid the thunder of the abyss.

“You have had a good look at the whirl now,” said the old man, “and if
you will creep round this crag, so as to get in its lee, and deaden
the roar of the water, I will tell you a story that will convince you I
ought to know something of the Moskoe-ström.”

I placed myself as desired, and he proceeded.

“Myself and my two brothers once owned a schooner-rigged smack of about
seventy tons burthen, with which we were in the habit of fishing among
the islands beyond Moskoe, nearly to Vurrgh. In all violent eddies at
sea there is good fishing, at proper opportunities, if one has only the
courage to attempt it; but among the whole of the Lofoden coastmen, we
three were the only ones who made a regular business of going out to the
islands, as I tell you. The usual grounds are a great way lower down to
the southward. There fish can be got at all hours, without much risk,
and therefore these places are preferred. The choice spots over here
among the rocks, however, not only yield the finest variety, but in far
greater abundance; so that we often got in a single day, what the more
timid of the craft could not scrape together in a week. In fact, we made
it a matter of desperate speculation--the risk of life standing instead
of labor, and courage answering for capital.

“We kept the smack in a cove about five miles higher up the coast than
this; and it was our practice, in fine weather, to take advantage of
the fifteen minutes’ slack to push across the main channel of the
Moskoe-ström, far above the pool, and then drop down upon anchorage
somewhere near Otterholm, or Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so
violent as elsewhere. Here we used to remain until nearly time for
slack-water again, when we weighed and made for home. We never set
out upon this expedition without a steady side wind for going and
coming--one that we felt sure would not fail us before our return--and
we seldom made a mis-calculation upon this point. Twice, during six
years, we were forced to stay all night at anchor on account of a dead
calm, which is a rare thing indeed just about here; and once we had to
remain on the grounds nearly a week, starving to death, owing to a
gale which blew up shortly after our arrival, and made the channel too
boisterous to be thought of. Upon this occasion we should have been
driven out to sea in spite of everything, (for the whirlpools threw us
round and round so violently, that, at length, we fouled our anchor
and dragged it) if it had not been that we drifted into one of the
innumerable cross currents--here to-day and gone to-morrow--which drove
us under the lee of Flimen, where, by good luck, we brought up.

“I could not tell you the twentieth part of the difficulties we
encountered ‘on the grounds’--it is a bad spot to be in, even in
good weather--but we made shift always to run the gauntlet of the
Moskoe-ström itself without accident; although at times my heart has
been in my mouth when we happened to be a minute or so behind or before
the slack. The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at
starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while
the current rendered the smack unmanageable. My eldest brother had a son
eighteen years old, and I had two stout boys of my own. These would have
been of great assistance at such times, in using the sweeps, as well as
afterward in fishing--but, somehow, although we ran the risk ourselves,
we had not the heart to let the young ones get into the danger--for,
after all is said and done, it _was_ a horrible danger, and that is the
truth.

“It is now within a few days of three years since what I am going to
tell you occurred. It was on the tenth day of July, 18-, a day which the
people of this part of the world will never forget--for it was one
in which blew the most terrible hurricane that ever came out of
the heavens. And yet all the morning, and indeed until late in the
afternoon, there was a gentle and steady breeze from the south-west,
while the sun shone brightly, so that the oldest seaman among us could
not have foreseen what was to follow.

“The three of us--my two brothers and myself--had crossed over to the
islands about two o’clock P. M., and had soon nearly loaded the smack
with fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more plenty that day
than we had ever known them. It was just seven, _by my watch_, when we
weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the Ström at
slack water, which we knew would be at eight.

“We set out with a fresh wind on our starboard quarter, and for some
time spanked along at a great rate, never dreaming of danger, for indeed
we saw not the slightest reason to apprehend it. All at once we
were taken aback by a breeze from over Helseggen. This was most
unusual--something that had never happened to us before--and I began to
feel a little uneasy, without exactly knowing why. We put the boat on
the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was
upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking
astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored
cloud that rose with the most amazing velocity.

“In the meantime the breeze that had headed us off fell away, and we
were dead becalmed, drifting about in every direction. This state of
things, however, did not last long enough to give us time to think about
it. In less than a minute the storm was upon us--in less than two the
sky was entirely overcast--and what with this and the driving spray, it
became suddenly so dark that we could not see each other in the smack.

“Such a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attempt describing. The
oldest seaman in Norway never experienced any thing like it. We had let
our sails go by the run before it cleverly took us; but, at the first
puff, both our masts went by the board as if they had been sawed
off--the mainmast taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed
himself to it for safety.

“Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water.
It had a complete flush deck, with only a small hatch near the bow, and
this hatch it had always been our custom to batten down when about to
cross the Ström, by way of precaution against the chopping seas. But for
this circumstance we should have foundered at once--for we lay entirely
buried for some moments. How my elder brother escaped destruction I
cannot say, for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining. For my part,
as soon as I had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck,
with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands
grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the fore-mast. It was mere
instinct that prompted me to do this--which was undoubtedly the very
best thing I could have done--for I was too much flurried to think.

“For some moments we were completely deluged, as I say, and all this
time I held my breath, and clung to the bolt. When I could stand it no
longer I raised myself upon my knees, still keeping hold with my hands,
and thus got my head clear. Presently our little boat gave herself
a shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid
herself, in some measure, of the seas. I was now trying to get the
better of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so
as to see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. It was
my elder brother, and my heart leaped for joy, for I had made sure
that he was overboard--but the next moment all this joy was turned into
horror--for he put his mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the word
‘_Moskoe-ström!_’

“No one ever will know what my feelings were at that moment. I shook
from head to foot as if I had had the most violent fit of the ague. I
knew what he meant by that one word well enough--I knew what he wished
to make me understand. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound
for the whirl of the Ström, and nothing could save us!

“You perceive that in crossing the Ström _channel_, we always went a
long way up above the whirl, even in the calmest weather, and then had
to wait and watch carefully for the slack--but now we were driving right
upon the pool itself, and in such a hurricane as this! ‘To be sure,’ I
thought, ‘we shall get there just about the slack--there is some little
hope in that’--but in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great
a fool as to dream of hope at all. I knew very well that we were doomed,
had we been ten times a ninety-gun ship.

“By this time the first fury of the tempest had spent itself, or perhaps
we did not feel it so much, as we scudded before it, but at all events
the seas, which at first had been kept down by the wind, and lay flat
and frothing, now got up into absolute mountains. A singular change,
too, had come over the heavens. Around in every direction it was still
as black as pitch, but nearly overhead there burst out, all at once, a
circular rift of clear sky--as clear as I ever saw--and of a deep bright
blue--and through it there blazed forth the full moon with a lustre that
I never before knew her to wear. She lit up every thing about us with
the greatest distinctness--but, oh God, what a scene it was to light up!

“I now made one or two attempts to speak to my brother--but, in some
manner which I could not understand, the din had so increased that I
could not make him hear a single word, although I screamed at the top
of my voice in his ear. Presently he shook his head, looking as pale as
death, and held up one of his fingers, as if to say _‘listen! ‘_

“At first I could not make out what he meant--but soon a hideous thought
flashed upon me. I dragged my watch from its fob. It was not going. I
glanced at its face by the moonlight, and then burst into tears as I
flung it far away into the ocean. _It had run down at seven o’clock!
We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Ström was in
full fury!_

“When a boat is well built, properly trimmed, and not deep laden, the
waves in a strong gale, when she is going large, seem always to slip
from beneath her--which appears very strange to a landsman--and this is
what is called _riding_, in sea phrase. Well, so far we had ridden the
swells very cleverly; but presently a gigantic sea happened to take us
right under the counter, and bore us with it as it rose--up--up--as
if into the sky. I would not have believed that any wave could rise so
high. And then down we came with a sweep, a slide, and a plunge,
that made me feel sick and dizzy, as if I was falling from some lofty
mountain-top in a dream. But while we were up I had thrown a quick
glance around--and that one glance was all sufficient. I saw our exact
position in an instant. The Moskoe-Ström whirlpool was about a quarter
of a mile dead ahead--but no more like the every-day Moskoe-Ström, than
the whirl as you now see it is like a mill-race. If I had not known
where we were, and what we had to expect, I should not have recognised
the place at all. As it was, I involuntarily closed my eyes in horror.
The lids clenched themselves together as if in a spasm.

“It could not have been more than two minutes afterward until we
suddenly felt the waves subside, and were enveloped in foam. The
boat made a sharp half turn to larboard, and then shot off in its new
direction like a thunderbolt. At the same moment the roaring noise of
the water was completely drowned in a kind of shrill shriek--such a
sound as you might imagine given out by the waste-pipes of many thousand
steam-vessels, letting off their steam all together. We were now in the
belt of surf that always surrounds the whirl; and I thought, of course,
that another moment would plunge us into the abyss--down which we could
only see indistinctly on account of the amazing velocity with which we
wore borne along. The boat did not seem to sink into the water at
all, but to skim like an air-bubble upon the surface of the surge. Her
starboard side was next the whirl, and on the larboard arose the world
of ocean we had left. It stood like a huge writhing wall between us and
the horizon.

“It may appear strange, but now, when we were in the very jaws of the
gulf, I felt more composed than when we were only approaching it. Having
made up my mind to hope no more, I got rid of a great deal of that
terror which unmanned me at first. I suppose it was despair that strung
my nerves.

“It may look like boasting--but what I tell you is truth--I began to
reflect how magnificent a thing it was to die in such a manner, and how
foolish it was in me to think of so paltry a consideration as my own
individual life, in view of so wonderful a manifestation of God’s power.
I do believe that I blushed with shame when this idea crossed my mind.
After a little while I became possessed with the keenest curiosity about
the whirl itself. I positively felt a _wish_ to explore its depths, even
at the sacrifice I was going to make; and my principal grief was that
I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the
mysteries I should see. These, no doubt, were singular fancies to occupy
a man’s mind in such extremity--and I have often thought since, that the
revolutions of the boat around the pool might have rendered me a little
light-headed.

“There was another circumstance which tended to restore my
self-possession; and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not
reach us in our present situation--for, as you saw yourself, the belt of
surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this
latter now towered above us, a high, black, mountainous ridge. If you
have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the
confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They
blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action
or reflection. But we were now, in a great measure, rid of these
annoyances--just as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty
indulgences, forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain.

“How often we made the circuit of the belt it is impossible to say.
We careered round and round for perhaps an hour, flying rather than
floating, getting gradually more and more into the middle of the surge,
and then nearer and nearer to its horrible inner edge. All this time I
had never let go of the ring-bolt. My brother was at the stern, holding
on to a small empty water-cask which had been securely lashed under the
coop of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that had not been
swept overboard when the gale first took us. As we approached the brink
of the pit he let go his hold upon this, and made for the ring, from
which, in the agony of his terror, he endeavored to force my hands, as
it was not large enough to afford us both a secure grasp. I never felt
deeper grief than when I saw him attempt this act--although I knew he
was a madman when he did it--a raving maniac through sheer fright. I did
not care, however, to contest the point with him. I knew it could make
no difference whether either of us held on at all; so I let him have the
bolt, and went astern to the cask. This there was no great difficulty
in doing; for the smack flew round steadily enough, and upon an even
keel--only swaying to and fro, with the immense sweeps and swelters of
the whirl. Scarcely had I secured myself in my new position, when we
gave a wild lurch to starboard, and rushed headlong into the abyss. I
muttered a hurried prayer to God, and thought all was over.

“As I felt the sickening sweep of the descent, I had instinctively
tightened my hold upon the barrel, and closed my eyes. For some seconds
I dared not open them--while I expected instant destruction, and
wondered that I was not already in my death-struggles with the water.
But moment after moment elapsed. I still lived. The sense of falling had
ceased; and the motion of the vessel seemed much as it had been before,
while in the belt of foam, with the exception that she now lay more
along. I took courage, and looked once again upon the scene.

“Never shall I forget the sensations of awe, horror, and admiration with
which I gazed about me. The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by
magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in
circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides
might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity
with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance
they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon, from that circular rift
amid the clouds which I have already described, streamed in a flood of
golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost
recesses of the abyss.

“At first I was too much confused to observe anything accurately.
The general burst of terrific grandeur was all that I beheld. When I
recovered myself a little, however, my gaze fell instinctively downward.
In this direction I was able to obtain an unobstructed view, from the
manner in which the smack hung on the inclined surface of the pool. She
was quite upon an even keel--that is to say, her deck lay in a plane
parallel with that of the water--but this latter sloped at an angle of
more than forty-five degrees, so that we seemed to be lying upon our
beam-ends. I could not help observing, nevertheless, that I had scarcely
more difficulty in maintaining my hold and footing in this situation,
than if we had been upon a dead level; and this, I suppose, was owing to
the speed at which we revolved.

“The rays of the moon seemed to search the very bottom of the profound
gulf; but still I could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a
thick mist in which everything there was enveloped, and over which there
hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which
Mussulmen say is the only pathway between Time and Eternity. This mist,
or spray, was no doubt occasioned by the clashing of the great walls of
the funnel, as they all met together at the bottom--but the yell that
went up to the Heavens from out of that mist, I dare not attempt to
describe.

“Our first slide into the abyss itself, from the belt of foam above, had
carried us a great distance down the slope; but our farther descent
was by no means proportionate. Round and round we swept--not with
any uniform movement--but in dizzying swings and jerks, that sent
us sometimes only a few hundred yards--sometimes nearly the complete
circuit of the whirl. Our progress downward, at each revolution, was
slow, but very perceptible.

“Looking about me upon the wide waste of liquid ebony on which we were
thus borne, I perceived that our boat was not the only object in the
embrace of the whirl. Both above and below us were visible fragments of
vessels, large masses of building timber and trunks of trees, with
many smaller articles, such as pieces of house furniture, broken boxes,
barrels and staves. I have already described the unnatural curiosity
which had taken the place of my original terrors. It appeared to grow
upon me as I drew nearer and nearer to my dreadful doom. I now began to
watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our
company. I _must_ have been delirious--for I even sought _amusement_
in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents
toward the foam below. ‘This fir tree,’ I found myself at one time
saying, ‘will certainly be the next thing that takes the awful plunge
and disappears,’--and then I was disappointed to find that the wreck of
a Dutch merchant ship overtook it and went down before. At length, after
making several guesses of this nature, and being deceived in all--this
fact--the fact of my invariable miscalculation--set me upon a train of
reflection that made my limbs again tremble, and my heart beat heavily
once more.

“It was not a new terror that thus affected me, but the dawn of a more
exciting _hope_. This hope arose partly from memory, and partly from
present observation. I called to mind the great variety of buoyant
matter that strewed the coast of Lofoden, having been absorbed and
then thrown forth by the Moskoe-ström. By far the greater number of the
articles were shattered in the most extraordinary way--so chafed
and roughened as to have the appearance of being stuck full of
splinters--but then I distinctly recollected that there were _some_ of
them which were not disfigured at all. Now I could not account for this
difference except by supposing that the roughened fragments were the
only ones which had been _completely absorbed_--that the others had
entered the whirl at so late a period of the tide, or, for some reason,
had descended so slowly after entering, that they did not reach the
bottom before the turn of the flood came, or of the ebb, as the case
might be. I conceived it possible, in either instance, that they might
thus be whirled up again to the level of the ocean, without undergoing
the fate of those which had been drawn in more early, or absorbed more
rapidly. I made, also, three important observations. The first was,
that, as a general rule, the larger the bodies were, the more rapid
their descent--the second, that, between two masses of equal extent, the
one spherical, and the other _of any other shape_, the superiority
in speed of descent was with the sphere--the third, that, between two
masses of equal size, the one cylindrical, and the other of any other
shape, the cylinder was absorbed the more slowly. Since my escape, I
have had several conversations on this subject with an old school-master
of the district; and it was from him that I learned the use of the words
‘cylinder’ and ‘sphere.’ He explained to me--although I have forgotten
the explanation--how what I observed was, in fact, the natural
consequence of the forms of the floating fragments--and showed me how it
happened that a cylinder, swimming in a vortex, offered more resistance
to its suction, and was drawn in with greater difficulty than an equally
bulky body, of any form whatever. (*1)

“There was one startling circumstance which went a great way in
enforcing these observations, and rendering me anxious to turn them to
account, and this was that, at every revolution, we passed something
like a barrel, or else the yard or the mast of a vessel, while many of
these things, which had been on our level when I first opened my eyes
upon the wonders of the whirlpool, were now high up above us, and seemed
to have moved but little from their original station.

“I no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to
the water cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter,
and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s
attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us,
and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about
to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design--but, whether
this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to
move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him;
the emergency admitted of no delay; and so, with a bitter struggle, I
resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the
lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with
it into the sea, without another moment’s hesitation.

“The result was precisely what I had hoped it might be. As it is myself
who now tell you this tale--as you see that I _did_ escape--and as you
are already in possession of the mode in which this escape was effected,
and must therefore anticipate all that I have farther to say--I will
bring my story quickly to conclusion. It might have been an hour, or
thereabout, after my quitting the smack, when, having descended to a
vast distance beneath me, it made three or four wild gyrations in rapid
succession, and, bearing my loved brother with it, plunged headlong, at
once and forever, into the chaos of foam below. The barrel to which I
was attached sunk very little farther than half the distance between the
bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard, before a
great change took place in the character of the whirlpool. The slope of
the sides of the vast funnel became momently less and less steep.
The gyrations of the whirl grew, gradually, less and less violent. By
degrees, the froth and the rainbow disappeared, and the bottom of the
gulf seemed slowly to uprise. The sky was clear, the winds had gone
down, and the full moon was setting radiantly in the west, when I
found myself on the surface of the ocean, in full view of the shores
of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the Moskoe-ström
_had been_. It was the hour of the slack--but the sea still heaved
in mountainous waves from the effects of the hurricane. I was borne
violently into the channel of the Ström, and in a few minutes was
hurried down the coast into the ‘grounds’ of the fishermen. A boat
picked me up--exhausted from fatigue--and (now that the danger was
removed) speechless from the memory of its horror. Those who drew me on
board were my old mates and daily companions--but they knew me no more
than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. My hair
which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as you see
it now. They say too that the whole expression of my countenance had
changed. I told them my story--they did not believe it. I now tell it
to _you_--and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did
the merry fishermen of Lofoden.”



VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY

AFTER THE very minute and elaborate paper by Arago, to say nothing of
the summary in ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ with the detailed statement just
published by Lieutenant Maury, it will not be supposed, of course,
that in offering a few hurried remarks in reference to Von Kempelen’s
discovery, I have any design to look at the subject in a scientific
point of view. My object is simply, in the first place, to say a few
words of Von Kempelen himself (with whom, some years ago, I had the
honor of a slight personal acquaintance), since every thing which
concerns him must necessarily, at this moment, be of interest; and, in
the second place, to look in a general way, and speculatively, at the
results of the discovery.

It may be as well, however, to premise the cursory observations which
I have to offer, by denying, very decidedly, what seems to be a
general impression (gleaned, as usual in a case of this kind, from the
newspapers), viz.: that this discovery, astounding as it unquestionably
is, is unanticipated.

By reference to the ‘Diary of Sir Humphrey Davy’ (Cottle and Munroe,
London, pp. 150), it will be seen at pp. 53 and 82, that this
illustrious chemist had not only conceived the idea now in question,
but had actually made no inconsiderable progress, experimentally, in the
very identical analysis now so triumphantly brought to an issue by Von
Kempelen, who although he makes not the slightest allusion to it, is,
without doubt (I say it unhesitatingly, and can prove it, if required),
indebted to the ‘Diary’ for at least the first hint of his own
undertaking.

The paragraph from the ‘Courier and Enquirer,’ which is now going the
rounds of the press, and which purports to claim the invention for a
Mr. Kissam, of Brunswick, Maine, appears to me, I confess, a little
apocryphal, for several reasons; although there is nothing either
impossible or very improbable in the statement made. I need not go into
details. My opinion of the paragraph is founded principally upon its
manner. It does not look true. Persons who are narrating facts, are
seldom so particular as Mr. Kissam seems to be, about day and date and
precise location. Besides, if Mr. Kissam actually did come upon the
discovery he says he did, at the period designated--nearly eight years
ago--how happens it that he took no steps, on the instant, to reap the
immense benefits which the merest bumpkin must have known would have
resulted to him individually, if not to the world at large, from the
discovery? It seems to me quite incredible that any man of common
understanding could have discovered what Mr. Kissam says he did, and yet
have subsequently acted so like a baby--so like an owl--as Mr. Kissam
admits that he did. By-the-way, who is Mr. Kissam? and is not the whole
paragraph in the ‘Courier and Enquirer’ a fabrication got up to ‘make
a talk’? It must be confessed that it has an amazingly moon-hoaxy-air.
Very little dependence is to be placed upon it, in my humble opinion;
and if I were not well aware, from experience, how very easily men of
science are mystified, on points out of their usual range of inquiry,
I should be profoundly astonished at finding so eminent a chemist as
Professor Draper, discussing Mr. Kissam’s (or is it Mr. Quizzem’s?)
pretensions to the discovery, in so serious a tone.

But to return to the ‘Diary’ of Sir Humphrey Davy. This pamphlet was not
designed for the public eye, even upon the decease of the writer, as any
person at all conversant with authorship may satisfy himself at once by
the slightest inspection of the style. At page 13, for example, near the
middle, we read, in reference to his researches about the protoxide
of azote: ‘In less than half a minute the respiration being continued,
diminished gradually and were succeeded by analogous to gentle pressure
on all the muscles.’ That the respiration was not ‘diminished,’ is not
only clear by the subsequent context, but by the use of the plural,
‘were.’ The sentence, no doubt, was thus intended: ‘In less than half
a minute, the respiration [being continued, these feelings] diminished
gradually, and were succeeded by [a sensation] analogous to gentle
pressure on all the muscles.’ A hundred similar instances go to show
that the MS. so inconsiderately published, was merely a rough note-book,
meant only for the writer’s own eye, but an inspection of the pamphlet
will convince almost any thinking person of the truth of my suggestion.
The fact is, Sir Humphrey Davy was about the last man in the world
to commit himself on scientific topics. Not only had he a more than
ordinary dislike to quackery, but he was morbidly afraid of appearing
empirical; so that, however fully he might have been convinced that he
was on the right track in the matter now in question, he would never
have spoken out, until he had every thing ready for the most practical
demonstration. I verily believe that his last moments would have been
rendered wretched, could he have suspected that his wishes in regard
to burning this ‘Diary’ (full of crude speculations) would have been
unattended to; as, it seems, they were. I say ‘his wishes,’ for that he
meant to include this note-book among the miscellaneous papers directed
‘to be burnt,’ I think there can be no manner of doubt. Whether it
escaped the flames by good fortune or by bad, yet remains to be seen.
That the passages quoted above, with the other similar ones referred to,
gave Von Kempelen the hint, I do not in the slightest degree question;
but I repeat, it yet remains to be seen whether this momentous discovery
itself (momentous under any circumstances) will be of service or
disservice to mankind at large. That Von Kempelen and his immediate
friends will reap a rich harvest, it would be folly to doubt for a
moment. They will scarcely be so weak as not to ‘realize,’ in time, by
large purchases of houses and land, with other property of intrinsic
value.

In the brief account of Von Kempelen which appeared in the
‘Home Journal,’ and has since been extensively copied, several
misapprehensions of the German original seem to have been made by the
translator, who professes to have taken the passage from a late number
of the Presburg ‘Schnellpost.’ ‘Viele’ has evidently been misconceived
(as it often is), and what the translator renders by ‘sorrows,’ is
probably ‘lieden,’ which, in its true version, ‘sufferings,’ would give
a totally different complexion to the whole account; but, of course,
much of this is merely guess, on my part.

Von Kempelen, however, is by no means ‘a misanthrope,’ in appearance, at
least, whatever he may be in fact. My acquaintance with him was casual
altogether; and I am scarcely warranted in saying that I know him
at all; but to have seen and conversed with a man of so prodigious a
notoriety as he has attained, or will attain in a few days, is not a
small matter, as times go.

‘The Literary World’ speaks of him, confidently, as a native of Presburg
(misled, perhaps, by the account in ‘The Home Journal’) but I am pleased
in being able to state positively, since I have it from his own lips,
that he was born in Utica, in the State of New York, although both his
parents, I believe, are of Presburg descent. The family is connected, in
some way, with Maelzel, of Automaton-chess-player memory. In person, he
is short and stout, with large, fat, blue eyes, sandy hair and whiskers,
a wide but pleasing mouth, fine teeth, and I think a Roman nose. There
is some defect in one of his feet. His address is frank, and his whole
manner noticeable for bonhomie. Altogether, he looks, speaks, and
acts as little like ‘a misanthrope’ as any man I ever saw. We were
fellow-sojourners for a week about six years ago, at Earl’s Hotel, in
Providence, Rhode Island; and I presume that I conversed with him, at
various times, for some three or four hours altogether. His principal
topics were those of the day, and nothing that fell from him led me
to suspect his scientific attainments. He left the hotel before me,
intending to go to New York, and thence to Bremen; it was in the latter
city that his great discovery was first made public; or, rather, it was
there that he was first suspected of having made it. This is about all
that I personally know of the now immortal Von Kempelen; but I have
thought that even these few details would have interest for the public.

There can be little question that most of the marvellous rumors afloat
about this affair are pure inventions, entitled to about as much credit
as the story of Aladdin’s lamp; and yet, in a case of this kind, as in
the case of the discoveries in California, it is clear that the truth
may be stranger than fiction. The following anecdote, at least, is so
well authenticated, that we may receive it implicitly.

Von Kempelen had never been even tolerably well off during his residence
at Bremen; and often, it was well known, he had been put to extreme
shifts in order to raise trifling sums. When the great excitement
occurred about the forgery on the house of Gutsmuth & Co., suspicion
was directed toward Von Kempelen, on account of his having purchased
a considerable property in Gasperitch Lane, and his refusing, when
questioned, to explain how he became possessed of the purchase money. He
was at length arrested, but nothing decisive appearing against him, was
in the end set at liberty. The police, however, kept a strict watch upon
his movements, and thus discovered that he left home frequently, taking
always the same road, and invariably giving his watchers the slip in the
neighborhood of that labyrinth of narrow and crooked passages known
by the flash name of the ‘Dondergat.’ Finally, by dint of great
perseverance, they traced him to a garret in an old house of seven
stories, in an alley called Flatzplatz,--and, coming upon him suddenly,
found him, as they imagined, in the midst of his counterfeiting
operations. His agitation is represented as so excessive that the
officers had not the slightest doubt of his guilt. After hand-cuffing
him, they searched his room, or rather rooms, for it appears he occupied
all the mansarde.

Opening into the garret where they caught him, was a closet, ten feet by
eight, fitted up with some chemical apparatus, of which the object has
not yet been ascertained. In one corner of the closet was a very small
furnace, with a glowing fire in it, and on the fire a kind of duplicate
crucible--two crucibles connected by a tube. One of these crucibles was
nearly full of lead in a state of fusion, but not reaching up to the
aperture of the tube, which was close to the brim. The other crucible
had some liquid in it, which, as the officers entered, seemed to be
furiously dissipating in vapor. They relate that, on finding himself
taken, Kempelen seized the crucibles with both hands (which were encased
in gloves that afterwards turned out to be asbestic), and threw the
contents on the tiled floor. It was now that they hand-cuffed him; and
before proceeding to ransack the premises they searched his person, but
nothing unusual was found about him, excepting a paper parcel, in his
coat-pocket, containing what was afterward ascertained to be a mixture
of antimony and some unknown substance, in nearly, but not quite, equal
proportions. All attempts at analyzing the unknown substance have,
so far, failed, but that it will ultimately be analyzed, is not to be
doubted.

Passing out of the closet with their prisoner, the officers went through
a sort of ante-chamber, in which nothing material was found, to the
chemist’s sleeping-room. They here rummaged some drawers and boxes,
but discovered only a few papers, of no importance, and some good coin,
silver and gold. At length, looking under the bed, they saw a large,
common hair trunk, without hinges, hasp, or lock, and with the top lying
carelessly across the bottom portion. Upon attempting to draw this trunk
out from under the bed, they found that, with their united strength
(there were three of them, all powerful men), they ‘could not stir it
one inch.’ Much astonished at this, one of them crawled under the bed,
and looking into the trunk, said:

‘No wonder we couldn’t move it--why it’s full to the brim of old bits of
brass!’

Putting his feet, now, against the wall so as to get a good purchase,
and pushing with all his force, while his companions pulled with all
theirs, the trunk, with much difficulty, was slid out from under the
bed, and its contents examined. The supposed brass with which it was
filled was all in small, smooth pieces, varying from the size of a pea
to that of a dollar; but the pieces were irregular in shape, although
more or less flat-looking, upon the whole, ‘very much as lead looks when
thrown upon the ground in a molten state, and there suffered to grow
cool.’ Now, not one of these officers for a moment suspected this metal
to be any thing but brass. The idea of its being gold never entered
their brains, of course; how could such a wild fancy have entered it?
And their astonishment may be well conceived, when the next day it
became known, all over Bremen, that the ‘lot of brass’ which they
had carted so contemptuously to the police office, without putting
themselves to the trouble of pocketing the smallest scrap, was not only
gold--real gold--but gold far finer than any employed in coinage-gold,
in fact, absolutely pure, virgin, without the slightest appreciable
alloy.

I need not go over the details of Von Kempelen’s confession (as far as
it went) and release, for these are familiar to the public. That he has
actually realized, in spirit and in effect, if not to the letter, the
old chimaera of the philosopher’s stone, no sane person is at liberty
to doubt. The opinions of Arago are, of course, entitled to the greatest
consideration; but he is by no means infallible; and what he says of
bismuth, in his report to the Academy, must be taken cum grano salis.
The simple truth is, that up to this period all analysis has failed; and
until Von Kempelen chooses to let us have the key to his own published
enigma, it is more than probable that the matter will remain, for years,
in statu quo. All that as yet can fairly be said to be known is, that
‘Pure gold can be made at will, and very readily from lead in connection
with certain other substances, in kind and in proportions, unknown.’

Speculation, of course, is busy as to the immediate and ultimate results
of this discovery--a discovery which few thinking persons will hesitate
in referring to an increased interest in the matter of gold generally,
by the late developments in California; and this reflection brings us
inevitably to another--the exceeding inopportuneness of Von Kempelen’s
analysis. If many were prevented from adventuring to California, by the
mere apprehension that gold would so materially diminish in value,
on account of its plentifulness in the mines there, as to render
the speculation of going so far in search of it a doubtful one--what
impression will be wrought now, upon the minds of those about to
emigrate, and especially upon the minds of those actually in the
mineral region, by the announcement of this astounding discovery of Von
Kempelen? a discovery which declares, in so many words, that beyond its
intrinsic worth for manufacturing purposes (whatever that worth may be),
gold now is, or at least soon will be (for it cannot be supposed that
Von Kempelen can long retain his secret), of no greater value than
lead, and of far inferior value to silver. It is, indeed, exceedingly
difficult to speculate prospectively upon the consequences of the
discovery, but one thing may be positively maintained--that the
announcement of the discovery six months ago would have had material
influence in regard to the settlement of California.

In Europe, as yet, the most noticeable results have been a rise of two
hundred per cent. in the price of lead, and nearly twenty-five per cent.
that of silver.



MESMERIC REVELATION

 WHATEVER doubt may still envelop the _rationale_ of mesmerism,
its startling _facts_ are now almost universally admitted. Of these
latter, those who doubt, are your mere doubters by profession--an
unprofitable and disreputable tribe. There can be no more absolute waste
of time than the attempt to _prove_, at the present day, that man, by
mere exercise of will, can so impress his fellow, as to cast him into an
abnormal condition, of which the phenomena resemble very closely those
of _death_, or at least resemble them more nearly than they do the
phenomena of any other normal condition within our cognizance; that,
while in this state, the person so impressed employs only with effort,
and then feebly, the external organs of sense, yet perceives, with
keenly refined perception, and through channels supposed unknown,
matters beyond the scope of the physical organs; that, moreover, his
intellectual faculties are wonderfully exalted and invigorated; that his
sympathies with the person so impressing him are profound; and, finally,
that his susceptibility to the impression increases with its frequency,
while, in the same proportion, the peculiar phenomena elicited are more
extended and more _pronounced_.

 I say that these--which are the laws of mesmerism in its
general features--it would be supererogation to demonstrate; nor shall I
inflict upon my readers so needless a demonstration; to-day. My purpose
at present is a very different one indeed. I am impelled, even in
the teeth of a world of prejudice, to detail without comment the very
remarkable substance of a colloquy, occurring between a sleep-waker and
myself.

 I had been long in the habit of mesmerizing the person in
question, (Mr. Vankirk,) and the usual acute susceptibility and
exaltation of the mesmeric perception had supervened. For many months he
had been laboring under confirmed phthisis, the more distressing effects
of which had been relieved by my manipulations; and on the night of
Wednesday, the fifteenth instant, I was summoned to his bedside.

 The invalid was suffering with acute pain in the region of the
heart, and breathed with great difficulty, having all the ordinary
symptoms of asthma. In spasms such as these he had usually found relief
from the application of mustard to the nervous centres, but to-night
this had been attempted in vain.

 As I entered his room he greeted me with a cheerful smile, and
although evidently in much bodily pain, appeared to be, mentally, quite
at ease.

 “I sent for you to-night,” he said, “not so much to administer
to my bodily ailment, as to satisfy me concerning certain psychal
impressions which, of late, have occasioned me much anxiety and
surprise. I need not tell you how sceptical I have hitherto been on the
topic of the soul’s immortality. I cannot deny that there has always
existed, as if in that very soul which I have been denying, a vague
half-sentiment of its own existence. But this half-sentiment at no
time amounted to conviction. With it my reason had nothing to do.
All attempts at logical inquiry resulted, indeed, in leaving me more
sceptical than before. I had been advised to study Cousin. I studied
him in his own works as well as in those of his European and American
echoes. The ‘Charles Elwood’ of Mr. Brownson, for example, was placed
in my hands. I read it with profound attention. Throughout I found it
logical, but the portions which were not _merely_ logical were unhappily
the initial arguments of the disbelieving hero of the book. In his
summing up it seemed evident to me that the reasoner had not even
succeeded in convincing himself. His end had plainly forgotten his
beginning, like the government of Trinculo. In short, I was not long in
perceiving that if man is to be intellectually convinced of his own
immortality, he will never be so convinced by the mere abstractions
which have been so long the fashion of the moralists of England, of
France, and of Germany. Abstractions may amuse and exercise, but take no
hold on the mind. Here upon earth, at least, philosophy, I am persuaded,
will always in vain call upon us to look upon qualities as things. The
will may assent--the soul--the intellect, never.

 “I repeat, then, that I only half felt, and never intellectually
believed. But latterly there has been a certain deepening of the
feeling, until it has come so nearly to resemble the acquiescence of
reason, that I find it difficult to distinguish between the two. I am
enabled, too, plainly to trace this effect to the mesmeric influence.
I cannot better explain my meaning than by the hypothesis that the
mesmeric exaltation enables me to perceive a train of ratiocination
which, in my abnormal existence, convinces, but which, in full
accordance with the mesmeric phenomena, does not extend, except through
its _effect_, into my normal condition. In sleep-waking, the reasoning
and its conclusion--the cause and its effect--are present together. In
my natural state, the cause vanishing, the effect only, and perhaps only
partially, remains.

 “These considerations have led me to think that some good
results might ensue from a series of well-directed questions
propounded to me while mesmerized. You have often observed the profound
self-cognizance evinced by the sleep-waker--the extensive knowledge he
displays upon all points relating to the mesmeric condition itself; and
from this self-cognizance may be deduced hints for the proper conduct of
a catechism.”

 I consented of course to make this experiment.  A few passes
threw Mr. Vankirk into the mesmeric sleep. His breathing became
immediately more easy, and he seemed to suffer no physical uneasiness.
The following conversation then ensued:--V. in the dialogue representing
the patient, and P. myself.

_ P._ Are you asleep?

_ V._ Yes--no I would rather sleep more soundly.

_P._ [_After a few more passes._] Do you sleep now?

_V._ Yes.

_P._ How do you think your present illness will result?

_V._ [_After a long hesitation and speaking as if with effort_.] I must
die.

_P._ Does the idea of death afflict you?

_V._ [_Very quickly_.] No--no!

_P._ Are you pleased with the prospect?

_V._ If I were awake I should like to die, but now it is no matter. The
mesmeric condition is so near death as to content me.

_P._ I wish you would explain yourself, Mr. Vankirk.

_V._ I am willing to do so, but it requires more effort than I feel able
to make. You do not question me properly.

_P._ What then shall I ask?

_V._ You must begin at the beginning.

_P._ The beginning! but where is the beginning?

_V._ You know that the beginning is GOD. [_This was said in a low,
fluctuating tone, and with every sign of the most profound veneration_.]

_P._ What then is God?

_V._ [_Hesitating for many minutes._] I cannot tell.

_P._ Is not God spirit?

_V._ While I was awake I knew what you meant by “spirit,” but now it
seems only a word--such for instance as truth, beauty--a quality, I
mean.

_P._ Is not God immaterial?

_V._ There is no immateriality--it is a mere word. That which is not
matter, is not at all--unless qualities are things.

_P._ Is God, then, material?

_V._ No. [_This reply startled me very much._]

_P._ What then is he?

_V._ [_After a long pause, and mutteringly._] I see--but it is a thing
difficult to tell. [_Another long pause._] He is not spirit, for
he exists. Nor is he matter, as _you understand it_. But there are
_gradations_ of matter of which man knows nothing; the grosser impelling
the finer, the finer pervading the grosser. The atmosphere, for example,
impels the electric principle, while the electric principle permeates
the atmosphere. These gradations of matter increase in rarity
or fineness, until we arrive at a matter _unparticled_--without
particles--indivisible--_one_ and here the law of impulsion and
permeation is modified. The ultimate, or unparticled matter, not only
permeates all things but impels all things--and thus _is_ all things
within itself. This matter is God. What men attempt to embody in the
word “thought,” is this matter in motion.

_P._ The metaphysicians maintain that all action is reducible to motion
and thinking, and that the latter is the origin of the former.

_V._ Yes; and I now see the confusion of idea. Motion is the action
of _mind_--not of _thinking_. The unparticled matter, or God, in
quiescence, is (as nearly as we can conceive it) what men call mind. And
the power of self-movement (equivalent in effect to human volition) is,
in the unparticled matter, the result of its unity and omniprevalence;
_how_ I know not, and now clearly see that I shall never know. But the
unparticled matter, set in motion by a law, or quality, existing within
itself, is thinking.

_P._ Can you give me no more precise idea of what you term the
unparticled matter?

_V._ The matters of which man is cognizant, escape the senses in
gradation. We have, for example, a metal, a piece of wood, a drop of
water, the atmosphere, a gas, caloric, electricity, the luminiferous
ether. Now we call all these things matter, and embrace all matter in
one general definition; but in spite of this, there can be no two ideas
more essentially distinct than that which we attach to a metal, and that
which we attach to the luminiferous ether. When we reach the latter, we
feel an almost irresistible inclination to class it with spirit, or with
nihility. The only consideration which restrains us is our conception
of its atomic constitution; and here, even, we have to seek aid from
our notion of an atom, as something possessing in infinite minuteness,
solidity, palpability, weight. Destroy the idea of the atomic
constitution and we should no longer be able to regard the ether as an
entity, or at least as matter. For want of a better word we might term
it spirit. Take, now, a step beyond the luminiferous ether--conceive a
matter as much more rare than the ether, as this ether is more rare than
the metal, and we arrive at once (in spite of all the school dogmas) at
a unique mass--an unparticled matter. For although we may admit infinite
littleness in the atoms themselves, the infinitude of littleness in the
spaces between them is an absurdity. There will be a point--there will
be a degree of rarity, at which, if the atoms are sufficiently numerous,
the interspaces must vanish, and the mass absolutely coalesce. But
the consideration of the atomic constitution being now taken away, the
nature of the mass inevitably glides into what we conceive of spirit. It
is clear, however, that it is as fully matter as before. The truth is,
it is impossible to conceive spirit, since it is impossible to
imagine what is not. When we flatter ourselves that we have formed
its conception, we have merely deceived our understanding by the
consideration of infinitely rarified matter.

_P._ There seems to me an insurmountable objection to the idea
of absolute coalescence;--and that is the very slight resistance
experienced by the heavenly bodies in their revolutions through space--a
resistance now ascertained, it is true, to exist in _some_ degree, but
which is, nevertheless, so slight as to have been quite overlooked by
the sagacity even of Newton. We know that the resistance of bodies
is, chiefly, in proportion to their density. Absolute coalescence
is absolute density. Where there are no interspaces, there can be no
yielding. An ether, absolutely dense, would put an infinitely more
effectual stop to the progress of a star than would an ether of adamant
or of iron.

_V._ Your objection is answered with an ease which is nearly in the
ratio of its apparent unanswerability.--As regards the progress of the
star, it can make no difference whether the star passes through the
ether _or the ether through it_. There is no astronomical error more
unaccountable than that which reconciles the known retardation of the
comets with the idea of their passage through an ether: for, however
rare this ether be supposed, it would put a stop to all sidereal
revolution in a very far briefer period than has been admitted by those
astronomers who have endeavored to slur over a point which they found
it impossible to comprehend. The retardation actually experienced is, on
the other hand, about that which might be expected from the _friction_
of the ether in the instantaneous passage through the orb. In the one
case, the retarding force is momentary and complete within itself--in
the other it is endlessly accumulative.

_P._ But in all this--in this identification of mere matter with God--is
there nothing of irreverence? [_I was forced to repeat this question
before the sleep-waker fully comprehended my meaning_.]

_V._ Can you say _why_ matter should be less reverenced than mind? But
you forget that the matter of which I speak is, in all respects, the
very “mind” or “spirit” of the schools, so far as regards its high
capacities, and is, moreover, the “matter” of these schools at the
same time. God, with all the powers attributed to spirit, is but the
perfection of matter.

_P._ You assert, then, that the unparticled matter, in motion, is
thought?

_V._ In general, this motion is the universal thought of the universal
mind. This thought creates. All created things are but the thoughts of
God.

_P._ You say, “in general.”

_V._ Yes. The universal mind is God. For new individualities, _matter_
is necessary.

_P._ But you now speak of “mind” and “matter” as do the metaphysicians.

_V._ Yes--to avoid confusion. When I say “mind,” I mean the unparticled
or ultimate matter; by “matter,” I intend all else.

_P._ You were saying that “for new individualities matter is necessary.”

_V._ Yes; for mind, existing unincorporate, is merely God. To create
individual, thinking beings, it was necessary to incarnate portions
of the divine mind. Thus man is individualized. Divested of corporate
investiture, he were God. Now, the particular motion of the incarnated
portions of the unparticled matter is the thought of man; as the motion
of the whole is that of God.

_P._ You say that divested of the body man will be God?

_V._ [_After much hesitation._] I could not have said this; it is an
absurdity.

_P._ [_Referring to my notes._] You _did_ say that “divested of
corporate investiture man were God.”

_V._ And this is true. Man thus divested _would be_ God--would be
unindividualized. But he can never be thus divested--at least never
_will be_--else we must imagine an action of God returning upon
itself--a purposeless and futile action. Man is a creature. Creatures
are thoughts of God. It is the nature of thought to be irrevocable.

_P._ I do not comprehend. You say that man will never put off the body?

_V._ I say that he will never be bodiless.

_P._ Explain.

_V._ There are two bodies--the rudimental and the complete;
corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly.
What we call “death,” is but the painful metamorphosis. Our present
incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary. Our future is
perfected, ultimate, immortal. The ultimate life is the full design.

_P._ But of the worm’s metamorphosis we are palpably cognizant.

_V._ _We_, certainly--but not the worm. The matter of which our
rudimental body is composed, is within the ken of the organs of that
body; or, more distinctly, our rudimental organs are adapted to the
matter of which is formed the rudimental body; but not to that of which
the ultimate is composed. The ultimate body thus escapes our rudimental
senses, and we perceive only the shell which falls, in decaying, from
the inner form; not that inner form itself; but this inner form, as
well as the shell, is appreciable by those who have already acquired the
ultimate life.

_P._ You have often said that the mesmeric state very nearly resembles
death. How is this?

_V._ When I say that it resembles death, I mean that it resembles the
ultimate life; for when I am entranced the senses of my rudimental
life are in abeyance, and I perceive external things directly,
without organs, through a medium which I shall employ in the ultimate,
unorganized life.

_P._ Unorganized?

_V._ Yes; organs are contrivances by which the individual is brought
into sensible relation with particular classes and forms of matter, to
the exclusion of other classes and forms. The organs of man are adapted
to his rudimental condition, and to that only; his ultimate condition,
being unorganized, is of unlimited comprehension in all points but
one--the nature of the volition of God--that is to say, the motion of
the unparticled matter. You will have a distinct idea of the ultimate
body by conceiving it to be entire brain. This it is _not_; but a
conception of this nature will bring you near a comprehension of what it
_is_. A luminous body imparts vibration to the luminiferous ether.
The vibrations generate similar ones within the retina; these again
communicate similar ones to the optic nerve. The nerve conveys similar
ones to the brain; the brain, also, similar ones to the unparticled
matter which permeates it. The motion of this latter is thought, of
which perception is the first undulation. This is the mode by which the
mind of the rudimental life communicates with the external world; and
this external world is, to the rudimental life, limited, through the
idiosyncrasy of its organs. But in the ultimate, unorganized life, the
external world reaches the whole body, (which is of a substance having
affinity to brain, as I have said,) with no other intervention than that
of an infinitely rarer ether than even the luminiferous; and to this
ether--in unison with it--the whole body vibrates, setting in motion
the unparticled matter which permeates it. It is to the absence of
idiosyncratic organs, therefore, that we must attribute the nearly
unlimited perception of the ultimate life. To rudimental beings, organs
are the cages necessary to confine them until fledged.

_P._ You speak of rudimental “beings.” Are there other rudimental
thinking beings than man?

_V._ The multitudinous conglomeration of rare matter into nebulæ,
planets, suns, and other bodies which are neither nebulæ, suns,
nor planets, is for the sole purpose of supplying _pabulum_ for the
idiosyncrasy of the organs of an infinity of rudimental beings. But for
the necessity of the rudimental, prior to the ultimate life, there
would have been no bodies such as these. Each of these is tenanted by a
distinct variety of organic, rudimental, thinking creatures. In all,
the organs vary with the features of the place tenanted. At death,
or metamorphosis, these creatures, enjoying the ultimate
life--immortality--and cognizant of all secrets but _the one_, act all
things and pass everywhere by mere volition:--indwelling, not the stars,
which to us seem the sole palpabilities, and for the accommodation
of which we blindly deem space created--but that SPACE itself--that
infinity of which the truly substantive vastness swallows up the
star-shadows--blotting them out as non-entities from the perception of
the angels.

_P._ You say that “but for the _necessity_ of the rudimental life” there
would have been no stars. But why this necessity?

_V._ In the inorganic life, as well as in the inorganic matter
generally, there is nothing to impede the action of one simple _unique_
law--the Divine Volition. With the view of producing impediment, the
organic life and matter, (complex, substantial, and law-encumbered,)
were contrived.

_P._ But again--why need this impediment have been produced?

_V._ The result of law inviolate is perfection--right--negative
happiness. The result of law violate is imperfection, wrong, positive
pain. Through the impediments afforded by the number, complexity, and
substantiality of the laws of organic life and matter, the violation of
law is rendered, to a certain extent, practicable. Thus pain, which in
the inorganic life is impossible, is possible in the organic.

_P._ But to what good end is pain thus rendered possible?

_V._ All things are either good or bad by comparison. A sufficient
analysis will show that pleasure, in all cases, is but the contrast of
pain. _Positive_ pleasure is a mere idea. To be happy at any one point
we must have suffered at the same. Never to suffer would have been never
to have been blessed. But it has been shown that, in the inorganic
life, pain cannot be thus the necessity for the organic. The pain of the
primitive life of Earth, is the sole basis of the bliss of the ultimate
life in Heaven.

_P._ Still, there is one of your expressions which I find it impossible
to comprehend--“the truly _substantive_ vastness of infinity.”

_V._ This, probably, is because you have no sufficiently generic
conception of the term “_substance_” itself. We must not regard it as a
quality, but as a sentiment:--it is the perception, in thinking beings,
of the adaptation of matter to their organization. There are many things
on the Earth, which would be nihility to the inhabitants of Venus--many
things visible and tangible in Venus, which we could not be brought
to appreciate as existing at all. But to the inorganic beings--to the
angels--the whole of the unparticled matter is substance--that is
to say, the whole of what we term “space” is to them the truest
substantiality;--the stars, meantime, through what we consider their
materiality, escaping the angelic sense, just in proportion as the
unparticled matter, through what we consider its immateriality, eludes
the organic.

  As the sleep-waker pronounced these latter words, in a feeble tone,
I observed on his countenance a singular expression, which somewhat
alarmed me, and induced me to awake him at once. No sooner had I done
this, than, with a bright smile irradiating all his features, he fell
back upon his pillow and expired. I noticed that in less than a minute
afterward his corpse had all the stern rigidity of stone. His brow was
of the coldness of ice. Thus, ordinarily, should it have appeared, only
after long pressure from Azrael’s hand. Had the sleep-waker, indeed,
during the latter portion of his discourse, been addressing me from out
the region of the shadows?



THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR

OF course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that
the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. It would
have been a miracle had it not-especially under the circumstances.
Through the desire of all parties concerned, to keep the affair from the
public, at least for the present, or until we had farther opportunities
for investigation--through our endeavors to effect this--a garbled or
exaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source of
many unpleasant misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great deal
of disbelief.

It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts--as far as I
comprehend them myself. They are, succinctly, these:

My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn to
the subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago it occurred to me,
quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto, there
had been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission:--no person
had as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to be seen,
first, whether, in such condition, there existed in the patient any
susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly, whether, if any
existed, it was impaired or increased by the condition; thirdly, to what
extent, or for how long a period, the encroachments of Death might be
arrested by the process. There were other points to be ascertained,
but these most excited my curiosity--the last in especial, from the
immensely important character of its consequences.

In looking around me for some subject by whose means I might test these
particulars, I was brought to think of my friend, M. Ernest Valdemar,
the well-known compiler of the “Bibliotheca Forensica,” and author
(under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of
“Wallenstein” and “Gargantua.” M. Valdemar, who has resided principally
at Harlaem, N.Y., since the year 1839, is (or was) particularly
noticeable for the extreme spareness of his person--his lower limbs much
resembling those of John Randolph; and, also, for the whiteness of his
whiskers, in violent contrast to the blackness of his hair--the latter,
in consequence, being very generally mistaken for a wig. His temperament
was markedly nervous, and rendered him a good subject for mesmeric
experiment. On two or three occasions I had put him to sleep with little
difficulty, but was disappointed in other results which his peculiar
constitution had naturally led me to anticipate. His will was at no
period positively, or thoroughly, under my control, and in regard to
clairvoyance, I could accomplish with him nothing to be relied upon. I
always attributed my failure at these points to the disordered state of
his health. For some months previous to my becoming acquainted with
him, his physicians had declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It was his
custom, indeed, to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution, as of a
matter neither to be avoided nor regretted.

When the ideas to which I have alluded first occurred to me, it was
of course very natural that I should think of M. Valdemar. I knew the
steady philosophy of the man too well to apprehend any scruples
from him; and he had no relatives in America who would be likely to
interfere. I spoke to him frankly upon the subject; and, to my surprise,
his interest seemed vividly excited. I say to my surprise, for, although
he had always yielded his person freely to my experiments, he had never
before given me any tokens of sympathy with what I did. His disease was
of that character which would admit of exact calculation in respect
to the epoch of its termination in death; and it was finally arranged
between us that he would send for me about twenty-four hours before the
period announced by his physicians as that of his decease.

It is now rather more than seven months since I received, from M.
Valdemar himself, the subjoined note:

My DEAR P---,

You may as well come now. D---- and F---- are agreed that I cannot hold out
beyond to-morrow midnight; and I think they have hit the time very
nearly.

VALDEMAR

I received this note within half an hour after it was written, and in
fifteen minutes more I was in the dying man’s chamber. I had not seen
him for ten days, and was appalled by the fearful alteration which the
brief interval had wrought in him. His face wore a leaden hue; the eyes
were utterly lustreless; and the emaciation was so extreme that the
skin had been broken through by the cheek-bones. His expectoration was
excessive. The pulse was barely perceptible. He retained, nevertheless,
in a very remarkable manner, both his mental power and a certain degree
of physical strength. He spoke with distinctness--took some palliative
medicines without aid--and, when I entered the room, was occupied in
penciling memoranda in a pocket-book. He was propped up in the bed by
pillows. Doctors D---- and F---- were in attendance.

After pressing Valdemar’s hand, I took these gentlemen aside, and
obtained from them a minute account of the patient’s condition. The left
lung had been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or cartilaginous
state, and was, of course, entirely useless for all purposes of
vitality. The right, in its upper portion, was also partially, if
not thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region was merely a mass
of purulent tubercles, running one into another. Several extensive
perforations existed; and, at one point, permanent adhesion to the
ribs had taken place. These appearances in the right lobe were of
comparatively recent date. The ossification had proceeded with very
unusual rapidity; no sign of it had been discovered a month before, and
the adhesion had only been observed during the three previous days.
Independently of the phthisis, the patient was suspected of aneurism
of the aorta; but on this point the osseous symptoms rendered an exact
diagnosis impossible. It was the opinion of both physicians that M.
Valdemar would die about midnight on the morrow (Sunday). It was then
seven o’clock on Saturday evening.

On quitting the invalid’s bed-side to hold conversation with myself,
Doctors D---- and F---- had bidden him a final farewell. It had not been their
intention to return; but, at my request, they agreed to look in upon the
patient about ten the next night.

When they had gone, I spoke freely with M. Valdemar on the subject
of his approaching dissolution, as well as, more particularly, of the
experiment proposed. He still professed himself quite willing and even
anxious to have it made, and urged me to commence it at once. A male and
a female nurse were in attendance; but I did not feel myself altogether
at liberty to engage in a task of this character with no more reliable
witnesses than these people, in case of sudden accident, might prove.
I therefore postponed operations until about eight the next night, when
the arrival of a medical student with whom I had some acquaintance, (Mr.
Theodore L--l,) relieved me from farther embarrassment. It had been my
design, originally, to wait for the physicians; but I was induced to
proceed, first, by the urgent entreaties of M. Valdemar, and secondly,
by my conviction that I had not a moment to lose, as he was evidently
sinking fast.

Mr. L--l was so kind as to accede to my desire that he would take notes
of all that occurred, and it is from his memoranda that what I now have
to relate is, for the most part, either condensed or copied verbatim.

It wanted about five minutes of eight when, taking the patient’s hand, I
begged him to state, as distinctly as he could, to Mr. L--l, whether he
(M. Valdemar) was entirely willing that I should make the experiment of
mesmerizing him in his then condition.

He replied feebly, yet quite audibly, “Yes, I wish to be. I fear you
have mesmerized”--adding immediately afterwards, “deferred it too long.”

While he spoke thus, I commenced the passes which I had already found
most effectual in subduing him. He was evidently influenced with the
first lateral stroke of my hand across his forehead; but although I
exerted all my powers, no further perceptible effect was induced
until some minutes after ten o’clock, when Doctors D-- and F-- called,
according to appointment. I explained to them, in a few words, what I
designed, and as they opposed no objection, saying that the patient was
already in the death agony, I proceeded without hesitation--exchanging,
however, the lateral passes for downward ones, and directing my gaze
entirely into the right eye of the sufferer.

By this time his pulse was imperceptible and his breathing was
stertorous, and at intervals of half a minute.

This condition was nearly unaltered for a quarter of an hour. At the
expiration of this period, however, a natural although a very deep
sigh escaped the bosom of the dying man, and the stertorous breathing
ceased--that is to say, its stertorousness was no longer apparent; the
intervals were undiminished. The patient’s extremities were of an icy
coldness.

At five minutes before eleven I perceived unequivocal signs of the
mesmeric influence. The glassy roll of the eye was changed for that
expression of uneasy inward examination which is never seen except in
cases of sleep-waking, and which it is quite impossible to mistake.
With a few rapid lateral passes I made the lids quiver, as in incipient
sleep, and with a few more I closed them altogether. I was not
satisfied, however, with this, but continued the manipulations
vigorously, and with the fullest exertion of the will, until I had
completely stiffened the limbs of the slumberer, after placing them in
a seemingly easy position. The legs were at full length; the arms were
nearly so, and reposed on the bed at a moderate distance from the loin.
The head was very slightly elevated.

When I had accomplished this, it was fully midnight, and I requested
the gentlemen present to examine M. Valdemar’s condition. After a few
experiments, they admitted him to be an unusually perfect state of
mesmeric trance. The curiosity of both the physicians was greatly
excited. Dr. D---- resolved at once to remain with the patient all
night, while Dr. F---- took leave with a promise to return at daybreak.
Mr. L--l and the nurses remained.

We left M. Valdemar entirely undisturbed until about three o’clock in
the morning, when I approached him and found him in precisely the same
condition as when Dr. F--went away--that is to say, he lay in the
same position; the pulse was imperceptible; the breathing was gentle
(scarcely noticeable, unless through the application of a mirror to the
lips); the eyes were closed naturally; and the limbs were as rigid and
as cold as marble. Still, the general appearance was certainly not that
of death.

As I approached M. Valdemar I made a kind of half effort to influence
his right arm into pursuit of my own, as I passed the latter gently
to and fro above his person. In such experiments with this patient I had
never perfectly succeeded before, and assuredly I had little thought of
succeeding now; but to my astonishment, his arm very readily, although
feebly, followed every direction I assigned it with mine. I determined
to hazard a few words of conversation.

“M. Valdemar,” I said, “are you asleep?” He made no answer, but I
perceived a tremor about the lips, and was thus induced to repeat the
question, again and again. At its third repetition, his whole frame was
agitated by a very slight shivering; the eyelids unclosed themselves so
far as to display a white line of the ball; the lips moved sluggishly,
and from between them, in a barely audible whisper, issued the words:

“Yes;--asleep now. Do not wake me!--let me die so!”

I here felt the limbs and found them as rigid as ever. The right arm,
as before, obeyed the direction of my hand. I questioned the sleep-waker
again:

“Do you still feel pain in the breast, M. Valdemar?”

The answer now was immediate, but even less audible than before: “No
pain--I am dying.”

I did not think it advisable to disturb him farther just then, and
nothing more was said or done until the arrival of Dr. F--, who came a
little before sunrise, and expressed unbounded astonishment at finding
the patient still alive. After feeling the pulse and applying a mirror
to the lips, he requested me to speak to the sleep-waker again. I did
so, saying:

“M. Valdemar, do you still sleep?”

As before, some minutes elapsed ere a reply was made; and during the
interval the dying man seemed to be collecting his energies to speak.
At my fourth repetition of the question, he said very faintly, almost
inaudibly:

“Yes; still asleep--dying.”

It was now the opinion, or rather the wish, of the physicians, that
M. Valdemar should be suffered to remain undisturbed in his present
apparently tranquil condition, until death should supervene--and this,
it was generally agreed, must now take place within a few minutes. I
concluded, however, to speak to him once more, and merely repeated my
previous question.

While I spoke, there came a marked change over the countenance of
the sleep-waker. The eyes rolled themselves slowly open, the pupils
disappearing upwardly; the skin generally assumed a cadaverous hue,
resembling not so much parchment as white paper; and the circular hectic
spots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of each
cheek, went out at once. I use this expression, because the
suddenness of their departure put me in mind of nothing so much as the
extinguishment of a candle by a puff of the breath. The upper lip,
at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth, which it had
previously covered completely; while the lower jaw fell with an audible
jerk, leaving the mouth widely extended, and disclosing in full view the
swollen and blackened tongue. I presume that no member of the party
then present had been unaccustomed to death-bed horrors; but so hideous
beyond conception was the appearance of M. Valdemar at this moment, that
there was a general shrinking back from the region of the bed.

I now feel that I have reached a point of this narrative at which every
reader will be startled into positive disbelief. It is my business,
however, simply to proceed.

There was no longer the faintest sign of vitality in M. Valdemar; and
concluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of the
nurses, when a strong vibratory motion was observable in the tongue.
This continued for perhaps a minute. At the expiration of this period,
there issued from the distended and motionless jaws a voice--such as it
would be madness in me to attempt describing. There are, indeed, two or
three epithets which might be considered as applicable to it in part; I
might say, for example, that the sound was harsh, and broken and hollow;
but the hideous whole is indescribable, for the simple reason that no
similar sounds have ever jarred upon the ear of humanity. There were two
particulars, nevertheless, which I thought then, and still think, might
fairly be stated as characteristic of the intonation--as well adapted to
convey some idea of its unearthly peculiarity. In the first place, the
voice seemed to reach our ears--at least mine--from a vast distance,
or from some deep cavern within the earth. In the second place, it
impressed me (I fear, indeed, that it will be impossible to make myself
comprehended) as gelatinous or glutinous matters impress the sense of
touch.

I have spoken both of “sound” and of “voice.” I mean to say that
the sound was one of distinct--of even wonderfully, thrillingly
distinct--syllabification. M. Valdemar spoke--obviously in reply to the
question I had propounded to him a few minutes before. I had asked him,
it will be remembered, if he still slept. He now said:

“Yes;--no;--I have been sleeping--and now--now--I am dead.”

No person present even affected to deny, or attempted to repress, the
unutterable, shuddering horror which these few words, thus uttered, were
so well calculated to convey. Mr. L--l (the student) swooned. The nurses
immediately left the chamber, and could not be induced to return. My own
impressions I would not pretend to render intelligible to the reader.
For nearly an hour, we busied ourselves, silently--without the utterance
of a word--in endeavors to revive Mr. L--l. When he came to himself,
we addressed ourselves again to an investigation of M. Valdemar’s
condition.

It remained in all respects as I have last described it, with the
exception that the mirror no longer afforded evidence of respiration. An
attempt to draw blood from the arm failed. I should mention, too, that
this limb was no farther subject to my will. I endeavored in vain to
make it follow the direction of my hand. The only real indication,
indeed, of the mesmeric influence, was now found in the vibratory
movement of the tongue, whenever I addressed M. Valdemar a question.
He seemed to be making an effort to reply, but had no longer sufficient
volition. To queries put to him by any other person than myself he
seemed utterly insensible--although I endeavored to place each member
of the company in mesmeric rapport with him. I believe that I have now
related all that is necessary to an understanding of the sleep-waker’s
state at this epoch. Other nurses were procured; and at ten o’clock I
left the house in company with the two physicians and Mr. L--l.

In the afternoon we all called again to see the patient. His condition
remained precisely the same. We had now some discussion as to the
propriety and feasibility of awakening him; but we had little difficulty
in agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It was
evident that, so far, death (or what is usually termed death) had been
arrested by the mesmeric process. It seemed clear to us all that to
awaken M. Valdemar would be merely to insure his instant, or at least
his speedy dissolution.

From this period until the close of last week--an interval of nearly
seven months--we continued to make daily calls at M. Valdemar’s house,
accompanied, now and then, by medical and other friends. All this time
the sleeper-waker remained exactly as I have last described him. The
nurses’ attentions were continual.

It was on Friday last that we finally resolved to make the experiment
of awakening or attempting to awaken him; and it is the (perhaps)
unfortunate result of this latter experiment which has given rise to
so much discussion in private circles--to so much of what I cannot help
thinking unwarranted popular feeling.

For the purpose of relieving M. Valdemar from the mesmeric trance, I
made use of the customary passes. These, for a time, were unsuccessful.
The first indication of revival was afforded by a partial descent of the
iris. It was observed, as especially remarkable, that this lowering
of the pupil was accompanied by the profuse out-flowing of a yellowish
ichor (from beneath the lids) of a pungent and highly offensive odor.

It was now suggested that I should attempt to influence the patient’s
arm, as heretofore. I made the attempt and failed. Dr. F--then intimated
a desire to have me put a question. I did so, as follows:

“M. Valdemar, can you explain to us what are your feelings or wishes
now?”

There was an instant return of the hectic circles on the cheeks; the
tongue quivered, or rather rolled violently in the mouth (although the
jaws and lips remained rigid as before;) and at length the same hideous
voice which I have already described, broke forth:

“For God’s sake!--quick!--quick!--put me to sleep--or, quick!--waken
me!--quick!--I say to you that I am dead!”

I was thoroughly unnerved, and for an instant remained undecided what to
do. At first I made an endeavor to re-compose the patient; but, failing
in this through total abeyance of the will, I retraced my steps and as
earnestly struggled to awaken him. In this attempt I soon saw that I
should be successful--or at least I soon fancied that my success would
be complete--and I am sure that all in the room were prepared to see the
patient awaken.

For what really occurred, however, it is quite impossible that any human
being could have been prepared.

As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes, amid ejaculations of “dead!
dead!” absolutely bursting from the tongue and not from the lips of the
sufferer, his whole frame at once--within the space of a single minute,
or even less, shrunk--crumbled--absolutely rotted away beneath my hands.
Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay a nearly liquid mass
of loathsome--of detestable putridity.



THE BLACK CAT.

FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I
neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it,
in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I
not--and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day
I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before
the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of
mere household events. In their consequences, these events have
terrified--have tortured--have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to
expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror--to many
they will seem less terrible than _barroques_. Hereafter, perhaps,
some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the
common-place--some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less
excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I
detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very
natural causes and effects.

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my
disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make
me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was
indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent
most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing
them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my
manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To
those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious
dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the
intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the
unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly
to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry
friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere _Man_.

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not
uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she
lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We
had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and _a cat_.

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black,
and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence,
my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition,
made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all
black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever _serious_ upon
this point--and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than
that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Pluto--this was the cat’s name--was my favorite pet and playmate. I
alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It
was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me
through the streets.

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which
my general temperament and character--through the instrumentality of the
Fiend Intemperance--had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical
alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more
irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself
to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her
personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change
in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For
Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from
maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the
monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they
came in my way. But my disease grew upon me--for what disease is like
Alcohol!--and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and
consequently somewhat peevish--even Pluto began to experience the
effects of my ill temper.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about
town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in
his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with
his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself
no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my
body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every
fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened
it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of
its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the
damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning--when I had slept off the fumes of
the night’s debauch--I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of
remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best,
a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again
plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye
presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared
to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be
expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my
old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on
the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling
soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and
irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit
philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives,
than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the
human heart--one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments,
which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred
times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other
reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual
inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which
is _Law_, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit
of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this
unfathomable longing of the soul _to vex itself_--to offer violence to
its own nature--to do wrong for the wrong’s sake only--that urged me to
continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the
unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about
its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree;--hung it with the
tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my
heart;--hung it _because_ I knew that it had loved me, and _because_
I felt it had given me no reason of offence;--hung it _because_ I knew
that in so doing I was committing a sin--a deadly sin that would
so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it--if such a thing wore
possible--even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most
Merciful and Most Terrible God.

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused
from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames.
The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife,
a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The
destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and
I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause
and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a
chain of facts--and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect.
On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with
one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment
wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and
against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here,
in great measure, resisted the action of the fire--a fact which I
attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a
dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a
particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The
words “strange!” “singular!” and other similar expressions, excited my
curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in _bas relief_ upon the
white surface, the figure of a gigantic _cat_. The impression was given
with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal’s
neck.

When I first beheld this apparition--for I could scarcely regard it as
less--my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection
came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden
adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been
immediately filled by the crowd--by some one of whom the animal must
have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my
chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me
from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my
cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of
which, with the flames, and the _ammonia_ from the carcass, had then
accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my
conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less
fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid
myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came
back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse.
I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me,
among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet
of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to
supply its place.

One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my
attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon
the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which
constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking
steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now
caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the
object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was
a black cat--a very large one--fully as large as Pluto, and closely
resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon
any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite
splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. Upon
my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my
hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very
creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it
of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it--knew nothing of
it--had never seen it before.

I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal
evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so;
occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached
the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great
favorite with my wife.

For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This
was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but--I know not how
or why it was--its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and
annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose
into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense
of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing
me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or
otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually--very gradually--I came
to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its
odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.

What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on
the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been
deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared
it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree,
that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait,
and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.

With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed
to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would
be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would
crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its
loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and
thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my
dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although
I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing,
partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly--let me confess it at
once--by absolute dread of the beast.

This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil--and yet I should be
at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own--yes,
even in this felon’s cell, I am almost ashamed to own--that the terror
and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one
of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had
called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of
white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole
visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had
destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had
been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees--degrees nearly
imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject
as fanciful--it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of
outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to
name--and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have
rid myself of the monster _had I dared_--it was now, I say, the image
of a hideous--of a ghastly thing--of the GALLOWS!--oh, mournful and
terrible engine of Horror and of Crime--of Agony and of Death!

And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity.
And _a brute beast _--whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed--_a
brute beast_ to work out for _me_--for me a man, fashioned in the image
of the High God--so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor
by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the
creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly,
from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of _the thing_
upon my face, and its vast weight--an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no
power to shake off--incumbent eternally upon my _heart!_

Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant
of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole
intimates--the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of
my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind;
while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury
to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas!
was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar
of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat
followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong,
exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my
wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a
blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal
had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of
my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal,
I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She
fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.

This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with
entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I
could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without
the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered
my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute
fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig
a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about
casting it in the well in the yard--about packing it in a box, as if
merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to
take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far
better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the
cellar--as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up
their victims.

For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were
loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a
rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from
hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by
a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to
resemble the red of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily
displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole
up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious. And in
this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily
dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against
the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little
trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having
procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I
prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and
with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had
finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present
the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on
the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around
triumphantly, and said to myself--“Here at least, then, my labor has not
been in vain.”

My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so
much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to
death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have
been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had
been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to
present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to
imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the
detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its
appearance during the night--and thus for one night at least, since its
introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept
even with the burden of murder upon my soul!

The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not.
Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the
premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme!
The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries
had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had
been instituted--but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked
upon my future felicity as secured.

Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came,
very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous
investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of
my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers
bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner
unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into
the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of
one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I
folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police
were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart
was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by
way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my
guiltlessness.

“Gentlemen,” I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, “I delight
to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little
more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this--this is a very well
constructed house.” [In the rabid desire to say something easily, I
scarcely knew what I uttered at all.]--“I may say an _excellently_ well
constructed house. These walls--are you going, gentlemen?--these walls
are solidly put together;” and here, through the mere phrenzy of
bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon
that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the
wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend! No
sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was
answered by a voice from within the tomb!--by a cry, at first muffled
and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into
one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman--a
howl--a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as
might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the
dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to
the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained
motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen
stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already
greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of
the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye
of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder,
and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled
the monster up within the tomb!



THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

     Son coeur est un luth suspendu;
     Sitôt qu’on le touche il rèsonne..

                             _  De Béranger_.

DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the
year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had
been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of
country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew
on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how
it was--but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of
insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the
feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic,
sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest
natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene
before me--upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the
domain--upon the bleak walls--upon the vacant eye-like windows--upon a
few rank sedges--and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees--with an
utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation
more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium--the
bitter lapse into everyday life--the hideous dropping off of the veil.
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart--an unredeemed
dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture
into aught of the sublime. What was it--I paused to think--what was it
that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a
mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that
crowded upon me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the
unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there _are_
combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus
affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations
beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different
arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the
picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its
capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined
my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in
unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down--but with a shudder
even more thrilling than before--upon the remodelled and inverted images
of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and
eye-like windows.

Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a
sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of
my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our last
meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a distant part of
the country--a letter from him--which, in its wildly importunate nature,
had admitted of no other than a personal reply. The MS. gave evidence of
nervous agitation. The writer spoke of acute bodily illness--of a mental
disorder which oppressed him--and of an earnest desire to see me, as his
best, and indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by
the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It
was the manner in which all this, and much more, was said--it was the
apparent _heart_ that went with his request--which allowed me no
room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still
considered a very singular summons.

Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really
knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always excessive and
habitual. I was aware, however, that his very ancient family had been
noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sensibility of temperament,
displaying itself, through long ages, in many works of exalted art, and
manifested, of late, in repeated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusive
charity, as well as in a passionate devotion to the intricacies, perhaps
even more than to the orthodox and easily recognisable beauties, of
musical science. I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the
stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no
period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay
in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and
very temporary variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, I considered,
while running over in thought the perfect keeping of the character of
the premises with the accredited character of the people, and while
speculating upon the possible influence which the one, in the long
lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon the other--it was this
deficiency, perhaps, of collateral issue, and the consequent undeviating
transmission, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which
had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title
of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation of the “House
of Usher”--an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the
peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion.

I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish
experiment--that of looking down within the tarn--had been to deepen the
first singular impression. There can be no doubt that the consciousness
of the rapid increase of my superstition--for why should I not so term
it?--served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have
long known, is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a
basis. And it might have been for this reason only, that, when I again
uplifted my eyes to the house itself, from its image in the pool, there
grew in my mind a strange fancy--a fancy so ridiculous, indeed, that I
but mention it to show the vivid force of the sensations which oppressed
me. I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that
about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar
to themselves and their immediate vicinity--an atmosphere which had
no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the
decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn--a pestilent and
mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.

Shaking off from my spirit what _must_ have been a dream, I scanned more
narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its principal feature seemed
to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been
great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine
tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any
extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and
there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect
adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual
stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality
of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected
vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond
this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little
token of instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might
have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the
roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag
direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.

Noticing these things, I rode over a short causeway to the house. A
servant in waiting took my horse, and I entered the Gothic archway of
the hall. A valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in silence,
through many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the _studio_
of his master. Much that I encountered on the way contributed, I know
not how, to heighten the vague sentiments of which I have already
spoken. While the objects around me--while the carvings of the ceilings,
the sombre tapestries of the walls, the ebon blackness of the floors,
and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies which rattled as I strode, were
but matters to which, or to such as which, I had been accustomed from my
infancy--while I hesitated not to acknowledge how familiar was all
this--I still wondered to find how unfamiliar were the fancies which
ordinary images were stirring up. On one of the staircases, I met the
physician of the family. His countenance, I thought, wore a mingled
expression of low cunning and perplexity. He accosted me with
trepidation and passed on. The valet now threw open a door and ushered
me into the presence of his master.

The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows
were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black
oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams
of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellissed panes,
and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects
around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles
of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling.
Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse,
comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments
lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I
felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and
irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a sofa on which he had been lying at
full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth which had much in
it, I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality--of the constrained
effort of the _ennuyé_ man of the world. A glance, however, at his
countenance, convinced me of his perfect sincerity. We sat down; and for
some moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him with a feeling half
of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered,
in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that
I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me
with the companion of my early boyhood. Yet the character of his face
had been at all times remarkable. A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye
large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and
very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a
delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar
formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence,
of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and
tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions
of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be
forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing character
of these features, and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay
so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke. The now ghastly pallor
of the skin, and the now miraculous lustre of the eye, above all things
startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to
grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated
rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect
its Arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity.

In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an incoherence--an
inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble
and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy--an excessive
nervous agitation. For something of this nature I had indeed been
prepared, no less by his letter, than by reminiscences of certain
boyish traits, and by conclusions deduced from his peculiar physical
conformation and temperament. His action was alternately vivacious and
sullen. His voice varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the
animal spirits seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic
concision--that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, and hollow-sounding
enunciation--that leaden, self-balanced and perfectly modulated
guttural utterance, which may be observed in the lost drunkard, or the
irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of his most intense
excitement.

It was thus that he spoke of the object of my visit, of his earnest
desire to see me, and of the solace he expected me to afford him. He
entered, at some length, into what he conceived to be the nature of his
malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one
for which he despaired to find a remedy--a mere nervous affection, he
immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed
itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as he detailed
them, interested and bewildered me; although, perhaps, the terms, and
the general manner of the narration had their weight. He suffered much
from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone
endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors
of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint
light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed
instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.

To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave. “I shall
perish,” said he, “I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus,
and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future,
not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought
of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this
intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger,
except in its absolute effect--in terror. In this unnerved--in this
pitiable condition--I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive
when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the
grim phantasm, FEAR.”

I learned, moreover, at intervals, and through broken and equivocal
hints, another singular feature of his mental condition. He was
enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling
which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he had never ventured
forth--in regard to an influence whose supposititious force was conveyed
in terms too shadowy here to be re-stated--an influence which some
peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion, had,
by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit--an effect
which the _physique_ of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn
into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the
_morale_ of his existence.

He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the
peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more
natural and far more palpable origin--to the severe and long-continued
illness--indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution--of a tenderly
beloved sister--his sole companion for long years--his last and only
relative on earth. “Her decease,” he said, with a bitterness which I can
never forget, “would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last
of the ancient race of the Ushers.” While he spoke, the lady Madeline
(for so was she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the
apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I
regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread--and
yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of
stupor oppressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a
door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and
eagerly the countenance of the brother--but he had buried his face
in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary
wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many
passionate tears.

The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her
physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person,
and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical
character, were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had steadily borne
up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself
finally to bed; but, on the closing in of the evening of my arrival
at the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at night with
inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer;
and I learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus
probably be the last I should obtain--that the lady, at least while
living, would be seen by me no more.

For several days ensuing, her name was unmentioned by either Usher or
myself: and during this period I was busied in earnest endeavors to
alleviate the melancholy of my friend. We painted and read together; or
I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of his speaking
guitar. And thus, as a closer and still closer intimacy admitted me more
unreservedly into the recesses of his spirit, the more bitterly did
I perceive the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which
darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all
objects of the moral and physical universe, in one unceasing radiation
of gloom.

I shall ever bear about me a memory of the many solemn hours I thus
spent alone with the master of the House of Usher. Yet I should fail in
any attempt to convey an idea of the exact character of the studies,
or of the occupations, in which he involved me, or led me the way. An
excited and highly distempered ideality threw a sulphureous lustre over
all. His long improvised dirges will ring forever in my ears. Among
other things, I hold painfully in mind a certain singular perversion and
amplification of the wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber. From the
paintings over which his elaborate fancy brooded, and which grew, touch
by touch, into vaguenesses at which I shuddered the more thrillingly,
because I shuddered knowing not why;--from these paintings (vivid as
their images now are before me) I would in vain endeavor to educe more
than a small portion which should lie within the compass of merely
written words. By the utter simplicity, by the nakedness of his designs,
he arrested and overawed attention. If ever mortal painted an idea, that
mortal was Roderick Usher. For me at least--in the circumstances then
surrounding me--there arose out of the pure abstractions which the
hypochondriac contrived to throw upon his canvass, an intensity of
intolerable awe, no shadow of which felt I ever yet in the contemplation
of the certainly glowing yet too concrete reveries of Fuseli.

One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend, partaking not so
rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although
feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely
long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and
without interruption or device. Certain accessory points of the design
served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at an exceeding
depth below the surface of the earth. No outlet was observed in any
portion of its vast extent, and no torch, or other artificial source of
light was discernible; yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout,
and bathed the whole in a ghastly and inappropriate splendor.

I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve which
rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the exception of
certain effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps, the narrow
limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar, which gave
birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his performances.
But the fervid _facility_ of his _impromptus_ could not be so accounted
for. They must have been, and were, in the notes, as well as in the
words of his wild fantasias (for he not unfrequently accompanied himself
with rhymed verbal improvisations), the result of that intense mental
collectedness and concentration to which I have previously alluded
as observable only in particular moments of the highest artificial
excitement. The words of one of these rhapsodies I have easily
remembered. I was, perhaps, the more forcibly impressed with it, as
he gave it, because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning, I
fancied that I perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness
on the part of Usher, of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her
throne. The verses, which were entitled “The Haunted Palace,” ran very
nearly, if not accurately, thus:

                         I.
     In the greenest of our valleys,
         By good angels tenanted,
     Once a fair and stately palace--
         Radiant palace--reared its head.
     In the monarch Thought’s dominion--
         It stood there!
     Never seraph spread a pinion
         Over fabric half so fair.
                         II.
     Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
         On its roof did float and flow;
     (This--all this--was in the olden
         Time long ago)
     And every gentle air that dallied,
         In that sweet day,
     Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
         A winged odor went away.
                         III.
     Wanderers in that happy valley
         Through two luminous windows saw
     Spirits moving musically
         To a lute’s well-tunéd law,
     Round about a throne, where sitting
         (Porphyrogene!)
     In state his glory well befitting,
         The ruler of the realm was seen.
                          IV.
     And all with pearl and ruby glowing
         Was the fair palace door,
     Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
         And sparkling evermore,
     A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
         Was but to sing,
     In voices of surpassing beauty,
         The wit and wisdom of their king.
                         V.
     But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
         Assailed the monarch’s high estate;
     (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
         Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
     And, round about his home, the glory
         That blushed and bloomed
     Is but a dim-remembered story
         Of the old time entombed.
                         VI.
     And travellers now within that valley,
         Through the red-litten windows, see
     Vast forms that move fantastically
         To a discordant melody;
     While, like a rapid ghastly river,
         Through the pale door,
     A hideous throng rush out forever,
         And laugh--but smile no more.

I well remember that suggestions arising from this ballad, led us into
a train of thought wherein there became manifest an opinion of Usher’s
which I mention not so much on account of its novelty, (for other men
* have thought thus,) as on account of the pertinacity with which
he maintained it. This opinion, in its general form, was that of the
sentience of all vegetable things. But, in his disordered fancy, the
idea had assumed a more daring character, and trespassed, under certain
conditions, upon the kingdom of inorganization. I lack words to express
the full extent, or the earnest _abandon_ of his persuasion. The belief,
however, was connected (as I have previously hinted) with the gray
stones of the home of his forefathers. The conditions of the sentience
had been here, he imagined, fulfilled in the method of collocation of
these stones--in the order of their arrangement, as well as in that of
the many _fungi_ which overspread them, and of the decayed trees which
stood around--above all, in the long undisturbed endurance of this
arrangement, and in its reduplication in the still waters of the tarn.
Its evidence--the evidence of the sentience--was to be seen, he
said, (and I here started as he spoke,) in the gradual yet certain
condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the
walls. The result was discoverable, he added, in that silent, yet
importunate and terrible influence which for centuries had moulded the
destinies of his family, and which made _him_ what I now saw him--what
he was. Such opinions need no comment, and I will make none.

* Watson, Dr. Percival, Spallanzani, and especially the Bishop of
Landaff.--See “Chemical Essays,” vol v.

Our books--the books which, for years, had formed no small portion of
the mental existence of the invalid--were, as might be supposed, in
strict keeping with this character of phantasm. We pored together over
such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset; the Belphegor of
Machiavelli; the Heaven and Hell of Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage
of Nicholas Klimm by Holberg; the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean
D’Indaginé, and of De la Chambre; the Journey into the Blue Distance of
Tieck; and the City of the Sun of Campanella. One favorite volume was
a small octavo edition of the _Directorium Inquisitorium_, by the
Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela,
about the old African Satyrs and OEgipans, over which Usher would sit
dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in the perusal
of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic--the manual of
a forgotten church--the _Vigiliae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae
Maguntinae_.

I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its
probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening, having
informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he stated his
intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its
final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls
of the building. The worldly reason, however, assigned for this singular
proceeding, was one which I did not feel at liberty to dispute. The
brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by consideration
of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain
obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the
remote and exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family. I will
not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the
person whom I met upon the staircase, on the day of my arrival at
the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a
harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution.

At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for
the temporary entombment. The body having been encoffined, we two alone
bore it to its rest. The vault in which we placed it (and which had
been so long unopened that our torches, half smothered in its oppressive
atmosphere, gave us little opportunity for investigation) was small,
damp, and entirely without means of admission for light; lying, at great
depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which was my
own sleeping apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote feudal
times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, and, in later days, as a
place of deposit for powder, or some other highly combustible substance,
as a portion of its floor, and the whole interior of a long archway
through which we reached it, were carefully sheathed with copper. The
door, of massive iron, had been, also, similarly protected. Its immense
weight caused an unusually sharp grating sound, as it moved upon its
hinges.

Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of
horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin,
and looked upon the face of the tenant. A striking similitude between
the brother and sister now first arrested my attention; and Usher,
divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured out some few words from which
I learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that
sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between
them. Our glances, however, rested not long upon the dead--for we could
not regard her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in
the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly
cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and
the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is
so terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the lid, and, having
secured the door of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely
less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of the house.

And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change
came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His
ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were neglected or
forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and
objectless step. The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible,
a more ghastly hue--but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone
out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and a
tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually characterized
his utterance. There were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly
agitated mind was laboring with some oppressive secret, to divulge which
he struggled for the necessary courage. At times, again, I was obliged
to resolve all into the mere inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I
beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the
profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was
no wonder that his condition terrified--that it infected me. I felt
creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of
his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions.

It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the
seventh or eighth day after the placing of the lady Madeline within the
donjon, that I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep came
not near my couch--while the hours waned and waned away. I struggled to
reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me. I endeavored to
believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering
influence of the gloomy furniture of the room--of the dark and tattered
draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising
tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily
about the decorations of the bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An
irrepressible tremor gradually pervaded my frame; and, at length, there
sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking
this off with a gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows,
and, peering earnestly within the intense darkness of the chamber,
harkened--I know not why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted
me--to certain low and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses
of the storm, at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an
intense sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on
my clothes with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more during the
night), and endeavored to arouse myself from the pitiable condition into
which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the apartment.

I had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light step on an
adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently recognised it as
that of Usher. In an instant afterward he rapped, with a gentle touch,
at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His countenance was, as usual,
cadaverously wan--but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in
his eyes--an evidently restrained _hysteria_ in his whole demeanor. His
air appalled me--but anything was preferable to the solitude which I had
so long endured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief.

“And you have not seen it?” he said abruptly, after having stared about
him for some moments in silence--“you have not then seen it?--but, stay!
you shall.” Thus speaking, and having carefully shaded his lamp, he
hurried to one of the casements, and threw it freely open to the storm.

The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet.
It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one
wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently
collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent
alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of
the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house)
did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they
flew careering from all points against each other, without passing
away into the distance. I say that even their exceeding density did
not prevent our perceiving this--yet we had no glimpse of the moon or
stars--nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the
under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all
terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural
light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation
which hung about and enshrouded the mansion.

“You must not--you shall not behold this!” said I, shudderingly, to
Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to a seat.
“These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phenomena
not uncommon--or it may be that they have their ghastly origin in
the rank miasma of the tarn. Let us close this casement;--the air is
chilling and dangerous to your frame. Here is one of your favorite
romances. I will read, and you shall listen;--and so we will pass away
this terrible night together.”

The antique volume which I had taken up was the “Mad Trist” of Sir
Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favorite of Usher’s more in sad
jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and
unimaginative prolixity which could have had interest for the lofty
and spiritual ideality of my friend. It was, however, the only book
immediately at hand; and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement
which now agitated the hypochondriac, might find relief (for the history
of mental disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness
of the folly which I should read. Could I have judged, indeed, by the
wild overstrained air of vivacity with which he harkened, or apparently
harkened, to the words of the tale, I might well have congratulated
myself upon the success of my design.

I had arrived at that well-known portion of the story where Ethelred,
the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for peaceable admission
into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to make good an entrance by
force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of the narrative run thus:

“And Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty heart, and who was now
mighty withal, on account of the powerfulness of the wine which he had
drunken, waited no longer to hold parley with the hermit, who, in sooth,
was of an obstinate and maliceful turn, but, feeling the rain upon his
shoulders, and fearing the rising of the tempest, uplifted his mace
outright, and, with blows, made quickly room in the plankings of the
door for his gauntleted hand; and now pulling therewith sturdily, he so
cracked, and ripped, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and
hollow-sounding wood alarummed and reverberated throughout the forest.”

At the termination of this sentence I started, and for a moment, paused;
for it appeared to me (although I at once concluded that my excited
fancy had deceived me)--it appeared to me that, from some very remote
portion of the mansion, there came, indistinctly, to my ears, what might
have been, in its exact similarity of character, the echo (but a stifled
and dull one certainly) of the very cracking and ripping sound which
Sir Launcelot had so particularly described. It was, beyond doubt,
the coincidence alone which had arrested my attention; for, amid the
rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordinary commingled
noises of the still increasing storm, the sound, in itself, had nothing,
surely, which should have interested or disturbed me. I continued the
story:

“But the good champion Ethelred, now entering within the door, was sore
enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the maliceful hermit; but,
in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanor, and
of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace of gold, with a
floor of silver; and upon the wall there hung a shield of shining brass
with this legend enwritten--

     Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin;
     Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win;

And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the dragon,
which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with a shriek so
horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had fain to
close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it, the like
whereof was never before heard.”

Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a feeling of wild
amazement--for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this instance,
I did actually hear (although from what direction it proceeded I
found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant, but harsh,
protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound--the exact
counterpart of what my fancy had already conjured up for the dragon’s
unnatural shriek as described by the romancer.

Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of this second and
most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting sensations,
in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still retained
sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any observation, the
sensitive nervousness of my companion. I was by no means certain that
he had noticed the sounds in question; although, assuredly, a strange
alteration had, during the last few minutes, taken place in his
demeanor. From a position fronting my own, he had gradually brought
round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door of the chamber;
and thus I could but partially perceive his features, although I saw
that his lips trembled as if he were murmuring inaudibly. His head had
dropped upon his breast--yet I knew that he was not asleep, from the
wide and rigid opening of the eye as I caught a glance of it in profile.
The motion of his body, too, was at variance with this idea--for he
rocked from side to side with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway.
Having rapidly taken notice of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir
Launcelot, which thus proceeded:

“And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury of the
dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the breaking up
of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass from out of
the way before him, and approached valorously over the silver pavement
of the castle to where the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth
tarried not for his full coming, but feel down at his feet upon the
silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound.”

No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than--as if a shield
of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of
silver--I became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous,
yet apparently muffled reverberation. Completely unnerved, I leaped to
my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed. I
rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly
before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony
rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a
strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his
lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur,
as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I at length
drank in the hideous import of his words.

“Not hear it?--yes, I hear it, and _have_ heard it.
Long--long--long--many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard
it--yet I dared not--oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am!--I dared
not--I _dared_ not speak! _We have put her living in the tomb!_ Said I
not that my senses were acute? I _now_ tell you that I heard her first
feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them--many,
many days ago--yet I dared not--_I dared not speak!_ And
now--to-night--Ethelred--ha! ha!--the breaking of the hermit’s door,
and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangor of the shield!--say,
rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of
her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault!
Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying
to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair?
Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart?
Madman!”--here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his
syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul--“_Madman!
I tell you that she now stands without the door!_”

As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found
the potency of a spell--the huge antique pannels to which the speaker
pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and ebony
jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust--but then without those doors
there _did_ stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline
of Usher. There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some
bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment
she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold--then,
with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her
brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the
floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.

From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. The storm
was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old
causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned
to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house
and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full,
setting, and blood-red moon, which now shone vividly through that once
barely-discernible fissure, of which I have before spoken as extending
from the roof of the building, in a zigzag direction, to the base. While
I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened--there came a fierce breath of
the whirlwind--the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my
sight--my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder--there
was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand
waters--and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and
silently over the fragments of the “_House of Usher_.”



SILENCE--A FABLE

     ALCMAN. The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and
     caves are silent.

“LISTEN to me,” said the Demon as he placed his hand upon my head. “The
region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the borders of
the river Zaire. And there is no quiet there, nor silence.

“The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue; and they flow
not onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the
red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion. For many
miles on either side of the river’s oozy bed is a pale desert of
gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude,
and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and nod to
and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which
cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And
they sigh one unto the other.

“But there is a boundary to their realm--the boundary of the dark,
horrible, lofty forest. There, like the waves about the Hebrides, the
low underwood is agitated continually. But there is no wind throughout
the heaven. And the tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and
thither with a crashing and mighty sound. And from their high summits,
one by one, drop everlasting dews. And at the roots strange poisonous
flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And overhead, with a rustling
and loud noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly forever, until they
roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall of the horizon. But there is no
wind throughout the heaven. And by the shores of the river Zaire there
is neither quiet nor silence.

“It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having
fallen, it was blood. And I stood in the morass among the tall and the
rain fell upon my head--and the lilies sighed one unto the other in the
solemnity of their desolation.

“And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was
crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge gray rock which stood
by the shore of the river, and was lighted by the light of the moon. And
the rock was gray, and ghastly, and tall,--and the rock was gray. Upon
its front were characters engraven in the stone; and I walked through
the morass of water-lilies, until I came close unto the shore, that I
might read the characters upon the stone. But I could not decypher them.
And I was going back into the morass, when the moon shone with a
fuller red, and I turned and looked again upon the rock, and upon the
characters;--and the characters were DESOLATION.

“And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon the summit of the
rock; and I hid myself among the water-lilies that I might discover the
actions of the man. And the man was tall and stately in form, and was
wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old Rome. And
the outlines of his figure were indistinct--but his features were the
features of a deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and
of the moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his
face. And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care;
and, in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow, and
weariness, and disgust with mankind, and a longing after solitude.

“And the man sat upon the rock, and leaned his head upon his hand, and
looked out upon the desolation. He looked down into the low unquiet
shrubbery, and up into the tall primeval trees, and up higher at the
rustling heaven, and into the crimson moon. And I lay close within
shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions of the man. And the
man trembled in the solitude;--but the night waned, and he sat upon the
rock.

“And the man turned his attention from the heaven, and looked out upon
the dreary river Zaire, and upon the yellow ghastly waters, and upon the
pale legions of the water-lilies. And the man listened to the sighs of
the water-lilies, and to the murmur that came up from among them. And I
lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the
man trembled in the solitude;--but the night waned and he sat upon the
rock.

“Then I went down into the recesses of the morass, and waded afar in
among the wilderness of the lilies, and called unto the hippopotami
which dwelt among the fens in the recesses of the morass. And the
hippopotami heard my call, and came, with the behemoth, unto the foot
of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon. And I lay
close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man
trembled in the solitude;--but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

“Then I cursed the elements with the curse of tumult; and a frightful
tempest gathered in the heaven where, before, there had been no wind.
And the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest--and the
rain beat upon the head of the man--and the floods of the river came
down--and the river was tormented into foam--and the water-lilies
shrieked within their beds--and the forest crumbled before the wind--and
the thunder rolled--and the lightning fell--and the rock rocked to its
foundation. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of
the man. And the man trembled in the solitude;--but the night waned and
he sat upon the rock.

“Then I grew angry and cursed, with the curse of silence, the river,
and the lilies, and the wind, and the forest, and the heaven, and the
thunder, and the sighs of the water-lilies. And they became accursed,
and were still. And the moon ceased to totter up its pathway to
heaven--and the thunder died away--and the lightning did not flash--and
the clouds hung motionless--and the waters sunk to their level and
remained--and the trees ceased to rock--and the water-lilies sighed no
more--and the murmur was heard no longer from among them, nor any shadow
of sound throughout the vast illimitable desert. And I looked upon the
characters of the rock, and they were changed;--and the characters were
SILENCE.

“And mine eyes fell upon the countenance of the man, and his countenance
was wan with terror. And, hurriedly, he raised his head from his hand,
and stood forth upon the rock and listened. But there was no voice
throughout the vast illimitable desert, and the characters upon the rock
were SILENCE. And the man shuddered, and turned his face away, and fled
afar off, in haste, so that I beheld him no more.”

Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi--in the iron-bound,
melancholy volumes of the Magi. Therein, I say, are glorious histories
of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of the mighty sea--and of the Genii
that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty heaven. There was
much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sybils; and holy,
holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled around
Dodona--but, as Allah liveth, that fable which the Demon told me as
he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most
wonderful of all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell
back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh
with the Demon, and he cursed me because I could not laugh. And the lynx
which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at
the feet of the Demon, and looked at him steadily in the face.



THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH.

THE “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever
been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the
redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden
dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The
scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim,
were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy
of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of
the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his
dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand
hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of
his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his
castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the
creation of the prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and
lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers,
having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts.
They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden
impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply
provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to
contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime
it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the
appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori,
there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty,
there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red
Death.”

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion,
and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince
Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most
unusual magnificence.

It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the
rooms in which it was held. There were seven--an imperial suite. In many
palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the
folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that
the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was
very different; as might have been expected from the duke’s love of the
bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision
embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at
every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the
right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic
window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of
the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in
accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber
into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for
example, in blue--and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber
was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were
purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The
fourth was furnished and lighted with orange--the fifth with white--the
sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black
velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls,
falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But
in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with
the decorations. The panes here were scarlet--a deep blood color. Now in
no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid
the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or
depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from
lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors
that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy
tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that projected its rays through the
tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced
a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or
black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark
hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and
produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered,
that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its
precincts at all.

It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western
wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a
dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit
of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the
brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and
exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at
each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained
to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound;
and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a
brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the
clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the
more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in
confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased,
a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at
each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made
whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock
should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of
sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of
the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock,
and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as
before.

But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel.
The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and
effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold
and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are
some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not.
It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was
not.

He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven
chambers, upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding
taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they
were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and
phantasm--much of what has been since seen in “Hernani.” There were
arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were
delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There was much of the
beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the
terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.
To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of
dreams. And these--the dreams--writhed in and about, taking hue from the
rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo
of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in
the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is
silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they
stand. But the echoes of the chime die away--they have endured but an
instant--and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they
depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe
to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many-tinted
windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the
chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of
the maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a
ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the
sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet,
there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly
emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more
remote gaieties of the other apartments.

But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat
feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at
length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then
the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers
were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before.
But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the
clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with
more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who
revelled. And thus, too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last
echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many
individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the
presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no
single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having
spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the
whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and
surprise--then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.

In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be
supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation.
In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but
the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds
of even the prince’s indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts
of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with
the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are
matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed
now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger
neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and
shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The
mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the
countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have
had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been
endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer
had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was
dabbled in blood--and his broad brow, with all the features of the face,
was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which
with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role,
stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in
the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste;
but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.

“Who dares?” he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near
him--“who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and
unmask him--that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the
battlements!”

It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero
as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly
and clearly--for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had
become hushed at the waving of his hand.

It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale
courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing
movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who at the
moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step,
made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe
with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole
party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that,
unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince’s person; and, while
the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of
the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the
same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the
first, through the blue chamber to the purple--through the purple to
the green--through the green to the orange--through this again to the
white--and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been
made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero,
maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed
hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account
of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn
dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or
four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the
extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his
pursuer. There was a sharp cry--and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the
sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death
the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair,
a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black
apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and
motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable
horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they
handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come
like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the
blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing
posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with
that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And
Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.



THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO.

THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but
when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the
nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to
a threat. _At length_ I would be avenged; this was a point definitively
settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved,
precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with
impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its
redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make
himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given
Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to
smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile _now_ was at
the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point--this Fortunato--although in other regards he was
a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his
connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit.
For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and
opportunity--to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian
_millionaires_. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen,
was a quack--but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this
respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skilful in the
Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the
carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with
excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He
had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted
by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I
thought I should never have done wringing his hand.

I said to him--“My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably
well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes
for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.”

“How?” said he. “Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of
the carnival!”

“I have my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay the full
Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to
be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”

“Amontillado!”

“I have my doubts.”

“Amontillado!”

“And I must satisfy them.”

“Amontillado!”

“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a
critical turn, it is he. He will tell me--”

“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”

“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your
own.”

“Come, let us go.”

“Whither?”

“To your vaults.”

“My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you
have an engagement. Luchesi--”

“I have no engagement;--come.”

“My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which
I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are
encrusted with nitre.”

“Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You
have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry
from Amontillado.”

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a mask
of black silk, and drawing a _roquelaire_ closely about my person, I
suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in
honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the
morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house.
These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate
disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato,
bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into
the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him
to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the
descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the
Montresors.

The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled
as he strode.

“The pipe,” said he.

“It is farther on,” said I; “but observe the white web-work which gleams
from these cavern walls.”

He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that
distilled the rheum of intoxication.

“Nitre?” he asked, at length.

“Nitre,” I replied. “How long have you had that cough?”

“Ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!--ugh!
ugh! ugh!”

My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.

“It is nothing,” he said, at last.

“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is
precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as
once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will
go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is
Luchesi--”

“Enough,” he said; “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I
shall not die of a cough.”

“True--true,” I replied; “and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming
you unnecessarily--but you should use all proper caution. A draught of
this Medoc will defend us from the damps.”

Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of
its fellows that lay upon the mould.

“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine.

He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me
familiarly, while his bells jingled.

“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”

“And I to your long life.”

He again took my arm, and we proceeded.

“These vaults,” he said, “are extensive.”

“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.”

“I forget your arms.”

“A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent
rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”

“And the motto?”

“_Nemo me impune lacessit_.”

“Good!” he said.

The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew
warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with
casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the
catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato
by an arm above the elbow.

“The nitre!” I said: “see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the
vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle
among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough--”

“It is nothing,” he said; “let us go on. But first, another draught of
the Medoc.”

I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grâve. He emptied it at a breath.
His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle
upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.

I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement--a grotesque one.

“You do not comprehend?” he said.

“Not I,” I replied.

“Then you are not of the brotherhood.”

“How?”

“You are not of the masons.”

“Yes, yes,” I said, “yes, yes.”

“You? Impossible! A mason?”

“A mason,” I replied.

“A sign,” he said.

“It is this,” I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of
my _roquelaire_.

“You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. “But let us proceed to
the Amontillado.”

“Be it so,” I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again
offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route
in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches,
descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in
which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than
flame.

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less
spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the
vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three
sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From
the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon
the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall
thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still
interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height
six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use
in itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal
supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their
circumscribing walls of solid granite.

It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to
pry into the depths of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did
not enable us to see.

“Proceed,” I said; “herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchesi--”

“He is an ignoramus,” interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily
forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had
reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested
by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered
him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from
each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended
a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his
waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too
much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the
recess.

“Pass your hand,” I said, “over the wall; you cannot help feeling the
nitre. Indeed it is _very_ damp. Once more let me _implore_ you to
return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render
you all the little attentions in my power.”

“The Amontillado!” ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his
astonishment.

“True,” I replied; “the Amontillado.”

As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I
have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of
building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my
trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.

I had scarcely laid the first tier of my masonry when I discovered
that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The
earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth
of the recess. It was _not_ the cry of a drunken man. There was then a
long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and
the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The
noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to
it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the
bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and
finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh
tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again
paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few
feeble rays upon the figure within.

A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the
throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a
brief moment I hesitated--I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to
grope with it about the recess: but the thought of an instant reassured
me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt
satisfied. I reapproached the wall. I replied to the yells of him
who clamored. I re-echoed--I aided--I surpassed them in volume and in
strength. I did this, and the clamorer grew still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed
the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion
of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to
be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it
partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the
niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded
by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising as that of the
noble Fortunato. The voice said--

“Ha! ha! ha!--he! he!--a very good joke indeed--an excellent jest. We
will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo--he! he! he!--over
our wine--he! he! he!”

“The Amontillado!” I said.

“He! he! he!--he! he! he!--yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting
late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato
and the rest? Let us be gone.”

“Yes,” I said, “let us be gone.”

“_For the love of God, Montressor!_”

“Yes,” I said, “for the love of God!”

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I
called aloud--

“Fortunato!”

No answer. I called again--

“Fortunato!”

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let
it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells.
My heart grew sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I
hastened to make an end of my labor. I forced the last stone into its
position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the
old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed
them. _In pace requiescat!_



THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE

IN THE consideration of the faculties and impulses--of the prima mobilia
of the human soul, the phrenologists have failed to make room for a
propensity which, although obviously existing as a radical, primitive,
irreducible sentiment, has been equally overlooked by all the moralists
who have preceded them. In the pure arrogance of the reason, we have
all overlooked it. We have suffered its existence to escape our senses,
solely through want of belief--of faith;--whether it be faith in
Revelation, or faith in the Kabbala. The idea of it has never occurred
to us, simply because of its supererogation. We saw no need of the
impulse--for the propensity. We could not perceive its necessity. We
could not understand, that is to say, we could not have understood, had
the notion of this primum mobile ever obtruded itself;--we could not
have understood in what manner it might be made to further the objects
of humanity, either temporal or eternal. It cannot be denied that
phrenology and, in great measure, all metaphysicianism have been
concocted a priori. The intellectual or logical man, rather than the
understanding or observant man, set himself to imagine designs--to
dictate purposes to God. Having thus fathomed, to his satisfaction, the
intentions of Jehovah, out of these intentions he built his innumerable
systems of mind. In the matter of phrenology, for example, we first
determined, naturally enough, that it was the design of the Deity that
man should eat. We then assigned to man an organ of alimentiveness,
and this organ is the scourge with which the Deity compels man, will-I
nill-I, into eating. Secondly, having settled it to be God’s will that
man should continue his species, we discovered an organ of amativeness,
forthwith. And so with combativeness, with ideality, with causality,
with constructiveness,--so, in short, with every organ, whether
representing a propensity, a moral sentiment, or a faculty of the pure
intellect. And in these arrangements of the Principia of human action,
the Spurzheimites, whether right or wrong, in part, or upon the whole,
have but followed, in principle, the footsteps of their predecessors:
deducing and establishing every thing from the preconceived destiny of
man, and upon the ground of the objects of his Creator.

It would have been wiser, it would have been safer, to classify (if
classify we must) upon the basis of what man usually or occasionally
did, and was always occasionally doing, rather than upon the basis of
what we took it for granted the Deity intended him to do. If we cannot
comprehend God in his visible works, how then in his inconceivable
thoughts, that call the works into being? If we cannot understand him in
his objective creatures, how then in his substantive moods and phases of
creation?

Induction, a posteriori, would have brought phrenology to admit, as an
innate and primitive principle of human action, a paradoxical something,
which we may call perverseness, for want of a more characteristic term.
In the sense I intend, it is, in fact, a mobile without motive, a motive
not motivirt. Through its promptings we act without comprehensible
object; or, if this shall be understood as a contradiction in terms, we
may so far modify the proposition as to say, that through its promptings
we act, for the reason that we should not. In theory, no reason can be
more unreasonable, but, in fact, there is none more strong. With certain
minds, under certain conditions, it becomes absolutely irresistible. I
am not more certain that I breathe, than that the assurance of the wrong
or error of any action is often the one unconquerable force which impels
us, and alone impels us to its prosecution. Nor will this overwhelming
tendency to do wrong for the wrong’s sake, admit of analysis, or
resolution into ulterior elements. It is a radical, a primitive
impulse-elementary. It will be said, I am aware, that when we persist in
acts because we feel we should not persist in them, our conduct is but a
modification of that which ordinarily springs from the combativeness
of phrenology. But a glance will show the fallacy of this idea. The
phrenological combativeness has for its essence, the necessity of
self-defence. It is our safeguard against injury. Its principle regards
our well-being; and thus the desire to be well is excited simultaneously
with its development. It follows, that the desire to be well must
be excited simultaneously with any principle which shall be merely a
modification of combativeness, but in the case of that something which I
term perverseness, the desire to be well is not only not aroused, but a
strongly antagonistical sentiment exists.

An appeal to one’s own heart is, after all, the best reply to the
sophistry just noticed. No one who trustingly consults and thoroughly
questions his own soul, will be disposed to deny the entire radicalness
of the propensity in question. It is not more incomprehensible than
distinctive. There lives no man who at some period has not been
tormented, for example, by an earnest desire to tantalize a listener by
circumlocution. The speaker is aware that he displeases; he has every
intention to please, he is usually curt, precise, and clear, the most
laconic and luminous language is struggling for utterance upon his
tongue, it is only with difficulty that he restrains himself from giving
it flow; he dreads and deprecates the anger of him whom he addresses;
yet, the thought strikes him, that by certain involutions and
parentheses this anger may be engendered. That single thought is enough.
The impulse increases to a wish, the wish to a desire, the desire to
an uncontrollable longing, and the longing (to the deep regret and
mortification of the speaker, and in defiance of all consequences) is
indulged.

We have a task before us which must be speedily performed. We know that
it will be ruinous to make delay. The most important crisis of our life
calls, trumpet-tongued, for immediate energy and action. We glow, we are
consumed with eagerness to commence the work, with the anticipation of
whose glorious result our whole souls are on fire. It must, it shall be
undertaken to-day, and yet we put it off until to-morrow, and why?
There is no answer, except that we feel perverse, using the word with
no comprehension of the principle. To-morrow arrives, and with it a more
impatient anxiety to do our duty, but with this very increase of anxiety
arrives, also, a nameless, a positively fearful, because unfathomable,
craving for delay. This craving gathers strength as the moments fly.
The last hour for action is at hand. We tremble with the violence of
the conflict within us,--of the definite with the indefinite--of the
substance with the shadow. But, if the contest have proceeded thus
far, it is the shadow which prevails,--we struggle in vain. The clock
strikes, and is the knell of our welfare. At the same time, it is
the chanticleer--note to the ghost that has so long overawed us. It
flies--it disappears--we are free. The old energy returns. We will labor
now. Alas, it is too late!

We stand upon the brink of a precipice. We peer into the abyss--we
grow sick and dizzy. Our first impulse is to shrink from the danger.
Unaccountably we remain. By slow degrees our sickness and dizziness and
horror become merged in a cloud of unnamable feeling. By gradations,
still more imperceptible, this cloud assumes shape, as did the vapor
from the bottle out of which arose the genius in the Arabian Nights.
But out of this our cloud upon the precipice’s edge, there grows into
palpability, a shape, far more terrible than any genius or any demon
of a tale, and yet it is but a thought, although a fearful one, and one
which chills the very marrow of our bones with the fierceness of the
delight of its horror. It is merely the idea of what would be our
sensations during the sweeping precipitancy of a fall from such a
height. And this fall--this rushing annihilation--for the very reason
that it involves that one most ghastly and loathsome of all the most
ghastly and loathsome images of death and suffering which have ever
presented themselves to our imagination--for this very cause do we now
the most vividly desire it. And because our reason violently deters us
from the brink, therefore do we the most impetuously approach it. There
is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him who,
shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a Plunge. To
indulge, for a moment, in any attempt at thought, is to be inevitably
lost; for reflection but urges us to forbear, and therefore it is, I
say, that we cannot. If there be no friendly arm to check us, or if we
fail in a sudden effort to prostrate ourselves backward from the abyss,
we plunge, and are destroyed.

Examine these similar actions as we will, we shall find them resulting
solely from the spirit of the Perverse. We perpetrate them because we
feel that we should not. Beyond or behind this there is no intelligible
principle; and we might, indeed, deem this perverseness a direct
instigation of the Arch-Fiend, were it not occasionally known to operate
in furtherance of good.

I have said thus much, that in some measure I may answer your question,
that I may explain to you why I am here, that I may assign to you
something that shall have at least the faint aspect of a cause for my
wearing these fetters, and for my tenanting this cell of the condemned.
Had I not been thus prolix, you might either have misunderstood me
altogether, or, with the rabble, have fancied me mad. As it is, you will
easily perceive that I am one of the many uncounted victims of the Imp
of the Perverse.

It is impossible that any deed could have been wrought with a more
thorough deliberation. For weeks, for months, I pondered upon the
means of the murder. I rejected a thousand schemes, because their
accomplishment involved a chance of detection. At length, in reading
some French Memoirs, I found an account of a nearly fatal illness that
occurred to Madame Pilau, through the agency of a candle accidentally
poisoned. The idea struck my fancy at once. I knew my victim’s habit
of reading in bed. I knew, too, that his apartment was narrow and
ill-ventilated. But I need not vex you with impertinent details. I need
not describe the easy artifices by which I substituted, in his bed-room
candle-stand, a wax-light of my own making for the one which I there
found. The next morning he was discovered dead in his bed, and the
Coroner’s verdict was--“Death by the visitation of God.”

Having inherited his estate, all went well with me for years. The idea
of detection never once entered my brain. Of the remains of the fatal
taper I had myself carefully disposed. I had left no shadow of a clew
by which it would be possible to convict, or even to suspect me of the
crime. It is inconceivable how rich a sentiment of satisfaction arose
in my bosom as I reflected upon my absolute security. For a very long
period of time I was accustomed to revel in this sentiment. It afforded
me more real delight than all the mere worldly advantages accruing from
my sin. But there arrived at length an epoch, from which the pleasurable
feeling grew, by scarcely perceptible gradations, into a haunting and
harassing thought. It harassed because it haunted. I could scarcely get
rid of it for an instant. It is quite a common thing to be thus annoyed
with the ringing in our ears, or rather in our memories, of the burthen
of some ordinary song, or some unimpressive snatches from an opera.
Nor will we be the less tormented if the song in itself be good, or
the opera air meritorious. In this manner, at last, I would perpetually
catch myself pondering upon my security, and repeating, in a low
undertone, the phrase, “I am safe.”

One day, whilst sauntering along the streets, I arrested myself in the
act of murmuring, half aloud, these customary syllables. In a fit of
petulance, I remodelled them thus; “I am safe--I am safe--yes--if I be
not fool enough to make open confession!”

No sooner had I spoken these words, than I felt an icy chill creep to
my heart. I had had some experience in these fits of perversity, (whose
nature I have been at some trouble to explain), and I remembered well
that in no instance I had successfully resisted their attacks. And now
my own casual self-suggestion that I might possibly be fool enough to
confess the murder of which I had been guilty, confronted me, as if the
very ghost of him whom I had murdered--and beckoned me on to death.

At first, I made an effort to shake off this nightmare of the soul.
I walked vigorously--faster--still faster--at length I ran. I felt
a maddening desire to shriek aloud. Every succeeding wave of thought
overwhelmed me with new terror, for, alas! I well, too well understood
that to think, in my situation, was to be lost. I still quickened my
pace. I bounded like a madman through the crowded thoroughfares. At
length, the populace took the alarm, and pursued me. I felt then the
consummation of my fate. Could I have torn out my tongue, I would have
done it, but a rough voice resounded in my ears--a rougher grasp seized
me by the shoulder. I turned--I gasped for breath. For a moment I
experienced all the pangs of suffocation; I became blind, and deaf,
and giddy; and then some invisible fiend, I thought, struck me with his
broad palm upon the back. The long imprisoned secret burst forth from my
soul.

They say that I spoke with a distinct enunciation, but with marked
emphasis and passionate hurry, as if in dread of interruption before
concluding the brief, but pregnant sentences that consigned me to the
hangman and to hell.

Having related all that was necessary for the fullest judicial
conviction, I fell prostrate in a swoon.

But why shall I say more? To-day I wear these chains, and am here!
To-morrow I shall be fetterless!--but where?



THE ISLAND OF THE FAY

     Nullus enim locus sine genio est.--_Servius_.

“LA MUSIQUE,” says Marmontel, in those “Contes Moraux” (*1) which in all
our translations, we have insisted upon calling “Moral Tales,” as if
in mockery of their spirit--“la musique est le seul des talents qui
jouissent de lui-meme; tous les autres veulent des temoins.” He here
confounds the pleasure derivable from sweet sounds with the capacity
for creating them. No more than any other talent, is that for music
susceptible of complete enjoyment, where there is no second party to
appreciate its exercise. And it is only in common with other talents
that it produces effects which may be fully enjoyed in solitude. The
idea which the raconteur has either failed to entertain clearly, or
has sacrificed in its expression to his national love of point, is,
doubtless, the very tenable one that the higher order of music is
the most thoroughly estimated when we are exclusively alone. The
proposition, in this form, will be admitted at once by those who love
the lyre for its own sake, and for its spiritual uses. But there is one
pleasure still within the reach of fallen mortality and perhaps only
one--which owes even more than does music to the accessory sentiment
of seclusion. I mean the happiness experienced in the contemplation of
natural scenery. In truth, the man who would behold aright the glory of
God upon earth must in solitude behold that glory. To me, at least, the
presence--not of human life only, but of life in any other form than
that of the green things which grow upon the soil and are voiceless--is
a stain upon the landscape--is at war with the genius of the scene. I
love, indeed, to regard the dark valleys, and the gray rocks, and
the waters that silently smile, and the forests that sigh in uneasy
slumbers, and the proud watchful mountains that look down upon all,--I
love to regard these as themselves but the colossal members of one vast
animate and sentient whole--a whole whose form (that of the sphere)
is the most perfect and most inclusive of all; whose path is among
associate planets; whose meek handmaiden is the moon, whose mediate
sovereign is the sun; whose life is eternity, whose thought is that of
a God; whose enjoyment is knowledge; whose destinies are lost in
immensity, whose cognizance of ourselves is akin with our own cognizance
of the animalculae which infest the brain--a being which we, in
consequence, regard as purely inanimate and material much in the same
manner as these animalculae must thus regard us.

Our telescopes and our mathematical investigations assure us on
every hand--notwithstanding the cant of the more ignorant of the
priesthood--that space, and therefore that bulk, is an important
consideration in the eyes of the Almighty. The cycles in which the stars
move are those best adapted for the evolution, without collision, of
the greatest possible number of bodies. The forms of those bodies are
accurately such as, within a given surface, to include the greatest
possible amount of matter;--while the surfaces themselves are
so disposed as to accommodate a denser population than could be
accommodated on the same surfaces otherwise arranged. Nor is it any
argument against bulk being an object with God, that space itself is
infinite; for there may be an infinity of matter to fill it. And
since we see clearly that the endowment of matter with vitality is a
principle--indeed, as far as our judgments extend, the leading principle
in the operations of Deity,--it is scarcely logical to imagine it
confined to the regions of the minute, where we daily trace it, and not
extending to those of the august. As we find cycle within cycle without
end,--yet all revolving around one far-distant centre which is the
God-head, may we not analogically suppose in the same manner, life
within life, the less within the greater, and all within the Spirit
Divine? In short, we are madly erring, through self-esteem, in believing
man, in either his temporal or future destinies, to be of more moment
in the universe than that vast “clod of the valley” which he tills and
contemns, and to which he denies a soul for no more profound reason than
that he does not behold it in operation. (*2)

These fancies, and such as these, have always given to my meditations
among the mountains and the forests, by the rivers and the ocean, a
tinge of what the everyday world would not fail to term fantastic. My
wanderings amid such scenes have been many, and far-searching, and often
solitary; and the interest with which I have strayed through many a dim,
deep valley, or gazed into the reflected Heaven of many a bright lake,
has been an interest greatly deepened by the thought that I have strayed
and gazed alone. What flippant Frenchman was it who said in allusion
to the well-known work of Zimmerman, that, “la solitude est une belle
chose; mais il faut quelqu’un pour vous dire que la solitude est une
belle chose?” The epigram cannot be gainsayed; but the necessity is a
thing that does not exist.

It was during one of my lonely journeyings, amid a far distant region
of mountain locked within mountain, and sad rivers and melancholy tarn
writhing or sleeping within all--that I chanced upon a certain rivulet
and island. I came upon them suddenly in the leafy June, and threw
myself upon the turf, beneath the branches of an unknown odorous shrub,
that I might doze as I contemplated the scene. I felt that thus only
should I look upon it--such was the character of phantasm which it wore.

On all sides--save to the west, where the sun was about sinking--arose
the verdant walls of the forest. The little river which turned sharply
in its course, and was thus immediately lost to sight, seemed to have
no exit from its prison, but to be absorbed by the deep green foliage of
the trees to the east--while in the opposite quarter (so it appeared to
me as I lay at length and glanced upward) there poured down noiselessly
and continuously into the valley, a rich golden and crimson waterfall
from the sunset fountains of the sky.

About midway in the short vista which my dreamy vision took in, one
small circular island, profusely verdured, reposed upon the bosom of the
stream.

So blended bank and shadow there

That each seemed pendulous in air--so mirror-like was the glassy water,
that it was scarcely possible to say at what point upon the slope of the
emerald turf its crystal dominion began.

My position enabled me to include in a single view both the eastern and
western extremities of the islet; and I observed a singularly-marked
difference in their aspects. The latter was all one radiant harem of
garden beauties. It glowed and blushed beneath the eyes of the slant
sunlight, and fairly laughed with flowers. The grass was short,
springy, sweet-scented, and Asphodel-interspersed. The trees were lithe,
mirthful, erect--bright, slender, and graceful,--of eastern figure and
foliage, with bark smooth, glossy, and parti-colored. There seemed a
deep sense of life and joy about all; and although no airs blew from out
the heavens, yet every thing had motion through the gentle sweepings to
and fro of innumerable butterflies, that might have been mistaken for
tulips with wings. (*4)

The other or eastern end of the isle was whelmed in the blackest shade.
A sombre, yet beautiful and peaceful gloom here pervaded all things. The
trees were dark in color, and mournful in form and attitude, wreathing
themselves into sad, solemn, and spectral shapes that conveyed ideas of
mortal sorrow and untimely death. The grass wore the deep tint of the
cypress, and the heads of its blades hung droopingly, and hither and
thither among it were many small unsightly hillocks, low and narrow,
and not very long, that had the aspect of graves, but were not; although
over and all about them the rue and the rosemary clambered. The shade
of the trees fell heavily upon the water, and seemed to bury itself
therein, impregnating the depths of the element with darkness. I fancied
that each shadow, as the sun descended lower and lower, separated itself
sullenly from the trunk that gave it birth, and thus became absorbed by
the stream; while other shadows issued momently from the trees, taking
the place of their predecessors thus entombed.

This idea, having once seized upon my fancy, greatly excited it, and I
lost myself forthwith in revery. “If ever island were enchanted,” said
I to myself, “this is it. This is the haunt of the few gentle Fays who
remain from the wreck of the race. Are these green tombs theirs?--or do
they yield up their sweet lives as mankind yield up their own? In dying,
do they not rather waste away mournfully, rendering unto God, little by
little, their existence, as these trees render up shadow after shadow,
exhausting their substance unto dissolution? What the wasting tree is to
the water that imbibes its shade, growing thus blacker by what it preys
upon, may not the life of the Fay be to the death which engulfs it?”

As I thus mused, with half-shut eyes, while the sun sank rapidly to
rest, and eddying currents careered round and round the island, bearing
upon their bosom large, dazzling, white flakes of the bark of the
sycamore-flakes which, in their multiform positions upon the water, a
quick imagination might have converted into any thing it pleased, while
I thus mused, it appeared to me that the form of one of those very Fays
about whom I had been pondering made its way slowly into the darkness
from out the light at the western end of the island. She stood erect
in a singularly fragile canoe, and urged it with the mere phantom of an
oar. While within the influence of the lingering sunbeams, her attitude
seemed indicative of joy--but sorrow deformed it as she passed within
the shade. Slowly she glided along, and at length rounded the islet and
re-entered the region of light. “The revolution which has just been made
by the Fay,” continued I, musingly, “is the cycle of the brief year of
her life. She has floated through her winter and through her summer. She
is a year nearer unto Death; for I did not fail to see that, as she came
into the shade, her shadow fell from her, and was swallowed up in the
dark water, making its blackness more black.”

And again the boat appeared and the Fay, but about the attitude of the
latter there was more of care and uncertainty and less of elastic joy.
She floated again from out the light and into the gloom (which deepened
momently) and again her shadow fell from her into the ebony water, and
became absorbed into its blackness. And again and again she made the
circuit of the island, (while the sun rushed down to his slumbers), and
at each issuing into the light there was more sorrow about her person,
while it grew feebler and far fainter and more indistinct, and at each
passage into the gloom there fell from her a darker shade, which became
whelmed in a shadow more black. But at length when the sun had
utterly departed, the Fay, now the mere ghost of her former self, went
disconsolately with her boat into the region of the ebony flood, and
that she issued thence at all I cannot say, for darkness fell over all
things and I beheld her magical figure no more.



THE ASSIGNATION

     Stay for me there!   I will not fail.
     To meet thee in that hollow vale.

     [_Exequy on the death of his wife, by Henry King,
      Bishop of Chichester_.]

ILL-FATED and mysterious man!--bewildered in the brilliancy of thine own
imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youth! Again in fancy
I behold thee! Once more thy form hath risen before me!--not--oh not
as thou art--in the cold valley and shadow--but as thou _shouldst
be_--squandering away a life of magnificent meditation in that city of
dim visions, thine own Venice--which is a star-beloved Elysium of the
sea, and the wide windows of whose Palladian palaces look down with a
deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets of her silent waters. Yes! I
repeat it--as thou _shouldst be_. There are surely other worlds
than this--other thoughts than the thoughts of the multitude--other
speculations than the speculations of the sophist. Who then shall call
thy conduct into question? who blame thee for thy visionary hours, or
denounce those occupations as a wasting away of life, which were but the
overflowings of thine everlasting energies?

It was at Venice, beneath the covered archway there called the _Ponte di
Sospiri_, that I met for the third or fourth time the person of whom
I speak. It is with a confused recollection that I bring to mind
the circumstances of that meeting. Yet I remember--ah! how should I
forget?--the deep midnight, the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman,
and the Genius of Romance that stalked up and down the narrow canal.

It was a night of unusual gloom. The great clock of the Piazza had
sounded the fifth hour of the Italian evening. The square of the
Campanile lay silent and deserted, and the lights in the old Ducal
Palace were dying fast away. I was returning home from the Piazetta, by
way of the Grand Canal. But as my gondola arrived opposite the mouth
of the canal San Marco, a female voice from its recesses broke suddenly
upon the night, in one wild, hysterical, and long continued shriek.
Startled at the sound, I sprang upon my feet: while the gondolier,
letting slip his single oar, lost it in the pitchy darkness beyond a
chance of recovery, and we were consequently left to the guidance of the
current which here sets from the greater into the smaller channel.
Like some huge and sable-feathered condor, we were slowly drifting down
towards the Bridge of Sighs, when a thousand flambeaux flashing from the
windows, and down the staircases of the Ducal Palace, turned all at once
that deep gloom into a livid and preternatural day.

A child, slipping from the arms of its own mother, had fallen from an
upper window of the lofty structure into the deep and dim canal. The
quiet waters had closed placidly over their victim; and, although my own
gondola was the only one in sight, many a stout swimmer, already in the
stream, was seeking in vain upon the surface, the treasure which was
to be found, alas! only within the abyss. Upon the broad black marble
flagstones at the entrance of the palace, and a few steps above the
water, stood a figure which none who then saw can have ever since
forgotten. It was the Marchesa Aphrodite--the adoration of all
Venice--the gayest of the gay--the most lovely where all were
beautiful--but still the young wife of the old and intriguing Mentoni,
and the mother of that fair child, her first and only one, who now, deep
beneath the murky water, was thinking in bitterness of heart upon her
sweet caresses, and exhausting its little life in struggles to call upon
her name.

She stood alone. Her small, bare, and silvery feet gleamed in the
black mirror of marble beneath her. Her hair, not as yet more than
half loosened for the night from its ball-room array, clustered, amid
a shower of diamonds, round and round her classical head, in curls like
those of the young hyacinth. A snowy-white and gauze-like drapery seemed
to be nearly the sole covering to her delicate form; but the mid-summer
and midnight air was hot, sullen, and still, and no motion in the
statue-like form itself, stirred even the folds of that raiment of very
vapor which hung around it as the heavy marble hangs around the Niobe.
Yet--strange to say!--her large lustrous eyes were not turned downwards
upon that grave wherein her brightest hope lay buried--but riveted in a
widely different direction! The prison of the Old Republic is, I think,
the stateliest building in all Venice--but how could that lady gaze so
fixedly upon it, when beneath her lay stifling her only child? Yon dark,
gloomy niche, too, yawns right opposite her chamber window--what,
then, _could_ there be in its shadows--in its architecture--in its
ivy-wreathed and solemn cornices--that the Marchesa di Mentoni had not
wondered at a thousand times before? Nonsense!--Who does not remember
that, at such a time as this, the eye, like a shattered mirror,
multiplies the images of its sorrow, and sees in innumerable far-off
places, the woe which is close at hand?

Many steps above the Marchesa, and within the arch of the water-gate,
stood, in full dress, the Satyr-like figure of Mentoni himself. He was
occasionally occupied in thrumming a guitar, and seemed _ennuye_ to the
very death, as at intervals he gave directions for the recovery of his
child. Stupified and aghast, I had myself no power to move from the
upright position I had assumed upon first hearing the shriek, and must
have presented to the eyes of the agitated group a spectral and ominous
appearance, as with pale countenance and rigid limbs, I floated down
among them in that funereal gondola.

All efforts proved in vain. Many of the most energetic in the search
were relaxing their exertions, and yielding to a gloomy sorrow. There
seemed but little hope for the child; (how much less than for the
mother!) but now, from the interior of that dark niche which has been
already mentioned as forming a part of the Old Republican prison, and
as fronting the lattice of the Marchesa, a figure muffled in a cloak,
stepped out within reach of the light, and, pausing a moment upon the
verge of the giddy descent, plunged headlong into the canal. As, in an
instant afterwards, he stood with the still living and breathing
child within his grasp, upon the marble flagstones by the side of the
Marchesa, his cloak, heavy with the drenching water, became unfastened,
and, falling in folds about his feet, discovered to the wonder-stricken
spectators the graceful person of a very young man, with the sound of
whose name the greater part of Europe was then ringing.

No word spoke the deliverer. But the Marchesa! She will now receive
her child--she will press it to her heart--she will cling to its little
form, and smother it with her caresses. Alas! _another’s_ arms have
taken it from the stranger--_another’s_ arms have taken it away, and
borne it afar off, unnoticed, into the palace! And the Marchesa! Her
lip--her beautiful lip trembles: tears are gathering in her eyes--those
eyes which, like Pliny’s acanthus, are “soft and almost liquid.” Yes!
tears are gathering in those eyes--and see! the entire woman thrills
throughout the soul, and the statue has started into life! The pallor
of the marble countenance, the swelling of the marble bosom, the very
purity of the marble feet, we behold suddenly flushed over with a tide
of ungovernable crimson; and a slight shudder quivers about her delicate
frame, as a gentle air at Napoli about the rich silver lilies in the
grass.

Why _should_ that lady blush! To this demand there is no answer--except
that, having left, in the eager haste and terror of a mother’s heart,
the privacy of her own _boudoir_, she has neglected to enthral her tiny
feet in their slippers, and utterly forgotten to throw over her Venetian
shoulders that drapery which is their due. What other possible reason
could there have been for her so blushing?--for the glance of those wild
appealing eyes? for the unusual tumult of that throbbing bosom?--for the
convulsive pressure of that trembling hand?--that hand which fell,
as Mentoni turned into the palace, accidentally, upon the hand of the
stranger. What reason could there have been for the low--the singularly
low tone of those unmeaning words which the lady uttered hurriedly in
bidding him adieu? “Thou hast conquered,” she said, or the murmurs of
the water deceived me; “thou hast conquered--one hour after sunrise--we
shall meet--so let it be!”

* * * * *

The tumult had subsided, the lights had died away within the palace,
and the stranger, whom I now recognized, stood alone upon the flags. He
shook with inconceivable agitation, and his eye glanced around in search
of a gondola. I could not do less than offer him the service of my own;
and he accepted the civility. Having obtained an oar at the water-gate,
we proceeded together to his residence, while he rapidly recovered his
self-possession, and spoke of our former slight acquaintance in terms of
great apparent cordiality.

There are some subjects upon which I take pleasure in being minute. The
person of the stranger--let me call him by this title, who to all the
world was still a stranger--the person of the stranger is one of these
subjects. In height he might have been below rather than above the
medium size: although there were moments of intense passion when his
frame actually _expanded_ and belied the assertion. The light, almost
slender symmetry of his figure, promised more of that ready activity
which he evinced at the Bridge of Sighs, than of that Herculean strength
which he has been known to wield without an effort, upon occasions of
more dangerous emergency. With the mouth and chin of a deity--singular,
wild, full, liquid eyes, whose shadows varied from pure hazel to intense
and brilliant jet--and a profusion of curling, black hair, from which
a forehead of unusual breadth gleamed forth at intervals all light and
ivory--his were features than which I have seen none more classically
regular, except, perhaps, the marble ones of the Emperor Commodus. Yet
his countenance was, nevertheless, one of those which all men have seen
at some period of their lives, and have never afterwards seen again. It
had no peculiar--it had no settled predominant expression to be fastened
upon the memory; a countenance seen and instantly forgotten--but
forgotten with a vague and never-ceasing desire of recalling it to mind.
Not that the spirit of each rapid passion failed, at any time, to
throw its own distinct image upon the mirror of that face--but that
the mirror, mirror-like, retained no vestige of the passion, when the
passion had departed.

Upon leaving him on the night of our adventure, he solicited me, in
what I thought an urgent manner, to call upon him _very_ early the
next morning. Shortly after sunrise, I found myself accordingly at his
Palazzo, one of those huge structures of gloomy, yet fantastic pomp,
which tower above the waters of the Grand Canal in the vicinity of the
Rialto. I was shown up a broad winding staircase of mosaics, into an
apartment whose unparalleled splendor burst through the opening door
with an actual glare, making me blind and dizzy with luxuriousness.

I knew my acquaintance to be wealthy. Report had spoken of his
possessions in terms which I had even ventured to call terms of
ridiculous exaggeration. But as I gazed about me, I could not bring
myself to believe that the wealth of any subject in Europe could have
supplied the princely magnificence which burned and blazed around.

Although, as I say, the sun had arisen, yet the room was still
brilliantly lighted up. I judge from this circumstance, as well as from
an air of exhaustion in the countenance of my friend, that he had
not retired to bed during the whole of the preceding night. In the
architecture and embellishments of the chamber, the evident design
had been to dazzle and astound. Little attention had been paid to the
_decora_ of what is technically called _keeping_, or to the proprieties
of nationality. The eye wandered from object to object, and rested upon
none--neither the _grotesques_ of the Greek painters, nor the sculptures
of the best Italian days, nor the huge carvings of untutored Egypt. Rich
draperies in every part of the room trembled to the vibration of low,
melancholy music, whose origin was not to be discovered. The senses were
oppressed by mingled and conflicting perfumes, reeking up from strange
convolute censers, together with multitudinous flaring and flickering
tongues of emerald and violet fire. The rays of the newly risen sun
poured in upon the whole, through windows, formed each of a single pane
of crimson-tinted glass. Glancing to and fro, in a thousand reflections,
from curtains which rolled from their cornices like cataracts of molten
silver, the beams of natural glory mingled at length fitfully with the
artificial light, and lay weltering in subdued masses upon a carpet of
rich, liquid-looking cloth of Chili gold.

“Ha! ha! ha!--ha! ha! ha!”--laughed the proprietor, motioning me to
a seat as I entered the room, and throwing himself back at full-length
upon an ottoman. “I see,” said he, perceiving that I could not
immediately reconcile myself to the _bienseance_ of so singular a
welcome--“I see you are astonished at my apartment--at my statues--my
pictures--my originality of conception in architecture and upholstery!
absolutely drunk, eh, with my magnificence? But pardon me, my dear
sir, (here his tone of voice dropped to the very spirit of cordiality,)
pardon me for my uncharitable laughter. You appeared so _utterly_
astonished. Besides, some things are so completely ludicrous, that a man
_must_ laugh or die. To die laughing, must be the most glorious of
all glorious deaths! Sir Thomas More--a very fine man was Sir Thomas
More--Sir Thomas More died laughing, you remember. Also in the
_Absurdities_ of Ravisius Textor, there is a long list of characters who
came to the same magnificent end. Do you know, however,” continued he
musingly, “that at Sparta (which is now Palæ; ochori,) at Sparta, I say,
to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, is
a kind of _socle_, upon which are still legible the letters _AAEM_. They
are undoubtedly part of _PEAAEMA_. Now, at Sparta were a thousand temples
and shrines to a thousand different divinities. How exceedingly strange
that the altar of Laughter should have survived all the others! But in
the present instance,” he resumed, with a singular alteration of voice
and manner, “I have no right to be merry at your expense. You might well
have been amazed. Europe cannot produce anything so fine as this, my
little regal cabinet. My other apartments are by no means of the same
order--mere _ultras_ of fashionable insipidity. This is better than
fashion--is it not? Yet this has but to be seen to become the rage--that
is, with those who could afford it at the cost of their entire
patrimony. I have guarded, however, against any such profanation.
With one exception, you are the only human being besides myself and my
_valet_, who has been admitted within the mysteries of these imperial
precincts, since they have been bedizzened as you see!”

I bowed in acknowledgment--for the overpowering sense of splendor and
perfume, and music, together with the unexpected eccentricity of
his address and manner, prevented me from expressing, in words, my
appreciation of what I might have construed into a compliment.

“Here,” he resumed, arising and leaning on my arm as he sauntered around
the apartment, “here are paintings from the Greeks to Cimabue, and from
Cimabue to the present hour. Many are chosen, as you see, with little
deference to the opinions of Virtu. They are all, however, fitting
tapestry for a chamber such as this. Here, too, are some _chefs
d’oeuvre_ of the unknown great; and here, unfinished designs by men,
celebrated in their day, whose very names the perspicacity of the
academies has left to silence and to me. What think you,” said he,
turning abruptly as he spoke--“what think you of this Madonna della
Pieta?”

“It is Guido’s own!” I said, with all the enthusiasm of my nature, for I
had been poring intently over its surpassing loveliness. “It is Guido’s
own!--how _could_ you have obtained it?--she is undoubtedly in painting
what the Venus is in sculpture.”

“Ha!” said he thoughtfully, “the Venus--the beautiful Venus?--the Venus
of the Medici?--she of the diminutive head and the gilded hair? Part of
the left arm (here his voice dropped so as to be heard with difficulty,)
and all the right, are restorations; and in the coquetry of that right
arm lies, I think, the quintessence of all affectation. Give _me_ the
Canova! The Apollo, too, is a copy--there can be no doubt of it--blind
fool that I am, who cannot behold the boasted inspiration of the Apollo!
I cannot help--pity me!--I cannot help preferring the Antinous. Was it
not Socrates who said that the statuary found his statue in the block of
marble? Then Michael Angelo was by no means original in his couplet--

     ‘Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto
     Che un marmo solo in se non circunscriva.’”

It has been, or should be remarked, that, in the manner of the true
gentleman, we are always aware of a difference from the bearing of the
vulgar, without being at once precisely able to determine in what such
difference consists. Allowing the remark to have applied in its full
force to the outward demeanor of my acquaintance, I felt it, on that
eventful morning, still more fully applicable to his moral temperament
and character. Nor can I better define that peculiarity of spirit which
seemed to place him so essentially apart from all other human beings,
than by calling it a _habit_ of intense and continual thought,
pervading even his most trivial actions--intruding upon his moments
of dalliance--and interweaving itself with his very flashes of
merriment--like adders which writhe from out the eyes of the grinning
masks in the cornices around the temples of Persepolis.

I could not help, however, repeatedly observing, through the mingled
tone of levity and solemnity with which he rapidly descanted upon
matters of little importance, a certain air of trepidation--a degree of
nervous _unction_ in action and in speech--an unquiet excitability of
manner which appeared to me at all times unaccountable, and upon some
occasions even filled me with alarm. Frequently, too, pausing in the
middle of a sentence whose commencement he had apparently forgotten,
he seemed to be listening in the deepest attention, as if either in
momentary expectation of a visiter, or to sounds which must have had
existence in his imagination alone.

It was during one of these reveries or pauses of apparent abstraction,
that, in turning over a page of the poet and scholar Politian’s
beautiful tragedy “The Orfeo,” (the first native Italian tragedy,)
which lay near me upon an ottoman, I discovered a passage underlined in
pencil. It was a passage towards the end of the third act--a passage of
the most heart-stirring excitement--a passage which, although tainted
with impurity, no man shall read without a thrill of novel emotion--no
woman without a sigh. The whole page was blotted with fresh tears; and,
upon the opposite interleaf, were the following English lines,
written in a hand so very different from the peculiar characters of my
acquaintance, that I had some difficulty in recognising it as his own:--

     Thou wast that all to me, love,
     For which my soul did pine--
     A green isle in the sea, love,
     A fountain and a shrine,
     All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers;
     And all the flowers were mine.
     Ah, dream too bright to last!
     Ah, starry Hope, that didst arise
     But to be overcast!
     A voice from out the Future cries,
     “Onward!”--but o’er the Past
     (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies,
     Mute--motionless--aghast!
     For alas!  alas!  with me
     The light of life is o’er.
     “No more--no more--no more,”
      (Such language holds the solemn sea
     To the sands upon the shore,)
     Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
     Or the stricken eagle soar!
     Now all my hours are trances;
     And all my nightly dreams
     Are where the dark eye glances,
     And where thy footstep gleams,
     In what ethereal dances,
     By what Italian streams.
     Alas!  for that accursed time
     They bore thee o’er the billow,
     From Love to titled age and crime,
     And an unholy pillow!--
     From me, and from our misty clime,
     Where weeps the silver willow!

That these lines were written in English--a language with which I had
not believed their author acquainted--afforded me little matter for
surprise. I was too well aware of the extent of his acquirements, and of
the singular pleasure he took in concealing them from observation, to
be astonished at any similar discovery; but the place of date, I must
confess, occasioned me no little amazement. It had been originally
written _London_, and afterwards carefully overscored--not, however, so
effectually as to conceal the word from a scrutinizing eye. I say, this
occasioned me no little amazement; for I well remember that, in a former
conversation with a friend, I particularly inquired if he had at any
time met in London the Marchesa di Mentoni, (who for some years previous
to her marriage had resided in that city,) when his answer, if I mistake
not, gave me to understand that he had never visited the metropolis of
Great Britain. I might as well here mention, that I have more than
once heard, (without, of course, giving credit to a report
involving so many improbabilities,) that the person of whom I speak, was
not only by birth, but in education, an _Englishman_.

* * * * *

“There is one painting,” said he, without being aware of my notice of
the tragedy--“there is still one painting which you have not seen.” And
throwing aside a drapery, he discovered a full-length portrait of the
Marchesa Aphrodite.

 Human art could have done no more in the delineation of her
superhuman beauty. The same ethereal figure which stood before me the
preceding night upon the steps of the Ducal Palace, stood before me once
again. But in the expression of the countenance, which was beaming all
over with smiles, there still lurked (incomprehensible anomaly!) that
fitful stain of melancholy which will ever be found inseparable from the
perfection of the beautiful. Her right arm lay folded over her bosom.
With her left she pointed downward to a curiously fashioned vase.
One small, fairy foot, alone visible, barely touched the earth; and,
scarcely discernible in the brilliant atmosphere which seemed to
encircle and enshrine her loveliness, floated a pair of the most
delicately imagined wings. My glance fell from the painting to the
figure of my friend, and the vigorous words of Chapman’s _Bussy
D’Ambois_, quivered instinctively upon my lips:

                     “He is up
     There like a Roman statue!  He will stand
     Till Death hath made him marble!”

“Come,” he said at length, turning towards a table of richly enamelled
and massive silver, upon which were a few goblets fantastically
stained, together with two large Etruscan vases, fashioned in the same
extraordinary model as that in the foreground of the portrait, and
filled with what I supposed to be Johannisberger. “Come,” he said,
abruptly, “let us drink! It is early--but let us drink. It is _indeed_
early,” he continued, musingly, as a cherub with a heavy golden hammer
made the apartment ring with the first hour after sunrise: “It is
_indeed_ early--but what matters it? let us drink! Let us pour out an
offering to yon solemn sun which these gaudy lamps and censers are
so eager to subdue!” And, having made me pledge him in a bumper, he
swallowed in rapid succession several goblets of the wine.

“To dream,” he continued, resuming the tone of his desultory
conversation, as he held up to the rich light of a censer one of the
magnificent vases--“to dream has been the business of my life. I have
therefore framed for myself, as you see, a bower of dreams. In the heart
of Venice could I have erected a better? You behold around you, it is
true, a medley of architectural embellishments. The chastity of Ionia
is offended by antediluvian devices, and the sphynxes of Egypt are
outstretched upon carpets of gold. Yet the effect is incongruous to
the timid alone. Proprieties of place, and especially of time, are
the bugbears which terrify mankind from the contemplation of the
magnificent. Once I was myself a decorist; but that sublimation of folly
has palled upon my soul. All this is now the fitter for my purpose. Like
these arabesque censers, my spirit is writhing in fire, and the delirium
of this scene is fashioning me for the wilder visions of that land
of real dreams whither I am now rapidly departing.” He here paused
abruptly, bent his head to his bosom, and seemed to listen to a sound
which I could not hear. At length, erecting his frame, he looked
upwards, and ejaculated the lines of the Bishop of Chichester:

     _“Stay for me there!  I will not fail_
     _To meet thee in that hollow vale.”_

In the next instant, confessing the power of the wine, he threw himself
at full-length upon an ottoman.

A quick step was now heard upon the staircase, and a loud knock at
the door rapidly succeeded. I was hastening to anticipate a second
disturbance, when a page of Mentoni’s household burst into the room, and
faltered out, in a voice choking with emotion, the incoherent words,
“My mistress!--my mistress!--Poisoned!--poisoned! Oh, beautiful--oh,
beautiful Aphrodite!”

Bewildered, I flew to the ottoman, and endeavored to arouse the sleeper
to a sense of the startling intelligence. But his limbs were rigid--his
lips were livid--his lately beaming eyes were riveted in _death_.
I staggered back towards the table--my hand fell upon a cracked and
blackened goblet--and a consciousness of the entire and terrible truth
flashed suddenly over my soul.



THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

     Impia tortorum longos hic turba furores
     Sanguinis innocui, non satiata, aluit.
     Sospite nunc patria, fracto nunc funeris antro,
     Mors ubi dira fuit vita salusque patent.

     [_Quatrain composed for the gates of a market to be erected
     upon the site of the Jacobin Club House at Paris_.]

I WAS sick--sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at
length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses
were leaving me. The sentence--the dread sentence of death--was the last
of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that, the sound of
the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate
hum. It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution--perhaps from its
association in fancy with the burr of a mill wheel. This only for a
brief period; for presently I heard no more. Yet, for a while, I saw;
but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw the lips of the black-robed
judges. They appeared to me white--whiter than the sheet upon which
I trace these words--and thin even to grotesqueness; thin with the
intensity of their expression of firmness--of immoveable resolution--of
stern contempt of human torture. I saw that the decrees of what to me
was Fate, were still issuing from those lips. I saw them writhe with
a deadly locution. I saw them fashion the syllables of my name; and I
shuddered because no sound succeeded. I saw, too, for a few moments of
delirious horror, the soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the sable
draperies which enwrapped the walls of the apartment. And then my vision
fell upon the seven tall candles upon the table. At first they wore the
aspect of charity, and seemed white and slender angels who would save
me; but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over my
spirit, and I felt every fibre in my frame thrill as if I had touched
the wire of a galvanic battery, while the angel forms became meaningless
spectres, with heads of flame, and I saw that from them there would be
no help. And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note,
the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave. The thought
came gently and stealthily, and it seemed long before it attained full
appreciation; but just as my spirit came at length properly to feel and
entertain it, the figures of the judges vanished, as if magically, from
before me; the tall candles sank into nothingness; their flames went out
utterly; the blackness of darkness supervened; all sensations appeared
swallowed up in a mad rushing descent as of the soul into Hades. Then
silence, and stillness, night were the universe.

I had swooned; but still will not say that all of consciousness was
lost. What of it there remained I will not attempt to define, or even
to describe; yet all was not lost. In the deepest slumber--no! In
delirium--no! In a swoon--no! In death--no! even in the grave all is
not lost. Else there is no immortality for man. Arousing from the most
profound of slumbers, we break the gossamer web of some dream. Yet in a
second afterward, (so frail may that web have been) we remember not
that we have dreamed. In the return to life from the swoon there are two
stages; first, that of the sense of mental or spiritual; secondly, that
of the sense of physical, existence. It seems probable that if, upon
reaching the second stage, we could recall the impressions of the
first, we should find these impressions eloquent in memories of the gulf
beyond. And that gulf is--what? How at least shall we distinguish its
shadows from those of the tomb? But if the impressions of what I have
termed the first stage, are not, at will, recalled, yet, after long
interval, do they not come unbidden, while we marvel whence they come?
He who has never swooned, is not he who finds strange palaces and wildly
familiar faces in coals that glow; is not he who beholds floating
in mid-air the sad visions that the many may not view; is not he who
ponders over the perfume of some novel flower--is not he whose brain
grows bewildered with the meaning of some musical cadence which has
never before arrested his attention.

Amid frequent and thoughtful endeavors to remember; amid earnest
struggles to regather some token of the state of seeming nothingness
into which my soul had lapsed, there have been moments when I have
dreamed of success; there have been brief, very brief periods when I
have conjured up remembrances which the lucid reason of a later epoch
assures me could have had reference only to that condition of seeming
unconsciousness. These shadows of memory tell, indistinctly, of tall
figures that lifted and bore me in silence down--down--still
down--till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of the
interminableness of the descent. They tell also of a vague horror at
my heart, on account of that heart’s unnatural stillness. Then comes a
sense of sudden motionlessness throughout all things; as if those who
bore me (a ghastly train!) had outrun, in their descent, the limits of
the limitless, and paused from the wearisomeness of their toil. After
this I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness--the
madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things.

Very suddenly there came back to my soul motion and sound--the
tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its
beating. Then a pause in which all is blank. Then again sound, and
motion, and touch--a tingling sensation pervading my frame. Then the
mere consciousness of existence, without thought--a condition which
lasted long. Then, very suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and
earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state. Then a strong desire
to lapse into insensibility. Then a rushing revival of soul and a
successful effort to move. And now a full memory of the trial, of the
judges, of the sable draperies, of the sentence, of the sickness, of
the swoon. Then entire forgetfulness of all that followed; of all that
a later day and much earnestness of endeavor have enabled me vaguely to
recall.

So far, I had not opened my eyes. I felt that I lay upon my back,
unbound. I reached out my hand, and it fell heavily upon something damp
and hard. There I suffered it to remain for many minutes, while I strove
to imagine where and what I could be. I longed, yet dared not to employ
my vision. I dreaded the first glance at objects around me. It was not
that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest
there should be nothing to see. At length, with a wild desperation
at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts, then, were
confirmed. The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled
for breath. The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle
me. The atmosphere was intolerably close. I still lay quietly, and
made effort to exercise my reason. I brought to mind the inquisitorial
proceedings, and attempted from that point to deduce my real condition.
The sentence had passed; and it appeared to me that a very long interval
of time had since elapsed. Yet not for a moment did I suppose myself
actually dead. Such a supposition, notwithstanding what we read in
fiction, is altogether inconsistent with real existence;--but where and
in what state was I? The condemned to death, I knew, perished usually at
the autos-da-fe, and one of these had been held on the very night of the
day of my trial. Had I been remanded to my dungeon, to await the next
sacrifice, which would not take place for many months? This I at once
saw could not be. Victims had been in immediate demand. Moreover, my
dungeon, as well as all the condemned cells at Toledo, had stone floors,
and light was not altogether excluded.

A fearful idea now suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart,
and for a brief period, I once more relapsed into insensibility. Upon
recovering, I at once started to my feet, trembling convulsively
in every fibre. I thrust my arms wildly above and around me in all
directions. I felt nothing; yet dreaded to move a step, lest I should be
impeded by the walls of a tomb. Perspiration burst from every pore, and
stood in cold big beads upon my forehead. The agony of suspense grew
at length intolerable, and I cautiously moved forward, with my arms
extended, and my eyes straining from their sockets, in the hope of
catching some faint ray of light. I proceeded for many paces; but still
all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely. It seemed evident
that mine was not, at least, the most hideous of fates.

And now, as I still continued to step cautiously onward, there came
thronging upon my recollection a thousand vague rumors of the horrors of
Toledo. Of the dungeons there had been strange things narrated--fables I
had always deemed them--but yet strange, and too ghastly to repeat, save
in a whisper. Was I left to perish of starvation in this subterranean
world of darkness; or what fate, perhaps even more fearful, awaited
me? That the result would be death, and a death of more than customary
bitterness, I knew too well the character of my judges to doubt. The
mode and the hour were all that occupied or distracted me.

My outstretched hands at length encountered some solid obstruction. It
was a wall, seemingly of stone masonry--very smooth, slimy, and cold.
I followed it up; stepping with all the careful distrust with which
certain antique narratives had inspired me. This process, however,
afforded me no means of ascertaining the dimensions of my dungeon; as
I might make its circuit, and return to the point whence I set out,
without being aware of the fact; so perfectly uniform seemed the wall.
I therefore sought the knife which had been in my pocket, when led
into the inquisitorial chamber; but it was gone; my clothes had been
exchanged for a wrapper of coarse serge. I had thought of forcing the
blade in some minute crevice of the masonry, so as to identify my point
of departure. The difficulty, nevertheless, was but trivial; although,
in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at first insuperable. I tore a
part of the hem from the robe and placed the fragment at full length,
and at right angles to the wall. In groping my way around the prison, I
could not fail to encounter this rag upon completing the circuit. So, at
least I thought: but I had not counted upon the extent of the dungeon,
or upon my own weakness. The ground was moist and slippery. I staggered
onward for some time, when I stumbled and fell. My excessive fatigue
induced me to remain prostrate; and sleep soon overtook me as I lay.

Upon awaking, and stretching forth an arm, I found beside me a loaf
and a pitcher with water. I was too much exhausted to reflect upon
this circumstance, but ate and drank with avidity. Shortly afterward, I
resumed my tour around the prison, and with much toil came at last upon
the fragment of the serge. Up to the period when I fell I had counted
fifty-two paces, and upon resuming my walk, I had counted forty-eight
more;--when I arrived at the rag. There were in all, then, a hundred
paces; and, admitting two paces to the yard, I presumed the dungeon to
be fifty yards in circuit. I had met, however, with many angles in the
wall, and thus I could form no guess at the shape of the vault; for
vault I could not help supposing it to be.

I had little object--certainly no hope--in these researches; but a vague
curiosity prompted me to continue them. Quitting the wall, I resolved
to cross the area of the enclosure. At first I proceeded with extreme
caution, for the floor, although seemingly of solid material, was
treacherous with slime. At length, however, I took courage, and did not
hesitate to step firmly; endeavoring to cross in as direct a line as
possible. I had advanced some ten or twelve paces in this manner, when
the remnant of the torn hem of my robe became entangled between my legs.
I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face.

In the confusion attending my fall, I did not immediately apprehend a
somewhat startling circumstance, which yet, in a few seconds afterward,
and while I still lay prostrate, arrested my attention. It was this--my
chin rested upon the floor of the prison, but my lips and the upper
portion of my head, although seemingly at a less elevation than the
chin, touched nothing. At the same time my forehead seemed bathed in
a clammy vapor, and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my
nostrils. I put forward my arm, and shuddered to find that I had fallen
at the very brink of a circular pit, whose extent, of course, I had
no means of ascertaining at the moment. Groping about the masonry just
below the margin, I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment, and let it
fall into the abyss. For many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations
as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length
there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. At the
same moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening, and as
rapid closing of a door overhead, while a faint gleam of light flashed
suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away.

I saw clearly the doom which had been prepared for me, and congratulated
myself upon the timely accident by which I had escaped. Another step
before my fall, and the world had seen me no more. And the death just
avoided, was of that very character which I had regarded as fabulous and
frivolous in the tales respecting the Inquisition. To the victims of its
tyranny, there was the choice of death with its direst physical agonies,
or death with its most hideous moral horrors. I had been reserved for
the latter. By long suffering my nerves had been unstrung, until I
trembled at the sound of my own voice, and had become in every respect a
fitting subject for the species of torture which awaited me.

Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to the wall; resolving
there to perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells, of which my
imagination now pictured many in various positions about the dungeon.
In other conditions of mind I might have had courage to end my misery at
once by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of
cowards. Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits--that the
sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan.

Agitation of spirit kept me awake for many long hours; but at length I
again slumbered. Upon arousing, I found by my side, as before, a loaf
and a pitcher of water. A burning thirst consumed me, and I emptied
the vessel at a draught. It must have been drugged; for scarcely had I
drunk, before I became irresistibly drowsy. A deep sleep fell upon me--a
sleep like that of death. How long it lasted of course, I know not;
but when, once again, I unclosed my eyes, the objects around me were
visible. By a wild sulphurous lustre, the origin of which I could not
at first determine, I was enabled to see the extent and aspect of the
prison.

In its size I had been greatly mistaken. The whole circuit of its walls
did not exceed twenty-five yards. For some minutes this fact occasioned
me a world of vain trouble; vain indeed! for what could be of less
importance, under the terrible circumstances which environed me, then
the mere dimensions of my dungeon? But my soul took a wild interest in
trifles, and I busied myself in endeavors to account for the error I had
committed in my measurement. The truth at length flashed upon me. In my
first attempt at exploration I had counted fifty-two paces, up to the
period when I fell; I must then have been within a pace or two of the
fragment of serge; in fact, I had nearly performed the circuit of the
vault. I then slept, and upon awaking, I must have returned upon my
steps--thus supposing the circuit nearly double what it actually was. My
confusion of mind prevented me from observing that I began my tour with
the wall to the left, and ended it with the wall to the right.

I had been deceived, too, in respect to the shape of the enclosure.
In feeling my way I had found many angles, and thus deduced an idea of
great irregularity; so potent is the effect of total darkness upon one
arousing from lethargy or sleep! The angles were simply those of a few
slight depressions, or niches, at odd intervals. The general shape of
the prison was square. What I had taken for masonry seemed now to be
iron, or some other metal, in huge plates, whose sutures or joints
occasioned the depression. The entire surface of this metallic enclosure
was rudely daubed in all the hideous and repulsive devices to which the
charnel superstition of the monks has given rise. The figures of fiends
in aspects of menace, with skeleton forms, and other more really
fearful images, overspread and disfigured the walls. I observed that the
outlines of these monstrosities were sufficiently distinct, but that
the colors seemed faded and blurred, as if from the effects of a damp
atmosphere. I now noticed the floor, too, which was of stone. In the
centre yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I had escaped; but it was
the only one in the dungeon.

All this I saw indistinctly and by much effort: for my personal
condition had been greatly changed during slumber. I now lay upon my
back, and at full length, on a species of low framework of wood. To this
I was securely bound by a long strap resembling a surcingle. It passed
in many convolutions about my limbs and body, leaving at liberty only
my head, and my left arm to such extent that I could, by dint of much
exertion, supply myself with food from an earthen dish which lay by
my side on the floor. I saw, to my horror, that the pitcher had been
removed. I say to my horror; for I was consumed with intolerable thirst.
This thirst it appeared to be the design of my persecutors to stimulate:
for the food in the dish was meat pungently seasoned.

Looking upward, I surveyed the ceiling of my prison. It was some thirty
or forty feet overhead, and constructed much as the side walls. In one
of its panels a very singular figure riveted my whole attention. It was
the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented, save that, in
lieu of a scythe, he held what, at a casual glance, I supposed to be
the pictured image of a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks.
There was something, however, in the appearance of this machine which
caused me to regard it more attentively. While I gazed directly upward
at it (for its position was immediately over my own) I fancied that I
saw it in motion. In an instant afterward the fancy was confirmed. Its
sweep was brief, and of course slow. I watched it for some minutes,
somewhat in fear, but more in wonder. Wearied at length with observing
its dull movement, I turned my eyes upon the other objects in the cell.

A slight noise attracted my notice, and, looking to the floor, I saw
several enormous rats traversing it. They had issued from the well,
which lay just within view to my right. Even then, while I gazed, they
came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by the scent
of the meat. From this it required much effort and attention to scare
them away.

It might have been half an hour, perhaps even an hour, (for I could take
but imperfect note of time) before I again cast my eyes upward. What
I then saw confounded and amazed me. The sweep of the pendulum had
increased in extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence, its
velocity was also much greater. But what mainly disturbed me was the
idea that had perceptibly descended. I now observed--with what horror it
is needless to say--that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent
of glittering steel, about a foot in length from horn to horn; the horns
upward, and the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor. Like
a razor also, it seemed massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into
a solid and broad structure above. It was appended to a weighty rod of
brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.

I could no longer doubt the doom prepared for me by monkish ingenuity in
torture. My cognizance of the pit had become known to the inquisitorial
agents--the pit whose horrors had been destined for so bold a recusant
as myself--the pit, typical of hell, and regarded by rumor as the Ultima
Thule of all their punishments. The plunge into this pit I had avoided
by the merest of accidents, I knew that surprise, or entrapment into
torment, formed an important portion of all the grotesquerie of these
dungeon deaths. Having failed to fall, it was no part of the demon
plan to hurl me into the abyss; and thus (there being no alternative) a
different and a milder destruction awaited me. Milder! I half smiled in
my agony as I thought of such application of such a term.

What boots it to tell of the long, long hours of horror more than
mortal, during which I counted the rushing vibrations of the steel! Inch
by inch--line by line--with a descent only appreciable at intervals that
seemed ages--down and still down it came! Days passed--it might have
been that many days passed--ere it swept so closely over me as to fan me
with its acrid breath. The odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my
nostrils. I prayed--I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy
descent. I grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward
against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. And then I fell suddenly
calm, and lay smiling at the glittering death, as a child at some rare
bauble.

There was another interval of utter insensibility; it was brief; for,
upon again lapsing into life there had been no perceptible descent in
the pendulum. But it might have been long; for I knew there were demons
who took note of my swoon, and who could have arrested the vibration at
pleasure. Upon my recovery, too, I felt very--oh, inexpressibly sick
and weak, as if through long inanition. Even amid the agonies of that
period, the human nature craved food. With painful effort I outstretched
my left arm as far as my bonds permitted, and took possession of the
small remnant which had been spared me by the rats. As I put a portion
of it within my lips, there rushed to my mind a half formed thought of
joy--of hope. Yet what business had I with hope? It was, as I say, a
half formed thought--man has many such which are never completed. I felt
that it was of joy--of hope; but felt also that it had perished in its
formation. In vain I struggled to perfect--to regain it. Long suffering
had nearly annihilated all my ordinary powers of mind. I was an
imbecile--an idiot.

The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to my length. I saw
that the crescent was designed to cross the region of the heart.
It would fray the serge of my robe--it would return and repeat its
operations--again--and again. Notwithstanding terrifically wide sweep
(some thirty feet or more) and the hissing vigor of its descent,
sufficient to sunder these very walls of iron, still the fraying of my
robe would be all that, for several minutes, it would accomplish. And
at this thought I paused. I dared not go farther than this reflection. I
dwelt upon it with a pertinacity of attention--as if, in so dwelling,
I could arrest here the descent of the steel. I forced myself to
ponder upon the sound of the crescent as it should pass across the
garment--upon the peculiar thrilling sensation which the friction of
cloth produces on the nerves. I pondered upon all this frivolity until
my teeth were on edge.

Down--steadily down it crept. I took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting
its downward with its lateral velocity. To the right--to the left--far
and wide--with the shriek of a damned spirit; to my heart with the
stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed and howled as the one
or the other idea grew predominant.

Down--certainly, relentlessly down! It vibrated within three inches of
my bosom! I struggled violently, furiously, to free my left arm. This
was free only from the elbow to the hand. I could reach the latter, from
the platter beside me, to my mouth, with great effort, but no farther.
Could I have broken the fastenings above the elbow, I would have seized
and attempted to arrest the pendulum. I might as well have attempted to
arrest an avalanche!

Down--still unceasingly--still inevitably down! I gasped and struggled
at each vibration. I shrunk convulsively at its every sweep. My eyes
followed its outward or upward whirls with the eagerness of the most
unmeaning despair; they closed themselves spasmodically at the descent,
although death would have been a relief, oh! how unspeakable! Still I
quivered in every nerve to think how slight a sinking of the machinery
would precipitate that keen, glistening axe upon my bosom. It was hope
that prompted the nerve to quiver--the frame to shrink. It was hope--the
hope that triumphs on the rack--that whispers to the death-condemned
even in the dungeons of the Inquisition.

I saw that some ten or twelve vibrations would bring the steel in actual
contact with my robe, and with this observation there suddenly came over
my spirit all the keen, collected calmness of despair. For the first
time during many hours--or perhaps days--I thought. It now occurred to
me that the bandage, or surcingle, which enveloped me, was unique. I
was tied by no separate cord. The first stroke of the razorlike crescent
athwart any portion of the band, would so detach it that it might be
unwound from my person by means of my left hand. But how fearful, in
that case, the proximity of the steel! The result of the slightest
struggle how deadly! Was it likely, moreover, that the minions of the
torturer had not foreseen and provided for this possibility! Was it
probable that the bandage crossed my bosom in the track of the pendulum?
Dreading to find my faint, and, as it seemed, my last hope frustrated,
I so far elevated my head as to obtain a distinct view of my breast. The
surcingle enveloped my limbs and body close in all directions--save in
the path of the destroying crescent.

Scarcely had I dropped my head back into its original position, when
there flashed upon my mind what I cannot better describe than as the
unformed half of that idea of deliverance to which I have previously
alluded, and of which a moiety only floated indeterminately through my
brain when I raised food to my burning lips. The whole thought was now
present--feeble, scarcely sane, scarcely definite,--but still entire.
I proceeded at once, with the nervous energy of despair, to attempt its
execution.

For many hours the immediate vicinity of the low framework upon which
I lay, had been literally swarming with rats. They were wild, bold,
ravenous; their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited but for
motionlessness on my part to make me their prey. “To what food,” I
thought, “have they been accustomed in the well?”

They had devoured, in spite of all my efforts to prevent them, all but a
small remnant of the contents of the dish. I had fallen into an habitual
see-saw, or wave of the hand about the platter: and, at length, the
unconscious uniformity of the movement deprived it of effect. In their
voracity the vermin frequently fastened their sharp fangs in my fingers.
With the particles of the oily and spicy viand which now remained, I
thoroughly rubbed the bandage wherever I could reach it; then, raising
my hand from the floor, I lay breathlessly still.

At first the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at the
change--at the cessation of movement. They shrank alarmedly back; many
sought the well. But this was only for a moment. I had not counted in
vain upon their voracity. Observing that I remained without motion,
one or two of the boldest leaped upon the frame-work, and smelt at the
surcingle. This seemed the signal for a general rush. Forth from the
well they hurried in fresh troops. They clung to the wood--they overran
it, and leaped in hundreds upon my person. The measured movement of the
pendulum disturbed them not at all. Avoiding its strokes they busied
themselves with the anointed bandage. They pressed--they swarmed upon me
in ever accumulating heaps. They writhed upon my throat; their cold lips
sought my own; I was half stifled by their thronging pressure; disgust,
for which the world has no name, swelled my bosom, and chilled, with a
heavy clamminess, my heart. Yet one minute, and I felt that the struggle
would be over. Plainly I perceived the loosening of the bandage. I knew
that in more than one place it must be already severed. With a more than
human resolution I lay still.

Nor had I erred in my calculations--nor had I endured in vain. I at
length felt that I was free. The surcingle hung in ribands from my body.
But the stroke of the pendulum already pressed upon my bosom. It had
divided the serge of the robe. It had cut through the linen beneath.
Twice again it swung, and a sharp sense of pain shot through every
nerve. But the moment of escape had arrived. At a wave of my hand my
deliverers hurried tumultuously away. With a steady movement--cautious,
sidelong, shrinking, and slow--I slid from the embrace of the bandage
and beyond the reach of the scimitar. For the moment, at least, I was
free.

Free!--and in the grasp of the Inquisition! I had scarcely stepped from
my wooden bed of horror upon the stone floor of the prison, when the
motion of the hellish machine ceased and I beheld it drawn up, by some
invisible force, through the ceiling. This was a lesson which I took
desperately to heart. My every motion was undoubtedly watched. Free!--I
had but escaped death in one form of agony, to be delivered unto worse
than death in some other. With that thought I rolled my eves
nervously around on the barriers of iron that hemmed me in. Something
unusual--some change which, at first, I could not appreciate
distinctly--it was obvious, had taken place in the apartment. For many
minutes of a dreamy and trembling abstraction, I busied myself in vain,
unconnected conjecture. During this period, I became aware, for the
first time, of the origin of the sulphurous light which illumined
the cell. It proceeded from a fissure, about half an inch in width,
extending entirely around the prison at the base of the walls, which
thus appeared, and were, completely separated from the floor. I
endeavored, but of course in vain, to look through the aperture.

As I arose from the attempt, the mystery of the alteration in the
chamber broke at once upon my understanding. I have observed that,
although the outlines of the figures upon the walls were sufficiently
distinct, yet the colors seemed blurred and indefinite. These colors had
now assumed, and were momentarily assuming, a startling and most intense
brilliancy, that gave to the spectral and fiendish portraitures an
aspect that might have thrilled even firmer nerves than my own. Demon
eyes, of a wild and ghastly vivacity, glared upon me in a thousand
directions, where none had been visible before, and gleamed with the
lurid lustre of a fire that I could not force my imagination to regard
as unreal.

Unreal!--Even while I breathed there came to my nostrils the breath of
the vapour of heated iron! A suffocating odour pervaded the prison! A
deeper glow settled each moment in the eyes that glared at my agonies!
A richer tint of crimson diffused itself over the pictured horrors of
blood. I panted! I gasped for breath! There could be no doubt of the
design of my tormentors--oh! most unrelenting! oh! most demoniac of
men! I shrank from the glowing metal to the centre of the cell. Amid the
thought of the fiery destruction that impended, the idea of the coolness
of the well came over my soul like balm. I rushed to its deadly brink.
I threw my straining vision below. The glare from the enkindled roof
illumined its inmost recesses. Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit
refuse to comprehend the meaning of what I saw. At length it forced--it
wrestled its way into my soul--it burned itself in upon my shuddering
reason.--Oh! for a voice to speak!--oh! horror!--oh! any horror but
this! With a shriek, I rushed from the margin, and buried my face in my
hands--weeping bitterly.

The heat rapidly increased, and once again I looked up, shuddering as
with a fit of the ague. There had been a second change in the cell--and
now the change was obviously in the form. As before, it was in vain that
I, at first, endeavoured to appreciate or understand what was taking
place. But not long was I left in doubt. The Inquisitorial vengeance had
been hurried by my two-fold escape, and there was to be no more dallying
with the King of Terrors. The room had been square. I saw that two of
its iron angles were now acute--two, consequently, obtuse. The fearful
difference quickly increased with a low rumbling or moaning sound. In an
instant the apartment had shifted its form into that of a lozenge. But
the alteration stopped not here-I neither hoped nor desired it to stop.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal
peace. “Death,” I said, “any death but that of the pit!” Fool! might I
have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron
to urge me? Could I resist its glow? or, if even that, could I withstand
its pressure? And now, flatter and flatter grew the lozenge, with a
rapidity that left me no time for contemplation. Its centre, and of
course, its greatest width, came just over the yawning gulf. I shrank
back--but the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward. At length
for my seared and writhing body there was no longer an inch of foothold
on the firm floor of the prison. I struggled no more, but the agony of
my soul found vent in one loud, long, and final scream of despair. I
felt that I tottered upon the brink--I averted my eyes--

There was a discordant hum of human voices! There was a loud blast as of
many trumpets! There was a harsh grating as of a thousand thunders! The
fiery walls rushed back! An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell,
fainting, into the abyss. It was that of General Lasalle. The French
army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was in the hands of its
enemies.



THE PREMATURE BURIAL

THERE are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but
which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction.
These the mere romanticist must eschew, if he do not wish to offend or
to disgust. They are with propriety handled only when the severity and
majesty of Truth sanctify and sustain them. We thrill, for example, with
the most intense of “pleasurable pain” over the accounts of the Passage
of the Beresina, of the Earthquake at Lisbon, of the Plague at London,
of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, or of the stifling of the hundred
and twenty-three prisoners in the Black Hole at Calcutta. But in these
accounts it is the fact----it is the reality----it is the history which
excites. As inventions, we should regard them with simple abhorrence.

I have mentioned some few of the more prominent and august calamities
on record; but in these it is the extent, not less than the character
of the calamity, which so vividly impresses the fancy. I need not remind
the reader that, from the long and weird catalogue of human miseries,
I might have selected many individual instances more replete with
essential suffering than any of these vast generalities of disaster.
The true wretchedness, indeed--the ultimate woe----is particular, not
diffuse. That the ghastly extremes of agony are endured by man the unit,
and never by man the mass----for this let us thank a merciful God!

To be buried while alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these
extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality. That it has
frequently, very frequently, so fallen will scarcely be denied by those
who think. The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best
shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other
begins? We know that there are diseases in which occur total cessations
of all the apparent functions of vitality, and yet in which these
cessations are merely suspensions, properly so called. They are only
temporary pauses in the incomprehensible mechanism. A certain period
elapses, and some unseen mysterious principle again sets in motion the
magic pinions and the wizard wheels. The silver cord was not for ever
loosed, nor the golden bowl irreparably broken. But where, meantime, was
the soul?

Apart, however, from the inevitable conclusion, a priori that such
causes must produce such effects----that the well-known occurrence of
such cases of suspended animation must naturally give rise, now and
then, to premature interments--apart from this consideration, we have
the direct testimony of medical and ordinary experience to prove that a
vast number of such interments have actually taken place. I might refer
at once, if necessary to a hundred well authenticated instances. One of
very remarkable character, and of which the circumstances may be fresh
in the memory of some of my readers, occurred, not very long ago, in the
neighboring city of Baltimore, where it occasioned a painful, intense,
and widely-extended excitement. The wife of one of the most respectable
citizens--a lawyer of eminence and a member of Congress--was seized with
a sudden and unaccountable illness, which completely baffled the skill
of her physicians. After much suffering she died, or was supposed to
die. No one suspected, indeed, or had reason to suspect, that she was
not actually dead. She presented all the ordinary appearances of death.
The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of
the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lustreless. There was no warmth.
Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied,
during which it had acquired a stony rigidity. The funeral, in short,
was hastened, on account of the rapid advance of what was supposed to be
decomposition.

The lady was deposited in her family vault, which, for three subsequent
years, was undisturbed. At the expiration of this term it was opened
for the reception of a sarcophagus;----but, alas! how fearful a shock
awaited the husband, who, personally, threw open the door! As its
portals swung outwardly back, some white-apparelled object fell rattling
within his arms. It was the skeleton of his wife in her yet unmoulded
shroud.

A careful investigation rendered it evident that she had revived within
two days after her entombment; that her struggles within the coffin had
caused it to fall from a ledge, or shelf to the floor, where it was so
broken as to permit her escape. A lamp which had been accidentally
left, full of oil, within the tomb, was found empty; it might have been
exhausted, however, by evaporation. On the uttermost of the steps which
led down into the dread chamber was a large fragment of the coffin,
with which, it seemed, that she had endeavored to arrest attention by
striking the iron door. While thus occupied, she probably swooned, or
possibly died, through sheer terror; and, in failing, her shroud became
entangled in some iron--work which projected interiorly. Thus she
remained, and thus she rotted, erect.

In the year 1810, a case of living inhumation happened in France,
attended with circumstances which go far to warrant the assertion that
truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. The heroine of the story was a
Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade, a young girl of illustrious family,
of wealth, and of great personal beauty. Among her numerous suitors was
Julien Bossuet, a poor litterateur, or journalist of Paris. His talents
and general amiability had recommended him to the notice of the heiress,
by whom he seems to have been truly beloved; but her pride of birth
decided her, finally, to reject him, and to wed a Monsieur Renelle, a
banker and a diplomatist of some eminence. After marriage, however, this
gentleman neglected, and, perhaps, even more positively ill-treated her.
Having passed with him some wretched years, she died,----at least her
condition so closely resembled death as to deceive every one who saw
her. She was buried----not in a vault, but in an ordinary grave in the
village of her nativity. Filled with despair, and still inflamed by the
memory of a profound attachment, the lover journeys from the capital to
the remote province in which the village lies, with the romantic purpose
of disinterring the corpse, and possessing himself of its luxuriant
tresses. He reaches the grave. At midnight he unearths the coffin, opens
it, and is in the act of detaching the hair, when he is arrested by the
unclosing of the beloved eyes. In fact, the lady had been buried
alive. Vitality had not altogether departed, and she was aroused by
the caresses of her lover from the lethargy which had been mistaken
for death. He bore her frantically to his lodgings in the village. He
employed certain powerful restoratives suggested by no little medical
learning. In fine, she revived. She recognized her preserver. She
remained with him until, by slow degrees, she fully recovered her
original health. Her woman’s heart was not adamant, and this last
lesson of love sufficed to soften it. She bestowed it upon Bossuet.
She returned no more to her husband, but, concealing from him her
resurrection, fled with her lover to America. Twenty years afterward,
the two returned to France, in the persuasion that time had so greatly
altered the lady’s appearance that her friends would be unable to
recognize her. They were mistaken, however, for, at the first meeting,
Monsieur Renelle did actually recognize and make claim to his wife.
This claim she resisted, and a judicial tribunal sustained her in her
resistance, deciding that the peculiar circumstances, with the long
lapse of years, had extinguished, not only equitably, but legally, the
authority of the husband.

The “Chirurgical Journal” of Leipsic--a periodical of high authority
and merit, which some American bookseller would do well to translate
and republish, records in a late number a very distressing event of the
character in question.

An officer of artillery, a man of gigantic stature and of robust
health, being thrown from an unmanageable horse, received a very severe
contusion upon the head, which rendered him insensible at once; the
skull was slightly fractured, but no immediate danger was apprehended.
Trepanning was accomplished successfully. He was bled, and many other of
the ordinary means of relief were adopted. Gradually, however, he fell
into a more and more hopeless state of stupor, and, finally, it was
thought that he died.

The weather was warm, and he was buried with indecent haste in one of
the public cemeteries. His funeral took place on Thursday. On the Sunday
following, the grounds of the cemetery were, as usual, much thronged
with visiters, and about noon an intense excitement was created by
the declaration of a peasant that, while sitting upon the grave of
the officer, he had distinctly felt a commotion of the earth, as if
occasioned by some one struggling beneath. At first little attention was
paid to the man’s asseveration; but his evident terror, and the dogged
obstinacy with which he persisted in his story, had at length their
natural effect upon the crowd. Spades were hurriedly procured, and the
grave, which was shamefully shallow, was in a few minutes so far thrown
open that the head of its occupant appeared. He was then seemingly dead;
but he sat nearly erect within his coffin, the lid of which, in his
furious struggles, he had partially uplifted.

He was forthwith conveyed to the nearest hospital, and there pronounced
to be still living, although in an asphytic condition. After some hours
he revived, recognized individuals of his acquaintance, and, in broken
sentences spoke of his agonies in the grave.

From what he related, it was clear that he must have been conscious
of life for more than an hour, while inhumed, before lapsing into
insensibility. The grave was carelessly and loosely filled with an
exceedingly porous soil; and thus some air was necessarily admitted.
He heard the footsteps of the crowd overhead, and endeavored to make
himself heard in turn. It was the tumult within the grounds of the
cemetery, he said, which appeared to awaken him from a deep sleep, but
no sooner was he awake than he became fully aware of the awful horrors
of his position.

This patient, it is recorded, was doing well and seemed to be in a fair
way of ultimate recovery, but fell a victim to the quackeries of medical
experiment. The galvanic battery was applied, and he suddenly expired in
one of those ecstatic paroxysms which, occasionally, it superinduces.

The mention of the galvanic battery, nevertheless, recalls to my memory
a well known and very extraordinary case in point, where its action
proved the means of restoring to animation a young attorney of London,
who had been interred for two days. This occurred in 1831, and created,
at the time, a very profound sensation wherever it was made the subject
of converse.

The patient, Mr. Edward Stapleton, had died, apparently of typhus fever,
accompanied with some anomalous symptoms which had excited the curiosity
of his medical attendants. Upon his seeming decease, his friends were
requested to sanction a post-mortem examination, but declined to permit
it. As often happens, when such refusals are made, the practitioners
resolved to disinter the body and dissect it at leisure, in private.
Arrangements were easily effected with some of the numerous corps of
body-snatchers, with which London abounds; and, upon the third night
after the funeral, the supposed corpse was unearthed from a grave eight
feet deep, and deposited in the opening chamber of one of the private
hospitals.

An incision of some extent had been actually made in the abdomen,
when the fresh and undecayed appearance of the subject suggested an
application of the battery. One experiment succeeded another, and the
customary effects supervened, with nothing to characterize them in any
respect, except, upon one or two occasions, a more than ordinary degree
of life-likeness in the convulsive action.

It grew late. The day was about to dawn; and it was thought expedient,
at length, to proceed at once to the dissection. A student, however, was
especially desirous of testing a theory of his own, and insisted upon
applying the battery to one of the pectoral muscles. A rough gash was
made, and a wire hastily brought in contact, when the patient, with a
hurried but quite unconvulsive movement, arose from the table, stepped
into the middle of the floor, gazed about him uneasily for a few
seconds, and then--spoke. What he said was unintelligible, but words
were uttered; the syllabification was distinct. Having spoken, he fell
heavily to the floor.

For some moments all were paralyzed with awe--but the urgency of the
case soon restored them their presence of mind. It was seen that Mr.
Stapleton was alive, although in a swoon. Upon exhibition of ether he
revived and was rapidly restored to health, and to the society of his
friends--from whom, however, all knowledge of his resuscitation was
withheld, until a relapse was no longer to be apprehended. Their
wonder--their rapturous astonishment--may be conceived.

The most thrilling peculiarity of this incident, nevertheless, is
involved in what Mr. S. himself asserts. He declares that at no period
was he altogether insensible--that, dully and confusedly, he was aware
of everything which happened to him, from the moment in which he was
pronounced dead by his physicians, to that in which he fell swooning to
the floor of the hospital. “I am alive,” were the uncomprehended words
which, upon recognizing the locality of the dissecting-room, he had
endeavored, in his extremity, to utter.

It were an easy matter to multiply such histories as these--but I
forbear--for, indeed, we have no need of such to establish the fact that
premature interments occur. When we reflect how very rarely, from the
nature of the case, we have it in our power to detect them, we must
admit that they may frequently occur without our cognizance. Scarcely,
in truth, is a graveyard ever encroached upon, for any purpose, to any
great extent, that skeletons are not found in postures which suggest the
most fearful of suspicions.

Fearful indeed the suspicion--but more fearful the doom! It may be
asserted, without hesitation, that no event is so terribly well adapted
to inspire the supremeness of bodily and of mental distress, as is
burial before death. The unendurable oppression of the lungs--the
stifling fumes from the damp earth--the clinging to the death
garments--the rigid embrace of the narrow house--the blackness of the
absolute Night--the silence like a sea that overwhelms--the unseen but
palpable presence of the Conqueror Worm--these things, with the thoughts
of the air and grass above, with memory of dear friends who would fly to
save us if but informed of our fate, and with consciousness that of this
fate they can never be informed--that our hopeless portion is that of
the really dead--these considerations, I say, carry into the heart,
which still palpitates, a degree of appalling and intolerable horror
from which the most daring imagination must recoil. We know of nothing
so agonizing upon Earth--we can dream of nothing half so hideous in the
realms of the nethermost Hell. And thus all narratives upon this topic
have an interest profound; an interest, nevertheless, which, through
the sacred awe of the topic itself, very properly and very peculiarly
depends upon our conviction of the truth of the matter narrated. What I
have now to tell is of my own actual knowledge--of my own positive and
personal experience.

For several years I had been subject to attacks of the singular disorder
which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy, in default of a more
definitive title. Although both the immediate and the predisposing
causes, and even the actual diagnosis, of this disease are still
mysterious, its obvious and apparent character is sufficiently well
understood. Its variations seem to be chiefly of degree. Sometimes the
patient lies, for a day only, or even for a shorter period, in a species
of exaggerated lethargy. He is senseless and externally motionless; but
the pulsation of the heart is still faintly perceptible; some traces of
warmth remain; a slight color lingers within the centre of the cheek;
and, upon application of a mirror to the lips, we can detect a torpid,
unequal, and vacillating action of the lungs. Then again the duration
of the trance is for weeks--even for months; while the closest scrutiny,
and the most rigorous medical tests, fail to establish any material
distinction between the state of the sufferer and what we conceive of
absolute death. Very usually he is saved from premature interment solely
by the knowledge of his friends that he has been previously subject to
catalepsy, by the consequent suspicion excited, and, above all, by
the non-appearance of decay. The advances of the malady are, luckily,
gradual. The first manifestations, although marked, are unequivocal. The
fits grow successively more and more distinctive, and endure each for a
longer term than the preceding. In this lies the principal security from
inhumation. The unfortunate whose first attack should be of the extreme
character which is occasionally seen, would almost inevitably be
consigned alive to the tomb.

My own case differed in no important particular from those mentioned in
medical books. Sometimes, without any apparent cause, I sank, little by
little, into a condition of hemi-syncope, or half swoon; and, in this
condition, without pain, without ability to stir, or, strictly speaking,
to think, but with a dull lethargic consciousness of life and of the
presence of those who surrounded my bed, I remained, until the crisis of
the disease restored me, suddenly, to perfect sensation. At other
times I was quickly and impetuously smitten. I grew sick, and numb, and
chilly, and dizzy, and so fell prostrate at once. Then, for weeks, all
was void, and black, and silent, and Nothing became the universe.
Total annihilation could be no more. From these latter attacks I awoke,
however, with a gradation slow in proportion to the suddenness of the
seizure. Just as the day dawns to the friendless and houseless beggar
who roams the streets throughout the long desolate winter night--just
so tardily--just so wearily--just so cheerily came back the light of the
Soul to me.

Apart from the tendency to trance, however, my general health appeared
to be good; nor could I perceive that it was at all affected by the one
prevalent malady--unless, indeed, an idiosyncrasy in my ordinary sleep
may be looked upon as superinduced. Upon awaking from slumber, I could
never gain, at once, thorough possession of my senses, and always
remained, for many minutes, in much bewilderment and perplexity;--the
mental faculties in general, but the memory in especial, being in a
condition of absolute abeyance.

In all that I endured there was no physical suffering but of moral
distress an infinitude. My fancy grew charnel, I talked “of worms, of
tombs, and epitaphs.” I was lost in reveries of death, and the idea
of premature burial held continual possession of my brain. The ghastly
Danger to which I was subjected haunted me day and night. In the former,
the torture of meditation was excessive--in the latter, supreme. When
the grim Darkness overspread the Earth, then, with every horror of
thought, I shook--shook as the quivering plumes upon the hearse. When
Nature could endure wakefulness no longer, it was with a struggle that
I consented to sleep--for I shuddered to reflect that, upon awaking, I
might find myself the tenant of a grave. And when, finally, I sank into
slumber, it was only to rush at once into a world of phantasms, above
which, with vast, sable, overshadowing wing, hovered, predominant, the
one sepulchral Idea.

From the innumerable images of gloom which thus oppressed me in dreams,
I select for record but a solitary vision. Methought I was immersed in
a cataleptic trance of more than usual duration and profundity. Suddenly
there came an icy hand upon my forehead, and an impatient, gibbering
voice whispered the word “Arise!” within my ear.

I sat erect. The darkness was total. I could not see the figure of him
who had aroused me. I could call to mind neither the period at which I
had fallen into the trance, nor the locality in which I then lay. While
I remained motionless, and busied in endeavors to collect my thought,
the cold hand grasped me fiercely by the wrist, shaking it petulantly,
while the gibbering voice said again:

“Arise! did I not bid thee arise?”

“And who,” I demanded, “art thou?”

“I have no name in the regions which I inhabit,” replied the voice,
mournfully; “I was mortal, but am fiend. I was merciless, but am
pitiful. Thou dost feel that I shudder.--My teeth chatter as I speak,
yet it is not with the chilliness of the night--of the night without
end. But this hideousness is insufferable. How canst thou tranquilly
sleep? I cannot rest for the cry of these great agonies. These sights
are more than I can bear. Get thee up! Come with me into the outer
Night, and let me unfold to thee the graves. Is not this a spectacle of
woe?--Behold!”

I looked; and the unseen figure, which still grasped me by the wrist,
had caused to be thrown open the graves of all mankind, and from each
issued the faint phosphoric radiance of decay, so that I could see into
the innermost recesses, and there view the shrouded bodies in their
sad and solemn slumbers with the worm. But alas! the real sleepers were
fewer, by many millions, than those who slumbered not at all; and there
was a feeble struggling; and there was a general sad unrest; and from
out the depths of the countless pits there came a melancholy rustling
from the garments of the buried. And of those who seemed tranquilly
to repose, I saw that a vast number had changed, in a greater or less
degree, the rigid and uneasy position in which they had originally been
entombed. And the voice again said to me as I gazed:

“Is it not--oh! is it not a pitiful sight?”--but, before I could find
words to reply, the figure had ceased to grasp my wrist, the phosphoric
lights expired, and the graves were closed with a sudden violence, while
from out them arose a tumult of despairing cries, saying again: “Is it
not--O, God, is it not a very pitiful sight?”

Phantasies such as these, presenting themselves at night, extended their
terrific influence far into my waking hours. My nerves became thoroughly
unstrung, and I fell a prey to perpetual horror. I hesitated to ride, or
to walk, or to indulge in any exercise that would carry me from home.
In fact, I no longer dared trust myself out of the immediate presence
of those who were aware of my proneness to catalepsy, lest, falling into
one of my usual fits, I should be buried before my real condition could
be ascertained. I doubted the care, the fidelity of my dearest friends.
I dreaded that, in some trance of more than customary duration, they
might be prevailed upon to regard me as irrecoverable. I even went so
far as to fear that, as I occasioned much trouble, they might be glad to
consider any very protracted attack as sufficient excuse for getting rid
of me altogether. It was in vain they endeavored to reassure me by the
most solemn promises. I exacted the most sacred oaths, that under no
circumstances they would bury me until decomposition had so materially
advanced as to render farther preservation impossible. And, even
then, my mortal terrors would listen to no reason--would accept no
consolation. I entered into a series of elaborate precautions. Among
other things, I had the family vault so remodelled as to admit of being
readily opened from within. The slightest pressure upon a long lever
that extended far into the tomb would cause the iron portal to fly back.
There were arrangements also for the free admission of air and light,
and convenient receptacles for food and water, within immediate reach of
the coffin intended for my reception. This coffin was warmly and softly
padded, and was provided with a lid, fashioned upon the principle of the
vault-door, with the addition of springs so contrived that the feeblest
movement of the body would be sufficient to set it at liberty. Besides
all this, there was suspended from the roof of the tomb, a large bell,
the rope of which, it was designed, should extend through a hole in the
coffin, and so be fastened to one of the hands of the corpse. But, alas?
what avails the vigilance against the Destiny of man? Not even these
well-contrived securities sufficed to save from the uttermost agonies of
living inhumation, a wretch to these agonies foredoomed!

There arrived an epoch--as often before there had arrived--in which I
found myself emerging from total unconsciousness into the first
feeble and indefinite sense of existence. Slowly--with a tortoise
gradation--approached the faint gray dawn of the psychal day. A torpid
uneasiness. An apathetic endurance of dull pain. No care--no hope--no
effort. Then, after a long interval, a ringing in the ears; then,
after a lapse still longer, a prickling or tingling sensation in the
extremities; then a seemingly eternal period of pleasurable quiescence,
during which the awakening feelings are struggling into thought; then a
brief re-sinking into non-entity; then a sudden recovery. At length the
slight quivering of an eyelid, and immediately thereupon, an electric
shock of a terror, deadly and indefinite, which sends the blood in
torrents from the temples to the heart. And now the first positive
effort to think. And now the first endeavor to remember. And now a
partial and evanescent success. And now the memory has so far regained
its dominion, that, in some measure, I am cognizant of my state. I feel
that I am not awaking from ordinary sleep. I recollect that I have been
subject to catalepsy. And now, at last, as if by the rush of an ocean,
my shuddering spirit is overwhelmed by the one grim Danger--by the one
spectral and ever-prevalent idea.

For some minutes after this fancy possessed me, I remained without
motion. And why? I could not summon courage to move. I dared not
make the effort which was to satisfy me of my fate--and yet there was
something at my heart which whispered me it was sure. Despair--such as
no other species of wretchedness ever calls into being--despair alone
urged me, after long irresolution, to uplift the heavy lids of my eyes.
I uplifted them. It was dark--all dark. I knew that the fit was over. I
knew that the crisis of my disorder had long passed. I knew that I
had now fully recovered the use of my visual faculties--and yet it was
dark--all dark--the intense and utter raylessness of the Night that
endureth for evermore.

I endeavored to shriek; and my lips and my parched tongue moved
convulsively together in the attempt--but no voice issued from the
cavernous lungs, which oppressed as if by the weight of some incumbent
mountain, gasped and palpitated, with the heart, at every elaborate and
struggling inspiration.

The movement of the jaws, in this effort to cry aloud, showed me that
they were bound up, as is usual with the dead. I felt, too, that I lay
upon some hard substance, and by something similar my sides were,
also, closely compressed. So far, I had not ventured to stir any of my
limbs--but now I violently threw up my arms, which had been lying at
length, with the wrists crossed. They struck a solid wooden substance,
which extended above my person at an elevation of not more than six
inches from my face. I could no longer doubt that I reposed within a
coffin at last.

And now, amid all my infinite miseries, came sweetly the cherub
Hope--for I thought of my precautions. I writhed, and made spasmodic
exertions to force open the lid: it would not move. I felt my wrists for
the bell-rope: it was not to be found. And now the Comforter fled for
ever, and a still sterner Despair reigned triumphant; for I could not
help perceiving the absence of the paddings which I had so carefully
prepared--and then, too, there came suddenly to my nostrils the strong
peculiar odor of moist earth. The conclusion was irresistible. I was
not within the vault. I had fallen into a trance while absent from
home--while among strangers--when, or how, I could not remember--and
it was they who had buried me as a dog--nailed up in some common
coffin--and thrust deep, deep, and for ever, into some ordinary and
nameless grave.

As this awful conviction forced itself, thus, into the innermost
chambers of my soul, I once again struggled to cry aloud. And in this
second endeavor I succeeded. A long, wild, and continuous shriek, or
yell of agony, resounded through the realms of the subterranean Night.

“Hillo! hillo, there!” said a gruff voice, in reply.

“What the devil’s the matter now!” said a second.

“Get out o’ that!” said a third.

“What do you mean by yowling in that ere kind of style, like a
cattymount?” said a fourth; and hereupon I was seized and shaken
without ceremony, for several minutes, by a junto of very rough-looking
individuals. They did not arouse me from my slumber--for I was wide
awake when I screamed--but they restored me to the full possession of my
memory.

This adventure occurred near Richmond, in Virginia. Accompanied by a
friend, I had proceeded, upon a gunning expedition, some miles down the
banks of the James River. Night approached, and we were overtaken by
a storm. The cabin of a small sloop lying at anchor in the stream, and
laden with garden mould, afforded us the only available shelter. We made
the best of it, and passed the night on board. I slept in one of the
only two berths in the vessel--and the berths of a sloop of sixty or
twenty tons need scarcely be described. That which I occupied had no
bedding of any kind. Its extreme width was eighteen inches. The distance
of its bottom from the deck overhead was precisely the same. I found it
a matter of exceeding difficulty to squeeze myself in. Nevertheless, I
slept soundly, and the whole of my vision--for it was no dream, and no
nightmare--arose naturally from the circumstances of my position--from
my ordinary bias of thought--and from the difficulty, to which I have
alluded, of collecting my senses, and especially of regaining my memory,
for a long time after awaking from slumber. The men who shook me were
the crew of the sloop, and some laborers engaged to unload it. From the
load itself came the earthly smell. The bandage about the jaws was a
silk handkerchief in which I had bound up my head, in default of my
customary nightcap.

The tortures endured, however, were indubitably quite equal for the
time, to those of actual sepulture. They were fearfully--they were
inconceivably hideous; but out of Evil proceeded Good; for their very
excess wrought in my spirit an inevitable revulsion. My soul acquired
tone--acquired temper. I went abroad. I took vigorous exercise. I
breathed the free air of Heaven. I thought upon other subjects than
Death. I discarded my medical books. “Buchan” I burned. I read no “Night
Thoughts”--no fustian about churchyards--no bugaboo tales--such as
this. In short, I became a new man, and lived a man’s life. From that
memorable night, I dismissed forever my charnel apprehensions, and with
them vanished the cataleptic disorder, of which, perhaps, they had been
less the consequence than the cause.

There are moments when, even to the sober eye of Reason, the world of
our sad Humanity may assume the semblance of a Hell--but the imagination
of man is no Carathis, to explore with impunity its every cavern. Alas!
the grim legion of sepulchral terrors cannot be regarded as altogether
fanciful--but, like the Demons in whose company Afrasiab made his voyage
down the Oxus, they must sleep, or they will devour us--they must be
suffered to slumber, or we perish.



THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM

     The garden like a lady fair was cut,
     That lay as if she slumbered in delight,
     And to the open skies her eyes did shut.
     The azure fields of Heaven were ‘sembled right
     In a large round, set with the flowers of light.
     The flowers de luce, and the round sparks of dew.
     That hung upon their azure leaves did shew
     Like twinkling stars that sparkle in the evening blue.
     Giles Fletcher.

FROM his cradle to his grave a gale of prosperity bore my friend Ellison
along. Nor do I use the word prosperity in its mere worldly sense. I
mean it as synonymous with happiness. The person of whom I speak seemed
born for the purpose of foreshadowing the doctrines of Turgot, Price,
Priestley, and Condorcet--of exemplifying by individual instance
what has been deemed the chimera of the perfectionists. In the brief
existence of Ellison I fancy that I have seen refuted the dogma, that in
man’s very nature lies some hidden principle, the antagonist of bliss.
An anxious examination of his career has given me to understand that in
general, from the violation of a few simple laws of humanity arises the
wretchedness of mankind--that as a species we have in our possession the
as yet unwrought elements of content--and that, even now, in the present
darkness and madness of all thought on the great question of the social
condition, it is not impossible that man, the individual, under certain
unusual and highly fortuitous conditions, may be happy.

With opinions such as these my young friend, too, was fully imbued, and
thus it is worthy of observation that the uninterrupted enjoyment which
distinguished his life was, in great measure, the result of preconcert.
It is indeed evident that with less of the instinctive philosophy which,
now and then, stands so well in the stead of experience, Mr. Ellison
would have found himself precipitated, by the very extraordinary success
of his life, into the common vortex of unhappiness which yawns for those
of pre-eminent endowments. But it is by no means my object to pen an
essay on happiness. The ideas of my friend may be summed up in a few
words. He admitted but four elementary principles, or more strictly,
conditions of bliss. That which he considered chief was (strange to
say!) the simple and purely physical one of free exercise in the open
air. “The health,” he said, “attainable by other means is scarcely worth
the name.” He instanced the ecstasies of the fox-hunter, and pointed to
the tillers of the earth, the only people who, as a class, can be fairly
considered happier than others. His second condition was the love of
woman. His third, and most difficult of realization, was the contempt
of ambition. His fourth was an object of unceasing pursuit; and he held
that, other things being equal, the extent of attainable happiness was
in proportion to the spirituality of this object.

Ellison was remarkable in the continuous profusion of good gifts
lavished upon him by fortune. In personal grace and beauty he exceeded
all men. His intellect was of that order to which the acquisition of
knowledge is less a labor than an intuition and a necessity. His
family was one of the most illustrious of the empire. His bride was the
loveliest and most devoted of women. His possessions had been always
ample; but on the attainment of his majority, it was discovered that
one of those extraordinary freaks of fate had been played in his behalf
which startle the whole social world amid which they occur, and seldom
fail radically to alter the moral constitution of those who are their
objects.

It appears that about a hundred years before Mr. Ellison’s coming of
age, there had died, in a remote province, one Mr. Seabright Ellison.
This gentleman had amassed a princely fortune, and, having no immediate
connections, conceived the whim of suffering his wealth to accumulate
for a century after his decease. Minutely and sagaciously directing the
various modes of investment, he bequeathed the aggregate amount to the
nearest of blood, bearing the name of Ellison, who should be alive at
the end of the hundred years. Many attempts had been made to set aside
this singular bequest; their ex post facto character rendered them
abortive; but the attention of a jealous government was aroused, and a
legislative act finally obtained, forbidding all similar accumulations.
This act, however, did not prevent young Ellison from entering into
possession, on his twenty-first birthday, as the heir of his ancestor
Seabright, of a fortune of four hundred and fifty millions of dollars.
(*1)

When it had become known that such was the enormous wealth inherited,
there were, of course, many speculations as to the mode of its disposal.
The magnitude and the immediate availability of the sum bewildered all
who thought on the topic. The possessor of any appreciable amount of
money might have been imagined to perform any one of a thousand things.
With riches merely surpassing those of any citizen, it would have
been easy to suppose him engaging to supreme excess in the fashionable
extravagances of his time--or busying himself with political
intrigue--or aiming at ministerial power--or purchasing increase
of nobility--or collecting large museums of virtu--or playing the
munificent patron of letters, of science, of art--or endowing, and
bestowing his name upon extensive institutions of charity. But for the
inconceivable wealth in the actual possession of the heir, these objects
and all ordinary objects were felt to afford too limited a field.
Recourse was had to figures, and these but sufficed to confound. It was
seen that, even at three per cent., the annual income of the inheritance
amounted to no less than thirteen millions and five hundred thousand
dollars; which was one million and one hundred and twenty-five thousand
per month; or thirty-six thousand nine hundred and eighty-six per day;
or one thousand five hundred and forty-one per hour; or six and twenty
dollars for every minute that flew. Thus the usual track of supposition
was thoroughly broken up. Men knew not what to imagine. There were some
who even conceived that Mr. Ellison would divest himself of at least
one-half of his fortune, as of utterly superfluous opulence--enriching
whole troops of his relatives by division of his superabundance. To the
nearest of these he did, in fact, abandon the very unusual wealth which
was his own before the inheritance.

I was not surprised, however, to perceive that he had long made up his
mind on a point which had occasioned so much discussion to his friends.
Nor was I greatly astonished at the nature of his decision. In regard to
individual charities he had satisfied his conscience. In the possibility
of any improvement, properly so called, being effected by man himself in
the general condition of man, he had (I am sorry to confess it) little
faith. Upon the whole, whether happily or unhappily, he was thrown back,
in very great measure, upon self.

In the widest and noblest sense he was a poet. He comprehended,
moreover, the true character, the august aims, the supreme majesty and
dignity of the poetic sentiment. The fullest, if not the sole proper
satisfaction of this sentiment he instinctively felt to lie in the
creation of novel forms of beauty. Some peculiarities, either in his
early education, or in the nature of his intellect, had tinged with
what is termed materialism all his ethical speculations; and it was this
bias, perhaps, which led him to believe that the most advantageous at
least, if not the sole legitimate field for the poetic exercise, lies
in the creation of novel moods of purely physical loveliness. Thus it
happened he became neither musician nor poet--if we use this latter term
in its every-day acceptation. Or it might have been that he neglected
to become either, merely in pursuance of his idea that in contempt of
ambition is to be found one of the essential principles of happiness on
earth. Is it not indeed, possible that, while a high order of genius
is necessarily ambitious, the highest is above that which is termed
ambition? And may it not thus happen that many far greater than Milton
have contentedly remained “mute and inglorious?” I believe that the
world has never seen--and that, unless through some series of accidents
goading the noblest order of mind into distasteful exertion, the world
will never see--that full extent of triumphant execution, in the richer
domains of art, of which the human nature is absolutely capable.

Ellison became neither musician nor poet; although no man lived more
profoundly enamored of music and poetry. Under other circumstances than
those which invested him, it is not impossible that he would have become
a painter. Sculpture, although in its nature rigorously poetical was too
limited in its extent and consequences, to have occupied, at any time,
much of his attention. And I have now mentioned all the provinces in
which the common understanding of the poetic sentiment has declared it
capable of expatiating. But Ellison maintained that the richest, the
truest, and most natural, if not altogether the most extensive province,
had been unaccountably neglected. No definition had spoken of the
landscape-gardener as of the poet; yet it seemed to my friend that the
creation of the landscape-garden offered to the proper Muse the most
magnificent of opportunities. Here, indeed, was the fairest field for
the display of imagination in the endless combining of forms of
novel beauty; the elements to enter into combination being, by a vast
superiority, the most glorious which the earth could afford. In the
multiform and multicolor of the flowers and the trees, he recognised the
most direct and energetic efforts of Nature at physical loveliness. And
in the direction or concentration of this effort--or, more properly,
in its adaptation to the eyes which were to behold it on earth--he
perceived that he should be employing the best means--laboring to the
greatest advantage--in the fulfilment, not only of his own destiny as
poet, but of the august purposes for which the Deity had implanted the
poetic sentiment in man.

“Its adaptation to the eyes which were to behold it on earth.” In his
explanation of this phraseology, Mr. Ellison did much toward solving
what has always seemed to me an enigma:--I mean the fact (which none
but the ignorant dispute) that no such combination of scenery exists in
nature as the painter of genius may produce. No such paradises are to
be found in reality as have glowed on the canvas of Claude. In the most
enchanting of natural landscapes, there will always be found a defect
or an excess--many excesses and defects. While the component parts may
defy, individually, the highest skill of the artist, the arrangement
of these parts will always be susceptible of improvement. In short, no
position can be attained on the wide surface of the natural earth,
from which an artistical eye, looking steadily, will not find matter of
offence in what is termed the “composition” of the landscape. And
yet how unintelligible is this! In all other matters we are justly
instructed to regard nature as supreme. With her details we shrink from
competition. Who shall presume to imitate the colors of the tulip, or to
improve the proportions of the lily of the valley? The criticism which
says, of sculpture or portraiture, that here nature is to be exalted or
idealized rather than imitated, is in error. No pictorial or sculptural
combinations of points of human liveliness do more than approach the
living and breathing beauty. In landscape alone is the principle of the
critic true; and, having felt its truth here, it is but the headlong
spirit of generalization which has led him to pronounce it true
throughout all the domains of art. Having, I say, felt its truth here;
for the feeling is no affectation or chimera. The mathematics afford no
more absolute demonstrations than the sentiments of his art yields the
artist. He not only believes, but positively knows, that such and
such apparently arbitrary arrangements of matter constitute and alone
constitute the true beauty. His reasons, however, have not yet been
matured into expression. It remains for a more profound analysis
than the world has yet seen, fully to investigate and express them.
Nevertheless he is confirmed in his instinctive opinions by the voice of
all his brethren. Let a “composition” be defective; let an emendation
be wrought in its mere arrangement of form; let this emendation be
submitted to every artist in the world; by each will its necessity
be admitted. And even far more than this:--in remedy of the defective
composition, each insulated member of the fraternity would have
suggested the identical emendation.

I repeat that in landscape arrangements alone is the physical nature
susceptible of exaltation, and that, therefore, her susceptibility of
improvement at this one point, was a mystery I had been unable to solve.
My own thoughts on the subject had rested in the idea that the primitive
intention of nature would have so arranged the earth’s surface as to
have fulfilled at all points man’s sense of perfection in the beautiful,
the sublime, or the picturesque; but that this primitive intention had
been frustrated by the known geological disturbances--disturbances of
form and color--grouping, in the correction or allaying of which lies
the soul of art. The force of this idea was much weakened, however, by
the necessity which it involved of considering the disturbances abnormal
and unadapted to any purpose. It was Ellison who suggested that
they were prognostic of death. He thus explained:--Admit the earthly
immortality of man to have been the first intention. We have then the
primitive arrangement of the earth’s surface adapted to his blissful
estate, as not existent but designed. The disturbances were the
preparations for his subsequently conceived deathful condition.

“Now,” said my friend, “what we regard as exaltation of the landscape
may be really such, as respects only the moral or human point of view.
Each alteration of the natural scenery may possibly effect a blemish
in the picture, if we can suppose this picture viewed at large--in
mass--from some point distant from the earth’s surface, although not
beyond the limits of its atmosphere. It is easily understood that what
might improve a closely scrutinized detail, may at the same time injure
a general or more distantly observed effect. There may be a class of
beings, human once, but now invisible to humanity, to whom, from afar,
our disorder may seem order--our unpicturesqueness picturesque, in a
word, the earth-angels, for whose scrutiny more especially than our own,
and for whose death-refined appreciation of the beautiful, may have
been set in array by God the wide landscape-gardens of the hemispheres.”

In the course of discussion, my friend quoted some passages from a
writer on landscape-gardening who has been supposed to have well treated
his theme:

“There are properly but two styles of landscape-gardening, the natural
and the artificial. One seeks to recall the original beauty of the
country, by adapting its means to the surrounding scenery, cultivating
trees in harmony with the hills or plain of the neighboring land;
detecting and bringing into practice those nice relations of size,
proportion, and color which, hid from the common observer, are revealed
everywhere to the experienced student of nature. The result of the
natural style of gardening, is seen rather in the absence of all
defects and incongruities--in the prevalence of a healthy harmony and
order--than in the creation of any special wonders or miracles. The
artificial style has as many varieties as there are different tastes
to gratify. It has a certain general relation to the various styles of
building. There are the stately avenues and retirements of Versailles;
Italian terraces; and a various mixed old English style, which
bears some relation to the domestic Gothic or English Elizabethan
architecture. Whatever may be said against the abuses of the artificial
landscape-gardening, a mixture of pure art in a garden scene adds to it
a great beauty. This is partly pleasing to the eye, by the show of
order and design, and partly moral. A terrace, with an old moss-covered
balustrade, calls up at once to the eye the fair forms that have passed
there in other days. The slightest exhibition of art is an evidence of
care and human interest.”

“From what I have already observed,” said Ellison, “you will understand
that I reject the idea, here expressed, of recalling the original beauty
of the country. The original beauty is never so great as that which may
be introduced. Of course, every thing depends on the selection of a
spot with capabilities. What is said about detecting and bringing into
practice nice relations of size, proportion, and color, is one of those
mere vaguenesses of speech which serve to veil inaccuracy of thought.
The phrase quoted may mean any thing, or nothing, and guides in no
degree. That the true result of the natural style of gardening is seen
rather in the absence of all defects and incongruities than in the
creation of any special wonders or miracles, is a proposition better
suited to the grovelling apprehension of the herd than to the fervid
dreams of the man of genius. The negative merit suggested appertains to
that hobbling criticism which, in letters, would elevate Addison into
apotheosis. In truth, while that virtue which consists in the mere
avoidance of vice appeals directly to the understanding, and can thus be
circumscribed in rule, the loftier virtue, which flames in creation, can
be apprehended in its results alone. Rule applies but to the merits of
denial--to the excellencies which refrain. Beyond these, the critical
art can but suggest. We may be instructed to build a “Cato,” but we
are in vain told how to conceive a Parthenon or an “Inferno.” The
thing done, however; the wonder accomplished; and the capacity for
apprehension becomes universal. The sophists of the negative school who,
through inability to create, have scoffed at creation, are now found
the loudest in applause. What, in its chrysalis condition of principle,
affronted their demure reason, never fails, in its maturity of
accomplishment, to extort admiration from their instinct of beauty.

“The author’s observations on the artificial style,” continued Ellison,
“are less objectionable. A mixture of pure art in a garden scene adds to
it a great beauty. This is just; as also is the reference to the sense
of human interest. The principle expressed is incontrovertible--but
there may be something beyond it. There may be an object in keeping with
the principle--an object unattainable by the means ordinarily possessed
by individuals, yet which, if attained, would lend a charm to the
landscape-garden far surpassing that which a sense of merely human
interest could bestow. A poet, having very unusual pecuniary resources,
might, while retaining the necessary idea of art or culture, or, as
our author expresses it, of interest, so imbue his designs at once with
extent and novelty of beauty, as to convey the sentiment of spiritual
interference. It will be seen that, in bringing about such result, he
secures all the advantages of interest or design, while relieving his
work of the harshness or technicality of the worldly art. In the
most rugged of wildernesses--in the most savage of the scenes of pure
nature--there is apparent the art of a creator; yet this art is apparent
to reflection only; in no respect has it the obvious force of a feeling.
Now let us suppose this sense of the Almighty design to be one step
depressed--to be brought into something like harmony or consistency with
the sense of human art--to form an intermedium between the two:--let
us imagine, for example, a landscape whose combined vastness and
definitiveness--whose united beauty, magnificence, and strangeness,
shall convey the idea of care, or culture, or superintendence, on the
part of beings superior, yet akin to humanity--then the sentiment of
interest is preserved, while the art intervolved is made to assume the
air of an intermediate or secondary nature--a nature which is not God,
nor an emanation from God, but which still is nature in the sense of the
handiwork of the angels that hover between man and God.”

It was in devoting his enormous wealth to the embodiment of a vision
such as this--in the free exercise in the open air ensured by the
personal superintendence of his plans--in the unceasing object which
these plans afforded--in the high spirituality of the object--in
the contempt of ambition which it enabled him truly to feel--in the
perennial springs with which it gratified, without possibility of
satiating, that one master passion of his soul, the thirst for beauty,
above all, it was in the sympathy of a woman, not unwomanly, whose
loveliness and love enveloped his existence in the purple atmosphere of
Paradise, that Ellison thought to find, and found, exemption from
the ordinary cares of humanity, with a far greater amount of positive
happiness than ever glowed in the rapt day-dreams of De Stael.

I despair of conveying to the reader any distinct conception of the
marvels which my friend did actually accomplish. I wish to describe, but
am disheartened by the difficulty of description, and hesitate between
detail and generality. Perhaps the better course will be to unite the
two in their extremes.

Mr. Ellison’s first step regarded, of course, the choice of a locality,
and scarcely had he commenced thinking on this point, when the luxuriant
nature of the Pacific Islands arrested his attention. In fact, he
had made up his mind for a voyage to the South Seas, when a night’s
reflection induced him to abandon the idea. “Were I misanthropic,” he
said, “such a locale would suit me. The thoroughness of its insulation
and seclusion, and the difficulty of ingress and egress, would in such
case be the charm of charms; but as yet I am not Timon. I wish the
composure but not the depression of solitude. There must remain with me
a certain control over the extent and duration of my repose. There will
be frequent hours in which I shall need, too, the sympathy of the poetic
in what I have done. Let me seek, then, a spot not far from a populous
city--whose vicinity, also, will best enable me to execute my plans.”

In search of a suitable place so situated, Ellison travelled for several
years, and I was permitted to accompany him. A thousand spots with
which I was enraptured he rejected without hesitation, for reasons which
satisfied me, in the end, that he was right. We came at length to an
elevated table-land of wonderful fertility and beauty, affording a
panoramic prospect very little less in extent than that of Aetna, and,
in Ellison’s opinion as well as my own, surpassing the far-famed view
from that mountain in all the true elements of the picturesque.

“I am aware,” said the traveller, as he drew a sigh of deep delight
after gazing on this scene, entranced, for nearly an hour, “I know that
here, in my circumstances, nine-tenths of the most fastidious of men
would rest content. This panorama is indeed glorious, and I should
rejoice in it but for the excess of its glory. The taste of all the
architects I have ever known leads them, for the sake of ‘prospect,’ to
put up buildings on hill-tops. The error is obvious. Grandeur in any of
its moods, but especially in that of extent, startles, excites--and then
fatigues, depresses. For the occasional scene nothing can be better--for
the constant view nothing worse. And, in the constant view, the most
objectionable phase of grandeur is that of extent; the worst phase of
extent, that of distance. It is at war with the sentiment and with the
sense of seclusion--the sentiment and sense which we seek to humor in
‘retiring to the country.’ In looking from the summit of a mountain we
cannot help feeling abroad in the world. The heart-sick avoid distant
prospects as a pestilence.”

It was not until toward the close of the fourth year of our search that
we found a locality with which Ellison professed himself satisfied. It
is, of course, needless to say where was the locality. The late death of
my friend, in causing his domain to be thrown open to certain classes
of visiters, has given to Arnheim a species of secret and subdued if
not solemn celebrity, similar in kind, although infinitely superior in
degree, to that which so long distinguished Fonthill.

The usual approach to Arnheim was by the river. The visiter left the
city in the early morning. During the forenoon he passed between shores
of a tranquil and domestic beauty, on which grazed innumerable sheep,
their white fleeces spotting the vivid green of rolling meadows. By
degrees the idea of cultivation subsided into that of merely pastoral
care. This slowly became merged in a sense of retirement--this again in
a consciousness of solitude. As the evening approached, the channel grew
more narrow, the banks more and more precipitous; and these latter
were clothed in rich, more profuse, and more sombre foliage. The water
increased in transparency. The stream took a thousand turns, so that at
no moment could its gleaming surface be seen for a greater distance
than a furlong. At every instant the vessel seemed imprisoned within an
enchanted circle, having insuperable and impenetrable walls of foliage,
a roof of ultramarine satin, and no floor--the keel balancing itself
with admirable nicety on that of a phantom bark which, by some accident
having been turned upside down, floated in constant company with the
substantial one, for the purpose of sustaining it. The channel now
became a gorge--although the term is somewhat inapplicable, and I employ
it merely because the language has no word which better represents
the most striking--not the most distinctive--feature of the scene. The
character of gorge was maintained only in the height and parallelism of
the shores; it was lost altogether in their other traits. The walls of
the ravine (through which the clear water still tranquilly flowed) arose
to an elevation of a hundred and occasionally of a hundred and fifty
feet, and inclined so much toward each other as, in a great measure, to
shut out the light of day; while the long plume-like moss which depended
densely from the intertwining shrubberies overhead, gave the whole
chasm an air of funereal gloom. The windings became more frequent and
intricate, and seemed often as if returning in upon themselves, so
that the voyager had long lost all idea of direction. He was, moreover,
enwrapt in an exquisite sense of the strange. The thought of nature
still remained, but her character seemed to have undergone modification,
there was a weird symmetry, a thrilling uniformity, a wizard propriety
in these her works. Not a dead branch--not a withered leaf--not a stray
pebble--not a patch of the brown earth was anywhere visible. The crystal
water welled up against the clean granite, or the unblemished moss, with
a sharpness of outline that delighted while it bewildered the eye.

Having threaded the mazes of this channel for some hours, the gloom
deepening every moment, a sharp and unexpected turn of the vessel
brought it suddenly, as if dropped from heaven, into a circular basin of
very considerable extent when compared with the width of the gorge. It
was about two hundred yards in diameter, and girt in at all points but
one--that immediately fronting the vessel as it entered--by hills equal
in general height to the walls of the chasm, although of a thoroughly
different character. Their sides sloped from the water’s edge at an
angle of some forty-five degrees, and they were clothed from base to
summit--not a perceptible point escaping--in a drapery of the most
gorgeous flower-blossoms; scarcely a green leaf being visible among the
sea of odorous and fluctuating color. This basin was of great depth, but
so transparent was the water that the bottom, which seemed to consist of
a thick mass of small round alabaster pebbles, was distinctly visible
by glimpses--that is to say, whenever the eye could permit itself not
to see, far down in the inverted heaven, the duplicate blooming of the
hills. On these latter there were no trees, nor even shrubs of any size.
The impressions wrought on the observer were those of richness,
warmth, color, quietude, uniformity, softness, delicacy, daintiness,
voluptuousness, and a miraculous extremeness of culture that suggested
dreams of a new race of fairies, laborious, tasteful, magnificent, and
fastidious; but as the eye traced upward the myriad-tinted slope, from
its sharp junction with the water to its vague termination amid the
folds of overhanging cloud, it became, indeed, difficult not to fancy
a panoramic cataract of rubies, sapphires, opals, and golden onyxes,
rolling silently out of the sky.

The visiter, shooting suddenly into this bay from out the gloom of the
ravine, is delighted but astounded by the full orb of the declining sun,
which he had supposed to be already far below the horizon, but which now
confronts him, and forms the sole termination of an otherwise limitless
vista seen through another chasm-like rift in the hills.

But here the voyager quits the vessel which has borne him so far, and
descends into a light canoe of ivory, stained with arabesque devices in
vivid scarlet, both within and without. The poop and beak of this boat
arise high above the water, with sharp points, so that the general form
is that of an irregular crescent. It lies on the surface of the bay
with the proud grace of a swan. On its ermined floor reposes a single
feathery paddle of satin-wood; but no oarsmen or attendant is to be
seen. The guest is bidden to be of good cheer--that the fates will take
care of him. The larger vessel disappears, and he is left alone in the
canoe, which lies apparently motionless in the middle of the lake.
While he considers what course to pursue, however, he becomes aware of a
gentle movement in the fairy bark. It slowly swings itself around until
its prow points toward the sun. It advances with a gentle but gradually
accelerated velocity, while the slight ripples it creates seem to break
about the ivory side in divinest melody-seem to offer the only possible
explanation of the soothing yet melancholy music for whose unseen origin
the bewildered voyager looks around him in vain.

The canoe steadily proceeds, and the rocky gate of the vista is
approached, so that its depths can be more distinctly seen. To the
right arise a chain of lofty hills rudely and luxuriantly wooded. It is
observed, however, that the trait of exquisite cleanness where the bank
dips into the water, still prevails. There is not one token of the usual
river debris. To the left the character of the scene is softer and more
obviously artificial. Here the bank slopes upward from the stream in
a very gentle ascent, forming a broad sward of grass of a texture
resembling nothing so much as velvet, and of a brilliancy of green which
would bear comparison with the tint of the purest emerald. This plateau
varies in width from ten to three hundred yards; reaching from the
river-bank to a wall, fifty feet high, which extends, in an infinity of
curves, but following the general direction of the river, until lost in
the distance to the westward. This wall is of one continuous rock, and
has been formed by cutting perpendicularly the once rugged precipice of
the stream’s southern bank, but no trace of the labor has been suffered
to remain. The chiselled stone has the hue of ages, and is profusely
overhung and overspread with the ivy, the coral honeysuckle, the
eglantine, and the clematis. The uniformity of the top and bottom lines
of the wall is fully relieved by occasional trees of gigantic height,
growing singly or in small groups, both along the plateau and in the
domain behind the wall, but in close proximity to it; so that frequent
limbs (of the black walnut especially) reach over and dip their pendent
extremities into the water. Farther back within the domain, the vision
is impeded by an impenetrable screen of foliage.

These things are observed during the canoe’s gradual approach to what I
have called the gate of the vista. On drawing nearer to this, however,
its chasm-like appearance vanishes; a new outlet from the bay is
discovered to the left--in which direction the wall is also seen to
sweep, still following the general course of the stream. Down this new
opening the eye cannot penetrate very far; for the stream, accompanied
by the wall, still bends to the left, until both are swallowed up by the
leaves.

The boat, nevertheless, glides magically into the winding channel; and
here the shore opposite the wall is found to resemble that opposite
the wall in the straight vista. Lofty hills, rising occasionally into
mountains, and covered with vegetation in wild luxuriance, still shut in
the scene.

Floating gently onward, but with a velocity slightly augmented, the
voyager, after many short turns, finds his progress apparently barred by
a gigantic gate or rather door of burnished gold, elaborately carved and
fretted, and reflecting the direct rays of the now fast-sinking sun
with an effulgence that seems to wreath the whole surrounding forest in
flames. This gate is inserted in the lofty wall; which here appears to
cross the river at right angles. In a few moments, however, it is seen
that the main body of the water still sweeps in a gentle and extensive
curve to the left, the wall following it as before, while a stream of
considerable volume, diverging from the principal one, makes its way,
with a slight ripple, under the door, and is thus hidden from sight.
The canoe falls into the lesser channel and approaches the gate. Its
ponderous wings are slowly and musically expanded. The boat glides
between them, and commences a rapid descent into a vast amphitheatre
entirely begirt with purple mountains, whose bases are laved by a
gleaming river throughout the full extent of their circuit. Meantime
the whole Paradise of Arnheim bursts upon the view. There is a gush
of entrancing melody; there is an oppressive sense of strange sweet
odor,--there is a dream-like intermingling to the eye of tall
slender Eastern trees--bosky shrubberies--flocks of golden and crimson
birds--lily-fringed lakes--meadows of violets, tulips, poppies,
hyacinths, and tuberoses--long intertangled lines of silver
streamlets--and, upspringing confusedly from amid all, a mass of
semi-Gothic, semi-Saracenic architecture sustaining itself by miracle in
mid-air, glittering in the red sunlight with a hundred oriels, minarets,
and pinnacles; and seeming the phantom handiwork, conjointly, of the
Sylphs, of the Fairies, of the Genii and of the Gnomes.



LANDOR’S COTTAGE

     A Pendant to “The Domain of Arnheim”

DURING A pedestrian trip last summer, through one or two of the river
counties of New York, I found myself, as the day declined, somewhat
embarrassed about the road I was pursuing. The land undulated very
remarkably; and my path, for the last hour, had wound about and about so
confusedly, in its effort to keep in the valleys, that I no longer knew
in what direction lay the sweet village of B----, where I had determined
to stop for the night. The sun had scarcely shone--strictly
speaking--during the day, which nevertheless, had been unpleasantly
warm. A smoky mist, resembling that of the Indian summer, enveloped all
things, and of course, added to my uncertainty. Not that I cared much
about the matter. If I did not hit upon the village before sunset,
or even before dark, it was more than possible that a little
Dutch farmhouse, or something of that kind, would soon make its
appearance--although, in fact, the neighborhood (perhaps on account of
being more picturesque than fertile) was very sparsely inhabited. At
all events, with my knapsack for a pillow, and my hound as a sentry, a
bivouac in the open air was just the thing which would have amused me.
I sauntered on, therefore, quite at ease--Ponto taking charge of my
gun--until at length, just as I had begun to consider whether the
numerous little glades that led hither and thither, were intended to
be paths at all, I was conducted by one of them into an unquestionable
carriage track. There could be no mistaking it. The traces of light
wheels were evident; and although the tall shrubberies and overgrown
undergrowth met overhead, there was no obstruction whatever below, even
to the passage of a Virginian mountain wagon--the most aspiring vehicle,
I take it, of its kind. The road, however, except in being open through
the wood--if wood be not too weighty a name for such an assemblage of
light trees--and except in the particulars of evident wheel-tracks--bore
no resemblance to any road I had before seen. The tracks of which I
speak were but faintly perceptible--having been impressed upon the firm,
yet pleasantly moist surface of--what looked more like green Genoese
velvet than any thing else. It was grass, clearly--but grass such as we
seldom see out of England--so short, so thick, so even, and so vivid in
color. Not a single impediment lay in the wheel-route--not even a chip
or dead twig. The stones that once obstructed the way had been carefully
placed--not thrown-along the sides of the lane, so as to define its
boundaries at bottom with a kind of half-precise, half-negligent, and
wholly picturesque definition. Clumps of wild flowers grew everywhere,
luxuriantly, in the interspaces.

What to make of all this, of course I knew not. Here was art
undoubtedly--that did not surprise me--all roads, in the ordinary sense,
are works of art; nor can I say that there was much to wonder at in the
mere excess of art manifested; all that seemed to have been done, might
have been done here--with such natural “capabilities” (as they have
it in the books on Landscape Gardening)--with very little labor and
expense. No; it was not the amount but the character of the art which
caused me to take a seat on one of the blossomy stones and gaze up and
down this fairy-like avenue for half an hour or more in bewildered
admiration. One thing became more and more evident the longer I
gazed: an artist, and one with a most scrupulous eye for form, had
superintended all these arrangements. The greatest care had been taken
to preserve a due medium between the neat and graceful on the one hand,
and the pittoresque, in the true sense of the Italian term, on the
other. There were few straight, and no long uninterrupted lines. The
same effect of curvature or of color appeared twice, usually, but not
oftener, at any one point of view. Everywhere was variety in uniformity.
It was a piece of “composition,” in which the most fastidiously critical
taste could scarcely have suggested an emendation.

I had turned to the right as I entered this road, and now, arising, I
continued in the same direction. The path was so serpentine, that at
no moment could I trace its course for more than two or three paces in
advance. Its character did not undergo any material change.

Presently the murmur of water fell gently upon my ear--and in a few
moments afterward, as I turned with the road somewhat more abruptly than
hitherto, I became aware that a building of some kind lay at the foot
of a gentle declivity just before me. I could see nothing distinctly on
account of the mist which occupied all the little valley below. A gentle
breeze, however, now arose, as the sun was about descending; and while
I remained standing on the brow of the slope, the fog gradually became
dissipated into wreaths, and so floated over the scene.

As it came fully into view--thus gradually as I describe it--piece by
piece, here a tree, there a glimpse of water, and here again the summit
of a chimney, I could scarcely help fancying that the whole was one of
the ingenious illusions sometimes exhibited under the name of “vanishing
pictures.”

By the time, however, that the fog had thoroughly disappeared, the sun
had made its way down behind the gentle hills, and thence, as if with
a slight chassez to the south, had come again fully into sight, glaring
with a purplish lustre through a chasm that entered the valley from the
west. Suddenly, therefore--and as if by the hand of magic--this whole
valley and every thing in it became brilliantly visible.

The first coup d’oeil, as the sun slid into the position described,
impressed me very much as I have been impressed, when a boy, by
the concluding scene of some well-arranged theatrical spectacle or
melodrama. Not even the monstrosity of color was wanting; for the
sunlight came out through the chasm, tinted all orange and purple; while
the vivid green of the grass in the valley was reflected more or less
upon all objects from the curtain of vapor that still hung overhead,
as if loth to take its total departure from a scene so enchantingly
beautiful.

The little vale into which I thus peered down from under the fog canopy
could not have been more than four hundred yards long; while in breadth
it varied from fifty to one hundred and fifty or perhaps two hundred.
It was most narrow at its northern extremity, opening out as it tended
southwardly, but with no very precise regularity. The widest portion
was within eighty yards of the southern extreme. The slopes which
encompassed the vale could not fairly be called hills, unless at their
northern face. Here a precipitous ledge of granite arose to a height of
some ninety feet; and, as I have mentioned, the valley at this point was
not more than fifty feet wide; but as the visiter proceeded southwardly
from the cliff, he found on his right hand and on his left, declivities
at once less high, less precipitous, and less rocky. All, in a word,
sloped and softened to the south; and yet the whole vale was engirdled
by eminences, more or less high, except at two points. One of these I
have already spoken of. It lay considerably to the north of west, and
was where the setting sun made its way, as I have before described, into
the amphitheatre, through a cleanly cut natural cleft in the granite
embankment; this fissure might have been ten yards wide at its widest
point, so far as the eye could trace it. It seemed to lead up, up like a
natural causeway, into the recesses of unexplored mountains and forests.
The other opening was directly at the southern end of the vale. Here,
generally, the slopes were nothing more than gentle inclinations,
extending from east to west about one hundred and fifty yards. In the
middle of this extent was a depression, level with the ordinary floor of
the valley. As regards vegetation, as well as in respect to every thing
else, the scene softened and sloped to the south. To the north--on the
craggy precipice--a few paces from the verge--up sprang the magnificent
trunks of numerous hickories, black walnuts, and chestnuts, interspersed
with occasional oak, and the strong lateral branches thrown out by the
walnuts especially, spread far over the edge of the cliff. Proceeding
southwardly, the explorer saw, at first, the same class of trees,
but less and less lofty and Salvatorish in character; then he saw the
gentler elm, succeeded by the sassafras and locust--these again by the
softer linden, red-bud, catalpa, and maple--these yet again by still
more graceful and more modest varieties. The whole face of the southern
declivity was covered with wild shrubbery alone--an occasional
silver willow or white poplar excepted. In the bottom of the valley
itself--(for it must be borne in mind that the vegetation hitherto
mentioned grew only on the cliffs or hillsides)--were to be seen three
insulated trees. One was an elm of fine size and exquisite form: it
stood guard over the southern gate of the vale. Another was a hickory,
much larger than the elm, and altogether a much finer tree, although
both were exceedingly beautiful: it seemed to have taken charge of the
northwestern entrance, springing from a group of rocks in the very jaws
of the ravine, and throwing its graceful body, at an angle of nearly
forty-five degrees, far out into the sunshine of the amphitheatre. About
thirty yards east of this tree stood, however, the pride of the valley,
and beyond all question the most magnificent tree I have ever seen,
unless, perhaps, among the cypresses of the Itchiatuckanee. It was a
triple-stemmed tulip-tree--the Liriodendron Tulipiferum--one of the
natural order of magnolias. Its three trunks separated from the parent
at about three feet from the soil, and diverging very slightly and
gradually, were not more than four feet apart at the point where the
largest stem shot out into foliage: this was at an elevation of about
eighty feet. The whole height of the principal division was one hundred
and twenty feet. Nothing can surpass in beauty the form, or the glossy,
vivid green of the leaves of the tulip-tree. In the present instance
they were fully eight inches wide; but their glory was altogether
eclipsed by the gorgeous splendor of the profuse blossoms. Conceive,
closely congregated, a million of the largest and most resplendent
tulips! Only thus can the reader get any idea of the picture I would
convey. And then the stately grace of the clean, delicately-granulated
columnar stems, the largest four feet in diameter, at twenty from the
ground. The innumerable blossoms, mingling with those of other trees
scarcely less beautiful, although infinitely less majestic, filled the
valley with more than Arabian perfumes.

The general floor of the amphitheatre was grass of the same character as
that I had found in the road; if anything, more deliciously soft, thick,
velvety, and miraculously green. It was hard to conceive how all this
beauty had been attained.

I have spoken of two openings into the vale. From the one to the
northwest issued a rivulet, which came, gently murmuring and slightly
foaming, down the ravine, until it dashed against the group of rocks out
of which sprang the insulated hickory. Here, after encircling the tree,
it passed on a little to the north of east, leaving the tulip tree some
twenty feet to the south, and making no decided alteration in its course
until it came near the midway between the eastern and western boundaries
of the valley. At this point, after a series of sweeps, it turned off at
right angles and pursued a generally southern direction meandering as it
went--until it became lost in a small lake of irregular figure (although
roughly oval), that lay gleaming near the lower extremity of the vale.
This lakelet was, perhaps, a hundred yards in diameter at its widest
part. No crystal could be clearer than its waters. Its bottom, which
could be distinctly seen, consisted altogether, of pebbles brilliantly
white. Its banks, of the emerald grass already described, rounded,
rather than sloped, off into the clear heaven below; and so clear was
this heaven, so perfectly, at times, did it reflect all objects above
it, that where the true bank ended and where the mimic one commenced,
it was a point of no little difficulty to determine. The trout, and
some other varieties of fish, with which this pond seemed to be almost
inconveniently crowded, had all the appearance of veritable flying-fish.
It was almost impossible to believe that they were not absolutely
suspended in the air. A light birch canoe that lay placidly on the
water, was reflected in its minutest fibres with a fidelity unsurpassed
by the most exquisitely polished mirror. A small island, fairly laughing
with flowers in full bloom, and affording little more space than just
enough for a picturesque little building, seemingly a fowl-house--arose
from the lake not far from its northern shore--to which it was connected
by means of an inconceivably light-looking and yet very primitive
bridge. It was formed of a single, broad and thick plank of the tulip
wood. This was forty feet long, and spanned the interval between shore
and shore with a slight but very perceptible arch, preventing all
oscillation. From the southern extreme of the lake issued a continuation
of the rivulet, which, after meandering for, perhaps, thirty yards,
finally passed through the “depression” (already described) in the
middle of the southern declivity, and tumbling down a sheer precipice of
a hundred feet, made its devious and unnoticed way to the Hudson.

The lake was deep--at some points thirty feet--but the rivulet seldom
exceeded three, while its greatest width was about eight. Its bottom and
banks were as those of the pond--if a defect could have been attributed,
in point of picturesqueness, it was that of excessive neatness.

The expanse of the green turf was relieved, here and there, by an
occasional showy shrub, such as the hydrangea, or the common snowball,
or the aromatic seringa; or, more frequently, by a clump of geraniums
blossoming gorgeously in great varieties. These latter grew in pots
which were carefully buried in the soil, so as to give the plants the
appearance of being indigenous. Besides all this, the lawn’s velvet was
exquisitely spotted with sheep--a considerable flock of which roamed
about the vale, in company with three tamed deer, and a vast number of
brilliantly-plumed ducks. A very large mastiff seemed to be in vigilant
attendance upon these animals, each and all.

Along the eastern and western cliffs--where, toward the upper portion of
the amphitheatre, the boundaries were more or less precipitous--grew ivy
in great profusion--so that only here and there could even a glimpse of
the naked rock be obtained. The northern precipice, in like manner,
was almost entirely clothed by grape-vines of rare luxuriance; some
springing from the soil at the base of the cliff, and others from ledges
on its face.

The slight elevation which formed the lower boundary of this little
domain, was crowned by a neat stone wall, of sufficient height to
prevent the escape of the deer. Nothing of the fence kind was observable
elsewhere; for nowhere else was an artificial enclosure needed:--any
stray sheep, for example, which should attempt to make its way out of
the vale by means of the ravine, would find its progress arrested,
after a few yards’ advance, by the precipitous ledge of rock over which
tumbled the cascade that had arrested my attention as I first drew near
the domain. In short, the only ingress or egress was through a gate
occupying a rocky pass in the road, a few paces below the point at which
I stopped to reconnoitre the scene.

I have described the brook as meandering very irregularly through the
whole of its course. Its two general directions, as I have said, were
first from west to east, and then from north to south. At the turn, the
stream, sweeping backward, made an almost circular loop, so as to form a
peninsula which was very nearly an island, and which included about the
sixteenth of an acre. On this peninsula stood a dwelling-house--and when
I say that this house, like the infernal terrace seen by Vathek, “etait
d’une architecture inconnue dans les annales de la terre,” I mean,
merely, that its tout ensemble struck me with the keenest sense of
combined novelty and propriety--in a word, of poetry--(for, than in the
words just employed, I could scarcely give, of poetry in the abstract,
a more rigorous definition)--and I do not mean that merely outre was
perceptible in any respect.

In fact nothing could well be more simple--more utterly unpretending
than this cottage. Its marvellous effect lay altogether in its artistic
arrangement as a picture. I could have fancied, while I looked at it,
that some eminent landscape-painter had built it with his brush.

The point of view from which I first saw the valley, was not altogether,
although it was nearly, the best point from which to survey the house.
I will therefore describe it as I afterwards saw it--from a position on
the stone wall at the southern extreme of the amphitheatre.

The main building was about twenty-four feet long and sixteen
broad--certainly not more. Its total height, from the ground to the apex
of the roof, could not have exceeded eighteen feet. To the west end
of this structure was attached one about a third smaller in all its
proportions:--the line of its front standing back about two yards from
that of the larger house, and the line of its roof, of course, being
considerably depressed below that of the roof adjoining. At right angles
to these buildings, and from the rear of the main one--not exactly in
the middle--extended a third compartment, very small--being, in general,
one-third less than the western wing. The roofs of the two larger were
very steep--sweeping down from the ridge-beam with a long concave curve,
and extending at least four feet beyond the walls in front, so as to
form the roofs of two piazzas. These latter roofs, of course, needed
no support; but as they had the air of needing it, slight and perfectly
plain pillars were inserted at the corners alone. The roof of the
northern wing was merely an extension of a portion of the main roof.
Between the chief building and western wing arose a very tall and rather
slender square chimney of hard Dutch bricks, alternately black and
red:--a slight cornice of projecting bricks at the top. Over the gables
the roofs also projected very much:--in the main building about four
feet to the east and two to the west. The principal door was not exactly
in the main division, being a little to the east--while the two windows
were to the west. These latter did not extend to the floor, but were
much longer and narrower than usual--they had single shutters like
doors--the panes were of lozenge form, but quite large. The door itself
had its upper half of glass, also in lozenge panes--a movable shutter
secured it at night. The door to the west wing was in its gable, and
quite simple--a single window looked out to the south. There was no
external door to the north wing, and it also had only one window to the
east.

The blank wall of the eastern gable was relieved by stairs (with a
balustrade) running diagonally across it--the ascent being from the
south. Under cover of the widely projecting eave these steps gave access
to a door leading to the garret, or rather loft--for it was lighted only
by a single window to the north, and seemed to have been intended as a
store-room.

The piazzas of the main building and western wing had no floors, as is
usual; but at the doors and at each window, large, flat irregular slabs
of granite lay imbedded in the delicious turf, affording comfortable
footing in all weather. Excellent paths of the same material--not nicely
adapted, but with the velvety sod filling frequent intervals between the
stones, led hither and thither from the house, to a crystal spring about
five paces off, to the road, or to one or two out-houses that lay to
the north, beyond the brook, and were thoroughly concealed by a few
locusts and catalpas.

Not more than six steps from the main door of the cottage stood the
dead trunk of a fantastic pear-tree, so clothed from head to foot in
the gorgeous bignonia blossoms that one required no little scrutiny to
determine what manner of sweet thing it could be. From various arms of
this tree hung cages of different kinds. In one, a large wicker cylinder
with a ring at top, revelled a mocking bird; in another an oriole; in a
third the impudent bobolink--while three or four more delicate prisons
were loudly vocal with canaries.

The pillars of the piazza were enwreathed in jasmine and sweet
honeysuckle; while from the angle formed by the main structure and
its west wing, in front, sprang a grape-vine of unexampled luxuriance.
Scorning all restraint, it had clambered first to the lower roof--then
to the higher; and along the ridge of this latter it continued to writhe
on, throwing out tendrils to the right and left, until at length it
fairly attained the east gable, and fell trailing over the stairs.

The whole house, with its wings, was constructed of the old-fashioned
Dutch shingles--broad, and with unrounded corners. It is a peculiarity
of this material to give houses built of it the appearance of being
wider at bottom than at top--after the manner of Egyptian architecture;
and in the present instance, this exceedingly picturesque effect was
aided by numerous pots of gorgeous flowers that almost encompassed the
base of the buildings.

The shingles were painted a dull gray; and the happiness with which this
neutral tint melted into the vivid green of the tulip tree leaves that
partially overshadowed the cottage, can readily be conceived by an
artist.

From the position near the stone wall, as described, the buildings
were seen at great advantage--for the southeastern angle was thrown
forward--so that the eye took in at once the whole of the two fronts,
with the picturesque eastern gable, and at the same time obtained just a
sufficient glimpse of the northern wing, with parts of a pretty roof
to the spring-house, and nearly half of a light bridge that spanned the
brook in the near vicinity of the main buildings.

I did not remain very long on the brow of the hill, although long enough
to make a thorough survey of the scene at my feet. It was clear that
I had wandered from the road to the village, and I had thus good
traveller’s excuse to open the gate before me, and inquire my way, at
all events; so, without more ado, I proceeded.

The road, after passing the gate, seemed to lie upon a natural ledge,
sloping gradually down along the face of the north-eastern cliffs. It
led me on to the foot of the northern precipice, and thence over the
bridge, round by the eastern gable to the front door. In this progress,
I took notice that no sight of the out-houses could be obtained.

As I turned the corner of the gable, the mastiff bounded towards me in
stern silence, but with the eye and the whole air of a tiger. I held him
out my hand, however, in token of amity--and I never yet knew the dog
who was proof against such an appeal to his courtesy. He not only
shut his mouth and wagged his tail, but absolutely offered me his
paw--afterward extending his civilities to Ponto.

As no bell was discernible, I rapped with my stick against the
door, which stood half open. Instantly a figure advanced to the
threshold--that of a young woman about twenty-eight years of
age--slender, or rather slight, and somewhat above the medium height.
As she approached, with a certain modest decision of step altogether
indescribable. I said to myself, “Surely here I have found the
perfection of natural, in contradistinction from artificial grace.” The
second impression which she made on me, but by far the more vivid of
the two, was that of enthusiasm. So intense an expression of romance,
perhaps I should call it, or of unworldliness, as that which gleamed
from her deep-set eyes, had never so sunk into my heart of hearts
before. I know not how it is, but this peculiar expression of the eye,
wreathing itself occasionally into the lips, is the most powerful,
if not absolutely the sole spell, which rivets my interest in woman.
“Romance,” provided my readers fully comprehended what I would here imply
by the word--“romance” and “womanliness” seem to me convertible terms:
and, after all, what man truly loves in woman, is simply her womanhood.
The eyes of Annie (I heard some one from the interior call her “Annie,
darling!”) were “spiritual grey;” her hair, a light chestnut: this is
all I had time to observe of her.

At her most courteous of invitations, I entered--passing first into a
tolerably wide vestibule. Having come mainly to observe, I took notice
that to my right as I stepped in, was a window, such as those in front
of the house; to the left, a door leading into the principal room;
while, opposite me, an open door enabled me to see a small apartment,
just the size of the vestibule, arranged as a study, and having a large
bow window looking out to the north.

Passing into the parlor, I found myself with Mr. Landor--for this,
I afterwards found, was his name. He was civil, even cordial in his
manner, but just then, I was more intent on observing the arrangements
of the dwelling which had so much interested me, than the personal
appearance of the tenant.

The north wing, I now saw, was a bed-chamber, its door opened into the
parlor. West of this door was a single window, looking toward the brook.
At the west end of the parlor, were a fireplace, and a door leading into
the west wing--probably a kitchen.

Nothing could be more rigorously simple than the furniture of the
parlor. On the floor was an ingrain carpet, of excellent texture--a
white ground, spotted with small circular green figures. At the windows
were curtains of snowy white jaconet muslin: they were tolerably full,
and hung decisively, perhaps rather formally in sharp, parallel plaits
to the floor--just to the floor. The walls were prepared with a French
paper of great delicacy, a silver ground, with a faint green cord
running zig-zag throughout. Its expanse was relieved merely by three
of Julien’s exquisite lithographs a trois crayons, fastened to the wall
without frames. One of these drawings was a scene of Oriental luxury, or
rather voluptuousness; another was a “carnival piece,” spirited
beyond compare; the third was a Greek female head--a face so divinely
beautiful, and yet of an expression so provokingly indeterminate, never
before arrested my attention.

The more substantial furniture consisted of a round table, a few chairs
(including a large rocking-chair), and a sofa, or rather “settee;” its
material was plain maple painted a creamy white, slightly interstriped
with green; the seat of cane. The chairs and table were “to match,” but
the forms of all had evidently been designed by the same brain which
planned “the grounds;” it is impossible to conceive anything more
graceful.

On the table were a few books, a large, square, crystal bottle of some
novel perfume, a plain ground-glass astral (not solar) lamp with an
Italian shade, and a large vase of resplendently-blooming flowers.
Flowers, indeed, of gorgeous colours and delicate odour formed the sole
mere decoration of the apartment. The fire-place was nearly filled with
a vase of brilliant geranium. On a triangular shelf in each angle of the
room stood also a similar vase, varied only as to its lovely contents.
One or two smaller bouquets adorned the mantel, and late violets
clustered about the open windows.

It is not the purpose of this work to do more than give in detail, a
picture of Mr. Landor’s residence--as I found it. How he made it what it
was--and why--with some particulars of Mr. Landor himself--may, possibly
form the subject of another article.



WILLIAM WILSON

    What say of it? what say of CONSCIENCE grim,
    That spectre in my path?

                   _Chamberlayne’s Pharronida._

LET me call myself, for the present, William Wilson. The fair page now
lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation. This has
been already too much an object for the scorn--for the horror--for the
detestation of my race. To the uttermost regions of the globe have not
the indignant winds bruited its unparalleled infamy? Oh, outcast of all
outcasts most abandoned!--to the earth art thou not forever dead? to its
honors, to its flowers, to its golden aspirations?--and a cloud, dense,
dismal, and limitless, does it not hang eternally between thy hopes and
heaven?

I would not, if I could, here or to-day, embody a record of my later
years of unspeakable misery, and unpardonable crime. This epoch--these
later years--took unto themselves a sudden elevation in turpitude, whose
origin alone it is my present purpose to assign. Men usually grow base
by degrees. From me, in an instant, all virtue dropped bodily as a
mantle. From comparatively trivial wickedness I passed, with the stride
of a giant, into more than the enormities of an Elah-Gabalus. What
chance--what one event brought this evil thing to pass, bear with me
while I relate. Death approaches; and the shadow which foreruns him has
thrown a softening influence over my spirit. I long, in passing through
the dim valley, for the sympathy--I had nearly said for the pity--of
my fellow men. I would fain have them believe that I have been, in some
measure, the slave of circumstances beyond human control. I would wish
them to seek out for me, in the details I am about to give, some
little oasis of fatality amid a wilderness of error. I would have them
allow--what they cannot refrain from allowing--that, although temptation
may have erewhile existed as great, man was never thus, at least,
tempted before--certainly, never thus fell. And is it therefore that he
has never thus suffered? Have I not indeed been living in a dream? And
am I not now dying a victim to the horror and the mystery of the wildest
of all sublunary visions?

I am the descendant of a race whose imaginative and easily excitable
temperament has at all times rendered them remarkable; and, in my
earliest infancy, I gave evidence of having fully inherited the family
character. As I advanced in years it was more strongly developed;
becoming, for many reasons, a cause of serious disquietude to my
friends, and of positive injury to myself. I grew self-willed, addicted
to the wildest caprices, and a prey to the most ungovernable passions.
Weak-minded, and beset with constitutional infirmities akin to my own,
my parents could do but little to check the evil propensities which
distinguished me. Some feeble and ill-directed efforts resulted in
complete failure on their part, and, of course, in total triumph on
mine. Thenceforward my voice was a household law; and at an age when
few children have abandoned their leading-strings, I was left to the
guidance of my own will, and became, in all but name, the master of my
own actions.

My earliest recollections of a school-life, are connected with a large,
rambling, Elizabethan house, in a misty-looking village of England,
where were a vast number of gigantic and gnarled trees, and where all
the houses were excessively ancient. In truth, it was a dream-like
and spirit-soothing place, that venerable old town. At this moment, in
fancy, I feel the refreshing chilliness of its deeply-shadowed avenues,
inhale the fragrance of its thousand shrubberies, and thrill anew
with undefinable delight, at the deep hollow note of the church-bell,
breaking, each hour, with sullen and sudden roar, upon the stillness of
the dusky atmosphere in which the fretted Gothic steeple lay imbedded
and asleep.

It gives me, perhaps, as much of pleasure as I can now in any manner
experience, to dwell upon minute recollections of the school and its
concerns. Steeped in misery as I am--misery, alas! only too real--I
shall be pardoned for seeking relief, however slight and temporary,
in the weakness of a few rambling details. These, moreover, utterly
trivial, and even ridiculous in themselves, assume, to my fancy,
adventitious importance, as connected with a period and a locality when
and where I recognise the first ambiguous monitions of the destiny which
afterwards so fully overshadowed me. Let me then remember.

The house, I have said, was old and irregular. The grounds were
extensive, and a high and solid brick wall, topped with a bed of mortar
and broken glass, encompassed the whole. This prison-like rampart formed
the limit of our domain; beyond it we saw but thrice a week--once every
Saturday afternoon, when, attended by two ushers, we were permitted to
take brief walks in a body through some of the neighbouring fields--and
twice during Sunday, when we were paraded in the same formal manner to
the morning and evening service in the one church of the village. Of
this church the principal of our school was pastor. With how deep a
spirit of wonder and perplexity was I wont to regard him from our remote
pew in the gallery, as, with step solemn and slow, he ascended the
pulpit! This reverend man, with countenance so demurely benign,
with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely
powdered, so rigid and so vast,---could this be he who, of late, with
sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand,
the Draconian laws of the academy? Oh, gigantic paradox, too utterly
monstrous for solution!

At an angle of the ponderous wall frowned a more ponderous gate. It was
riveted and studded with iron bolts, and surmounted with jagged iron
spikes. What impressions of deep awe did it inspire! It was never
opened save for the three periodical egressions and ingressions already
mentioned; then, in every creak of its mighty hinges, we found a
plenitude of mystery--a world of matter for solemn remark, or for more
solemn meditation.

The extensive enclosure was irregular in form, having many capacious
recesses. Of these, three or four of the largest constituted the
play-ground. It was level, and covered with fine hard gravel. I well
remember it had no trees, nor benches, nor anything similar within
it. Of course it was in the rear of the house. In front lay a small
parterre, planted with box and other shrubs; but through this sacred
division we passed only upon rare occasions indeed--such as a first
advent to school or final departure thence, or perhaps, when a parent
or friend having called for us, we joyfully took our way home for the
Christmas or Midsummer holy-days.

But the house!--how quaint an old building was this!--to me how
veritably a palace of enchantment! There was really no end to its
windings--to its incomprehensible subdivisions. It was difficult, at
any given time, to say with certainty upon which of its two stories
one happened to be. From each room to every other there were sure to be
found three or four steps either in ascent or descent. Then the lateral
branches were innumerable--inconceivable--and so returning in upon
themselves, that our most exact ideas in regard to the whole mansion
were not very far different from those with which we pondered upon
infinity. During the five years of my residence here, I was never able
to ascertain with precision, in what remote locality lay the little
sleeping apartment assigned to myself and some eighteen or twenty other
scholars.

The school-room was the largest in the house--I could not help thinking,
in the world. It was very long, narrow, and dismally low, with pointed
Gothic windows and a ceiling of oak. In a remote and terror-inspiring
angle was a square enclosure of eight or ten feet, comprising the
sanctum, “during hours,” of our principal, the Reverend Dr. Bransby. It
was a solid structure, with massy door, sooner than open which in the
absence of the “Dominic,” we would all have willingly perished by the
peine forte et dure. In other angles were two other similar boxes, far
less reverenced, indeed, but still greatly matters of awe. One of
these was the pulpit of the “classical” usher, one of the “English and
mathematical.” Interspersed about the room, crossing and recrossing
in endless irregularity, were innumerable benches and desks, black,
ancient, and time-worn, piled desperately with much-bethumbed books,
and so beseamed with initial letters, names at full length, grotesque
figures, and other multiplied efforts of the knife, as to have entirely
lost what little of original form might have been their portion in days
long departed. A huge bucket with water stood at one extremity of the
room, and a clock of stupendous dimensions at the other.

Encompassed by the massy walls of this venerable academy, I passed, yet
not in tedium or disgust, the years of the third lustrum of my life.
The teeming brain of childhood requires no external world of incident to
occupy or amuse it; and the apparently dismal monotony of a school was
replete with more intense excitement than my riper youth has derived
from luxury, or my full manhood from crime. Yet I must believe that my
first mental development had in it much of the uncommon--even much of
the outre. Upon mankind at large the events of very early existence
rarely leave in mature age any definite impression. All is gray
shadow--a weak and irregular remembrance--an indistinct regathering of
feeble pleasures and phantasmagoric pains. With me this is not so. In
childhood I must have felt with the energy of a man what I now find
stamped upon memory in lines as vivid, as deep, and as durable as the
exergues of the Carthaginian medals.

Yet in fact--in the fact of the world’s view--how little was there
to remember! The morning’s awakening, the nightly summons to bed;
the connings, the recitations; the periodical half-holidays, and
perambulations; the play-ground, with its broils, its pastimes, its
intrigues;--these, by a mental sorcery long forgotten, were made to
involve a wilderness of sensation, a world of rich incident, an
universe of varied emotion, of excitement the most passionate and
spirit-stirring. “Oh, le bon temps, que ce siecle de fer!”

In truth, the ardor, the enthusiasm, and the imperiousness of my
disposition, soon rendered me a marked character among my schoolmates,
and by slow, but natural gradations, gave me an ascendancy over all
not greatly older than myself;--over all with a single exception.
This exception was found in the person of a scholar, who, although
no relation, bore the same Christian and surname as myself;--a
circumstance, in fact, little remarkable; for, notwithstanding a noble
descent, mine was one of those everyday appellations which seem, by
prescriptive right, to have been, time out of mind, the common property
of the mob. In this narrative I have therefore designated myself as
William Wilson,--a fictitious title not very dissimilar to the real.
My namesake alone, of those who in school phraseology constituted “our
set,” presumed to compete with me in the studies of the class--in the
sports and broils of the play-ground--to refuse implicit belief in my
assertions, and submission to my will--indeed, to interfere with my
arbitrary dictation in any respect whatsoever. If there is on earth a
supreme and unqualified despotism, it is the despotism of a master mind
in boyhood over the less energetic spirits of its companions.

Wilson’s rebellion was to me a source of the greatest
embarrassment;--the more so as, in spite of the bravado with which in
public I made a point of treating him and his pretensions, I secretly
felt that I feared him, and could not help thinking the equality which
he maintained so easily with myself, a proof of his true superiority;
since not to be overcome cost me a perpetual struggle. Yet this
superiority--even this equality--was in truth acknowledged by no one but
myself; our associates, by some unaccountable blindness, seemed not even
to suspect it. Indeed, his competition, his resistance, and especially
his impertinent and dogged interference with my purposes, were not more
pointed than private. He appeared to be destitute alike of the ambition
which urged, and of the passionate energy of mind which enabled me to
excel. In his rivalry he might have been supposed actuated solely by a
whimsical desire to thwart, astonish, or mortify myself; although there
were times when I could not help observing, with a feeling made up of
wonder, abasement, and pique, that he mingled with his injuries, his
insults, or his contradictions, a certain most inappropriate, and
assuredly most unwelcome affectionateness of manner. I could only
conceive this singular behavior to arise from a consummate self-conceit
assuming the vulgar airs of patronage and protection.

Perhaps it was this latter trait in Wilson’s conduct, conjoined with our
identity of name, and the mere accident of our having entered the school
upon the same day, which set afloat the notion that we were brothers,
among the senior classes in the academy. These do not usually inquire
with much strictness into the affairs of their juniors. I have before
said, or should have said, that Wilson was not, in the most remote
degree, connected with my family. But assuredly if we had been brothers
we must have been twins; for, after leaving Dr. Bransby’s, I casually
learned that my namesake was born on the nineteenth of January,
1813--and this is a somewhat remarkable coincidence; for the day is
precisely that of my own nativity.

It may seem strange that in spite of the continual anxiety occasioned me
by the rivalry of Wilson, and his intolerable spirit of contradiction,
I could not bring myself to hate him altogether. We had, to be sure,
nearly every day a quarrel in which, yielding me publicly the palm of
victory, he, in some manner, contrived to make me feel that it was he
who had deserved it; yet a sense of pride on my part, and a veritable
dignity on his own, kept us always upon what are called “speaking
terms,” while there were many points of strong congeniality in our
tempers, operating to awake me in a sentiment which our position alone,
perhaps, prevented from ripening into friendship. It is difficult,
indeed, to define, or even to describe, my real feelings towards
him. They formed a motley and heterogeneous admixture;--some petulant
animosity, which was not yet hatred, some esteem, more respect, much
fear, with a world of uneasy curiosity. To the moralist it will be
unnecessary to say, in addition, that Wilson and myself were the most
inseparable of companions.

It was no doubt the anomalous state of affairs existing between us,
which turned all my attacks upon him, (and they were many, either open
or covert) into the channel of banter or practical joke (giving pain
while assuming the aspect of mere fun) rather than into a more serious
and determined hostility. But my endeavours on this head were by no
means uniformly successful, even when my plans were the most wittily
concocted; for my namesake had much about him, in character, of that
unassuming and quiet austerity which, while enjoying the poignancy of
its own jokes, has no heel of Achilles in itself, and absolutely refuses
to be laughed at. I could find, indeed, but one vulnerable point,
and that, lying in a personal peculiarity, arising, perhaps, from
constitutional disease, would have been spared by any antagonist less
at his wit’s end than myself;--my rival had a weakness in the faucal or
guttural organs, which precluded him from raising his voice at any time
above a very low whisper. Of this defect I did not fail to take what
poor advantage lay in my power.

Wilson’s retaliations in kind were many; and there was one form of his
practical wit that disturbed me beyond measure. How his sagacity first
discovered at all that so petty a thing would vex me, is a question I
never could solve; but, having discovered, he habitually practised the
annoyance. I had always felt aversion to my uncourtly patronymic, and
its very common, if not plebeian praenomen. The words were venom in my
ears; and when, upon the day of my arrival, a second William Wilson came
also to the academy, I felt angry with him for bearing the name, and
doubly disgusted with the name because a stranger bore it, who would
be the cause of its twofold repetition, who would be constantly in my
presence, and whose concerns, in the ordinary routine of the school
business, must inevitably, on account of the detestable coincidence, be
often confounded with my own.

The feeling of vexation thus engendered grew stronger with every
circumstance tending to show resemblance, moral or physical, between my
rival and myself. I had not then discovered the remarkable fact that we
were of the same age; but I saw that we were of the same height, and
I perceived that we were even singularly alike in general contour of
person and outline of feature. I was galled, too, by the rumor touching
a relationship, which had grown current in the upper forms. In a word,
nothing could more seriously disturb me, (although I scrupulously
concealed such disturbance,) than any allusion to a similarity of mind,
person, or condition existing between us. But, in truth, I had no reason
to believe that (with the exception of the matter of relationship, and
in the case of Wilson himself,) this similarity had ever been made a
subject of comment, or even observed at all by our schoolfellows. That
he observed it in all its bearings, and as fixedly as I, was apparent;
but that he could discover in such circumstances so fruitful a field of
annoyance, can only be attributed, as I said before, to his more than
ordinary penetration.

His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of myself, lay both in words
and in actions; and most admirably did he play his part. My dress it
was an easy matter to copy; my gait and general manner were, without
difficulty, appropriated; in spite of his constitutional defect, even my
voice did not escape him. My louder tones were, of course, unattempted,
but then the key, it was identical; and his singular whisper, it grew
the very echo of my own.

How greatly this most exquisite portraiture harassed me, (for it could
not justly be termed a caricature,) I will not now venture to describe.
I had but one consolation--in the fact that the imitation, apparently,
was noticed by myself alone, and that I had to endure only the knowing
and strangely sarcastic smiles of my namesake himself. Satisfied with
having produced in my bosom the intended effect, he seemed to chuckle
in secret over the sting he had inflicted, and was characteristically
disregardful of the public applause which the success of his witty
endeavours might have so easily elicited. That the school, indeed, did
not feel his design, perceive its accomplishment, and participate in
his sneer, was, for many anxious months, a riddle I could not
resolve. Perhaps the gradation of his copy rendered it not so readily
perceptible; or, more possibly, I owed my security to the master air of
the copyist, who, disdaining the letter, (which in a painting is all
the obtuse can see,) gave but the full spirit of his original for my
individual contemplation and chagrin.

I have already more than once spoken of the disgusting air of patronage
which he assumed toward me, and of his frequent officious interference
with my will. This interference often took the ungracious character of
advice; advice not openly given, but hinted or insinuated. I received it
with a repugnance which gained strength as I grew in years. Yet, at this
distant day, let me do him the simple justice to acknowledge that I can
recall no occasion when the suggestions of my rival were on the side
of those errors or follies so usual to his immature age and seeming
inexperience; that his moral sense, at least, if not his general talents
and worldly wisdom, was far keener than my own; and that I might,
to-day, have been a better, and thus a happier man, had I less
frequently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning whispers
which I then but too cordially hated and too bitterly despised.

As it was, I at length grew restive in the extreme under his distasteful
supervision, and daily resented more and more openly what I considered
his intolerable arrogance. I have said that, in the first years of our
connexion as schoolmates, my feelings in regard to him might have
been easily ripened into friendship: but, in the latter months of my
residence at the academy, although the intrusion of his ordinary manner
had, beyond doubt, in some measure, abated, my sentiments, in nearly
similar proportion, partook very much of positive hatred. Upon one
occasion he saw this, I think, and afterwards avoided, or made a show of
avoiding me.

It was about the same period, if I remember aright, that, in an
altercation of violence with him, in which he was more than usually
thrown off his guard, and spoke and acted with an openness of demeanor
rather foreign to his nature, I discovered, or fancied I discovered,
in his accent, his air, and general appearance, a something which first
startled, and then deeply interested me, by bringing to mind dim visions
of my earliest infancy--wild, confused and thronging memories of a
time when memory herself was yet unborn. I cannot better describe the
sensation which oppressed me than by saying that I could with difficulty
shake off the belief of my having been acquainted with the being who
stood before me, at some epoch very long ago--some point of the past
even infinitely remote. The delusion, however, faded rapidly as it came;
and I mention it at all but to define the day of the last conversation I
there held with my singular namesake.

The huge old house, with its countless subdivisions, had several large
chambers communicating with each other, where slept the greater number
of the students. There were, however, (as must necessarily happen in a
building so awkwardly planned,) many little nooks or recesses, the
odds and ends of the structure; and these the economic ingenuity of Dr.
Bransby had also fitted up as dormitories; although, being the merest
closets, they were capable of accommodating but a single individual. One
of these small apartments was occupied by Wilson.

One night, about the close of my fifth year at the school, and
immediately after the altercation just mentioned, finding every one
wrapped in sleep, I arose from bed, and, lamp in hand, stole through a
wilderness of narrow passages from my own bedroom to that of my rival. I
had long been plotting one of those ill-natured pieces of practical wit
at his expense in which I had hitherto been so uniformly unsuccessful.
It was my intention, now, to put my scheme in operation, and I resolved
to make him feel the whole extent of the malice with which I was imbued.
Having reached his closet, I noiselessly entered, leaving the lamp, with
a shade over it, on the outside. I advanced a step, and listened to
the sound of his tranquil breathing. Assured of his being asleep, I
returned, took the light, and with it again approached the bed. Close
curtains were around it, which, in the prosecution of my plan, I
slowly and quietly withdrew, when the bright rays fell vividly upon
the sleeper, and my eyes, at the same moment, upon his countenance. I
looked;--and a numbness, an iciness of feeling instantly pervaded my
frame. My breast heaved, my knees tottered, my whole spirit became
possessed with an objectless yet intolerable horror. Gasping for
breath, I lowered the lamp in still nearer proximity to the face. Were
these--these the lineaments of William Wilson? I saw, indeed, that they
were his, but I shook as if with a fit of the ague in fancying they
were not. What was there about them to confound me in this manner? I
gazed;--while my brain reeled with a multitude of incoherent thoughts.
Not thus he appeared--assuredly not thus--in the vivacity of his waking
hours. The same name! the same contour of person! the same day of
arrival at the academy! And then his dogged and meaningless imitation
of my gait, my voice, my habits, and my manner! Was it, in truth, within
the bounds of human possibility, that what I now saw was the result,
merely, of the habitual practice of this sarcastic imitation?
Awe-stricken, and with a creeping shudder, I extinguished the lamp,
passed silently from the chamber, and left, at once, the halls of that
old academy, never to enter them again.

After a lapse of some months, spent at home in mere idleness, I found
myself a student at Eton. The brief interval had been sufficient to
enfeeble my remembrance of the events at Dr. Bransby’s, or at least
to effect a material change in the nature of the feelings with which
I remembered them. The truth--the tragedy--of the drama was no more.
I could now find room to doubt the evidence of my senses; and seldom
called up the subject at all but with wonder at extent of human
credulity, and a smile at the vivid force of the imagination which I
hereditarily possessed. Neither was this species of scepticism likely to
be diminished by the character of the life I led at Eton. The vortex of
thoughtless folly into which I there so immediately and so recklessly
plunged, washed away all but the froth of my past hours, engulfed at
once every solid or serious impression, and left to memory only the
veriest levities of a former existence.

I do not wish, however, to trace the course of my miserable profligacy
here--a profligacy which set at defiance the laws, while it eluded
the vigilance of the institution. Three years of folly, passed without
profit, had but given me rooted habits of vice, and added, in a somewhat
unusual degree, to my bodily stature, when, after a week of soulless
dissipation, I invited a small party of the most dissolute students to a
secret carousal in my chambers. We met at a late hour of the night; for
our debaucheries were to be faithfully protracted until morning. The
wine flowed freely, and there were not wanting other and perhaps more
dangerous seductions; so that the gray dawn had already faintly appeared
in the east, while our delirious extravagance was at its height. Madly
flushed with cards and intoxication, I was in the act of insisting upon
a toast of more than wonted profanity, when my attention was suddenly
diverted by the violent, although partial unclosing of the door of the
apartment, and by the eager voice of a servant from without. He said
that some person, apparently in great haste, demanded to speak with me
in the hall.

Wildly excited with wine, the unexpected interruption rather delighted
than surprised me. I staggered forward at once, and a few steps brought
me to the vestibule of the building. In this low and small room there
hung no lamp; and now no light at all was admitted, save that of the
exceedingly feeble dawn which made its way through the semi-circular
window. As I put my foot over the threshold, I became aware of the
figure of a youth about my own height, and habited in a white kerseymere
morning frock, cut in the novel fashion of the one I myself wore at the
moment. This the faint light enabled me to perceive; but the features of
his face I could not distinguish. Upon my entering he strode hurriedly
up to me, and, seizing me by the arm with a gesture of petulant
impatience, whispered the words “William Wilson!” in my ear.

I grew perfectly sober in an instant. There was that in the manner of
the stranger, and in the tremulous shake of his uplifted finger, as he
held it between my eyes and the light, which filled me with unqualified
amazement; but it was not this which had so violently moved me. It
was the pregnancy of solemn admonition in the singular, low, hissing
utterance; and, above all, it was the character, the tone, the key, of
those few, simple, and familiar, yet whispered syllables, which came
with a thousand thronging memories of bygone days, and struck upon my
soul with the shock of a galvanic battery. Ere I could recover the use
of my senses he was gone.

Although this event failed not of a vivid effect upon my disordered
imagination, yet was it evanescent as vivid. For some weeks, indeed, I
busied myself in earnest inquiry, or was wrapped in a cloud of morbid
speculation. I did not pretend to disguise from my perception the
identity of the singular individual who thus perseveringly interfered
with my affairs, and harassed me with his insinuated counsel. But
who and what was this Wilson?--and whence came he?--and what were his
purposes? Upon neither of these points could I be satisfied; merely
ascertaining, in regard to him, that a sudden accident in his family had
caused his removal from Dr. Bransby’s academy on the afternoon of the
day in which I myself had eloped. But in a brief period I ceased
to think upon the subject; my attention being all absorbed in
a contemplated departure for Oxford. Thither I soon went; the
uncalculating vanity of my parents furnishing me with an outfit and
annual establishment, which would enable me to indulge at will in
the luxury already so dear to my heart,--to vie in profuseness of
expenditure with the haughtiest heirs of the wealthiest earldoms in
Great Britain.

Excited by such appliances to vice, my constitutional temperament broke
forth with redoubled ardor, and I spurned even the common restraints of
decency in the mad infatuation of my revels. But it were absurd to
pause in the detail of my extravagance. Let it suffice, that among
spendthrifts I out-Heroded Herod, and that, giving name to a multitude
of novel follies, I added no brief appendix to the long catalogue of
vices then usual in the most dissolute university of Europe.

It could hardly be credited, however, that I had, even here, so utterly
fallen from the gentlemanly estate, as to seek acquaintance with the
vilest arts of the gambler by profession, and, having become an adept
in his despicable science, to practise it habitually as a means of
increasing my already enormous income at the expense of the weak-minded
among my fellow-collegians. Such, nevertheless, was the fact. And the
very enormity of this offence against all manly and honourable sentiment
proved, beyond doubt, the main if not the sole reason of the impunity
with which it was committed. Who, indeed, among my most abandoned
associates, would not rather have disputed the clearest evidence of his
senses, than have suspected of such courses, the gay, the frank, the
generous William Wilson--the noblest and most liberal commoner at Oxford--him
whose follies (said his parasites) were but the follies of youth and
unbridled fancy--whose errors but inimitable whim--whose darkest vice
but a careless and dashing extravagance?

I had been now two years successfully busied in this way, when there
came to the university a young parvenu nobleman, Glendinning--rich, said
report, as Herodes Atticus--his riches, too, as easily acquired. I soon
found him of weak intellect, and, of course, marked him as a fitting
subject for my skill. I frequently engaged him in play, and contrived,
with the gambler’s usual art, to let him win considerable sums, the more
effectually to entangle him in my snares. At length, my schemes being
ripe, I met him (with the full intention that this meeting should be
final and decisive) at the chambers of a fellow-commoner, (Mr. Preston,)
equally intimate with both, but who, to do him Justice, entertained
not even a remote suspicion of my design. To give to this a better
colouring, I had contrived to have assembled a party of some eight or
ten, and was solicitously careful that the introduction of cards should
appear accidental, and originate in the proposal of my contemplated
dupe himself. To be brief upon a vile topic, none of the low finesse was
omitted, so customary upon similar occasions that it is a just matter
for wonder how any are still found so besotted as to fall its victim.

We had protracted our sitting far into the night, and I had at length
effected the manoeuvre of getting Glendinning as my sole antagonist. The
game, too, was my favorite ecarte! The rest of the company, interested
in the extent of our play, had abandoned their own cards, and were
standing around us as spectators. The parvenu, who had been induced
by my artifices in the early part of the evening, to drink deeply, now
shuffled, dealt, or played, with a wild nervousness of manner for which
his intoxication, I thought, might partially, but could not altogether
account. In a very short period he had become my debtor to a large
amount, when, having taken a long draught of port, he did precisely
what I had been coolly anticipating--he proposed to double our already
extravagant stakes. With a well-feigned show of reluctance, and not
until after my repeated refusal had seduced him into some angry words
which gave a color of pique to my compliance, did I finally comply. The
result, of course, did but prove how entirely the prey was in my toils;
in less than an hour he had quadrupled his debt. For some time his
countenance had been losing the florid tinge lent it by the wine; but
now, to my astonishment, I perceived that it had grown to a pallor truly
fearful. I say to my astonishment. Glendinning had been represented to
my eager inquiries as immeasurably wealthy; and the sums which he had
as yet lost, although in themselves vast, could not, I supposed, very
seriously annoy, much less so violently affect him. That he was overcome
by the wine just swallowed, was the idea which most readily presented
itself; and, rather with a view to the preservation of my own character
in the eyes of my associates, than from any less interested motive, I
was about to insist, peremptorily, upon a discontinuance of the play,
when some expressions at my elbow from among the company, and an
ejaculation evincing utter despair on the part of Glendinning, gave me
to understand that I had effected his total ruin under circumstances
which, rendering him an object for the pity of all, should have
protected him from the ill offices even of a fiend.

What now might have been my conduct it is difficult to say. The pitiable
condition of my dupe had thrown an air of embarrassed gloom over all;
and, for some moments, a profound silence was maintained, during which I
could not help feeling my cheeks tingle with the many burning glances
of scorn or reproach cast upon me by the less abandoned of the party.
I will even own that an intolerable weight of anxiety was for a
brief instant lifted from my bosom by the sudden and extraordinary
interruption which ensued. The wide, heavy folding doors of the
apartment were all at once thrown open, to their full extent, with a
vigorous and rushing impetuosity that extinguished, as if by magic,
every candle in the room. Their light, in dying, enabled us just to
perceive that a stranger had entered, about my own height, and closely
muffled in a cloak. The darkness, however, was now total; and we could
only feel that he was standing in our midst. Before any one of us could
recover from the extreme astonishment into which this rudeness had
thrown all, we heard the voice of the intruder.

“Gentlemen,” he said, in a low, distinct, and never-to-be-forgotten
whisper which thrilled to the very marrow of my bones, “Gentlemen, I
make no apology for this behaviour, because in thus behaving, I am
but fulfilling a duty. You are, beyond doubt, uninformed of the true
character of the person who has to-night won at ecarte a large sum
of money from Lord Glendinning. I will therefore put you upon an
expeditious and decisive plan of obtaining this very necessary
information. Please to examine, at your leisure, the inner linings of
the cuff of his left sleeve, and the several little packages which may
be found in the somewhat capacious pockets of his embroidered morning
wrapper.”

While he spoke, so profound was the stillness that one might have heard
a pin drop upon the floor. In ceasing, he departed at once, and as
abruptly as he had entered. Can I--shall I describe my sensations?--must
I say that I felt all the horrors of the damned? Most assuredly I had
little time given for reflection. Many hands roughly seized me upon the
spot, and lights were immediately reprocured. A search ensued. In the
lining of my sleeve were found all the court cards essential in ecarte,
and, in the pockets of my wrapper, a number of packs, facsimiles of
those used at our sittings, with the single exception that mine were of
the species called, technically, arrondees; the honours being slightly
convex at the ends, the lower cards slightly convex at the sides. In
this disposition, the dupe who cuts, as customary, at the length of the
pack, will invariably find that he cuts his antagonist an honor; while
the gambler, cutting at the breadth, will, as certainly, cut nothing for
his victim which may count in the records of the game.

Any burst of indignation upon this discovery would have affected me less
than the silent contempt, or the sarcastic composure, with which it was
received.

“Mr. Wilson,” said our host, stooping to remove from beneath his feet
an exceedingly luxurious cloak of rare furs, “Mr. Wilson, this is your
property.” (The weather was cold; and, upon quitting my own room, I had
thrown a cloak over my dressing wrapper, putting it off upon reaching
the scene of play.) “I presume it is supererogatory to seek here (eyeing
the folds of the garment with a bitter smile) for any farther evidence
of your skill. Indeed, we have had enough. You will see the necessity,
I hope, of quitting Oxford--at all events, of quitting instantly my
chambers.”

Abased, humbled to the dust as I then was, it is probable that I should
have resented this galling language by immediate personal violence, had
not my whole attention been at the moment arrested by a fact of the
most startling character. The cloak which I had worn was of a rare
description of fur; how rare, how extravagantly costly, I shall not
venture to say. Its fashion, too, was of my own fantastic invention; for
I was fastidious to an absurd degree of coxcombry, in matters of this
frivolous nature. When, therefore, Mr. Preston reached me that which
he had picked up upon the floor, and near the folding doors of the
apartment, it was with an astonishment nearly bordering upon terror,
that I perceived my own already hanging on my arm, (where I had no doubt
unwittingly placed it,) and that the one presented me was but its exact
counterpart in every, in even the minutest possible particular. The
singular being who had so disastrously exposed me, had been muffled,
I remembered, in a cloak; and none had been worn at all by any of
the members of our party with the exception of myself. Retaining some
presence of mind, I took the one offered me by Preston; placed it,
unnoticed, over my own; left the apartment with a resolute scowl of
defiance; and, next morning ere dawn of day, commenced a hurried journey
from Oxford to the continent, in a perfect agony of horror and of shame.

I fled in vain. My evil destiny pursued me as if in exultation, and
proved, indeed, that the exercise of its mysterious dominion had as yet
only begun. Scarcely had I set foot in Paris ere I had fresh evidence of
the detestable interest taken by this Wilson in my concerns. Years flew,
while I experienced no relief. Villain!--at Rome, with how untimely,
yet with how spectral an officiousness, stepped he in between me and my
ambition! At Vienna, too--at Berlin--and at Moscow! Where, in truth, had
I not bitter cause to curse him within my heart? From his inscrutable
tyranny did I at length flee, panic-stricken, as from a pestilence; and
to the very ends of the earth I fled in vain.

And again, and again, in secret communion with my own spirit, would
I demand the questions “Who is he?--whence came he?--and what are his
objects?” But no answer was there found. And then I scrutinized, with a
minute scrutiny, the forms, and the methods, and the leading traits of
his impertinent supervision. But even here there was very little upon
which to base a conjecture. It was noticeable, indeed, that, in no one
of the multiplied instances in which he had of late crossed my path, had
he so crossed it except to frustrate those schemes, or to disturb those
actions, which, if fully carried out, might have resulted in bitter
mischief. Poor justification this, in truth, for an authority so
imperiously assumed! Poor indemnity for natural rights of self-agency so
pertinaciously, so insultingly denied!

I had also been forced to notice that my tormentor, for a very long
period of time, (while scrupulously and with miraculous dexterity
maintaining his whim of an identity of apparel with myself,) had so
contrived it, in the execution of his varied interference with my will,
that I saw not, at any moment, the features of his face. Be Wilson what
he might, this, at least, was but the veriest of affectation, or of
folly. Could he, for an instant, have supposed that, in my admonisher
at Eton--in the destroyer of my honor at Oxford,--in him who thwarted my
ambition at Rome, my revenge at Paris, my passionate love at Naples, or
what he falsely termed my avarice in Egypt,--that in this, my arch-enemy
and evil genius, could fail to recognise the William Wilson of my
school boy days,--the namesake, the companion, the rival,--the hated and
dreaded rival at Dr. Bransby’s? Impossible!--But let me hasten to the
last eventful scene of the drama.

Thus far I had succumbed supinely to this imperious domination. The
sentiment of deep awe with which I habitually regarded the elevated
character, the majestic wisdom, the apparent omnipresence and
omnipotence of Wilson, added to a feeling of even terror, with which
certain other traits in his nature and assumptions inspired me, had
operated, hitherto, to impress me with an idea of my own utter weakness
and helplessness, and to suggest an implicit, although bitterly
reluctant submission to his arbitrary will. But, of late days, I had
given myself up entirely to wine; and its maddening influence upon my
hereditary temper rendered me more and more impatient of control. I
began to murmur,--to hesitate,--to resist. And was it only fancy which
induced me to believe that, with the increase of my own firmness, that
of my tormentor underwent a proportional diminution? Be this as it may,
I now began to feel the inspiration of a burning hope, and at length
nurtured in my secret thoughts a stern and desperate resolution that I
would submit no longer to be enslaved.

It was at Rome, during the Carnival of 18--, that I attended a
masquerade in the palazzo of the Neapolitan Duke Di Broglio. I had
indulged more freely than usual in the excesses of the wine-table; and
now the suffocating atmosphere of the crowded rooms irritated me beyond
endurance. The difficulty, too, of forcing my way through the mazes of
the company contributed not a little to the ruffling of my temper; for
I was anxiously seeking, (let me not say with what unworthy motive) the
young, the gay, the beautiful wife of the aged and doting Di Broglio.
With a too unscrupulous confidence she had previously communicated to me
the secret of the costume in which she would be habited, and now, having
caught a glimpse of her person, I was hurrying to make my way into her
presence.--At this moment I felt a light hand placed upon my shoulder,
and that ever-remembered, low, damnable whisper within my ear.

In an absolute phrenzy of wrath, I turned at once upon him who had thus
interrupted me, and seized him violently by the collar. He was attired,
as I had expected, in a costume altogether similar to my own; wearing a
Spanish cloak of blue velvet, begirt about the waist with a crimson belt
sustaining a rapier. A mask of black silk entirely covered his face.

“Scoundrel!” I said, in a voice husky with rage, while every syllable
I uttered seemed as new fuel to my fury, “scoundrel! impostor! accursed
villain! you shall not--you shall not dog me unto death! Follow me, or I
stab you where you stand!”--and I broke my way from the ball-room into
a small ante-chamber adjoining--dragging him unresistingly with me as I
went.

Upon entering, I thrust him furiously from me. He staggered against the
wall, while I closed the door with an oath, and commanded him to draw.
He hesitated but for an instant; then, with a slight sigh, drew in
silence, and put himself upon his defence.

The contest was brief indeed. I was frantic with every species of wild
excitement, and felt within my single arm the energy and power of a
multitude. In a few seconds I forced him by sheer strength against the
wainscoting, and thus, getting him at mercy, plunged my sword, with
brute ferocity, repeatedly through and through his bosom.

At that instant some person tried the latch of the door. I hastened
to prevent an intrusion, and then immediately returned to my dying
antagonist. But what human language can adequately portray that
astonishment, that horror which possessed me at the spectacle then
presented to view? The brief moment in which I averted my eyes had been
sufficient to produce, apparently, a material change in the arrangements
at the upper or farther end of the room. A large mirror,--so at first it
seemed to me in my confusion--now stood where none had been perceptible
before; and, as I stepped up to it in extremity of terror, mine own
image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood, advanced to meet
me with a feeble and tottering gait.

Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my antagonist--it was
Wilson, who then stood before me in the agonies of his dissolution.
His mask and cloak lay, where he had thrown them, upon the floor. Not
a thread in all his raiment--not a line in all the marked and singular
lineaments of his face which was not, even in the most absolute
identity, mine own!

It was Wilson; but he spoke no longer in a whisper, and I could have
fancied that I myself was speaking while he said:

“You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also
dead--dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou
exist--and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how
utterly thou hast murdered thyself.”



THE TELL-TALE HEART.

TRUE!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but
why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses--not
destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I
heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things
in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily--how
calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once
conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion
there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had
never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his
eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture--a pale blue eye,
with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and
so by degrees--very gradually--I made up my mind to take the life of the
old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you
should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with
what caution--with what foresight--with what dissimulation I went to
work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week
before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch
of his door and opened it--oh so gently! And then, when I had made an
opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed,
closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh,
you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it
slowly--very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s
sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so
far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have
been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I
undid the lantern cautiously--oh, so cautiously--cautiously (for the
hinges creaked)--I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell
upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights--every night
just at midnight--but I found the eye always closed; and so it was
impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but
his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into
the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a
hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he
would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every
night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the
door. A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never
before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers--of my
sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think
that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to
dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and
perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled.
Now you may think that I drew back--but no. His room was as black as
pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened,
through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the
opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb
slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying
out--“Who’s there?”

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a
muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still
sitting up in the bed listening;--just as I have done, night after
night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal
terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief--oh, no!--it was the low
stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged
with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when
all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with
its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well.
I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at
heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight
noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since
growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could
not. He had been saying to himself--“It is nothing but the wind in the
chimney--it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “It is merely a
cricket which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he had been trying to
comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain.
All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his
black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the
mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to
feel--although he neither saw nor heard--to feel the presence of my head
within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie
down, I resolved to open a little--a very, very little crevice in
the lantern. So I opened it--you cannot imagine how stealthily,
stealthily--until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the
spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

It was open--wide, wide open--and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I
saw it with perfect distinctness--all a dull blue, with a hideous
veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see
nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray
as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but
over-acuteness of the sense?--now, I say, there came to my ears a low,
dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I
knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It
increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into
courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the
lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon
the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew
quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s
terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every
moment!--do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am.
And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of
that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable
terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But
the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now
a new anxiety seized me--the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The
old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern
and leaped into the room. He shrieked once--once only. In an instant
I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then
smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the
heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it
would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man
was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone,
stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many
minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would
trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe
the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night
waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered
the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and
deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so
cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye--not even his--could have
detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out--no stain of any
kind--no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had
caught all--ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o’clock--still dark
as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the
street door. I went down to open it with a light heart,--for what had
I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with
perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by
a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused;
information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the
officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled,--for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The
shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was
absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade
them search--search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I
showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of
my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here
to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of
my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which
reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was
singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they
chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale
and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my
ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more
distinct:--It continued and became more distinct: I talked more
freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained
definiteness--until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my
ears.

No doubt I now grew _very_ pale;--but I talked more fluently, and with a
heightened voice. Yet the sound increased--and what could I do? It was
a low, dull, quick sound--much such a sound as a watch makes when
enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath--and yet the officers heard
it not. I talked more quickly--more vehemently; but the noise steadily
increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with
violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would
they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if
excited to fury by the observations of the men--but the noise steadily
increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed--I raved--I swore! I swung
the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the
boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It
grew louder--louder--louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and
smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!--no, no! They
heard!--they suspected!--they knew!--they were making a mockery of my
horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than
this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear
those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!
and now--again!--hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!--tear up
the planks! here, here!--It is the beating of his hideous heart!”



BERENICE

     Dicebant mihi sodales, si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas
     meas aliquantulum forelevatas.

                                 --_Ebn Zaiat_.

MISERY is manifold. The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching
the wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of
that arch--as distinct too, yet as intimately blended. Overreaching the
wide horizon as the rainbow! How is it that from beauty I have derived
a type of unloveliness?--from the covenant of peace, a simile of sorrow?
But as, in ethics, evil is a consequence of good, so, in fact, out of
joy is sorrow born. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of
to-day, or the agonies which _are_, have their origin in the ecstasies
which _might have been_.

My baptismal name is Egaeus; that of my family I will not mention. Yet
there are no towers in the land more time-honored than my gloomy, gray,
hereditary halls. Our line has been called a race of visionaries; and
in many striking particulars--in the character of the family
mansion--in the frescos of the chief saloon--in the tapestries of the
dormitories--in the chiselling of some buttresses in the armory--but
more especially in the gallery of antique paintings--in the fashion of
the library chamber--and, lastly, in the very peculiar nature of the
library’s contents--there is more than sufficient evidence to warrant
the belief.

The recollections of my earliest years are connected with that chamber,
and with its volumes--of which latter I will say no more. Here died my
mother. Herein was I born. But it is mere idleness to say that I had not
lived before--that the soul has no previous existence. You deny it?--let
us not argue the matter. Convinced myself, I seek not to convince. There
is, however, a remembrance of aerial forms--of spiritual and meaning
eyes--of sounds, musical yet sad--a remembrance which will not be
excluded; a memory like a shadow--vague, variable, indefinite, unsteady;
and like a shadow, too, in the impossibility of my getting rid of it
while the sunlight of my reason shall exist.

In that chamber was I born. Thus awaking from the long night of what
seemed, but was not, nonentity, at once into the very regions of fairy
land--into a palace of imagination--into the wild dominions of monastic
thought and erudition--it is not singular that I gazed around me with a
startled and ardent eye--that I loitered away my boyhood in books,
and dissipated my youth in reverie; but it _is_ singular that as years
rolled away, and the noon of manhood found me still in the mansion of my
fathers--it _is_ wonderful what stagnation there fell upon the springs
of my life--wonderful how total an inversion took place in the character
of my commonest thought. The realities of the world affected me as
visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams
became, in turn, not the material of my every-day existence, but in very
deed that existence utterly and solely in itself.

* * * * *

Berenice and I were cousins, and we grew up together in my paternal
halls. Yet differently we grew--I, ill of health, and buried in
gloom--she, agile, graceful, and overflowing with energy; hers, the
ramble on the hill-side--mine the studies of the cloister; I, living
within my own heart, and addicted, body and soul, to the most intense
and painful meditation--she, roaming carelessly through life, with
no thought of the shadows in her path, or the silent flight of the
raven-winged hours. Berenice!--I call upon her name--Berenice!--and
from the gray ruins of memory a thousand tumultuous recollections are
startled at the sound! Ah, vividly is her image before me now, as in the
early days of her light-heartedness and joy! Oh, gorgeous yet fantastic
beauty! Oh, sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim! Oh, Naiad among its
fountains! And then--then all is mystery and terror, and a tale which
should not be told. Disease--a fatal disease, fell like the simoon upon
her frame; and, even while I gazed upon her, the spirit of change swept
over her, pervading her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in a
manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing even the identity of
her person! Alas! the destroyer came and went!--and the victim--where is
she? I knew her not--or knew her no longer as Berenice.

Among the numerous train of maladies superinduced by that fatal and
primary one which effected a revolution of so horrible a kind in the
moral and physical being of my cousin, may be mentioned as the most
distressing and obstinate in its nature, a species of epilepsy not
unfrequently terminating in _trance_ itself--trance very nearly
resembling positive dissolution, and from which her manner of recovery
was in most instances, startlingly abrupt. In the mean time my own
disease--for I have been told that I should call it by no other
appellation--my own disease, then, grew rapidly upon me, and assumed
finally a monomaniac character of a novel and extraordinary form--hourly
and momently gaining vigor--and at length obtaining over me the most
incomprehensible ascendancy. This monomania, if I must so term it,
consisted in a morbid irritability of those properties of the mind in
metaphysical science termed the _attentive_. It is more than probable
that I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner
possible to convey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adequate
idea of that nervous _intensity of interest_ with which, in my case,
the powers of meditation (not to speak technically) busied and buried
themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordinary objects of
the universe.

To muse for long unwearied hours, with my attention riveted to some
frivolous device on the margin, or in the typography of a book; to
become absorbed, for the better part of a summer’s day, in a quaint
shadow falling aslant upon the tapestry or upon the floor; to lose
myself, for an entire night, in watching the steady flame of a lamp,
or the embers of a fire; to dream away whole days over the perfume of a
flower; to repeat, monotonously, some common word, until the sound, by
dint of frequent repetition, ceased to convey any idea whatever to the
mind; to lose all sense of motion or physical existence, by means of
absolute bodily quiescence long and obstinately persevered in: such
were a few of the most common and least pernicious vagaries induced by a
condition of the mental faculties, not, indeed, altogether unparalleled,
but certainly bidding defiance to anything like analysis or explanation.

Yet let me not be misapprehended. The undue, earnest, and morbid
attention thus excited by objects in their own nature frivolous, must
not be confounded in character with that ruminating propensity common
to all mankind, and more especially indulged in by persons of ardent
imagination. It was not even, as might be at first supposed, an extreme
condition, or exaggeration of such propensity, but primarily and
essentially distinct and different. In the one instance, the dreamer,
or enthusiast, being interested by an object usually _not_ frivolous,
imperceptibly loses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions
and suggestions issuing therefrom, until, at the conclusion of a day
dream _often replete with luxury_, he finds the _incitamentum_, or first
cause of his musings, entirely vanished and forgotten. In my case, the
primary object was _invariably frivolous_, although assuming, through
the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance.
Few deductions, if any, were made; and those few pertinaciously
returning in upon the original object as a centre. The meditations were
_never_ pleasurable; and, at the termination of the reverie, the first
cause, so far from being out of sight, had attained that supernaturally
exaggerated interest which was the prevailing feature of the disease. In
a word, the powers of mind more particularly exercised were, with me, as
I have said before, the _attentive_, and are, with the day-dreamer, the
_speculative_.

My books, at this epoch, if they did not actually serve to irritate the
disorder, partook, it will be perceived, largely, in their imaginative
and inconsequential nature, of the characteristic qualities of the
disorder itself. I well remember, among others, the treatise of the
noble Italian, Coelius Secundus Curio, “_De Amplitudine Beati Regni
Dei;_” St. Austin’s great work, the “City of God;” and Tertullian’s “_De
Carne Christi_,” in which the paradoxical sentence “_Mortuus est Dei
filius; credible est quia ineptum est: et sepultus resurrexit; certum
est quia impossibile est,_” occupied my undivided time, for many weeks
of laborious and fruitless investigation.

Thus it will appear that, shaken from its balance only by trivial
things, my reason bore resemblance to that ocean-crag spoken of by
Ptolemy Hephestion, which steadily resisting the attacks of human
violence, and the fiercer fury of the waters and the winds, trembled
only to the touch of the flower called Asphodel. And although, to
a careless thinker, it might appear a matter beyond doubt, that the
alteration produced by her unhappy malady, in the _moral_ condition of
Berenice, would afford me many objects for the exercise of that intense
and abnormal meditation whose nature I have been at some trouble in
explaining, yet such was not in any degree the case. In the lucid
intervals of my infirmity, her calamity, indeed, gave me pain, and,
taking deeply to heart that total wreck of her fair and gentle life, I
did not fail to ponder, frequently and bitterly, upon the wonder-working
means by which so strange a revolution had been so suddenly brought
to pass. But these reflections partook not of the idiosyncrasy of
my disease, and were such as would have occurred, under similar
circumstances, to the ordinary mass of mankind. True to its own
character, my disorder revelled in the less important but more startling
changes wrought in the _physical_ frame of Berenice--in the singular and
most appalling distortion of her personal identity.

During the brightest days of her unparalleled beauty, most surely I had
never loved her. In the strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with
me, _had never been_ of the heart, and my passions _always were_ of the
mind. Through the gray of the early morning--among the trellised shadows
of the forest at noonday--and in the silence of my library at night--she
had flitted by my eyes, and I had seen her--not as the living and
breathing Berenice, but as the Berenice of a dream; not as a being of
the earth, earthy, but as the abstraction of such a being; not as a
thing to admire, but to analyze; not as an object of love, but as
the theme of the most abstruse although desultory speculation. And
_now_--now I shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her approach;
yet, bitterly lamenting her fallen and desolate condition, I called to
mind that she had loved me long, and, in an evil moment, I spoke to her
of marriage.

And at length the period of our nuptials was approaching, when, upon
an afternoon in the winter of the year--one of those unseasonably
warm, calm, and misty days which are the nurse of the beautiful Halcyon
(*1),--I sat, (and sat, as I thought, alone,) in the inner apartment of
the library. But, uplifting my eyes, I saw that Berenice stood before
me.

Was it my own excited imagination--or the misty influence of the
atmosphere--or the uncertain twilight of the chamber--or the gray
draperies which fell around her figure--that caused in it so vacillating
and indistinct an outline? I could not tell. She spoke no word; and
I--not for worlds could I have uttered a syllable. An icy chill ran
through my frame; a sense of insufferable anxiety oppressed me; a
consuming curiosity pervaded my soul; and sinking back upon the chair,
I remained for some time breathless and motionless, with my eyes riveted
upon her person. Alas! its emaciation was excessive, and not one vestige
of the former being lurked in any single line of the contour. My burning
glances at length fell upon the face.

The forehead was high, and very pale, and singularly placid; and the
once jetty hair fell partially over it, and overshadowed the hollow
temples with innumerable ringlets, now of a vivid yellow, and jarring
discordantly, in their fantastic character, with the reigning melancholy
of the countenance. The eyes were lifeless, and lustreless, and
seemingly pupilless, and I shrank involuntarily from their glassy stare
to the contemplation of the thin and shrunken lips. They parted; and in a
smile of peculiar meaning, _the teeth_ of the changed Berenice disclosed
themselves slowly to my view. Would to God that I had never beheld them,
or that, having done so, I had died!

* * * * *

The shutting of a door disturbed me, and, looking up, I found that my
cousin had departed from the chamber. But from the disordered chamber
of my brain, had not, alas! departed, and would not be driven away,
the white and ghastly _spectrum_ of the teeth. Not a speck on their
surface--not a shade on their enamel--not an indenture in their
edges--but what that period of her smile had sufficed to brand in upon
my memory. I saw them _now_ even more unequivocally than I beheld
them _then_. The teeth!--the teeth!--they were here, and there, and
everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and
excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the
very moment of their first terrible development. Then came the full
fury of my _monomania_, and I struggled in vain against its strange and
irresistible influence. In the multiplied objects of the external world
I had no thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with a phrenzied
desire. All other matters and all different interests became absorbed in
their single contemplation. They--they alone were present to the mental
eye, and they, in their sole individuality, became the essence of
my mental life. I held them in every light. I turned them in every
attitude. I surveyed their characteristics. I dwelt upon their
peculiarities. I pondered upon their conformation. I mused upon the
alteration in their nature. I shuddered as I assigned to them in
imagination a sensitive and sentient power, and even when unassisted by
the lips, a capability of moral expression. Of Mademoiselle Salle it
has been well said, “_Que tous ses pas etaient des sentiments_,” and
of Berenice I more seriously believed _que toutes ses dents etaient des
idees_. _Des idees!_--ah here was the idiotic thought that destroyed me!
_Des idees!_--ah _therefore_ it was that I coveted them so madly! I felt
that their possession could alone ever restore me to peace, in giving me
back to reason.

And the evening closed in upon me thus--and then the darkness came, and
tarried, and went--and the day again dawned--and the mists of a second
night were now gathering around--and still I sat motionless in that
solitary room--and still I sat buried in meditation--and still the
_phantasma_ of the teeth maintained its terrible ascendancy, as, with
the most vivid hideous distinctness, it floated about amid the changing
lights and shadows of the chamber. At length there broke in upon my
dreams a cry as of horror and dismay; and thereunto, after a pause,
succeeded the sound of troubled voices, intermingled with many low
moanings of sorrow or of pain. I arose from my seat, and throwing open
one of the doors of the library, saw standing out in the ante-chamber
a servant maiden, all in tears, who told me that Berenice was--no more!
She had been seized with epilepsy in the early morning, and now, at the
closing in of the night, the grave was ready for its tenant, and all the
preparations for the burial were completed.

* * * * *

I found myself sitting in the library, and again sitting there alone. It
seemed that I had newly awakened from a confused and exciting dream.
I knew that it was now midnight, and I was well aware, that since the
setting of the sun, Berenice had been interred. But of that dreary
period which intervened I had no positive, at least no definite
comprehension. Yet its memory was replete with horror--horror more
horrible from being vague, and terror more terrible from ambiguity. It
was a fearful page in the record my existence, written all over with
dim, and hideous, and unintelligible recollections. I strived to
decypher them, but in vain; while ever and anon, like the spirit of a
departed sound, the shrill and piercing shriek of a female voice seemed
to be ringing in my ears. I had done a deed--what was it? I asked myself
the question aloud, and the whispering echoes of the chamber answered
me,--“_what was it?_”

On the table beside me burned a lamp, and near it lay a little box. It
was of no remarkable character, and I had seen it frequently before, for
it was the property of the family physician; but how came it _there_,
upon my table, and why did I shudder in regarding it? These things were
in no manner to be accounted for, and my eyes at length dropped to the
open pages of a book, and to a sentence underscored therein. The words
were the singular but simple ones of the poet Ebn Zaiat:--“_Dicebant
mihi sodales si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum
fore levatas_.” Why then, as I perused them, did the hairs of my head
erect themselves on end, and the blood of my body become congealed
within my veins?

There came a light tap at the library door--and, pale as the tenant of a
tomb, a menial entered upon tiptoe. His looks were wild with terror,
and he spoke to me in a voice tremulous, husky, and very low. What said
he?--some broken sentences I heard. He told of a wild cry disturbing the
silence of the night--of the gathering together of the household--of
a search in the direction of the sound; and then his tones grew
thrillingly distinct as he whispered me of a violated grave--of
a disfigured body enshrouded, yet still breathing--still
palpitating--_still alive_!

He pointed to garments;--they were muddy and clotted with gore. I spoke
not, and he took me gently by the hand: it was indented with the impress
of human nails. He directed my attention to some object against the
wall. I looked at it for some minutes: it was a spade. With a shriek I
bounded to the table, and grasped the box that lay upon it. But I could
not force it open; and in my tremor, it slipped from my hands, and fell
heavily, and burst into pieces; and from it, with a rattling sound,
there rolled out some instruments of dental surgery, intermingled with
thirty-two small, white and ivory-looking substances that were scattered
to and fro about the floor.



ELEONORA

     Sub conservatione formae specificae salva anima.

                        _  Raymond Lully_.

I AM come of a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion. Men
have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether
madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is
glorious--whether all that is profound--does not spring from disease
of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general
intellect. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which
escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain
glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awakening, to find that they
have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn
something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge
which is of evil. They penetrate, however, rudderless or compassless
into the vast ocean of the “light ineffable,” and again, like the
adventures of the Nubian geographer, “agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid
in eo esset exploraturi.”

We will say, then, that I am mad. I grant, at least, that there are two
distinct conditions of my mental existence--the condition of a lucid
reason, not to be disputed, and belonging to the memory of events
forming the first epoch of my life--and a condition of shadow and doubt,
appertaining to the present, and to the recollection of what constitutes
the second great era of my being. Therefore, what I shall tell of the
earlier period, believe; and to what I may relate of the later time,
give only such credit as may seem due, or doubt it altogether, or, if
doubt it ye cannot, then play unto its riddle the Oedipus.

She whom I loved in youth, and of whom I now pen calmly and distinctly
these remembrances, was the sole daughter of the only sister of my
mother long departed. Eleonora was the name of my cousin. We had
always dwelled together, beneath a tropical sun, in the Valley of the
Many-Colored Grass. No unguided footstep ever came upon that vale; for
it lay away up among a range of giant hills that hung beetling around
about it, shutting out the sunlight from its sweetest recesses. No path
was trodden in its vicinity; and, to reach our happy home, there was
need of putting back, with force, the foliage of many thousands of
forest trees, and of crushing to death the glories of many millions of
fragrant flowers. Thus it was that we lived all alone, knowing nothing
of the world without the valley--I, and my cousin, and her mother.

From the dim regions beyond the mountains at the upper end of our
encircled domain, there crept out a narrow and deep river, brighter than
all save the eyes of Eleonora; and, winding stealthily about in mazy
courses, it passed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills
still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We called it the “River
of Silence”; for there seemed to be a hushing influence in its flow.
No murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the
pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze, far down within its bosom,
stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old
station, shining on gloriously forever.

The margin of the river, and of the many dazzling rivulets that glided
through devious ways into its channel, as well as the spaces that
extended from the margins away down into the depths of the streams until
they reached the bed of pebbles at the bottom,--these spots, not less
than the whole surface of the valley, from the river to the mountains
that girdled it in, were carpeted all by a soft green grass, thick,
short, perfectly even, and vanilla-perfumed, but so besprinkled
throughout with the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the purple
violet, and the ruby-red asphodel, that its exceeding beauty spoke to
our hearts in loud tones, of the love and of the glory of God.

And, here and there, in groves about this grass, like wildernesses of
dreams, sprang up fantastic trees, whose tall slender stems stood not
upright, but slanted gracefully toward the light that peered at noon-day
into the centre of the valley. Their mark was speckled with the vivid
alternate splendor of ebony and silver, and was smoother than all save
the cheeks of Eleonora; so that, but for the brilliant green of the huge
leaves that spread from their summits in long, tremulous lines, dallying
with the Zephyrs, one might have fancied them giant serpents of Syria
doing homage to their sovereign the Sun.

Hand in hand about this valley, for fifteen years, roamed I with
Eleonora before Love entered within our hearts. It was one evening at
the close of the third lustrum of her life, and of the fourth of my own,
that we sat, locked in each other’s embrace, beneath the serpent-like
trees, and looked down within the water of the River of Silence at our
images therein. We spoke no words during the rest of that sweet day, and
our words even upon the morrow were tremulous and few. We had drawn the
God Eros from that wave, and now we felt that he had enkindled within us
the fiery souls of our forefathers. The passions which had for centuries
distinguished our race, came thronging with the fancies for which they
had been equally noted, and together breathed a delirious bliss over
the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. A change fell upon all things.
Strange, brilliant flowers, star-shaped, burn out upon the trees
where no flowers had been known before. The tints of the green carpet
deepened; and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there
sprang up in place of them, ten by ten of the ruby-red asphodel. And
life arose in our paths; for the tall flamingo, hitherto unseen, with
all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet plumage before us. The
golden and silver fish haunted the river, out of the bosom of which
issued, little by little, a murmur that swelled, at length, into a
lulling melody more divine than that of the harp of Aeolus-sweeter than
all save the voice of Eleonora. And now, too, a voluminous cloud, which
we had long watched in the regions of Hesper, floated out thence, all
gorgeous in crimson and gold, and settling in peace above us, sank, day
by day, lower and lower, until its edges rested upon the tops of the
mountains, turning all their dimness into magnificence, and shutting us
up, as if forever, within a magic prison-house of grandeur and of glory.

The loveliness of Eleonora was that of the Seraphim; but she was a
maiden artless and innocent as the brief life she had led among the
flowers. No guile disguised the fervor of love which animated her heart,
and she examined with me its inmost recesses as we walked together
in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass, and discoursed of the mighty
changes which had lately taken place therein.

At length, having spoken one day, in tears, of the last sad change
which must befall Humanity, she thenceforward dwelt only upon this one
sorrowful theme, interweaving it into all our converse, as, in the songs
of the bard of Schiraz, the same images are found occurring, again and
again, in every impressive variation of phrase.

She had seen that the finger of Death was upon her bosom--that, like the
ephemeron, she had been made perfect in loveliness only to die; but
the terrors of the grave to her lay solely in a consideration which she
revealed to me, one evening at twilight, by the banks of the River of
Silence. She grieved to think that, having entombed her in the Valley
of the Many-Colored Grass, I would quit forever its happy recesses,
transferring the love which now was so passionately her own to some
maiden of the outer and everyday world. And, then and there, I threw
myself hurriedly at the feet of Eleonora, and offered up a vow, to
herself and to Heaven, that I would never bind myself in marriage to any
daughter of Earth--that I would in no manner prove recreant to her dear
memory, or to the memory of the devout affection with which she had
blessed me. And I called the Mighty Ruler of the Universe to witness the
pious solemnity of my vow. And the curse which I invoked of Him and
of her, a saint in Helusion should I prove traitorous to that promise,
involved a penalty the exceeding great horror of which will not permit
me to make record of it here. And the bright eyes of Eleonora grew
brighter at my words; and she sighed as if a deadly burthen had been
taken from her breast; and she trembled and very bitterly wept; but she
made acceptance of the vow, (for what was she but a child?) and it made
easy to her the bed of her death. And she said to me, not many days
afterward, tranquilly dying, that, because of what I had done for
the comfort of her spirit she would watch over me in that spirit when
departed, and, if so it were permitted her return to me visibly in the
watches of the night; but, if this thing were, indeed, beyond the power
of the souls in Paradise, that she would, at least, give me frequent
indications of her presence, sighing upon me in the evening winds, or
filling the air which I breathed with perfume from the censers of the
angels. And, with these words upon her lips, she yielded up her innocent
life, putting an end to the first epoch of my own.

Thus far I have faithfully said. But as I pass the barrier in Time’s
path, formed by the death of my beloved, and proceed with the second
era of my existence, I feel that a shadow gathers over my brain, and I
mistrust the perfect sanity of the record. But let me on.--Years dragged
themselves along heavily, and still I dwelled within the Valley of the
Many-Colored Grass; but a second change had come upon all things. The
star-shaped flowers shrank into the stems of the trees, and appeared no
more. The tints of the green carpet faded; and, one by one, the ruby-red
asphodels withered away; and there sprang up, in place of them, ten
by ten, dark, eye-like violets, that writhed uneasily and were ever
encumbered with dew. And Life departed from our paths; for the tall
flamingo flaunted no longer his scarlet plumage before us, but flew
sadly from the vale into the hills, with all the gay glowing birds that
had arrived in his company. And the golden and silver fish swam down
through the gorge at the lower end of our domain and bedecked the sweet
river never again. And the lulling melody that had been softer than
the wind-harp of Aeolus, and more divine than all save the voice of
Eleonora, it died little by little away, in murmurs growing lower and
lower, until the stream returned, at length, utterly, into the solemnity
of its original silence. And then, lastly, the voluminous cloud uprose,
and, abandoning the tops of the mountains to the dimness of old, fell
back into the regions of Hesper, and took away all its manifold golden
and gorgeous glories from the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass.

Yet the promises of Eleonora were not forgotten; for I heard the sounds
of the swinging of the censers of the angels; and streams of a holy
perfume floated ever and ever about the valley; and at lone hours, when
my heart beat heavily, the winds that bathed my brow came unto me laden
with soft sighs; and indistinct murmurs filled often the night air, and
once--oh, but once only! I was awakened from a slumber, like the slumber
of death, by the pressing of spiritual lips upon my own.

But the void within my heart refused, even thus, to be filled. I longed
for the love which had before filled it to overflowing. At length the
valley pained me through its memories of Eleonora, and I left it for
ever for the vanities and the turbulent triumphs of the world.

I found myself within a strange city, where all things might have served
to blot from recollection the sweet dreams I had dreamed so long in the
Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. The pomps and pageantries of a stately
court, and the mad clangor of arms, and the radiant loveliness of women,
bewildered and intoxicated my brain. But as yet my soul had proved true
to its vows, and the indications of the presence of Eleonora were still
given me in the silent hours of the night. Suddenly these manifestations
they ceased, and the world grew dark before mine eyes, and I stood
aghast at the burning thoughts which possessed, at the terrible
temptations which beset me; for there came from some far, far distant
and unknown land, into the gay court of the king I served, a maiden to
whose beauty my whole recreant heart yielded at once--at whose footstool
I bowed down without a struggle, in the most ardent, in the most abject
worship of love. What, indeed, was my passion for the young girl of
the valley in comparison with the fervor, and the delirium, and the
spirit-lifting ecstasy of adoration with which I poured out my whole
soul in tears at the feet of the ethereal Ermengarde?--Oh, bright
was the seraph Ermengarde! and in that knowledge I had room for none
other.--Oh, divine was the angel Ermengarde! and as I looked down into
the depths of her memorial eyes, I thought only of them--and of her.

I wedded;--nor dreaded the curse I had invoked; and its bitterness was
not visited upon me. And once--but once again in the silence of the
night; there came through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken
me; and they modelled themselves into familiar and sweet voice, saying:

“Sleep in peace!--for the Spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth, and, in
taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art absolved,
for reasons which shall be made known to thee in Heaven, of thy vows
unto Eleonora.”



NOTES TO THIS VOLUME

Notes -- Scheherezade

(*1) The coralites.

(*2) “One of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Texas is a
petrified forest, near the head of Pasigno river. It consists of several
hundred trees, in an erect position, all turned to stone. Some trees,
now growing, are partly petrified. This is a startling fact for natural
philosophers, and must cause them to modify the existing theory of
petrification.--_Kennedy_.

This account, at first discredited, has since been corroborated by the
discovery of a completely petrified forest, near the head waters of the
Cheyenne, or Chienne river, which has its source in the Black Hills of
the rocky chain.

There is scarcely, perhaps, a spectacle on the surface of the globe more
remarkable, either in a geological or picturesque point of view than
that presented by the petrified forest, near Cairo. The traveller,
having passed the tombs of the caliphs, just beyond the gates of the
city, proceeds to the southward, nearly at right angles to the road
across the desert to Suez, and after having travelled some ten miles up
a low barren valley, covered with sand, gravel, and sea shells, fresh as
if the tide had retired but yesterday, crosses a low range of sandhills,
which has for some distance run parallel to his path. The scene now
presented to him is beyond conception singular and desolate. A mass of
fragments of trees, all converted into stone, and when struck by his
horse’s hoof ringing like cast iron, is seen to extend itself for miles
and miles around him, in the form of a decayed and prostrate forest.
The wood is of a dark brown hue, but retains its form in perfection, the
pieces being from one to fifteen feet in length, and from half a foot to
three feet in thickness, strewed so closely together, as far as the eye
can reach, that an Egyptian donkey can scarcely thread its way through
amongst them, and so natural that, were it in Scotland or Ireland, it
might pass without remark for some enormous drained bog, on which the
exhumed trees lay rotting in the sun. The roots and rudiments of the
branches are, in many cases, nearly perfect, and in some the worm-holes
eaten under the bark are readily recognizable. The most delicate of the
sap vessels, and all the finer portions of the centre of the wood, are
perfectly entire, and bear to be examined with the strongest magnifiers.
The whole are so thoroughly silicified as to scratch glass and are
capable of receiving the highest polish.-- _Asiatic Magazine_.

(*3) The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.

(*4) In Iceland, 1783.

(*5) “During the eruption of Hecla, in 1766, clouds of this kind
produced such a degree of darkness that, at Glaumba, which is more than
fifty leagues from the mountain, people could only find their way by
groping. During the eruption of Vesuvius, in 1794, at Caserta, four
leagues distant, people could only walk by the light of torches. On the
first of May, 1812, a cloud of volcanic ashes and sand, coming from a
volcano in the island of St. Vincent, covered the whole of Barbadoes,
spreading over it so intense a darkness that, at mid-day, in the open
air, one could not perceive the trees or other objects near him, or
even a white handkerchief placed at the distance of six inches from the
eye._”--Murray, p. 215, Phil. edit._

(*6) In the year 1790, in the Caraccas during an earthquake a portion of
the granite soil sank and left a lake eight hundred yards in diameter,
and from eighty to a hundred feet deep. It was a part of the forest of
Aripao which sank, and the trees remained green for several months under
the water.”--_Murray_, p. 221

(*7) The hardest steel ever manufactured may, under the action of a
blowpipe, be reduced to an impalpable powder, which will float readily
in the atmospheric air.

(*8) The region of the Niger. See Simmona’s _Colonial Magazine_.

(*9) The Myrmeleon-lion-ant. The term “monster” is equally applicable
to small abnormal things and to great, while such epithets as “vast” are
merely comparative. The cavern of the myrmeleon is vast in comparison
with the hole of the common red ant. A grain of silex is also a “rock.”

(*10) The _Epidendron, Flos Aeris,_ of the family of the _Orchideae_,
grows with merely the surface of its roots attached to a tree or other
object, from which it derives no nutriment--subsisting altogether upon
air.

(*11) The _Parasites,_ such as the wonderful _Rafflesia Arnaldii_.

(*12) _Schouw_ advocates a class of plants that grow upon living
animals--the _Plantae_ _Epizoae_. Of this class are the _Fuci_ and
_Algae_.

_Mr. J. B. Williams, of Salem, Mass._, presented the “National
Institute” with an insect from New Zealand, with the following
description: “‘_The Hotte_, a decided caterpillar, or worm, is found
gnawing at the root of the _Rota_ tree, with a plant growing out of its
head. This most peculiar and extraordinary insect travels up both the
_Rota_ and _Ferriri_ trees, and entering into the top, eats its way,
perforating the trunk of the trees until it reaches the root, and dies,
or remains dormant, and the plant propagates out of its head; the body
remains perfect and entire, of a harder substance than when alive. From
this insect the natives make a coloring for tattooing.

(*13) In mines and natural caves we find a species of cryptogamous
_fungus_ that emits an intense phosphorescence.

(*14) The orchis, scabius and valisneria.

(*15) The corolla of this flower (_Aristolochia Clematitis_), which is
tubular, but terminating upwards in a ligulate limb, is inflated into a
globular figure at the base. The tubular part is internally beset with
stiff hairs, pointing downwards. The globular part contains the
pistil, which consists merely of a germen and stigma, together with the
surrounding stamens. But the stamens, being shorter than the germen,
cannot discharge the pollen so as to throw it upon the stigma, as the
flower stands always upright till after impregnation. And hence, without
some additional and peculiar aid, the pollen must necessarily fan down
to the bottom of the flower. Now, the aid that nature has furnished in
this case, is that of the _Tiputa Pennicornis_, a small insect, which
entering the tube of the corrolla in quest of honey, descends to the
bottom, and rummages about till it becomes quite covered with pollen;
but not being able to force its way out again, owing to the downward
position of the hairs, which converge to a point like the wires of a
mouse-trap, and being somewhat impatient of its confinement it brushes
backwards and forwards, trying every corner, till, after repeatedly
traversing the stigma, it covers it with pollen sufficient for its
impregnation, in consequence of which the flower soon begins to droop,
and the hairs to shrink to the sides of the tube, effecting an easy
passage for the escape of the insect.”--_Rev. P. Keith-System of
Physiological Botany_.

(*16) The bees--ever since bees were--have been constructing their
cells with just such sides, in just such number, and at just such
inclinations, as it has been demonstrated (in a problem involving the
profoundest mathematical principles) are the very sides, in the very
number, and at the very angles, which will afford the creatures the most
room that is compatible with the greatest stability of structure.

During the latter part of the last century, the question arose among
mathematicians--“to determine the best form that can be given to the
sails of a windmill, according to their varying distances from the
revolving vanes, and likewise from the centres of the revoloution.” This
is an excessively complex problem, for it is, in other words, to find
the best possible position at an infinity of varied distances and at an
infinity of points on the arm. There were a thousand futile attempts to
answer the query on the part of the most illustrious mathematicians, and
when at length, an undeniable solution was discovered, men found that
the wings of a bird had given it with absolute precision ever since the
first bird had traversed the air.

(*17) He observed a flock of pigeons passing betwixt Frankfort and the
Indian territory, one mile at least in breadth; it took up four hours
in passing, which, at the rate of one mile per minute, gives a length
of 240 miles; and, supposing three pigeons to each square yard, gives
2,230,272,000 Pigeons.--“_Travels in Canada and the United States,” by
Lieut. F. Hall._

(*18) The earth is upheld by a cow of a blue color, having horns four
hundred in number.”--_Sale’s Koran_.

(*19) “The _Entozoa_, or intestinal worms, have repeatedly been observed
in the muscles, and in the cerebral substance of men.”--See Wyatt’s
Physiology, p. 143.

(*20) On the Great Western Railway, between London and Exeter, a speed
of 71 miles per hour has been attained. A train weighing 90 tons was
whirled from Paddington to Didcot (53 miles) in 51 minutes.

(*21) The _Eccalobeion_

(*22) Maelzel’s Automaton Chess-player.

(*23) Babbage’s Calculating Machine.

(*24) _Chabert_, and since him, a hundred others.

(*25) The Electrotype.

(*26) _Wollaston_ made of platinum for the field of views in a telescope
a wire one eighteen-thousandth part of an inch in thickness. It could be
seen only by means of the microscope.

(*27) Newton demonstrated that the retina beneath the influence of the
violet ray of the spectrum, vibrated 900,000,000 of times in a second.

(*28) Voltaic pile.

(*29) The Electro Telegraph Printing Apparatus.

(*30) The Electro telegraph transmits intelligence instantaneously- at
least at so far as regards any distance upon the earth.

(*31) Common experiments in Natural Philosophy. If two red rays from two
luminous points be admitted into a dark chamber so as to fall on a
white surface, and differ in their length by 0.0000258 of an inch,
their intensity is doubled. So also if the difference in length be any
whole-number multiple of that fraction. A multiple by 2 1/4, 3 1/4, &c.,
gives an intensity equal to one ray only; but a multiple by 2 1/2, 3
1/2, &c., gives the result of total darkness. In violet rays similar
effects arise when the difference in length is 0.000157 of an inch; and
with all other rays the results are the same--the difference varying
with a uniform increase from the violet to the red.

“Analogous experiments in respect to sound produce analogous results.”

(*32) Place a platina crucible over a spirit lamp, and keep it a red
heat; pour in some sulphuric acid, which, though the most volatile of
bodies at a common temperature, will be found to become completely fixed
in a hot crucible, and not a drop evaporates--being surrounded by an
atmosphere of its own, it does not, in fact, touch the sides. A few
drops of water are now introduced, when the acid, immediately coming in
contact with the heated sides of the crucible, flies off in sulphurous
acid vapor, and so rapid is its progress, that the caloric of the water
passes off with it, which falls a lump of ice to the bottom; by taking
advantage of the moment before it is allowed to remelt, it may be turned
out a lump of ice from a red-hot vessel.

(*33) The Daguerreotype.

(*34) Although light travels 167,000 miles in a second, the distance
of 61 Cygni (the only star whose distance is ascertained) is so
inconceivably great, that its rays would require more than ten years to
reach the earth. For stars beyond this, 20--or even 1000 years--would
be a moderate estimate. Thus, if they had been annihilated 20, or 1000
years ago, we might still see them to-day by the light which started
from their surfaces 20 or 1000 years in the past time. That many which
we see daily are really extinct, is not impossible--not even improbable.

Notes--Maelstrom

(*1) See Archimedes, “_De Incidentibus in Fluido_.”--lib. 2.

Notes--Island of the Fay

(*1) Moraux is here derived from moeurs, and its meaning is
“fashionable” or more strictly “of manners.”

(*2) Speaking of the tides, Pomponius Mela, in his treatise “De Situ
Orbis,” says “either the world is a great animal, or” etc

(*3) Balzac--in substance--I do not remember the words

(*4) Florem putares nare per liquidum aethera.--P. Commire.

Notes -- Domain of Arnheim

(*1) An incident, similar in outline to the one here imagined, occurred,
not very long ago, in England. The name of the fortunate heir was
Thelluson. I first saw an account of this matter in the “Tour” of Prince
Puckler Muskau, who makes the sum inherited _ninety millions of pounds_,
and justly observes that “in the contemplation of so vast a sum, and of
the services to which it might be applied, there is something even of
the sublime.” To suit the views of this article I have followed the
Prince’s statement, although a grossly exaggerated one. The germ, and
in fact, the commencement of the present paper was published many years
ago--previous to the issue of the first number of Sue’s admirable _Juif
Errant_, which may possibly have been suggested to him by Muskau’s
account.

Notes--Berenice

(*1) For as Jove, during the winter season, gives twice seven days of
warmth, men have called this element and temperate time the nurse of the
beautiful Halcyon--_Simonides_





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