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Project Gutenberg's The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan PoeThis eBook is for the use of anyone

anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoe er! "ou may co#y it, gi e it away orre$use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg %icense includedwith this eBook or online at www!gutenberg!orgTitle& The Works of Edgar Allan Poe 'olume ( )of *+ of the ,a en EditionAuthor& Edgar Allan Poe,elease -ate& .ay /0, (112 3EBook 4(/526%ast 7#dated& 8o ember 91, (1/(%anguage& English::: ;TA,T <= T>?; P,<@EAT G7TE8BE,G EB<<B T>E W<,B; <= E-GA, A%%A8 P<E :::Produced by -a id Widger T>E W<,B; <= E-GA, A%%E8 P<E '<%7.E ?? The ,a en Edition 3,edactor's 8oteC;ome endnotes are by Poe and somewere added by Griswold! ?n this olume the notes are at the end!6

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T>E P7,%<?8E- %ETTE, 8il sa#ientiae odiosius acumine nimio! ;eneca! At Paris, just after dark one gusty e ening in the autumn of /2$, ? was enjoying the twofold luHury of meditation and a meerschaum, in com#any with my friend A! Auguste -u#in, in his little back library, or book$ closet, au troisiIme, 8o! 99, ,ue -unJt, =aubourg ;t! Germain! =or one hour at least we had maintained a #rofound silenceK while each, to any casual obser er, might ha e seemed intently and eHclusi ely occu#ied with the curling eddies of smoke that o##ressed the atmos#here of the chamber! =or myself, howe er, ? was mentally discussing certain to#ics which had formed matter for con ersation between us at an earlier #eriod of the e eningK ? mean the affair of the ,ue .orgue, and the mystery attending the murder of .arie ,ogIt! ? looked u#on it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when the door of our a#artment was thrown o#en and admitted our old acLuaintance, .onsieur GC, the Prefect of the Parisian #olice! We ga e him a hearty welcomeK for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contem#tible about the man, and we had not seen him for se eral years! We had been sitting in the dark, and -u#in now arose for the #ur#ose of lighting a lam#, but sat down again, without doing so, u#on G!'s saying that he had called to consult us, or rather to ask the o#inion of my friend, about some official business which had occasioned a great deal of trouble! M?f it is any #oint reLuiring reflection,M obser ed -u#in, as he forebore to enkindle the wick, Mwe shall eHamine it to better #ur#ose in the dark!M MThat is another of your odd notions,M said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling e ery thing ModdM that was beyond his com#rehension, and thus li ed amid an absolute legion of Moddities!M M'ery true,M said -u#in, as he su##lied his isiter with a #i#e, and rolled towards him a comfortable chair! MAnd what is the difficulty nowNM ? asked! M8othing more in the assassination way, ? ho#eNM M<h noK nothing of that nature! The fact is, the business is ery sim#le indeed, and ? make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently well oursel esK but then ? thought -u#in would like to hear the details of it, because it is so eHcessi ely odd!M M;im#le and odd,M said -u#in! MWhy, yesK and not eHactly that, either! The fact is, we ha e all been a good deal #uGGled because the affair is so sim#le, and yet baffles us altogether!M MPerha#s it is the ery sim#licity of the thing which #uts you at fault,M said my friend! MWhat nonsense you do talkOM re#lied the Prefect, laughing heartily! MPerha#s the mystery is a little too #lain,M said -u#in! M<h, good hea ensO who e er heard of such an ideaNM MA little too self$e ident!M

M>aO haO haChaO haO haOChoO hoO hoOM roared our isiter, #rofoundly amused, Moh, -u#in, you will be the death of me yetOM MAnd what, after all, is the matter on handNM ? asked! MWhy, ? will tell you,M re#lied the Prefect, as he ga e a long, steady and contem#lati e #uff, and settled himself in his chair! M? will tell you in a few wordsK but, before ? begin, let me caution you that this is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that ? should most #robably lose the #osition ? now hold, were it known that ? confided it to any one!M MProceed,M said ?! M<r not,M said -u#in! MWell, thenK ? ha e recei ed #ersonal information, from a ery high Luarter, that a certain document of the last im#ortance, has been #urloined from the royal a#artments! The indi idual who #urloined it is knownK this beyond a doubtK he was seen to take it! ?t is known, also, that it still remains in his #ossession!M M>ow is this knownNM asked -u#in! M?t is clearly inferred,M re#lied the Prefect, Mfrom the nature of the document, and from the non$a##earance of certain results which would at once arise from its #assing out of the robber's #ossessionK that is to say, from his em#loying it as he must design in the end to em#loy it!M MBe a little more eH#licit,M ? said! MWell, ? may enture so far as to say that the #a#er gi es its holder a certain #ower in a certain Luarter where such #ower is immensely aluable!M The Prefect was fond of the cant of di#lomacy! M;till ? do not Luite understand,M said -u#in! M8oN WellK the disclosure of the document to a third #erson, who shall be nameless, would bring in Luestion the honor of a #ersonage of most eHalted stationK and this fact gi es the holder of the document an ascendancy o er the illustrious #ersonage whose honor and #eace are so jeo#ardiGed!M MBut this ascendancy,M ? inter#osed, Mwould de#end u#on the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber! Who would dareCM MThe thief,M said G!, Mis the .inister -C, 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 LuestionCa letter, to be frankChad been recei ed by the #ersonage robbed while alone in the royal boudoir! -uring its #erusal she was suddenly interru#ted by the entrance of the other eHalted #ersonage from whom es#ecially it was her wish to conceal it! After a hurried and ain endea or to thrust it in a drawer, she was forced to #lace it, o#en as it was, u#on a table! The address, howe er, was u##ermost, and, the contents thus uneH#osed, the letter esca#ed notice! At this juncture enters the .inister -C! >is lynH eye immediately #ercei es the #a#er, recognises the handwriting of the address, obser es the confusion of the #ersonage addressed, and fathoms her secret! After some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he #roduces a letter somewhat similar to the one in Luestion, o#ens it, #retends to read it, and then #laces it in close juHta#osition to the other! Again he con erses, for some fifteen minutes, u#on the #ublic affairs! At length, in taking lea e, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim! ?ts rightful owner saw, but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the #resence of the third #ersonage who stood at her elbow! The minister decam#edK lea ing his own letterCone of no im#ortanceCu#on the table!M

M>ere, then,M said -u#in to me, Myou ha e #recisely what you demand to make the ascendancy com#leteCthe robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber!M M"es,M re#lied the PrefectK Mand the #ower thus attained has, for some months #ast, been wielded, for #olitical #ur#oses, to a ery dangerous eHtent! The #ersonage robbed is more thoroughly con inced, e ery day, of the necessity of reclaiming her letter! But this, of course, cannot be done o#enly! ?n fine, dri en to des#air, she has committed the matter to me!M MThan whom,M said -u#in, amid a #erfect whirlwind of smoke, Mno more sagacious agent could, ? su##ose, be desired, or e en imagined!M M"ou flatter me,M re#lied the PrefectK Mbut it is #ossible that some such o#inion may ha e been entertained!M M?t is clear,M said ?, Mas you obser e, that the letter is still in #ossession of the ministerK since it is this #ossession, and not any em#loyment of the letter, which bestows the #ower! With the em#loyment the #ower de#arts!M MTrue,M said G!K Mand u#on this con iction ? #roceeded! .y first care was to make thorough search of the minister's hotelK and here my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his knowledge! Beyond all things, ? ha e been warned of the danger which would result from gi ing him reason to sus#ect our design!M MBut,M said ?, Myou are Luite au fait in these in estigations! The Parisian #olice ha e done this thing often before!M M< yesK and for this reason ? did not des#air! The habits of the minister ga e me, too, a great ad antage! >e is freLuently absent from home all night! >is ser ants are by no means numerous! They slee# at a distance from their master's a#artment, and, being chiefly 8ea#olitans, are readily made drunk! ? ha e keys, as you know, with which ? can o#en any chamber or cabinet in Paris! =or three months a night has not #assed, during the greater #art of which ? ha e not been engaged, #ersonally, in ransacking the -C >otel! .y honor is interested, and, to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous! ;o ? did not abandon the search until ? had become fully satisfied that the thief is a more astute man than myself! ? fancy that ? ha e in estigated e ery nook and corner of the #remises in which it is #ossible that the #a#er can be concealed!M MBut is it not #ossible,M ? suggested, Mthat although the letter may be in #ossession of the minister, as it unLuestionably is, he may ha e concealed it elsewhere than u#on his own #remisesNM MThis is barely #ossible,M said -u#in! MThe #resent #eculiar condition of affairs at court, and es#ecially of those intrigues in which -C is known to be in ol ed, would render the instant a ailability of the documentCits susce#tibility of being #roduced at a moment's noticeCa #oint of nearly eLual im#ortance with its #ossession!M M?ts susce#tibility of being #roducedNM said ?! MThat is to say, of being destroyed,M said -u#in! MTrue,M ? obser edK Mthe #a#er is clearly then u#on the #remises! As for its being u#on the #erson of the minister, we may consider that as out of the Luestion!M MEntirely,M said the Prefect! M>e has been twice waylaid, as if by foot#ads, and his #erson rigorously searched under my own ins#ection!M M"ou might ha e s#ared yourself this trouble,M said -u#in! M-C, ? #resume, is not altogether a fool, and, if not, must ha e antici#ated these waylayings, as a matter of course!M

M8ot altogether a fool,M said G!, Mbut then he's a #oet, which ? take to be only one remo e from a fool!M MTrue,M said -u#in, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his meerschaum, Malthough ? ha e been guilty of certain doggrel myself!M M;u##ose you detail,M said ?, Mthe #articulars of your search!M MWhy the fact is, we took our time, and we searched e ery where! ? ha e had long eH#erience in these affairs! ? took the entire building, room by roomK de oting the nights of a whole week to each! We eHamined, first, the furniture of each a#artment! We o#ened e ery #ossible drawerK and ? #resume you know that, to a #ro#erly trained #olice agent, such a thing as a secret drawer is im#ossible! Any man is a dolt who #ermits a 'secret' drawer to esca#e him in a search of this kind! The thing is so #lain! There is a certain amount of bulkCof s#aceCto be accounted for in e ery cabinet! Then we ha e accurate rules! The fiftieth #art of a line could not esca#e us! After the cabinets we took the chairs! The cushions we #robed with the fine long needles you ha e seen me em#loy! =rom the tables we remo ed the to#s!M MWhy soNM M;ometimes the to# of a table, or other similarly arranged #iece of furniture, is remo ed by the #erson wishing to conceal an articleK then the leg is eHca ated, the article de#osited within the ca ity, and the to# re#laced! The bottoms and to#s of bed#osts are em#loyed in the same way!M MBut could not the ca ity be detected by soundingNM ? asked! MBy no means, if, when the article is de#osited, a sufficient wadding of cotton be #laced around it! Besides, in our case, we were obliged to #roceed without noise!M MBut you could not ha e remo edCyou could not ha e taken to #ieces all articles of furniture in which it would ha e been #ossible to make a de#osit in the manner you mention! A letter may be com#ressed into a thin s#iral roll, not differing much in sha#e or bulk from a large knitting$ needle, and in this form it might be inserted into the rung of a chair, for eHam#le! "ou did not take to #ieces all the chairsNM MAertainly notK but we did betterCwe eHamined the rungs of e ery chair in the hotel, and, indeed the jointings of e ery descri#tion of furniture, by the aid of a most #owerful microsco#e! >ad there been any traces of recent disturbance we should not ha e failed to detect it instantly! A single grain of gimlet$dust, for eHam#le, would ha e been as ob ious as an a##le! Any disorder in the glueingCany unusual ga#ing in the jointsC would ha e sufficed to insure detection!M M? #resume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the #lates, and you #robed the beds and the bed$clothes, as well as the curtains and car#ets!M MThat of courseK and when we had absolutely com#leted e ery #article of the furniture in this way, then we eHamined the house itself! We di ided its entire surface into com#artments, which we numbered, so that none might be missedK then we scrutiniGed each indi idual sLuare inch throughout the #remises, including the two houses immediately adjoining, with the microsco#e, as before!M MThe two houses adjoiningOM ? eHclaimedK Myou must ha e had a great deal of trouble!M MWe hadK but the reward offered is #rodigiousOM M"ou include the grounds about the housesNM

MAll the grounds are #a ed with brick! They ga e us com#arati ely little trouble! We eHamined the moss between the bricks, and found it undisturbed!M M"ou looked among -C's #a#ers, of course, and into the books of the libraryNM MAertainlyK we o#ened e ery #ackage and #arcelK we not only o#ened e ery book, but we turned o er e ery leaf in each olume, not contenting oursel es with a mere shake, according to the fashion of some of our #olice officers! We also measured the thickness of e ery book$co er, with the most accurate admeasurement, and a##lied to each the most jealous scrutiny of the microsco#e! >ad any of the bindings been recently meddled with, it would ha e been utterly im#ossible that the fact should ha e esca#ed obser ation! ;ome fi e or siH olumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully #robed, longitudinally, with the needles!M M"ou eH#lored the floors beneath the car#etsNM MBeyond doubt! We remo ed e ery car#et, and eHamined the boards with the microsco#e!M MAnd the #a#er on the wallsNM M"es!M M"ou looked into the cellarsNM MWe did!M MThen,M ? said, Myou ha e been making a miscalculation, and the letter is not u#on the #remises, as you su##ose!M M? fear you are right there,M said the Prefect! MAnd now, -u#in, what would you ad ise me to doNM MTo make a thorough re$search of the #remises!M MThat is absolutely needless,M re#lied GC! M? am not more sure that ? breathe than ? am that the letter is not at the >otel!M M? ha e no better ad ice to gi e you,M said -u#in! M"ou ha e, of course, an accurate descri#tion of the letterNM M<h yesOMCAnd here the Prefect, #roducing a memorandum$book #roceeded to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and es#ecially of the eHternal a##earance of the missing document! ;oon after finishing the #erusal of this descri#tion, he took his de#arture, more entirely de#ressed in s#irits than ? had e er known the good gentleman before! ?n about a month afterwards he #aid us another isit, and found us occu#ied ery nearly as before! >e took a #i#e and a chair and entered into some ordinary con ersation! At length ? said,C MWell, but GC, what of the #urloined letterN ? #resume you ha e at last made u# your mind that there is no such thing as o erreaching the .inisterNM MAonfound him, say ?CyesK ? made the re$eHamination, howe er, as -u#in suggestedCbut it was all labor lost, as ? knew it would be!M M>ow much was the reward offered, did you sayNM asked -u#in! MWhy, a ery great dealCa ery liberal rewardC? don't like to say how much, #reciselyK but one thing ? will say, that ? wouldn't mind gi ing my indi idual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who could obtain me that letter! The fact is, it is becoming of more and more im#ortance e ery dayK and the reward has been lately doubled! ?f it were trebled, howe er, ? could do no more than ? ha e done!M MWhy, yes,M said -u#in, drawlingly, between the whiffs of his meerschaum, M? reallyCthink, GC, you ha e not eHerted yourselfCto the utmost in this matter! "ou mightCdo a little more, ? think, ehNM M>owNCin what wayN'

MWhyC#uff, #uffCyou mightC#uff, #uffCem#loy counsel in the matter, ehNC #uff, #uff, #uff! -o you remember the story they tell of AbernethyNM M8oK hang AbernethyOM MTo be sureO hang him and welcome! But, once u#on a time, a certain rich miser concei ed the design of s#unging u#on this Abernethy for a medical o#inion! Getting u#, for this #ur#ose, an ordinary con ersation in a #ri ate com#any, he insinuated his case to the #hysician, as that of an imaginary indi idual! M'We will su##ose,' said the miser, 'that his sym#toms are such and suchK now, doctor, what would you ha e directed him to takeN' M'TakeO' said Abernethy, 'why, take ad ice, to be sure!'M MBut,M said the Prefect, a little discom#osed, M? am #erfectly willing to take ad ice, and to #ay for it! ? would really gi e fifty thousand francs to any one who would aid me in the matter!M M?n that case,M re#lied -u#in, o#ening a drawer, and #roducing a check$ book, Myou may as well fill me u# a check for the amount mentioned! When you ha e signed it, ? will hand you the letter!M ? was astounded! The Prefect a##eared absolutely thunder$stricken! =or some minutes he remained s#eechless and motionless, looking incredulously at my friend with o#en mouth, and eyes that seemed starting from their socketsK then, a##arently reco ering himself in some measure, he seiGed a #en, and after se eral #auses and acant stares, finally filled u# and signed a check for fifty thousand francs, and handed it across the table to -u#in! The latter eHamined it carefully and de#osited it in his #ocket$bookK then, unlocking an escritoire, took thence a letter and ga e it to the Prefect! This functionary gras#ed it in a #erfect agony of joy, o#ened it with a trembling hand, cast a ra#id glance at its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rushed at length unceremoniously from the room and from the house, without ha ing uttered a syllable since -u#in had reLuested him to fill u# the check! When he had gone, my friend entered into some eH#lanations! MThe Parisian #olice,M he said, Mare eHceedingly able in their way! They are #erse ering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly ersed in the knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand! Thus, when GC detailed to us his mode of searching the #remises at the >otel -C, ? felt entire confidence in his ha ing made a satisfactory in estigationCso far as his labors eHtended!M M;o far as his labors eHtendedNM said ?! M"es,M said -u#in! MThe measures ado#ted were not only the best of their kind, but carried out to absolute #erfection! >ad the letter been de#osited within the range of their search, these fellows would, beyond a Luestion, ha e found it!M ? merely laughedCbut he seemed Luite serious in all that he said! MThe measures, then,M he continued, Mwere good in their kind, and well eHecutedK their defect lay in their being ina##licable 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 ada#ts his designs! But he #er#etually errs by being too dee# or too shallow, for the matter in handK and many a schoolboy is a better reasoner than he! ? knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in the game of 'e en and odd' attracted uni ersal admiration! This game is sim#le, and is #layed with marbles! <ne #layer holds in his hand a number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is e en or odd! ?f the guess is right, the guesser wins oneK if wrong, he loses one! The boy

to whom ? allude won all the marbles of the school! <f course he had some #rinci#le of guessingK and this lay in mere obser ation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his o##onents! =or eHam#le, an arrant sim#leton is his o##onent, and, holding u# his closed hand, asks, 'are they e en or oddN' <ur schoolboy re#lies, 'odd,' and losesK but u#on the second trial he wins, for he then says to himself, 'the sim#leton had them e en u#on the first trial, and his amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him ha e them odd u#on the secondK ? will therefore guess oddK'Che guesses odd, and wins! 8ow, with a sim#leton a degree abo e the first, he would ha e reasoned thus& 'This fellow finds that in the first instance ? guessed odd, and, in the second, he will #ro#ose to himself, u#on the first im#ulse, a sim#le ariation from e en to odd, as did the first sim#letonK but then a second thought will suggest that this is too sim#le a ariation, and finally he will decide u#on #utting it e en as before! ? will therefore guess e enK'Che guesses e en, and wins! 8ow this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows termed 'lucky,'Cwhat, in its last analysis, is itNM M?t is merely,M ? said, Man identification of the reasoner's intellect with that of his o##onent!M M?t is,M said -u#inK Mand, u#on inLuiring of the boy by what means he effected the thorough identification in which his success consisted, ? recei ed answer as follows& 'When ? wish to find out how wise, or how stu#id, or how good, or how wicked is any one, or what are his thoughts at the moment, ? fashion the eH#ression of my face, as accurately as #ossible, in accordance with the eH#ression of his, and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or corres#ond with the eH#ression!' This res#onse of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the s#urious #rofundity which has been attributed to ,ochefoucault, to %a Bougi e, to .achia elli, and to Aam#anella!M MAnd the identification,M ? said, Mof the reasoner's intellect with that of his o##onent, de#ends, if ? understand you aright, u#on the accuracy with which the o##onent's intellect is admeasured!M M=or its #ractical alue it de#ends u#on this,M re#lied -u#inK Mand the Prefect and his cohort fail so freLuently, 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 ingenuityK and, in searching for anything hidden, ad ert only to the modes in which they would ha e hidden it! They are right in this muchCthat their own ingenuity is a faithful re#resentati e of that of the massK but when the cunning of the indi idual felon is di erse in character from their own, the felon foils them, of course! This always ha##ens when it is abo e their own, and ery usually when it is below! They ha e no ariation of #rinci#le in their in estigationsK at best, when urged by some unusual emergencyCby some eHtraordinary rewardCthey eHtend or eHaggerate their old modes of #ractice, without touching their #rinci#les! What, for eHam#le, in this case of -C, has been done to ary the #rinci#le of actionN What is all this boring, and #robing, and sounding, and scrutiniGing with the microsco#e and di iding the surface of the building into registered sLuare inchesCwhat is it all but an eHaggeration of the a##lication of the one #rinci#le or set of #rinci#les of search, which are based u#on the one set of notions regarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect, in the long routine of his duty, has been accustomedN -o you not see he has taken it for granted that all men #roceed to conceal a letter,Cnot

eHactly in a gimlet hole bored in a chair$legCbut, at least, in some out$ 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$hole bored in a chair$ legN And do you not see also, that such recherchPs nooks for concealment are ada#ted only for ordinary occasions, and would be ado#ted only by ordinary intellectsK for, in all cases of concealment, a dis#osal of the article concealedCa dis#osal of it in this recherchP manner,Cis, in the ery first instance, #resumable and #resumedK and thus its disco ery de#ends, not at all u#on the acumen, but altogether u#on the mere care, #atience, and determination of the seekersK and where the case is of im#ortanceCor, what amounts to the same thing in the #olicial eyes, when the reward is of magnitude,Cthe Lualities in Luestion ha e ne er been known to fail! "ou will now understand what ? meant in suggesting that, had the #urloined letter been hidden any where within the limits of the Prefect's eHaminationCin other words, had the #rinci#le of its concealment been com#rehended within the #rinci#les of the PrefectCits disco ery would ha e been a matter altogether beyond Luestion! This functionary, howe er, has been thoroughly mystifiedK and the remote source of his defeat lies in the su##osition that the .inister is a fool, because he has acLuired renown as a #oet! All fools are #oetsK this the Prefect feelsK and he is merely guilty of a non distributio medii in thence inferring that all #oets are fools!M MBut is this really the #oetNM ? asked! MThere are two brothers, ? knowK and both ha e attained re#utation in letters! The .inister ? belie e has written learnedly on the -ifferential Aalculus! >e is a mathematician, and no #oet!M M"ou are mistakenK ? know him wellK he is both! As #oet and mathematician, he would reason wellK as mere mathematician, he could not ha e reasoned at all, and thus would ha e been at the mercy of the Prefect!M M"ou sur#rise me,M ? said, Mby these o#inions, which ha e been contradicted by the oice of the world! "ou do not mean to set at naught the well$digested idea of centuries! The mathematical reason has long been regarded as the reason #ar eHcellence!M M'?l y a Q #ariRr,'M re#lied -u#in, Luoting from Ahamfort, M'Lue toute idPe #ubliLue, toute con ention reSue est une sottise, car elle a con enue au #lus grand nombre!' The mathematicians, ? grant you, ha e done their best to #romulgate the #o#ular error to which you allude, and which is none the less an error for its #romulgation as truth! With an art worthy a better cause, for eHam#le, they ha e insinuated the term 'analysis' into a##lication to algebra! The =rench are the originators of this #articular dece#tionK but if a term is of any im#ortanceCif words deri e any alue from a##licabilityCthen 'analysis' con eys 'algebra' about as much as, in %atin, 'ambitus' im#lies 'ambition,' 'religio' 'religion,' or 'homines honesti,' a set of honorablemen!M M"ou ha e a Luarrel on hand, ? see,M said ?, Mwith some of the algebraists of ParisK but #roceed!M M? dis#ute the a ailability, and thus the alue, of that reason which is culti ated in any es#ecial form other than the abstractly logical! ? dis#ute, in #articular, the reason educed by mathematical study! The mathematics are the science of form and LuantityK mathematical reasoning is merely logic a##lied to obser ation u#on form and Luantity! The great error lies in su##osing that e en the truths of what is called #ure algebra, are abstract or general truths! And this error is so egregious

that ? am confounded at the uni ersality with which it has been recei ed! .athematical aHioms are not aHioms of general truth! What is true of relationCof form and LuantityCis often grossly false in regard to morals, for eHam#le! ?n this latter science it is ery usually untrue that the aggregated #arts are eLual to the whole! ?n chemistry also the aHiom fails! ?n the consideration of moti e it failsK for two moti es, each of a gi en alue, ha e not, necessarily, a alue when united, eLual to the sum of their alues a#art! 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 a##licabilityCas the world indeed imagines them to be! Bryant, in his ery learned '.ythology,' mentions an analogous source of error, when he says that 'although the Pagan fables are not belie ed, yet we forget oursel es continually, and make inferences from them as eHisting realities!' With the algebraists, howe er, who are Pagans themsel es, the 'Pagan fables' are belie ed, and the inferences are made, not so much through la#se of memory, as through an unaccountable addling of the brains! ?n short, ? ne er yet encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out of eLual roots, or one who did not clandestinely hold it as a #oint of his faith that H(T#H was absolutely and unconditionally eLual to L! ;ay to one of these gentlemen, by way of eH#eriment, if you #lease, that you belie e occasions may occur where H(T#H is not altogether eLual to L, and, ha ing made him understand what you mean, get out of his reach as s#eedily as con enient, for, beyond doubt, he will endea or to knock you down! M? mean to say,M continued -u#in, while ? merely laughed at his last obser ations, Mthat if the .inister had been no more than a mathematician, the Prefect would ha e been under no necessity of gi ing me this check! ? know him, howe er, as both mathematician and #oet, and my measures were ada#ted to his ca#acity, with reference to the circumstances by which he was surrounded! ? knew him as a courtier, too, and as a bold intriguant! ;uch a man, ? considered, could not fail to be aware of the ordinary #olicial modes of action! >e could not ha e failed to antici#ateCand e ents ha e #ro ed that he did not fail to antici#ateC the waylayings to which he was subjected! >e must ha e foreseen, ? reflected, the secret in estigations of his #remises! >is freLuent absences from home at night, which were hailed by the Prefect as certain aids to his success, ? regarded only as ruses, to afford o##ortunity for thorough search to the #olice, and thus the sooner to im#ress them with the con iction to which GC, in fact, did finally arri eCthe con iction that the letter was not u#on the #remises! ? felt, also, that the whole train of thought, which ? was at some #ains in detailing to you just now, concerning the in ariable #rinci#le of #olicial action in searches for articles concealedC? felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily #ass through the mind of the .inister! ?t would im#erati ely lead him to des#ise all the ordinary nooks of concealment! >e could not, ? reflected, be so weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote recess of his hotel would be as o#en as his commonest closets to the eyes, to the #robes, to the gimlets, and to the microsco#es of the Prefect! ? saw, in fine, that he would be dri en, as a matter of course, to sim#licity, if not deliberately induced to it as a matter of choice! "ou will remember, #erha#s, how des#erately the Prefect laughed when ? suggested, u#on our first inter iew, that it was just #ossible this

mystery troubled him so much on account of its being so ery self$ e ident!M M"es,M said ?, M? remember his merriment well! ? really thought he would ha e fallen into con ulsions!M MThe material world,M continued -u#in, Mabounds with ery strict analogies to the immaterialK and thus some color of truth has been gi en to the rhetorical dogma, that meta#hor, or simile, may be made to strengthen an argument, as well as to embellish a descri#tion! The #rinci#le of the is inertiU, for eHam#le, seems to be identical in #hysics and meta#hysics! ?t 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 subseLuent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the aster ca#acity, while more forcible, more constant, and more e entful in their mo ements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily mo ed, and more embarrassed and full of hesitation in the first few ste#s of their #rogress! Again& ha e you e er noticed which of the street signs, o er the sho#$doors, are the most attracti e of attentionNM M? ha e ne er gi en the matter a thought,M ? said! MThere is a game of #uGGles,M he resumed, Mwhich is #layed u#on a ma#! <ne #arty #laying reLuires another to find a gi en wordCthe name of town, ri er, state or em#ireCany word, in short, u#on the motley and #er#leHed surface of the chart! A no ice in the game generally seeks to embarrass his o##onents by gi ing them the most minutely lettered namesK but the ade#t selects such words as stretch, in large characters, from one end of the chart to the other! These, like the o er$largely lettered signs and #lacards of the street, esca#e obser ation by dint of being eHcessi ely ob iousK and here the #hysical o ersight is #recisely analogous with the moral ina##rehension by which the intellect suffers to #ass unnoticed those considerations which are too obtrusi ely and too #al#ably self$ e ident! But this is a #oint, it a##ears, somewhat abo e or beneath the understanding of the Prefect! >e ne er once thought it #robable, or #ossible, that the .inister had de#osited the letter immediately beneath the nose of the whole world, by way of best #re enting any #ortion of that world from #ercei ing it! MBut the more ? reflected u#on the daring, dashing, and discriminating ingenuity of -CK u#on the fact that the document must always ha e been at hand, if he intended to use it to good #ur#oseK and u#on the decisi e e idence, obtained by the Prefect, that it was not hidden within the limits of that dignitary's ordinary searchCthe more satisfied ? became that, to conceal this letter, the .inister had resorted to the com#rehensi e and sagacious eH#edient of not attem#ting to conceal it at all! M=ull of these ideas, ? #re#ared myself with a #air of green s#ectacles, and called one fine morning, Luite by accident, at the .inisterial hotel! ? found -C at home, yawning, lounging, and dawdling, as usual, and #retending to be in the last eHtremity of ennui! >e is, #erha#s, the most really energetic human being now ali eCbut that is only when nobody sees him! MTo be e en with him, ? com#lained of my weak eyes, and lamented the necessity of the s#ectacles, under co er of which ? cautiously and thoroughly sur eyed the whole a#artment, while seemingly intent only u#on the con ersation of my host!

M? #aid es#ecial attention to a large writing$table near which he sat, and u#on which lay confusedly, some miscellaneous letters and other #a#ers, with one or two musical instruments and a few books! >ere, howe er, after a long and ery deliberate scrutiny, ? saw nothing to eHcite #articular sus#icion! MAt length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell u#on a trum#ery fillagree card$rack of #asteboard, that hung dangling by a dirty blue ribbon, from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of the mantel$#iece! ?n this rack, which had three or four com#artments, were fi e or siH isiting cards and a solitary letter! This last was much soiled and crum#led! ?t was torn nearly in two, across the middleCas if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely u# as worthless, had been altered, or stayed, in the second! ?t had a large black seal, bearing the -C ci#her ery cons#icuously, and was addressed, in a diminuti e female hand, to -C, the minister, himself! ?t was thrust carelessly, and e en, as it seemed, contem#tuously, into one of the u##ermost di isions of the rack! M8o sooner had ? glanced at this letter, than ? concluded it to be that of which ? was in search! To be sure, it was, to all a##earance, radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so minute a descri#tion! >ere the seal was large and black, with the -C ci#herK there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the ;C family! >ere, the address, to the .inister, diminuti e and feminineK there the su#erscri#tion, to a certain royal #ersonage, was markedly bold and decidedK the siGe alone formed a #oint of corres#ondence! But, then, the radicalness of these differences, which was eHcessi eK the dirtK the soiled and torn condition of the #a#er, so inconsistent with the true methodical habits of -C, and so suggesti e of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of the worthlessness of the documentK these things, together with the hy#er$obtrusi e situation of this document, full in the iew of e ery isiter, and thus eHactly in accordance with the conclusions to which ? had #re iously arri edK these things, ? say, were strongly corroborati e of sus#icion, in one who came with the intention to sus#ect! M? #rotracted my isit as long as #ossible, and, while ? maintained a most animated discussion with the .inister u#on a to#ic which ? knew well had ne er failed to interest and eHcite him, ? ke#t my attention really ri eted u#on the letter! ?n this eHamination, ? committed to memory its eHternal a##earance and arrangement in the rackK and also fell, at length, u#on a disco ery which set at rest whate er tri ial doubt ? might ha e entertained! ?n scrutiniGing the edges of the #a#er, ? obser ed them to be more chafed than seemed necessary! They #resented the broken a##earance which is manifested when a stiff #a#er, ha ing been once folded and #ressed with a folder, is refolded in a re ersed direction, in the same creases or edges which had formed the original fold! This disco ery was sufficient! ?t was clear to me that the letter had been turned, as a glo e, inside out, re$directed, and re$sealed! ? bade the .inister good morning, and took my de#arture at once, lea ing a gold snuff$boH u#on the table! MThe neHt morning ? called for the snuff$boH, when we resumed, Luite eagerly, the con ersation of the #receding day! While thus engaged, howe er, a loud re#ort, as if of a #istol, 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! -C rushed to a casement,

threw it o#en, and looked out! ?n the meantime, ? ste##ed to the card$ rack, took the letter, #ut it in my #ocket, and re#laced it by a fac$ simile, )so far as regards eHternals,+ which ? had carefully #re#ared at my lodgingsCimitating the -C ci#her, ery readily, by means of a seal formed of bread! MThe disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic beha ior of a man with a musket! >e had fired it among a crowd of women and children! ?t #ro ed, howe er, to ha e been without ball, and the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard! When he had gone, -C came from the window, whither ? had followed him immediately u#on securing the object in iew! ;oon afterwards ? bade him farewell! The #retended lunatic was a man in my own #ay!M MBut what #ur#ose had you,M ? asked, Min re#lacing the letter by a fac$ simileN Would it not ha e been better, at the first isit, to ha e seiGed it o#enly, and de#artedNM M-C,M re#lied -u#in, Mis a des#erate man, and a man of ner e! >is hotel, too, is not without attendants de oted to his interests! >ad ? made the wild attem#t you suggest, ? might ne er ha e left the .inisterial #resence ali e! The good #eo#le of Paris might ha e heard of me no more! But ? had an object a#art from these considerations! "ou know my #olitical #re#ossessions! ?n this matter, ? act as a #artisan of the lady concerned! =or eighteen months the .inister has had her in his #ower! ;he has now him in hersCsince, being unaware that the letter is not in his #ossession, he will #roceed with his eHactions as if it was! Thus will he ine itably commit himself, at once, to his #olitical destruction! >is downfall, too, will not be more #reci#itate than awkward! ?t is all ery well to talk about the facilis descensus A erniK but in all kinds of climbing, as Aatalani said of singing, it is far more easy to get u# than to come down! ?n the #resent instance ? ha e no sym#athyCat least no #ity Cfor him who descends! >e is that monstrum horrendum, an un#rinci#led man of genius! ? confess, howe er, that ? should like ery well to know the #recise character of his thoughts, when, being defied by her whom the Prefect terms 'a certain #ersonage' he is reduced to o#ening the letter which ? left for him in the card$rack!M M>owN did you #ut any thing #articular in itNM MWhyCit did not seem altogether right to lea e the interior blankCthat would ha e been insulting! -C, at 'ienna once, did me an e il turn, which ? told him, Luite good$humoredly, that ? should remember! ;o, as ? knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the #erson who had outwitted him, ? thought it a #ity not to gi e him a clue! >e is well acLuainted with my .;!, and ? just co#ied into the middle of the blank sheet the wordsC M'C C 7n dessein si funeste, ;'il n'est digne d'AtrPe, est digne de Thyeste! They are to be found in Arebillon's 'AtrPe!'M >( anchor

T>E T><7;A8-$A8-$;EA<8- TA%E <= ;A>E>E,ADA-E Truth is stranger than fiction! <%- ;A"?8G! >A'?8G had occasion, lately, in the course of some <riental in estigations, to consult the Tellmenow ?sitsoornot, a work which )like

the Dohar of ;imeon @ochaides+ is scarcely known at all, e en in Euro#eK and which has ne er been Luoted, to my knowledge, by any AmericanCif we eHce#t, #erha#s, the author of the MAuriosities of American %iteratureMKC ha ing had occasion, ? say, to turn o er some #ages of the first$ mentioned ery remarkable work, ? was not a little astonished to disco er that the literary world has hitherto been strangely in error res#ecting the fate of the iGier's daughter, ;cheheraGade, as that fate is de#icted in the MArabian 8ightsMK and that the denouement there gi en, if not altogether inaccurate, as far as it goes, is at least to blame in not ha ing gone ery much farther! =or full information on this interesting to#ic, ? must refer the inLuisiti e reader to the M?sitsoornotM itself, but in the meantime, ? shall be #ardoned for gi ing a summary of what ? there disco ered! ?t will be remembered, that, in the usual ersion of the tales, a certain monarch ha ing good cause to be jealous of his Lueen, not only #uts her to death, but makes a ow, by his beard and the #ro#het, to es#ouse each night the most beautiful maiden in his dominions, and the neHt morning to deli er her u# to the eHecutioner! >a ing fulfilled this ow for many years to the letter, and with a religious #unctuality and method that conferred great credit u#on him as a man of de out feeling and eHcellent sense, he was interru#ted one afternoon )no doubt at his #rayers+ by a isit from his grand iGier, to whose daughter, it a##ears, there had occurred an idea! >er name was ;cheheraGade, and her idea was, that she would either redeem the land from the de#o#ulating taH u#on its beauty, or #erish, after the a##ro ed fashion of all heroines, in the attem#t! Accordingly, and although we do not find it to be lea#$year )which makes the sacrifice more meritorious+, she de#utes her father, the grand iGier, to make an offer to the king of her hand! This hand the king eagerly acce#tsC)he had intended to take it at all e ents, and had #ut off the matter from day to day, only through fear of the iGier+,Cbut, in acce#ting it now, he gi es all #arties ery distinctly to understand, that, grand iGier or no grand iGier, he has not the slightest design of gi ing u# one iota of his ow or of his #ri ileges! When, therefore, the fair ;cheheraGade insisted u#on marrying the king, and did actually marry him des#ite her father's eHcellent ad ice not to do any thing of the kind Cwhen she would and did marry him, ? say, will ?, nill ?, it was with her beautiful black eyes as thoroughly o#en as the nature of the case would allow! ?t seems, howe er, that this #olitic damsel )who had been reading .achia elli, beyond doubt+, had a ery ingenious little #lot in her mind! <n the night of the wedding, she contri ed, u#on ? forget what s#ecious #retence, to ha e her sister occu#y a couch sufficiently near that of the royal #air to admit of easy con ersation from bed to bedK and, a little before cock$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+,Cshe managed to awaken him, ? say, )although on account of a ca#ital conscience and an easy digestion, he sle#t well+ by the #rofound interest of a story )about a rat and a black cat, ? think+ which she was narrating )all in an undertone, of course+ to her sister! When the day broke, it so ha##ened that this history was not altogether finished, and that ;cheheraGade, in the nature of things could not finish it just then, since it was high time for her to get u# and be bowstrungCa thing ery little more #leasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel!

The king's curiosity, howe er, #re ailing, ? am sorry to say, e en o er his sound religious #rinci#les, induced him for this once to #ost#one the fulfilment of his ow until neHt morning, for the #ur#ose and with the ho#e of hearing that night how it fared in the end with the black cat )a black cat, ? think it was+ and the rat! The night ha ing arri ed, howe er, the lady ;cheheraGade not only #ut 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 dee# in the intricacies of a narration, ha ing reference )if ? am not altogether mistaken+ to a #ink horse )with green wings+ that went, in a iolent manner, by clockwork, and was wound u# with an indigo key! With this history the king was e en more #rofoundly interested than with the otherC and, as the day broke before its conclusion )notwithstanding all the Lueen's endea ors to get through with it in time for the bowstringing+, there was again no resource but to #ost#one that ceremony as before, for twenty$four hours! The neHt night there ha##ened a similar accident with a similar resultK and then the neHtCand then again the neHtK so that, in the end, the good monarch, ha ing been una oidably de#ri ed of all o##ortunity to kee# his ow during a #eriod of no less than one thousand and one nights, either forgets it altogether by the eH#iration of this time, or gets himself absol ed of it in the regular way, or )what is more #robable+ breaks it outright, as well as the head of his father confessor! At all e ents, ;cheheraGade, who, being lineally descended from E e, fell heir, #erha#s, to the whole se en baskets of talk, which the latter lady, we all know, #icked u# from under the trees in the garden of EdenC;cheheraGade, ? say, finally trium#hed, and the tariff u#on beauty was re#ealed! 8ow, this conclusion )which is that of the story as we ha e it u#on record+ is, no doubt, eHcessi ely #ro#er and #leasantCbut alasO like a great many #leasant things, is more #leasant than true, and ? am indebted altogether to the M?sitsoornotM for the means of correcting the error! M%e mieuH,M says a =rench #ro erb, Mest l'ennemi du bien,M and, in mentioning that ;cheheraGade had inherited the se en baskets of talk, ? should ha e added that she #ut them out at com#ound interest until they amounted to se enty$se en! M.y dear sister,M said she, on the thousand$and$second night, )? Luote the language of the M?sitsoornotM at this #oint, erbatim+ Mmy dear sister,M said she, Mnow that all this little difficulty about the bowstring has blown o er, and that this odious taH is so ha##ily re#ealed, ? feel that ? ha e been guilty of great indiscretion in withholding from you and the king )who ? am sorry to say, snoresCa thing no gentleman would do+ the full conclusion of ;inbad the sailor! This #erson went through numerous other and more interesting ad entures than those which ? relatedK but the truth is, ? felt slee#y on the #articular night of their narration, and so was seduced into cutting them shortCa grie ous #iece of misconduct, for which ? only trust that Allah will forgi e me! But e en yet it is not too late to remedy my great neglectC and as soon as ? ha e gi en the king a #inch or two in order to wake him u# so far that he may sto# making that horrible noise, ? will forthwith entertain you )and him if he #leases+ with the seLuel of this ery remarkable story!M >ereu#on the sister of ;cheheraGade, as ? ha e it from the M?sitsoornot,M eH#ressed no ery #articular intensity of gratificationK but the king, ha ing been sufficiently #inched, at length ceased snoring, and finally

said, MhumOM and then MhooOM when the Lueen, understanding these words )which are no doubt Arabic+ to signify that he was all attention, and would do his best not to snore any moreCthe Lueen, ? say, ha ing arranged these matters to her satisfaction, re$entered thus, at once, into the history of ;inbad the sailor& M'At length, in my old age,' 3these are the words of ;inbad himself, as retailed by ;cheheraGade6C'at length, in my old age, and after enjoying many years of tranLuillity at home, ? became once more #ossessed of a desire of isiting foreign countriesK and one day, without acLuainting any of my family with my design, ? #acked u# some bundles of such merchandise as was most #recious and least bulky, and, engaged a #orter to carry them, went with him down to the sea$shore, to await the arri al of any chance essel that might con ey me out of the kingdom into some region which ? had not as yet eH#lored! M'>a ing de#osited the #ackages u#on the sands, we sat down beneath some trees, and looked out into the ocean in the ho#e of #ercei ing a shi#, but during se eral hours we saw none whate er! At length ? fancied that ? could hear a singular buGGing or humming soundK and the #orter, after listening awhile, declared that he also could distinguish it! Presently it grew louder, and then still louder, so that we could ha e no doubt that the object which caused it was a##roaching us! At length, on the edge of the horiGon, we disco ered a black s#eck, which ra#idly increased in siGe until we made it out to be a ast monster, swimming with a great #art of its body abo e the surface of the sea! ?t came toward us with inconcei able swiftness, throwing u# huge wa es of foam around its breast, and illuminating all that #art of the sea through which it #assed, with a long line of fire that eHtended far off into the distance! M'As the thing drew near we saw it ery distinctly! ?ts length was eLual to that of three of the loftiest trees that grow, and it was as wide as the great hall of audience in your #alace, < most sublime and munificent of the Aali#hs! ?ts body, which was unlike that of ordinary fishes, was as solid as a rock, and of a jetty blackness throughout all that #ortion of it which floated abo e the water, with the eHce#tion of a narrow blood$red streak that com#letely begirdled it! The belly, which floated beneath the surface, and of which we could get only a glim#se now and then as the monster rose and fell with the billows, was entirely co ered with metallic scales, of a color like that of the moon in misty weather! The back was flat and nearly white, and from it there eHtended u#wards of siH s#ines, about half the length of the whole body! M'The horrible creature had no mouth that we could #ercei e, but, as if to make u# for this deficiency, it was #ro ided with at least four score of eyes, that #rotruded from their sockets like those of the green dragon$fly, and were arranged all around the body in two rows, one abo e the other, and #arallel to the blood$red streak, which seemed to answer the #ur#ose of an eyebrow! Two or three of these dreadful eyes were much larger than the others, and had the a##earance of solid gold! M'Although this beast a##roached us, as ? ha e before said, with the greatest ra#idity, it must ha e been mo ed altogether by necromancyCfor it had neither fins like a fish nor web$feet like a duck, nor wings like the seashell which is blown along in the manner of a esselK nor yet did it writhe itself forward as do the eels! ?ts head and its tail were sha#ed #recisely alike, only, not far from the latter, were two small holes that ser ed for nostrils, and through which the monster #uffed out

its thick breath with #rodigious iolence, and with a shrieking, disagreeable noise! M'<ur terror at beholding this hideous thing was ery great, but it was e en sur#assed by our astonishment, when u#on getting a nearer look, we #ercei ed u#on the creature's back a ast number of animals about the siGe and sha#e of men, and altogether much resembling them, eHce#t that they wore no garments )as men do+, being su##lied )by nature, no doubt+ with an ugly uncomfortable co ering, a good deal like cloth, but fitting so tight to the skin, as to render the #oor wretches laughably awkward, and #ut them a##arently to se ere #ain! <n the ery ti#s of their heads were certain sLuare$looking boHes, which, at first sight, ? thought might ha e been intended to answer as turbans, but ? soon disco ered that they were eHcessi ely hea y and solid, and ? therefore concluded they were contri ances designed, by their great weight, to kee# the heads of the animals steady and safe u#on their shoulders! Around the necks of the creatures were fastened black collars, )badges of ser itude, no doubt,+ such as we kee# on our dogs, only much wider and infinitely stiffer, so that it was Luite im#ossible for these #oor ictims to mo e their heads in any direction without mo ing the body at the same timeK and thus they were doomed to #er#etual contem#lation of their nosesCa iew #uggish and snubby in a wonderful, if not #ositi ely in an awful degree! M'When the monster had nearly reached the shore where we stood, it suddenly #ushed out one of its eyes to a great eHtent, and emitted from it a terrible flash of fire, accom#anied by a dense cloud of smoke, and a noise that ? can com#are to nothing but thunder! As the smoke cleared away, we saw one of the odd man$animals standing near the head of the large beast with a trum#et in his hand, through which )#utting it to his mouth+ he #resently addressed us in loud, harsh, and disagreeable accents, that, #erha#s, we should ha e mistaken for language, had they not come altogether through the nose! M'Being thus e idently s#oken to, ? was at a loss how to re#ly, as ? could in no manner understand what was saidK and in this difficulty ? turned to the #orter, who was near swooning through affright, and demanded of him his o#inion as to what s#ecies of monster it was, what it wanted, and what kind of creatures those were that so swarmed u#on its back! To this the #orter re#lied, as well as he could for tre#idation, that he had once before heard of this sea$beastK that it was a cruel demon, with bowels of sul#hur and blood of fire, created by e il genii as the means of inflicting misery u#on mankindK that the things u#on its back were ermin, such as sometimes infest cats and dogs, only a little larger and more sa ageK and that these ermin had their uses, howe er e ilCfor, through the torture they caused the beast by their nibbling and stingings, it was goaded into that degree of wrath which was reLuisite to make it roar and commit ill, and so fulfil the engeful and malicious designs of the wicked genii! MThis account determined me to take to my heels, and, without once e en looking behind me, ? ran at full s#eed u# into the hills, while the #orter ran eLually fast, although nearly in an o##osite direction, so that, by these means, he finally made his esca#e with my bundles, of which ? ha e no doubt he took eHcellent careCalthough this is a #oint ? cannot determine, as ? do not remember that ? e er beheld him again! M'=or myself, ? was so hotly #ursued by a swarm of the men$ ermin )who had come to the shore in boats+ that ? was ery soon o ertaken, bound

hand and foot, and con eyed to the beast, which immediately swam out again into the middle of the sea! M'? now bitterly re#ented my folly in Luitting a comfortable home to #eril my life in such ad entures as thisK but regret being useless, ? made the best of my condition, and eHerted myself to secure the goodwill of the man$animal that owned the trum#et, and who a##eared to eHercise authority o er his fellows! ? succeeded so well in this endea or that, in a few days, the creature bestowed u#on me arious tokens of his fa or, and in the end e en went to the trouble of teaching me the rudiments of what it was ain enough to denominate its languageK so that, at length, ? was enabled to con erse with it readily, and came to make it com#rehend the ardent desire ? had of seeing the world! M'Washish sLuashish sLueak, ;inbad, hey$diddle diddle, grunt unt grumble, hiss, fiss, whiss,' said he to me, one day after dinnerCbut ? beg a thousand #ardons, ? had forgotten that your majesty is not con ersant with the dialect of the Aock$neighs )so the man$animals were calledK ? #resume because their language formed the connecting link between that of the horse and that of the rooster+! With your #ermission, ? will translate! 'Washish sLuashish,' and so forth&Cthat is to say, '? am ha##y to find, my dear ;inbad, that you are really a ery eHcellent fellowK we are now about doing a thing which is called circumna igating the globeK and since you are so desirous of seeing the world, ? will strain a #oint and gi e you a free #assage u#on back of the beast!'M When the %ady ;cheheraGade had #roceeded thus far, relates the M?sitsoornot,M the king turned o er from his left side to his right, and said& M?t is, in fact, ery sur#rising, my dear Lueen, that you omitted, hitherto, these latter ad entures of ;inbad! -o you know ? think them eHceedingly entertaining and strangeNM The king ha ing thus eH#ressed himself, we are told, the fair ;cheheraGade resumed her history in the following words& M;inbad went on in this manner with his narrati e to the cali#hC'? thanked the man$animal for its kindness, and soon found myself ery much at home on the beast, which swam at a #rodigious rate through the oceanK although the surface of the latter is, in that #art of the world, by no means flat, but round like a #omegranate, so that we wentCso to sayC either u# hill or down hill all the time!' MThat ? think, was ery singular,M interru#ted the king! M8e ertheless, it is Luite true,M re#lied ;cheheraGade! M? ha e my doubts,M rejoined the kingK Mbut, #ray, be so good as to go on with the story!M M? will,M said the Lueen! M'The beast,' continued ;inbad to the cali#h, 'swam, as ? ha e related, u# hill and down hill until, at length, we arri ed at an island, many hundreds of miles in circumference, but which, ne ertheless, had been built in the middle of the sea by a colony of little things like cater#illars'M ):/+ M>umOM said the king! M'%ea ing this island,' said ;inbadC)for ;cheheraGade, it must be understood, took no notice of her husband's ill$mannered ejaculation+ 'lea ing this island, we came to another where the forests were of solid stone, and so hard that they shi ered to #ieces the finest$tem#ered aHes with which we endea oured to cut them down!M' ):(+ M>umOM said the king, againK but ;cheheraGade, #aying him no attention, continued in the language of ;inbad!

M'Passing beyond this last island, we reached a country where there was a ca e 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 s#acious and more magnificent #alaces than are to be found in all -amascus and Bagdad! =rom the roofs of these #alaces there hung myriads of gems, like diamonds, but larger than menK and in among the streets of towers and #yramids and tem#les, there flowed immense ri ers as black as ebony, and swarming with fish that had no eyes!'M ):9+ M>umOM said the king! M'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 twel e miles wide and siHty miles long ):5+K while from an abyss on the summit, issued so ast a Luantity of ashes that the sun was entirely blotted out from the hea ens, and it became darker than the darkest midnightK so that when we were e en at the distance of a hundred and fifty miles from the mountain, it was im#ossible to see the whitest object, howe er close we held it to our eyes!'M ):*+ M>umOM said the king! M'After Luitting this coast, the beast continued his oyage until we met with a land in which the nature of things seemed re ersedCfor 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 luHuriant trees!'M ):V+ M>ooOM said the king! M;ome hundred miles farther on brought us to a climate where the atmos#here was so dense as to sustain iron or steel, just as our own does feather!'M ):W+ M=iddle de dee,M said the king! MProceeding still in the same direction, we #resently arri ed at the most magnificent region in the whole world! Through it there meandered a glorious ri er for se eral thousands of miles! This ri er was of uns#eakable de#th, and of a trans#arency richer than that of amber! ?t was from three to siH miles in widthK and its banks which arose on either side to twel e hundred feet in #er#endicular height, were crowned with e er$blossoming trees and #er#etual sweet$scented flowers, that made the whole territory one gorgeous gardenK but the name of this luHuriant land was the Bingdom of >orror, and to enter it was ine itable death'M ):2+ M>um#hOM said the king! M'We left this kingdom in great haste, and, after some days, came to another, where we were astonished to #ercei e myriads of monstrous animals with horns resembling scythes u#on their heads! These hideous beasts dig for themsel es ast ca erns in the soil, of a funnel sha#e, and line the sides of them with rocks, so dis#osed one u#on the other that they fall instantly, when trodden u#on by other animals, thus #reci#itating them into the monster's dens, where their blood is immediately sucked, and their carcasses afterwards hurled contem#tuously out to an immense distance from Mthe ca erns of death!M'M ):0+ MPoohOM said the king! M'Aontinuing our #rogress, we #ercei ed a district with egetables that grew not u#on any soil but in the air! ):/1+ There were others that s#rang from the substance of other egetablesK )://+ others that deri ed their substance from the bodies of li ing animalsK ):/(+ and then again, there were others that glowed all o er with intense fireK ):/9+ others that mo ed from #lace to #lace at #leasure, ):/5+ and what was still more

wonderful, we disco ered flowers that li ed and breathed and mo ed their limbs at will and had, moreo er, the detestable #assion of mankind for ensla ing other creatures, and confining them in horrid and solitary #risons until the fulfillment of a##ointed tasks!'M ):/*+ MPshawOM said the king! M'Fuitting this land, we soon arri ed at another in which the bees and the birds are mathematicians of such genius and erudition, that they gi e daily instructions in the science of geometry to the wise men of the em#ire! The king of the #lace ha ing offered a reward for the solution of two ery difficult #roblems, they were sol ed u#on the s#otCthe one by the bees, and the other by the birdsK but the king kee#ing their solution a secret, it was only after the most #rofound researches and labor, and the writing of an infinity of big books, during a long series of years, that the men$mathematicians at length arri ed at the identical solutions which had been gi en u#on the s#ot by the bees and by the birds!'M ):/V+ M<h myOM said the king! M'We had scarcely lost sight of this em#ire when we found oursel es close u#on another, from whose shores there flew o er our heads a flock of fowls a mile in breadth, and two hundred and forty miles longK so that, although they flew a mile during e ery minute, it reLuired no less than four hours for the whole flock to #ass o er usCin which there were se eral millions of millions of fowl!'M ):/W+ M<h fyOM said the king! M'8o sooner had we got rid of these birds, which occasioned us great annoyance, than we were terrified by the a##earance of a fowl of another kind, and infinitely larger than e en the rocs which ? met in my former oyagesK for it was bigger than the biggest of the domes on your seraglio, oh, most .unificent of Aali#hs! This terrible fowl had no head that we could #ercei e, but was fashioned entirely of belly, which was of a #rodigious fatness and roundness, of a soft$looking substance, smooth, shining and stri#ed with arious colors! ?n its talons, the monster was bearing away to his eyrie in the hea ens, 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 des#air at the horrible fate which awaited them! We shouted with all our might, in the ho#e of frightening the bird into letting go of its #rey, but it merely ga e a snort or #uff, as if of rage and then let fall u#on our heads a hea y sack which #ro ed to be filled with sandO'M M;tuffOM said the king! M'?t was just after this ad enture that we encountered a continent of immense eHtent and #rodigious solidity, but which, ne ertheless, was su##orted entirely u#on the back of a sky$blue cow that had no fewer than four hundred horns!'M ):/2+ MThat, now, ? belie e,M said the king, Mbecause ? ha e read something of the kind before, in a book!M M'We #assed immediately beneath this continent, )swimming in between the legs of the cow+, and, after some hours, found oursel es in a wonderful country indeed, which, ? was informed by the man$animal, was his own nati e land, inhabited by things of his own s#ecies! This ele ated the man$animal ery much in my esteem, and in fact, ? now began to feel ashamed of the contem#tuous familiarity with which ? had treated himK for ? found that the man$animals in general were a nation of the most #owerful magicians, who li ed with worms in their brain, ):/0+ which, no

doubt, ser ed to stimulate them by their #ainful writhings and wrigglings to the most miraculous efforts of imaginationO'M M8onsenseOM said the king! M'Among the magicians, were domesticated se eral animals of ery singular kindsK for eHam#le, there was a huge horse whose bones were iron and whose blood was boiling water! ?n #lace of corn, he had black stones for his usual foodK and yet, in s#ite of so hard a diet, he was so strong and swift that he would drag a load more weighty than the grandest tem#le in this city, at a rate sur#assing that of the flight of most birds!'M ):(1+ MTwattleOM said the king! M'? saw, also, among these #eo#le a hen without feathers, but bigger than a camelK instead of flesh and bone she had iron and brickK her blood, like that of the horse, )to whom, in fact, she was nearly related,+ was boiling waterK and like him she ate nothing but wood or black stones! This hen brought forth ery freLuently, a hundred chickens in the dayK and, after birth, they took u# their residence for se eral weeks within the stomach of their mother!'M ):(/+ M=aO lalOM said the king! M'<ne 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 ha e beaten at chess, all the race of mankind with the eHce#tion of the great Aali#h, >aroun Alraschid! ):((+ Another of these magi constructed )of like material+ a creature that #ut to shame e en the genius of him who made itK for so great were its reasoning #owers that, in a second, it #erformed calculations of so ast an eHtent that they would ha e reLuired the united labor of fifty thousand fleshy men for a year! ):(9+ But a still more wonderful conjuror fashioned for himself a mighty thing that was neither man nor beast, but which had brains of lead, intermiHed with a black matter like #itch, and fingers that it em#loyed with such incredible s#eed and deHterity that it would ha e had no trouble in writing out twenty thousand co#ies of the Boran in an hour, and this with so eHLuisite a #recision, that in all the co#ies there should not be found one to ary from another by the breadth of the finest hair! This thing was of #rodigious strength, so that it erected or o erthrew the mightiest em#ires at a breathK but its #owers were eHercised eLually for e il and for good!'M M,idiculousOM said the king! M'Among this nation of necromancers there was also one who had in his eins the blood of the salamandersK for he made no scru#le of sitting down to smoke his chibouc in a red$hot o en until his dinner was thoroughly roasted u#on its floor! ):(5+ Another had the faculty of con erting the common metals into gold, without e en looking at them during the #rocess! ):(*+ Another had such a delicacy of touch that he made a wire so fine as to be in isible! ):(V+ Another had such Luickness of #erce#tion that he counted all the se#arate motions of an elastic body, while it was s#ringing backward and forward at the rate of nine hundred millions of times in a second!'M ):(W+ MAbsurdOM said the king! M'Another of these magicians, by means of a fluid that nobody e er yet saw, could make the cor#ses of his friends brandish their arms, kick out their legs, fight, or e en get u# and dance at his will! ):(2+ Another had culti ated his oice to so great an eHtent that he could ha e made himself heard from one end of the world to the other! ):(0+ Another had so long an arm that he could sit down in -amascus and indite a letter at

BagdadCor indeed at any distance whatsoe er! ):91+ Another commanded the lightning to come down to him out of the hea ens, and it came at his callK and ser ed him for a #laything when it came! Another took two loud sounds and out of them made a silence! Another constructed a dee# darkness out of two brilliant lights! ):9/+ Another made ice in a red$hot furnace! ):9(+ Another directed the sun to #aint his #ortrait, and the sun did! ):99+ Another took this luminary with the moon and the #lanets, and ha ing first weighed them with scru#ulous accuracy, #robed into their de#ths and found out the solidity of the substance of which they were made! But the whole nation is, indeed, of so sur#rising a necromantic ability, that not e en their infants, nor their commonest cats and dogs ha e any difficulty in seeing objects that do not eHist at all, or that for twenty millions of years before the birth of the nation itself had been blotted out from the face of creation!M' ):95+ MPre#osterousOM said the king! M'The wi es and daughters of these incom#arably great and wise magi,'M continued ;cheheraGade, without being in any manner disturbed by these freLuent and most ungentlemanly interru#tions on the #art of her husband CM'the wi es and daughters of these eminent conjurers are e ery thing that is accom#lished and refinedK and would be e ery thing that is interesting and beautiful, but for an unha##y fatality that besets them, and from which not e en the miraculous #owers of their husbands and fathers has, hitherto, been adeLuate to sa e! ;ome fatalities come in certain sha#es, and some in othersCbut this of which ? s#eak has come in the sha#e of a crotchet!'M MA whatNM said the king! M'A crotchet'M said ;cheheraGade! M'<ne of the e il genii, who are #er#etually u#on the watch to inflict ill, has #ut it into the heads of these accom#lished ladies that the thing which we describe as #ersonal beauty consists altogether in the #rotuberance of the region which lies not ery far below the small of the back! Perfection of lo eliness, they say, is in the direct ratio of the eHtent of this lum#! >a ing been long #ossessed of this idea, and bolsters being chea# in that country, the days ha e long gone by since it was #ossible to distinguish a woman from a dromedary$'M M;to#OM said the kingCM? can't stand that, and ? won't! "ou ha e already gi en me a dreadful headache with your lies! The day, too, ? #ercei e, is beginning to break! >ow long ha e we been marriedNCmy conscience is getting to be troublesome again! And then that dromedary touchCdo you take me for a foolN 7#on the whole, you might as well get u# and be throttled!M These words, as ? learn from the M?sitsoornot,M both grie ed and astonished ;cheheraGadeK but, as she knew the king to be a man of scru#ulous integrity, and Luite unlikely to forfeit his word, she submitted to her fate with a good grace! ;he deri ed, howe er, great consolation, )during the tightening of the bowstring,+ from the reflection that much of the history remained still untold, and that the #etulance of her brute of a husband had rea#ed for him a most righteous reward, in de#ri ing him of many inconcei able ad entures! >( anchor

A -E;AE8T ?8T< T>E .AE%;T,E.! The ways of God in 8ature, as in Pro idence, are not as our waysK nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the astness, #rofundity, and unsearchableness of >is works, which ha e a de#th in them greater than the well of -emocritus! @ose#h Glan ille! WE had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag! =or some minutes the old man seemed too much eHhausted to s#eak! M8ot long ago,M said he at length, Mand ? could ha e guided you on this route as well as the youngest of my sonsK but, about three years #ast, there ha##ened to me an e ent such as ne er ha##ened to mortal manCor at least such as no man e er sur i ed to tell ofCand the siH hours of deadly terror which ? then endured ha e broken me u# body and soul! "ou su##ose me a ery old manCbut ? am not! ?t took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my ner es, so that ? tremble at the least eHertion, and am frightened at a shadow! -o you know ? can scarcely look o er this little cliff without getting giddyNM The Mlittle cliff,M u#on whose edge he had so carelessly thrown himself down to rest that the weightier #ortion of his body hung o er it, while he was only ke#t from falling by the tenure of his elbow on its eHtreme and sli##ery edgeCthis Mlittle cliffM arose, a sheer unobstructed #reci#ice of black shining rock, some fifteen or siHteen hundred feet from the world of crags beneath us! 8othing would ha e tem#ted me to within half a doGen yards of its brink! ?n truth so dee#ly was ? eHcited by the #erilous #osition of my com#anion, that ? fell at full length u#on the ground, clung to the shrubs around me, and dared not e en glance u#ward at the skyCwhile ? struggled in ain to di est myself of the idea that the ery foundations of the mountain were in danger from the fury of the winds! ?t was long before ? could reason myself into sufficient courage to sit u# and look out into the distance! M"ou must get o er these fancies,M said the guide, Mfor ? ha e brought you here that you might ha e the best #ossible iew of the scene of that e ent ? mentionedCand to tell you the whole story with the s#ot just under your eye!M MWe are now,M he continued, in that #articulariGing manner which distinguished himCMwe are now close u#on the 8orwegian coastCin the siHty$eighth degree of latitudeCin the great #ro ince of 8ordlandCand in the dreary district of %ofoden! The mountain u#on whose to# we sit is >elseggen, the Aloudy! 8ow raise yourself u# a little higherChold on to the grass if you feel giddyCsoCand look out, beyond the belt of a#or beneath us, into the sea!M ? looked diGGily, and beheld a wide eH#anse of ocean, whose waters wore so inky a hue as to bring at once to my mind the 8ubian geogra#her's account of the .are Tenebrarum! A #anorama more de#lorably desolate no human imagination can concei e! To the right and left, as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ram#arts of the world, lines of horridly black and beetling cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcibly illustrated by the surf which reared high u# against its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking fore er! @ust o##osite the #romontory u#on whose a#eH we were #laced, and at a distance of some fi e or siH miles out at sea, there was isible a small, bleak$looking islandK or, more #ro#erly, its #osition was discernible through the wilderness of surge in which it was en elo#ed! About two miles nearer the land, arose

another of smaller siGe, hideously craggy and barren, and encom#assed at arious inter als by a cluster of dark rocks! The a##earance of the ocean, in the s#ace between the more distant island and the shore, had something ery 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 #lunged her whole hull out of sight, still there was here nothing like a regular swell, but only a short, Luick, angry cross dashing of water in e ery directionCas well in the teeth of the wind as otherwise! <f foam there was little eHce#t in the immediate icinity of the rocks! MThe island in the distance,M resumed the old man, Mis called by the 8orwegians 'urrgh! The one midway is .oskoe! That a mile to the northward is Ambaaren! "onder are ?slesen, >otholm, Beildhelm, ;uar en, and Buckholm! =arther offCbetween .oskoe and 'urrghCare <tterholm, =limen, ;andflesen, and ;tockholm! These are the true names of the #lacesCbut why it has been thought necessary to name them at all, is more than either you or ? can understand! -o you hear anythingN -o you see any change in the waterNM We had now been about ten minutes u#on the to# of >elseggen, to which we had ascended from the interior of %ofoden, so that we had caught no glim#se of the sea until it had burst u#on us from the summit! As the old man s#oke, ? became aware of a loud and gradually increasing sound, like the moaning of a ast herd of buffaloes u#on an American #rairieK and at the same moment ? #ercei ed that what seamen term the cho##ing character of the ocean beneath us, was ra#idly changing into a current which set to the eastward! E en while ? gaGed, this current acLuired a monstrous elocity! Each moment added to its s#eedCto its headlong im#etuosity! ?n fi e minutes the whole sea, as far as 'urrgh, was lashed into ungo ernable furyK but it was between .oskoe and the coast that the main u#roar held its sway! >ere the ast bed of the waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into #hrensied con ulsionChea ing, boiling, hissingCgyrating in gigantic and innumerable ortices, and all whirling and #lunging on to the eastward with a ra#idity which water ne er elsewhere assumes eHce#t in #reci#itous descents! ?n a few minutes more, there came o er the scene another radical alteration! The general surface grew somewhat more smooth, and the whirl#ools, one by one, disa##eared, while #rodigious streaks of foam became a##arent where none had been seen before! These streaks, at length, s#reading out to a great distance, and entering into combination, took unto themsel es the gyratory motion of the subsided ortices, and seemed to form the germ of another more ast! ;uddenlyC ery suddenlyCthis assumed a distinct and definite eHistence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter! The edge of the whirl was re#resented by a broad belt of gleaming s#rayK but no #article of this sli##ed 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 horiGon at an angle of some forty$fi e degrees, s#eeding diGGily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an a##alling oice, half shriek, half roar, such as not e en the mighty cataract of 8iagara e er lifts u# in its agony to >ea en! The mountain trembled to its ery base, and the rock rocked! ? threw myself u#on my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an eHcess of ner ous agitation!

MThis,M said ? at length, to the old manCMthis can be nothing else than the great whirl#ool of the .aelstrXm!M M;o it is sometimes termed,M said he! MWe 8orwegians call it the .oskoe$ strXm, from the island of .oskoe in the midway!M The ordinary accounts of this orteH had by no means #re#ared me for what ? saw! That of @onas ,amus, which is #erha#s the most circumstantial of any, cannot im#art the faintest conce#tion either of the magnificence, or of the horror of the sceneCor of the wild bewildering sense of the no el which confounds the beholder! ? am not sure from what #oint of iew the writer in Luestion sur eyed it, nor at what timeK but it could neither ha e been from the summit of >elseggen, nor during a storm! There are some #assages of his descri#tion, ne ertheless, which may be Luoted for their details, although their effect is eHceedingly feeble in con eying an im#ression of the s#ectacle! MBetween %ofoden and .oskoe,M he says, Mthe de#th of the water is between thirty$siH and forty fathomsK but on the other side, toward 'er )'urrgh+ this de#th decreases so as not to afford a con enient #assage for a essel, without the risk of s#litting on the rocks, which ha##ens e en in the calmest weather! When it is flood, the stream runs u# the country between %ofoden and .oskoe with a boisterous ra#idityK but the roar of its im#etuous ebb to the sea is scarce eLualled by the loudest and most dreadful cataractsK the noise being heard se eral leagues off, and the ortices or #its are of such an eHtent and de#th, that if a shi# comes within its attraction, it is ine itably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beat to #ieces against the rocksK and when the water relaHes, the fragments thereof are thrown u# again! But these inter als of tranLuility are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, and in calm weather, and last but a Luarter of an hour, its iolence gradually returning! When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a 8orway mile of it! Boats, yachts, and shi#s ha e been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach! ?t likewise ha##ens freLuently, that whales come too near the stream, and are o er#owered by its iolenceK and then it is im#ossible to describe their howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage themsel es! A bear once, attem#ting to swim from %ofoden to .oskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore! %arge stocks of firs and #ine trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew u#on them! This #lainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro! This stream is regulated by the fluH and refluH of the seaCit being constantly high and low water e ery siH hours! ?n the year /V5*, early in the morning of ;eHagesima ;unday, it raged with such noise and im#etuosity that the ery stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground!M ?n regard to the de#th of the water, ? could not see how this could ha e been ascertained at all in the immediate icinity of the orteH! The Mforty fathomsM must ha e reference only to #ortions of the channel close u#on the shore either of .oskoe or %ofoden! The de#th in the centre of the .oskoe$strXm must be immeasurably greaterK and no better #roof of this fact is necessary than can be obtained from e en the sidelong glance into the abyss of the whirl which may be had from the highest crag of >elseggen! %ooking down from this #innacle u#on the howling Phlegethon below, ? could not hel# smiling at the sim#licity with which the honest

@onas ,amus records, as a matter difficult of belief, the anecdotes of the whales and the bearsK for it a##eared to me, in fact, a self$e ident thing, that the largest shi# of the line in eHistence, coming within the influence of that deadly attraction, could resist it as little as a feather the hurricane, and must disa##ear bodily and at once! The attem#ts to account for the #henomenonCsome of which, ? remember, seemed to me sufficiently #lausible in #erusalCnow wore a ery different and unsatisfactory as#ect! The idea generally recei ed is that this, as well as three smaller ortices among the =erroe islands, Mha e no other cause than the collision of wa es rising and falling, at fluH and refluH, against a ridge of rocks and shel es, which confines the water so that it #reci#itates itself like a cataractK and thus the higher the flood rises, the dee#er must the fall be, and the natural result of all is a whirl#ool or orteH, the #rodigious suction of which is sufficiently known by lesser eH#eriments!MCThese are the words of the Encyclo#Udia Britannica! Bircher and others imagine that in the centre of the channel of the .aelstrXm is an abyss #enetrating the globe, and issuing in some ery remote #artCthe Gulf of Bothnia being somewhat decidedly named in one instance! This o#inion, idle in itself, was the one to which, as ? gaGed, my imagination most readily assentedK and, mentioning it to the guide, ? was rather sur#rised to hear him say that, although it was the iew almost uni ersally entertained of the subject by the 8orwegians, it ne ertheless was not his own! As to the former notion he confessed his inability to com#rehend itK and here ? agreed with himCfor, howe er conclusi e on #a#er, it becomes altogether unintelligible, and e en absurd, amid the thunder of the abyss! M"ou ha e had a good look at the whirl now,M said the old man, Mand if you will cree# round this crag, so as to get in its lee, and deaden the roar of the water, ? will tell you a story that will con ince you ? ought to know something of the .oskoe$strXm!M ? #laced myself as desired, and he #roceeded! M.yself and my two brothers once owned a schooner$rigged smack of about se enty tons burthen, with which we were in the habit of fishing among the islands beyond .oskoe, nearly to 'urrgh! ?n all iolent eddies at sea there is good fishing, at #ro#er o##ortunities, if one has only the courage to attem#t itK but among the whole of the %ofoden coastmen, we three were the only ones who made a regular business of going out to the islands, as ? tell you! The usual grounds are a great way lower down to the southward! There fish can be got at all hours, without much risk, and therefore these #laces are #referred! The choice s#ots o er here among the rocks, howe er, not only yield the finest ariety, but in far greater abundanceK so that we often got in a single day, what the more timid of the craft could not scra#e together in a week! ?n fact, we made it a matter of des#erate s#eculationCthe risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage answering for ca#ital! MWe ke#t the smack in a co e about fi e miles higher u# the coast than thisK and it was our #ractice, in fine weather, to take ad antage of the fifteen minutes' slack to #ush across the main channel of the .oskoe$ strXm, far abo e the #ool, and then dro# down u#on anchorage somewhere near <tterholm, or ;andflesen, where the eddies are not so iolent as elsewhere! >ere we used to remain until nearly time for slack$water again, when we weighed and made for home! We ne er set out u#on this eH#edition without a steady side wind for going and comingCone that we felt sure would not fail us before our returnCand we seldom made a mis$

calculation u#on this #oint! Twice, during siH years, we were forced to stay all night at anchor on account of a dead calm, which is a rare thing indeed just about hereK and once we had to remain on the grounds nearly a week, star ing to death, owing to a gale which blew u# shortly after our arri al, and made the channel too boisterous to be thought of! 7#on this occasion we should ha e been dri en out to sea in s#ite of e erything, )for the whirl#ools threw us round and round so iolently, that, at length, we fouled our anchor and dragged it+ if it had not been that we drifted into one of the innumerable cross currentsChere to$day and gone to$morrowCwhich dro e us under the lee of =limen, where, by good luck, we brought u#! M? could not tell you the twentieth #art of the difficulties we encountered 'on the grounds'Cit is a bad s#ot to be in, e en in good weatherCbut we made shift always to run the gauntlet of the .oskoe$strXm itself without accidentK although at times my heart has been in my mouth when we ha##ened to be a minute or so behind or before the slack! The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while the current rendered the smack unmanageable! .y eldest brother had a son eighteen years old, and ? had two stout boys of my own! These would ha e been of great assistance at such times, in using the swee#s, as well as afterward in fishingCbut, somehow, although we ran the risk oursel es, we had not the heart to let the young ones get into the dangerCfor, after all is said and done, it was a horrible danger, and that is the truth! M?t is now within a few days of three years since what ? am going to tell you occurred! ?t was on the tenth day of @uly, /2$, a day which the #eo#le of this #art of the world will ne er forgetCfor it was one in which blew the most terrible hurricane that e er came out of the hea ens! And yet all the morning, and indeed until late in the afternoon, there was a gentle and steady breeGe from the south$west, while the sun shone brightly, so that the oldest seaman among us could not ha e foreseen what was to follow! MThe three of usCmy two brothers and myselfChad crossed o er to the islands about two o'clock P! .!, and had soon nearly loaded the smack with fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more #lenty that day than we had e er known them! ?t was just se en, by my watch, when we weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the ;trXm at slack water, which we knew would be at eight! MWe set out with a fresh wind on our starboard Luarter, and for some time s#anked along at a great rate, ne er dreaming of danger, for indeed we saw not the slightest reason to a##rehend it! All at once we were taken aback by a breeGe from o er >elseggen! This was most unusualCsomething that had ne er ha##ened to us beforeCand ? began to feel a little uneasy, without eHactly knowing why! We #ut the boat on the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and ? was u#on the #oint of #ro#osing to return to the anchorage, when, looking astern, we saw the whole horiGon co ered with a singular co##er$colored cloud that rose with the most amaGing elocity! M?n the meantime the breeGe that had headed us off fell away, and we were dead becalmed, drifting about in e ery direction! This state of things, howe er, did not last long enough to gi e us time to think about it! ?n less than a minute the storm was u#on usCin less than two the sky was entirely o ercastCand what with this and the dri ing s#ray, it became suddenly so dark that we could not see each other in the smack!

M;uch a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attem#t describing! The oldest seaman in 8orway ne er eH#erienced any thing like it! We had let our sails go by the run before it cle erly took usK but, at the first #uff, both our masts went by the board as if they had been sawed offCthe mainmast taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed himself to it for safety! M<ur boat was the lightest feather of a thing that e er sat u#on water! ?t had a com#lete 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 ;trXm, by way of #recaution against the cho##ing seas! But for this circumstance we should ha e foundered at onceCfor we lay entirely buried for some moments! >ow my elder brother esca#ed destruction ? cannot say, for ? ne er had an o##ortunity of ascertaining! =or my #art, as soon as ? had let the foresail run, ? threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands gras#ing a ring$bolt near the foot of the fore$mast! ?t was mere instinct that #rom#ted me to do thisCwhich was undoubtedly the ery best thing ? could ha e doneCfor ? was too much flurried to think! M=or some moments we were com#letely deluged, as ? say, and all this time ? held my breath, and clung to the bolt! When ? could stand it no longer ? raised myself u#on my knees, still kee#ing hold with my hands, and thus got my head clear! Presently our little boat ga e herself a shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid herself, in some measure, of the seas! ? was now trying to get the better of the stu#or that had come o er me, and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when ? felt somebody gras# my arm! ?t was my elder brother, and my heart lea#ed for joy, for ? had made sure that he was o erboardCbut the neHt moment all this joy was turned into horrorCfor he #ut his mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the word '.oskoe$strXmO' M8o one e er will know what my feelings were at that moment! ? shook from head to foot as if ? had had the most iolent fit of the ague! ? knew what he meant by that one word well enoughC? knew what he wished to make me understand! With the wind that now dro e us on, we were bound for the whirl of the ;trXm, and nothing could sa e usO M"ou #ercei e that in crossing the ;trXm channel, we always went a long way u# abo e the whirl, e en in the calmest weather, and then had to wait and watch carefully for the slackCbut now we were dri ing right u#on the #ool itself, and in such a hurricane as thisO 'To be sure,' ? thought, 'we shall get there just about the slackCthere is some little ho#e in that'Cbut in the neHt moment ? cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of ho#e at all! ? knew ery well that we were doomed, had we been ten times a ninety$gun shi#! MBy this time the first fury of the tem#est had s#ent itself, or #erha#s we did not feel it so much, as we scudded before it, but at all e ents the seas, which at first had been ke#t down by the wind, and lay flat and frothing, now got u# into absolute mountains! A singular change, too, had come o er the hea ens! Around in e ery direction it was still as black as #itch, but nearly o erhead there burst out, all at once, a circular rift of clear skyCas clear as ? e er sawCand of a dee# bright blueCand through it there blaGed forth the full moon with a lustre that ? ne er before knew her to wear! ;he lit u# e ery thing about us with the greatest distinctnessCbut, oh God, what a scene it was to light u#O M? now made one or two attem#ts to s#eak to my brotherCbut, in some manner which ? could not understand, the din had so increased that ?

could not make him hear a single word, although ? screamed at the to# of my oice in his ear! Presently he shook his head, looking as #ale as death, and held u# one of his fingers, as if to say 'listenO ' MAt first ? could not make out what he meantCbut soon a hideous thought flashed u#on me! ? dragged my watch from its fob! ?t was not going! ? glanced at its face by the moonlight, and then burst into tears as ? flung it far away into the ocean! ?t had run down at se en o'clockO We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the ;trXm was in full furyO MWhen a boat is well built, #ro#erly trimmed, and not dee# laden, the wa es in a strong gale, when she is going large, seem always to sli# from beneath herCwhich a##ears ery strange to a landsmanCand this is what is called riding, in sea #hrase! Well, so far we had ridden the swells ery cle erlyK but #resently a gigantic sea ha##ened to take us right under the counter, and bore us with it as it roseCu#Cu#Cas if into the sky! ? would not ha e belie ed that any wa e could rise so high! And then down we came with a swee#, a slide, and a #lunge, that made me feel sick and diGGy, as if ? was falling from some lofty mountain$to# in a dream! But while we were u# ? had thrown a Luick glance aroundCand that one glance was all sufficient! ? saw our eHact #osition in an instant! The .oskoe$ ;trXm whirl#ool was about a Luarter of a mile dead aheadCbut no more like the e ery$day .oskoe$;trXm, than the whirl as you now see it is like a mill$race! ?f ? had not known where we were, and what we had to eH#ect, ? should not ha e recognised the #lace at all! As it was, ? in oluntarily closed my eyes in horror! The lids clenched themsel es together as if in a s#asm! M?t could not ha e been more than two minutes afterward until we suddenly felt the wa es subside, and were en elo#ed in foam! The boat made a shar# half turn to larboard, and then shot off in its new direction like a thunderbolt! At the same moment the roaring noise of the water was com#letely drowned in a kind of shrill shriekCsuch a sound as you might imagine gi en out by the waste$#i#es of many thousand steam$ essels, letting off their steam all together! We were now in the belt of surf that always surrounds the whirlK and ? thought, of course, that another moment would #lunge us into the abyssCdown which we could only see indistinctly on account of the amaGing elocity 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 u#on the surface of the surge! >er starboard side was neHt the whirl, and on the larboard arose the world of ocean we had left! ?t stood like a huge writhing wall between us and the horiGon! M?t may a##ear strange, but now, when we were in the ery jaws of the gulf, ? felt more com#osed than when we were only a##roaching it! >a ing made u# my mind to ho#e no more, ? got rid of a great deal of that terror which unmanned me at first! ? su##ose it was des#air that strung my ner es! M?t may look like boastingCbut what ? tell you is truthC? 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 #altry a consideration as my own indi idual life, in iew of so wonderful a manifestation of God's #ower! ? do belie e that ? blushed with shame when this idea crossed my mind! After a little while ? became #ossessed with the keenest curiosity about the whirl itself! ? #ositi ely felt a wish to eH#lore its de#ths, e en at the sacrifice ? was going to makeK and my #rinci#al grief was that ? should ne er be able to tell my old com#anions on shore about the

mysteries ? should see! These, no doubt, were singular fancies to occu#y a man's mind in such eHtremityCand ? ha e often thought since, that the re olutions of the boat around the #ool might ha e rendered me a little light$headed! MThere was another circumstance which tended to restore my self$ #ossessionK and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not reach us in our #resent situationCfor, as you saw yourself, the belt of surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this latter now towered abo e us, a high, black, mountainous ridge! ?f you ha e ne er been at sea in a hea y gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and s#ray together! They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all #ower of action or reflection! But we were now, in a great measure, rid of these annoyancesCjust as death$ condemned felons in #rison are allowed #etty indulgences, forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain! M>ow often we made the circuit of the belt it is im#ossible to say! We careered round and round for #erha#s 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 ? had ne er let go of the ring$bolt! .y brother was at the stern, holding on to a small em#ty water$cask which had been securely lashed under the coo# of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that had not been swe#t o erboard when the gale first took us! As we a##roached the brink of the #it he let go his hold u#on this, and made for the ring, from which, in the agony of his terror, he endea ored to force my hands, as it was not large enough to afford us both a secure gras#! ? ne er felt dee#er grief than when ? saw him attem#t this actCalthough ? knew he was a madman when he did itCa ra ing maniac through sheer fright! ? did not care, howe er, to contest the #oint with him! ? knew it could make no difference whether either of us held on at allK so ? let him ha e the bolt, and went astern to the cask! This there was no great difficulty in doingK for the smack flew round steadily enough, and u#on an e en keelC only swaying to and fro, with the immense swee#s and swelters of the whirl! ;carcely had ? secured myself in my new #osition, when we ga e a wild lurch to starboard, and rushed headlong into the abyss! ? muttered a hurried #rayer to God, and thought all was o er! MAs ? felt the sickening swee# of the descent, ? had instincti ely tightened my hold u#on the barrel, and closed my eyes! =or some seconds ? dared not o#en themCwhile ? eH#ected instant destruction, and wondered that ? was not already in my death$struggles with the water! But moment after moment ela#sed! ? still li ed! The sense of falling had ceasedK and the motion of the essel seemed much as it had been before, while in the belt of foam, with the eHce#tion that she now lay more along! ? took courage, and looked once again u#on the scene! M8e er shall ? forget the sensations of awe, horror, and admiration with which ? gaGed about me! The boat a##eared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, u#on the interior surface of a funnel ast in circumference, #rodigious in de#th, and whose #erfectly smooth sides might ha e been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering ra#idity with which they s#un 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 ? ha e already described, streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss!

MAt first ? was too much confused to obser e anything accurately! The general burst of terrific grandeur was all that ? beheld! When ? reco ered myself a little, howe er, my gaGe fell instincti ely downward! ?n this direction ? was able to obtain an unobstructed iew, from the manner in which the smack hung on the inclined surface of the #ool! ;he was Luite u#on an e en keelCthat is to say, her deck lay in a #lane #arallel with that of the waterCbut this latter slo#ed at an angle of more than forty$fi e degrees, so that we seemed to be lying u#on our beam$ends! ? could not hel# obser ing, ne ertheless, that ? had scarcely more difficulty in maintaining my hold and footing in this situation, than if we had been u#on a dead le elK and this, ? su##ose, was owing to the s#eed at which we re ol ed! MThe rays of the moon seemed to search the ery bottom of the #rofound gulfK but still ? could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a thick mist in which e erything there was en elo#ed, and o er which there hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which .ussulmen say is the only #athway between Time and Eternity! This mist, or s#ray, was no doubt occasioned by the clashing of the great walls of the funnel, as they all met together at the bottomCbut the yell that went u# to the >ea ens from out of that mist, ? dare not attem#t to describe! M<ur first slide into the abyss itself, from the belt of foam abo e, had carried us a great distance down the slo#eK but our farther descent was by no means #ro#ortionate! ,ound and round we swe#tCnot with any uniform mo ementCbut in diGGying swings and jerks, that sent us sometimes only a few hundred yardsCsometimes nearly the com#lete circuit of the whirl! <ur #rogress downward, at each re olution, was slow, but ery #erce#tible! M%ooking about me u#on the wide waste of liLuid ebony on which we were thus borne, ? #ercei ed that our boat was not the only object in the embrace of the whirl! Both abo e and below us were isible fragments of essels, large masses of building timber and trunks of trees, with many smaller articles, such as #ieces of house furniture, broken boHes, barrels and sta es! ? ha e already described the unnatural curiosity which had taken the #lace of my original terrors! ?t a##eared to grow u#on me as ? drew nearer and nearer to my dreadful doom! ? now began to watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our com#any! ? must ha e been deliriousCfor ? e en sought amusement in s#eculating u#on the relati e elocities of their se eral descents toward the foam below! 'This fir tree,' ? found myself at one time saying, 'will certainly be the neHt thing that takes the awful #lunge and disa##ears,'C and then ? was disa##ointed to find that the wreck of a -utch merchant shi# o ertook it and went down before! At length, after making se eral guesses of this nature, and being decei ed in allCthis factCthe fact of my in ariable miscalculationCset me u#on a train of reflection that made my limbs again tremble, and my heart beat hea ily once more! M?t was not a new terror that thus affected me, but the dawn of a more eHciting ho#e! This ho#e arose #artly from memory, and #artly from #resent obser ation! ? called to mind the great ariety of buoyant matter that strewed the coast of %ofoden, ha ing been absorbed and then thrown forth by the .oskoe$strXm! By far the greater number of the articles were shattered in the most eHtraordinary wayCso chafed and roughened as to ha e the a##earance of being stuck full of s#lintersCbut then ? distinctly recollected that there were some of them which were not disfigured at all! 8ow ? could not account for this difference eHce#t by su##osing that the roughened fragments were the only ones which had been

com#letely absorbedCthat the others had entered the whirl at so late a #eriod 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! ? concei ed it #ossible, in either instance, that they might thus be whirled u# again to the le el of the ocean, without undergoing the fate of those which had been drawn in more early, or absorbed more ra#idly! ? made, also, three im#ortant obser ations! The first was, that, as a general rule, the larger the bodies were, the more ra#id their descentCthe second, that, between two masses of eLual eHtent, the one s#herical, and the other of any other sha#e, the su#eriority in s#eed of descent was with the s#hereCthe third, that, between two masses of eLual siGe, the one cylindrical, and the other of any other sha#e, the cylinder was absorbed the more slowly! ;ince my esca#e, ? ha e had se eral con ersations on this subject with an old school$master of the districtK and it was from him that ? learned the use of the words 'cylinder' and 's#here!' >e eH#lained to meCalthough ? ha e forgotten the eH#lanationChow what ? obser ed was, in fact, the natural conseLuence of the forms of the floating fragmentsCand showed me how it ha##ened that a cylinder, swimming in a orteH, offered more resistance to its suction, and was drawn in with greater difficulty than an eLually bulky body, of any form whate er! ):/+ MThere was one startling circumstance which went a great way in enforcing these obser ations, and rendering me anHious to turn them to account, and this was that, at e ery re olution, we #assed something like a barrel, or else the yard or the mast of a essel, while many of these things, which had been on our le el when ? first o#ened my eyes u#on the wonders of the whirl#ool, were now high u# abo e us, and seemed to ha e mo ed but little from their original station! M? no longer hesitated what to do! ? resol ed to lash myself securely to the water cask u#on which ? now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water! ? attracted my brother's attention by signs, #ointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did e erything in my #ower to make him understand what ? was about to do! ? thought at length that he com#rehended my designCbut, whether this was the case or not, he shook his head des#airingly, and refused to mo e from his station by the ring$bolt! ?t was im#ossible to reach himK the emergency admitted of no delayK and so, with a bitter struggle, ? resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and #reci#itated myself with it into the sea, without another moment's hesitation! MThe result was #recisely what ? had ho#ed it might be! As it is myself who now tell you this taleCas you see that ? did esca#eCand as you are already in #ossession of the mode in which this esca#e was effected, and must therefore antici#ate all that ? ha e farther to sayC? will bring my story Luickly to conclusion! ?t might ha e been an hour, or thereabout, after my Luitting the smack, when, ha ing descended to a ast distance beneath me, it made three or four wild gyrations in ra#id succession, and, bearing my lo ed brother with it, #lunged headlong, at once and fore er, into the chaos of foam below! The barrel to which ? was attached sunk ery little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the s#ot at which ? lea#ed o erboard, before a great change took #lace in the character of the whirl#ool! The slo#e of the sides of the ast funnel became momently less and less stee#! The gyrations of the whirl grew, gradually, less and less iolent! By degrees, the froth and

the rainbow disa##eared, and the bottom of the gulf seemed slowly to u#rise! The sky was clear, the winds had gone down, and the full moon was setting radiantly in the west, when ? found myself on the surface of the ocean, in full iew of the shores of %ofoden, and abo e the s#ot where the #ool of the .oskoe$strXm had been! ?t was the hour of the slackCbut the sea still hea ed in mountainous wa es from the effects of the hurricane! ? was borne iolently into the channel of the ;trXm, and in a few minutes was hurried down the coast into the 'grounds' of the fishermen! A boat #icked me u#CeHhausted from fatigueCand )now that the danger was remo ed+ s#eechless from the memory of its horror! Those who drew me on board were my old mates and daily com#anionsCbut they knew me no more than they would ha e known a tra eller from the s#irit$land! .y hair which had been ra en$black the day before, was as white as you see it now! They say too that the whole eH#ression of my countenance had changed! ? told them my storyCthey did not belie e it! ? now tell it to youCand ? can scarcely eH#ect you to #ut more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of %ofoden!M >( anchor

'<8 BE.PE%E8 A8- >?; -?;A<'E," A=TE, T>E ery minute and elaborate #a#er by Arago, to say nothing of the summary in ';illiman's @ournal,' with the detailed statement just #ublished by %ieutenant .aury, it will not be su##osed, of course, that in offering a few hurried remarks in reference to 'on Bem#elen's disco ery, ? ha e any design to look at the subject in a scientific #oint of iew! .y object is sim#ly, in the first #lace, to say a few words of 'on Bem#elen himself )with whom, some years ago, ? had the honor of a slight #ersonal acLuaintance+, since e ery thing which concerns him must necessarily, at this moment, be of interestK and, in the second #lace, to look in a general way, and s#eculati ely, at the results of the disco ery! ?t may be as well, howe er, to #remise the cursory obser ations which ? ha e to offer, by denying, ery decidedly, what seems to be a general im#ression )gleaned, as usual in a case of this kind, from the news#a#ers+, iG!& that this disco ery, astounding as it unLuestionably is, is unantici#ated! By reference to the '-iary of ;ir >um#hrey -a y' )Aottle and .unroe, %ondon, ##! /*1+, it will be seen at ##! *9 and 2(, that this illustrious chemist had not only concei ed the idea now in Luestion, but had actually made no inconsiderable #rogress, eH#erimentally, in the ery identical analysis now so trium#hantly brought to an issue by 'on Bem#elen, who although he makes not the slightest allusion to it, is, without doubt )? say it unhesitatingly, and can #ro e it, if reLuired+, indebted to the '-iary' for at least the first hint of his own undertaking! The #aragra#h from the 'Aourier and EnLuirer,' which is now going the rounds of the #ress, and which #ur#orts to claim the in ention for a .r! Bissam, of Brunswick, .aine, a##ears to me, ? confess, a little a#ocry#hal, for se eral reasonsK although there is nothing either im#ossible or ery im#robable in the statement made! ? need not go into details! .y o#inion of the #aragra#h is founded #rinci#ally u#on its manner! ?t does not look true! Persons who are narrating facts, are

seldom so #articular as .r! Bissam seems to be, about day and date and #recise location! Besides, if .r! Bissam actually did come u#on the disco ery he says he did, at the #eriod designatedCnearly eight years ago Chow ha##ens it that he took no ste#s, on the instant, to rea# the immense benefits which the merest bum#kin must ha e known would ha e resulted to him indi idually, if not to the world at large, from the disco eryN ?t seems to me Luite incredible that any man of common understanding could ha e disco ered what .r! Bissam says he did, and yet ha e subseLuently acted so like a babyCso like an owlCas .r! Bissam admits that he did! By$the$way, who is .r! BissamN and is not the whole #aragra#h in the 'Aourier and EnLuirer' a fabrication got u# to 'make a talk'N ?t must be confessed that it has an amaGingly moon$hoaHy$air! 'ery little de#endence is to be #laced u#on it, in my humble o#inionK and if ? were not well aware, from eH#erience, how ery easily men of science are mystified, on #oints out of their usual range of inLuiry, ? should be #rofoundly astonished at finding so eminent a chemist as Professor -ra#er, discussing .r! Bissam's )or is it .r! FuiGGem'sN+ #retensions to the disco ery, in so serious a tone! But to return to the '-iary' of ;ir >um#hrey -a y! This #am#hlet was not designed for the #ublic eye, e en u#on the decease of the writer, as any #erson at all con ersant with authorshi# may satisfy himself at once by the slightest ins#ection of the style! At #age /9, for eHam#le, near the middle, we read, in reference to his researches about the #rotoHide of aGote& '?n less than half a minute the res#iration being continued, diminished gradually and were succeeded by analogous to gentle #ressure on all the muscles!' That the res#iration was not 'diminished,' is not only clear by the subseLuent conteHt, but by the use of the #lural, 'were!' The sentence, no doubt, was thus intended& '?n less than half a minute, the res#iration 3being continued, these feelings6 diminished gradually, and were succeeded by 3a sensation6 analogous to gentle #ressure on all the muscles!' A hundred similar instances go to show that the .;! so inconsiderately #ublished, was merely a rough note$book, meant only for the writer's own eye, but an ins#ection of the #am#hlet will con ince almost any thinking #erson of the truth of my suggestion! The fact is, ;ir >um#hrey -a y was about the last man in the world to commit himself on scientific to#ics! 8ot only had he a more than ordinary dislike to Luackery, but he was morbidly afraid of a##earing em#iricalK so that, howe er fully he might ha e been con inced that he was on the right track in the matter now in Luestion, he would ne er ha e s#oken out, until he had e ery thing ready for the most #ractical demonstration! ? erily belie e that his last moments would ha e been rendered wretched, could he ha e sus#ected that his wishes in regard to burning this '-iary' )full of crude s#eculations+ would ha e been unattended toK as, it seems, they were! ? say 'his wishes,' for that he meant to include this note$ book among the miscellaneous #a#ers directed 'to be burnt,' ? think there can be no manner of doubt! Whether it esca#ed the flames by good fortune or by bad, yet remains to be seen! That the #assages Luoted abo e, with the other similar ones referred to, ga e 'on Bem#elen the hint, ? do not in the slightest degree LuestionK but ? re#eat, it yet remains to be seen whether this momentous disco ery itself )momentous under any circumstances+ will be of ser ice or disser ice to mankind at large! That 'on Bem#elen and his immediate friends will rea# a rich har est, it would be folly to doubt for a moment! They will scarcely be so weak as not to

'realiGe,' in time, by large #urchases of houses and land, with other #ro#erty of intrinsic alue! ?n the brief account of 'on Bem#elen which a##eared in the '>ome @ournal,' and has since been eHtensi ely co#ied, se eral misa##rehensions of the German original seem to ha e been made by the translator, who #rofesses to ha e taken the #assage from a late number of the Presburg ';chnell#ost!' ''iele' has e idently been misconcei ed )as it often is+, and what the translator renders by 'sorrows,' is #robably 'lieden,' which, in its true ersion, 'sufferings,' would gi e a totally different com#leHion to the whole accountK but, of course, much of this is merely guess, on my #art! 'on Bem#elen, howe er, is by no means 'a misanthro#e,' in a##earance, at least, whate er he may be in fact! .y acLuaintance with him was casual altogetherK and ? am scarcely warranted in saying that ? know him at allK but to ha e seen and con ersed with a man of so #rodigious a notoriety as he has attained, or will attain in a few days, is not a small matter, as times go! 'The %iterary World' s#eaks of him, confidently, as a nati e of Presburg )misled, #erha#s, by the account in 'The >ome @ournal'+ but ? am #leased in being able to state #ositi ely, since ? ha e it from his own li#s, that he was born in 7tica, in the ;tate of 8ew "ork, although both his #arents, ? belie e, are of Presburg descent! The family is connected, in some way, with .aelGel, of Automaton$chess$#layer memory! ?n #erson, he is short and stout, with large, fat, blue eyes, sandy hair and whiskers, a wide but #leasing mouth, fine teeth, and ? think a ,oman nose! There is some defect in one of his feet! >is address is frank, and his whole manner noticeable for bonhomie! Altogether, he looks, s#eaks, and acts as little like 'a misanthro#e' as any man ? e er saw! We were fellow$ sojourners for a week about siH years ago, at Earl's >otel, in Pro idence, ,hode ?slandK and ? #resume that ? con ersed with him, at arious times, for some three or four hours altogether! >is #rinci#al to#ics were those of the day, and nothing that fell from him led me to sus#ect his scientific attainments! >e left the hotel before me, intending to go to 8ew "ork, and thence to BremenK it was in the latter city that his great disco ery was first made #ublicK or, rather, it was there that he was first sus#ected of ha ing made it! This is about all that ? #ersonally know of the now immortal 'on Bem#elenK but ? ha e thought that e en these few details would ha e interest for the #ublic! There can be little Luestion that most of the mar ellous rumors afloat about this affair are #ure in entions, entitled to about as much credit as the story of Aladdin's lam#K and yet, in a case of this kind, as in the case of the disco eries in Aalifornia, it is clear that the truth may be stranger than fiction! The following anecdote, at least, is so well authenticated, that we may recei e it im#licitly! 'on Bem#elen had ne er been e en tolerably well off during his residence at BremenK and often, it was well known, he had been #ut to eHtreme shifts in order to raise trifling sums! When the great eHcitement occurred about the forgery on the house of Gutsmuth Y Ao!, sus#icion was directed toward 'on Bem#elen, on account of his ha ing #urchased a considerable #ro#erty in Gas#eritch %ane, and his refusing, when Luestioned, to eH#lain how he became #ossessed of the #urchase money! >e was at length arrested, but nothing decisi e a##earing against him, was in the end set at liberty! The #olice, howe er, ke#t a strict watch u#on his mo ements, and thus disco ered that he left home freLuently, taking

always the same road, and in ariably gi ing his watchers the sli# in the neighborhood of that labyrinth of narrow and crooked #assages known by the flash name of the '-ondergat!' =inally, by dint of great #erse erance, they traced him to a garret in an old house of se en stories, in an alley called =latG#latG,Cand, coming u#on him suddenly, found him, as they imagined, in the midst of his counterfeiting o#erations! >is agitation is re#resented as so eHcessi e that the officers had not the slightest doubt of his guilt! After hand$cuffing him, they searched his room, or rather rooms, for it a##ears he occu#ied all the mansarde! <#ening into the garret where they caught him, was a closet, ten feet by eight, fitted u# with some chemical a##aratus, of which the object has not yet been ascertained! ?n one corner of the closet was a ery small furnace, with a glowing fire in it, and on the fire a kind of du#licate crucibleCtwo crucibles connected by a tube! <ne of these crucibles was nearly full of lead in a state of fusion, but not reaching u# to the a#erture of the tube, which was close to the brim! The other crucible had some liLuid in it, which, as the officers entered, seemed to be furiously dissi#ating in a#or! They relate that, on finding himself taken, Bem#elen seiGed the crucibles with both hands )which were encased in glo es that afterwards turned out to be asbestic+, and threw the contents on the tiled floor! ?t was now that they hand$cuffed himK and before #roceeding to ransack the #remises they searched his #erson, but nothing unusual was found about him, eHce#ting a #a#er #arcel, in his coat$ #ocket, containing what was afterward ascertained to be a miHture of antimony and some unknown substance, in nearly, but not Luite, eLual #ro#ortions! All attem#ts at analyGing the unknown substance ha e, so far, failed, but that it will ultimately be analyGed, is not to be doubted! Passing out of the closet with their #risoner, the officers went through a sort of ante$chamber, in which nothing material was found, to the chemist's slee#ing$room! They here rummaged some drawers and boHes, but disco ered only a few #a#ers, of no im#ortance, and some good coin, sil er and gold! At length, looking under the bed, they saw a large, common hair trunk, without hinges, has#, or lock, and with the to# lying carelessly across the bottom #ortion! 7#on attem#ting to draw this trunk out from under the bed, they found that, with their united strength )there were three of them, all #owerful men+, they 'could not stir it one inch!' .uch astonished at this, one of them crawled under the bed, and looking into the trunk, said& '8o wonder we couldn't mo e itCwhy it's full to the brim of old bits of brassO' Putting his feet, now, against the wall so as to get a good #urchase, and #ushing with all his force, while his com#anions #ulled with all theirs, the trunk, with much difficulty, was slid out from under the bed, and its contents eHamined! The su##osed brass with which it was filled was all in small, smooth #ieces, arying from the siGe of a #ea to that of a dollarK but the #ieces were irregular in sha#e, although more or less flat$ looking, u#on the whole, ' ery much as lead looks when thrown u#on the ground in a molten state, and there suffered to grow cool!' 8ow, not one of these officers for a moment sus#ected this metal to be any thing but brass! The idea of its being gold ne er entered their brains, of courseK how could such a wild fancy ha e entered itN And their astonishment may be well concei ed, when the neHt day it became known, all o er Bremen,

that the 'lot of brass' which they had carted so contem#tuously to the #olice office, without #utting themsel es to the trouble of #ocketing the smallest scra#, was not only goldCreal goldCbut gold far finer than any em#loyed in coinage$gold, in fact, absolutely #ure, irgin, without the slightest a##reciable alloy! ? need not go o er the details of 'on Bem#elen's confession )as far as it went+ and release, for these are familiar to the #ublic! That he has actually realiGed, in s#irit and in effect, if not to the letter, the old chimaera of the #hiloso#her's stone, no sane #erson is at liberty to doubt! The o#inions of Arago are, of course, entitled to the greatest considerationK but he is by no means infallibleK and what he says of bismuth, in his re#ort to the Academy, must be taken cum grano salis! The sim#le truth is, that u# to this #eriod all analysis has failedK and until 'on Bem#elen chooses to let us ha e the key to his own #ublished enigma, it is more than #robable that the matter will remain, for years, in statu Luo! All that as yet can fairly be said to be known is, that 'Pure gold can be made at will, and ery readily from lead in connection with certain other substances, in kind and in #ro#ortions, unknown!' ;#eculation, of course, is busy as to the immediate and ultimate results of this disco eryCa disco ery which few thinking #ersons will hesitate in referring to an increased interest in the matter of gold generally, by the late de elo#ments in AaliforniaK and this reflection brings us ine itably to anotherCthe eHceeding ino##ortuneness of 'on Bem#elen's analysis! ?f many were #re ented from ad enturing to Aalifornia, by the mere a##rehension that gold would so materially diminish in alue, on account of its #lentifulness in the mines there, as to render the s#eculation of going so far in search of it a doubtful oneCwhat im#ression will be wrought now, u#on the minds of those about to emigrate, and es#ecially u#on the minds of those actually in the mineral region, by the announcement of this astounding disco ery of 'on Bem#elenN a disco ery which declares, in so many words, that beyond its intrinsic worth for manufacturing #ur#oses )whate er that worth may be+, gold now is, or at least soon will be )for it cannot be su##osed that 'on Bem#elen can long retain his secret+, of no greater alue than lead, and of far inferior alue to sil er! ?t is, indeed, eHceedingly difficult to s#eculate #ros#ecti ely u#on the conseLuences of the disco ery, but one thing may be #ositi ely maintainedCthat the announcement of the disco ery siH months ago would ha e had material influence in regard to the settlement of Aalifornia! ?n Euro#e, as yet, the most noticeable results ha e been a rise of two hundred #er cent! in the #rice of lead, and nearly twenty$fi e #er cent! that of sil er! >( anchor

.E;.E,?A ,E'E%AT?<8 W>ATE'E, doubt may still en elo# the rationale of mesmerism,its startling facts are now almost uni ersally admitted! <f theselatter, those who doubt, are your mere doubters by #rofessionCanun#rofitable and disre#utable tribe! There can be no more absolute wasteof time than the attem#t to #ro e, at the #resent day, that man, bymere eHercise of will, can so im#ress his fellow, as to cast him into anabnormal condition, of

which the #henomena resemble ery closely thoseof death, or at least resemble them more nearly than they do the#henomena of any other normal condition within our cogniGanceK that,while in this state, the #erson so im#ressed em#loys only with effort,and then feebly, the eHternal organs of sense, yet #ercei es, withkeenly refined #erce#tion, and through channels su##osed unknown,matters beyond the sco#e of the #hysical organsK that, moreo er, hisintellectual faculties are wonderfully eHalted and in igoratedK that hissym#athies with the #erson so im#ressing him are #rofoundK and, finally,that his susce#tibility to the im#ression increases with its freLuency,while, in the same #ro#ortion, the #eculiar #henomena elicited are moreeHtended and more #ronounced! ? say that these Cwhich are the laws of mesmerism in itsgeneral featuresCit would be su#ererogation to demonstrateK nor shall ?inflict u#on my readers so needless a demonstrationK to$day! .y #ur#oseat #resent is a ery different one indeed! ? am im#elled, e en inthe teeth of a world of #rejudice, to detail without comment the eryremarkable substance of a colloLuy, occurring between a slee#$waker andmyself! ? had been long in the habit of mesmeriGing the #erson inLuestion, ).r! 'ankirk,+ and the usual acute susce#tibility andeHaltation of the mesmeric #erce#tion had su#er ened! =or many months hehad been laboring under confirmed #hthisis, the more distressing effectsof which had been relie ed by my mani#ulationsK and on the night ofWednesday, the fifteenth instant, ? was summoned to his bedside! The in alid was suffering with acute #ain in the region of theheart, and breathed with great difficulty, ha ing all the ordinarysym#toms of asthma! ?n s#asms such as these he had usually found relieffrom the a##lication of mustard to the ner ous centres, but to$ nightthis had been attem#ted in ain! As ? entered his room he greeted me with a cheerful smile, andalthough e idently in much bodily #ain, a##eared to be, mentally, Luiteat ease! M? sent for you to$night,M he said, Mnot so much to administerto my bodily ailment, as to satisfy me concerning certain #sychalim#ressions which, of late, ha e occasioned me much anHiety andsur#rise! ? need not tell you how sce#tical ? ha e hitherto been on theto#ic of the soul's immortality! ? cannot deny that there has alwayseHisted, as if in that ery soul which ? ha e been denying, a aguehalf$sentiment of its own eHistence! But this half$ sentiment at notime amounted to con iction! With it my reason had nothing to do!All attem#ts at logical inLuiry resulted, indeed, in lea ing me moresce#tical than before! ? had been ad ised to study Aousin! ? studiedhim in his own works as well as in those of his Euro#ean and Americanechoes! The 'Aharles Elwood' of .r! Brownson, for eHam#le, was #lacedin my hands! ? read it with #rofound attention! Throughout ? found itlogical, but the #ortions which were not merely logical were unha##ilythe initial arguments of the disbelie ing hero of the book! ?n hissumming u# it seemed e ident to me that the reasoner had not e ensucceeded in con incing himself! >is end had #lainly forgotten hisbeginning, like the go ernment of Trinculo! ?n short, ? was not long in#ercei ing that if man is to be intellectually con inced of his ownimmortality, he will ne er be so con inced by the mere abstractionswhich ha e been so long the fashion of the moralists of England, of=rance, and of Germany! Abstractions may amuse and eHercise, but take nohold on the mind! >ere u#on earth, at least, #hiloso#hy, ? am #ersuaded,will always in ain call u#on us to look u#on Lualities as things! Thewill may assentCthe soulCthe intellect, ne er! M? re#eat, then, that ? only half felt, and ne er intellectuallybelie ed! But

latterly there has been a certain dee#ening of thefeeling, until it has come so nearly to resemble the acLuiescence ofreason, that ? find it difficult to distinguish between the two! ? amenabled, too, #lainly to trace this effect to the mesmeric influence!? cannot better eH#lain my meaning than by the hy#othesis that themesmeric eHaltation enables me to #ercei e a train of ratiocinationwhich, in my abnormal eHistence, con inces, but which, in fullaccordance with the mesmeric #henomena, does not eHtend, eHce#t throughits effect, into my normal condition! ?n slee#$ waking, the reasoningand its conclusionCthe cause and its effectCare #resent together! ?nmy natural state, the cause anishing, the effect only, and #erha#s only#artially, remains! MThese considerations ha e led me to think that some goodresults might ensue from a series of well$ directed Luestions#ro#ounded to me while mesmeriGed! "ou ha e often obser ed the #rofoundself$cogniGance e inced by the slee#$wakerCthe eHtensi e knowledge hedis#lays u#on all #oints relating to the mesmeric condition itselfK andfrom this self$cogniGance may be deduced hints for the #ro#er conduct ofa catechism!M ? consented of course to make this eH#eriment! A few #assesthrew .r! 'ankirk into the mesmeric slee#! >is breathing becameimmediately more easy, and he seemed to suffer no #hysical uneasiness!The following con ersation then ensued&C'! in the dialogue re#resentingthe #atient, and P! myself! P! Are you aslee#N '! "esCno ? would rather slee# more soundly! P! 3After a few more #asses!6 -o you slee# nowN '! "es! P! >ow do you think your #resent illness will resultN '! 3After a long hesitation and s#eaking as if with effort!6 ? must die! P! -oes the idea of death afflict youN '! 3'ery Luickly!6 8oCnoO P! Are you #leased with the #ros#ectN '! ?f ? were awake ? should like to die, but now it is no matter! The mesmeric condition is so near death as to content me! P! ? wish you would eH#lain yourself, .r! 'ankirk! '! ? am willing to do so, but it reLuires more effort than ? feel able to make! "ou do not Luestion me #ro#erly! P! What then shall ? askN '! "ou must begin at the beginning! P! The beginningO but where is the beginningN '! "ou know that the beginning is G<-! 3This was said in a low, fluctuating tone, and with e ery sign of the most #rofound eneration!6 P! What then is GodN '! 3>esitating for many minutes!6 ? cannot tell! P! ?s not God s#iritN '! While ? was awake ? knew what you meant by Ms#irit,M but now it seems only a wordCsuch for instance as truth, beautyCa Luality, ? mean! P! ?s not God immaterialN '! There is no immaterialityCit is a mere word! That which is not matter, is not at allCunless Lualities are things! P! ?s God, then, materialN '! 8o! 3This re#ly startled me ery much!6 P! What then is heN '! 3After a long #ause, and mutteringly!6 ? seeCbut it is a thing difficult to tell! 3Another long #ause!6 >e is not s#irit, for he eHists! 8or is he matter, as you understand it! But there are gradations of

matter of which man knows nothingK the grosser im#elling the finer, the finer #er ading the grosser! The atmos#here, for eHam#le, im#els the electric #rinci#le, while the electric #rinci#le #ermeates the atmos#here! These gradations of matter increase in rarity or fineness, until we arri e at a matter un#articledCwithout #articlesCindi isibleCone and here the law of im#ulsion and #ermeation is modified! The ultimate, or un#articled matter, not only #ermeates all things but im#els all thingsCand thus is all things within itself! This matter is God! What men attem#t to embody in the word Mthought,M is this matter in motion! P! The meta#hysicians maintain that all action is reducible to motion and thinking, and that the latter is the origin of the former! '! "esK and ? now see the confusion of idea! .otion is the action of mind Cnot of thinking! The un#articled matter, or God, in Luiescence, is )as nearly as we can concei e it+ what men call mind! And the #ower of self$ mo ement )eLui alent in effect to human olition+ is, in the un#articled matter, the result of its unity and omni#re alenceK how ? know not, and now clearly see that ? shall ne er know! But the un#articled matter, set in motion by a law, or Luality, eHisting within itself, is thinking! P! Aan you gi e me no more #recise idea of what you term the un#articled matterN '! The matters of which man is cogniGant, esca#e the senses in gradation! We ha e, for eHam#le, a metal, a #iece of wood, a dro# of water, the atmos#here, a gas, caloric, electricity, the luminiferous ether! 8ow we call all these things matter, and embrace all matter in one general definitionK but in s#ite 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 s#irit, or with nihility! The only consideration which restrains us is our conce#tion of its atomic constitutionK and here, e en, we ha e to seek aid from our notion of an atom, as something #ossessing in infinite minuteness, solidity, #al#ability, weight! -estroy 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! =or want of a better word we might term it s#irit! Take, now, a ste# beyond the luminiferous etherCconcei e a matter as much more rare than the ether, as this ether is more rare than the metal, and we arri e at once )in s#ite of all the school dogmas+ at a uniLue massCan un#articled matter! =or although we may admit infinite littleness in the atoms themsel es, the infinitude of littleness in the s#aces between them is an absurdity! There will be a #ointCthere will be a degree of rarity, at which, if the atoms are sufficiently numerous, the inters#aces must anish, and the mass absolutely coalesce! But the consideration of the atomic constitution being now taken away, the nature of the mass ine itably glides into what we concei e of s#irit! ?t is clear, howe er, that it is as fully matter as before! The truth is, it is im#ossible to concei e s#irit, since it is im#ossible to imagine what is not! When we flatter oursel es that we ha e formed its conce#tion, we ha e merely decei ed our understanding by the consideration of infinitely rarified matter! P! There seems to me an insurmountable objection to the idea of absolute coalescenceKCand that is the ery slight resistance eH#erienced by the hea enly bodies in their re olutions through s#aceCa resistance now ascertained, it is true, to eHist in some degree, but which is, ne ertheless, so slight as to ha e been Luite o erlooked by the sagacity

e en of 8ewton! We know that the resistance of bodies is, chiefly, in #ro#ortion to their density! Absolute coalescence is absolute density! Where there are no inters#aces, there can be no yielding! An ether, absolutely dense, would #ut an infinitely more effectual sto# to the #rogress of a star than would an ether of adamant or of iron! '! "our objection is answered with an ease which is nearly in the ratio of its a##arent unanswerability!CAs regards the #rogress of the star, it can make no difference whether the star #asses 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 #assage through an ether& for, howe er rare this ether be su##osed, it would #ut a sto# to all sidereal re olution in a ery far briefer #eriod than has been admitted by those astronomers who ha e endea ored to slur o er a #oint which they found it im#ossible to com#rehend! The retardation actually eH#erienced is, on the other hand, about that which might be eH#ected from the friction of the ether in the instantaneous #assage through the orb! ?n the one case, the retarding force is momentary and com#lete within itselfCin the other it is endlessly accumulati e! P! But in all thisCin this identification of mere matter with GodCis there nothing of irre erenceN 3? was forced to re#eat this Luestion before the slee#$waker fully com#rehended my meaning!6 '! Aan you say why matter should be less re erenced than mindN But you forget that the matter of which ? s#eak is, in all res#ects, the ery MmindM or Ms#iritM of the schools, so far as regards its high ca#acities, and is, moreo er, the MmatterM of these schools at the same time! God, with all the #owers attributed to s#irit, is but the #erfection of matter! P! "ou assert, then, that the un#articled matter, in motion, is thoughtN '! ?n general, this motion is the uni ersal thought of the uni ersal mind! This thought creates! All created things are but the thoughts of God! P! "ou say, Min general!M '! "es! The uni ersal mind is God! =or new indi idualities, matter is necessary! P! But you now s#eak of MmindM and MmatterM as do the meta#hysicians! '! "esCto a oid confusion! When ? say Mmind,M ? mean the un#articled or ultimate matterK by Mmatter,M ? intend all else! P! "ou were saying that Mfor new indi idualities matter is necessary!M '! "esK for mind, eHisting unincor#orate, is merely God! To create indi idual, thinking beings, it was necessary to incarnate #ortions of the di ine mind! Thus man is indi idualiGed! -i ested of cor#orate in estiture, he were God! 8ow, the #articular motion of the incarnated #ortions of the un#articled matter is the thought of manK as the motion of the whole is that of God! P! "ou say that di ested of the body man will be GodN '! 3After much hesitation!6 ? could not ha e said thisK it is an absurdity! P! 3,eferring to my notes!6 "ou did say that Mdi ested of cor#orate in estiture man were God!M '! And this is true! .an thus di ested would be GodCwould be unindi idualiGed! But he can ne er be thus di estedCat least ne er will beCelse we must imagine an action of God returning u#on itselfCa

#ur#oseless and futile action! .an is a creature! Areatures are thoughts of God! ?t is the nature of thought to be irre ocable! P! ? do not com#rehend! "ou say that man will ne er #ut off the bodyN '! ? say that he will ne er be bodiless! P! EH#lain! '! There are two bodiesCthe rudimental and the com#leteK corres#onding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly! What we call Mdeath,M is but the #ainful metamor#hosis! <ur #resent incarnation is #rogressi e, #re#aratory, tem#orary! <ur future is #erfected, ultimate, immortal! The ultimate life is the full design! P! But of the worm's metamor#hosis we are #al#ably cogniGant! '! We, certainlyCbut not the worm! The matter of which our rudimental body is com#osed, is within the ken of the organs of that bodyK or, more distinctly, our rudimental organs are ada#ted to the matter of which is formed the rudimental bodyK but not to that of which the ultimate is com#osed! The ultimate body thus esca#es our rudimental senses, and we #ercei e only the shell which falls, in decaying, from the inner formK not that inner form itselfK but this inner form, as well as the shell, is a##reciable by those who ha e already acLuired the ultimate life! P! "ou ha e often said that the mesmeric state ery nearly resembles death! >ow is thisN '! When ? say that it resembles death, ? mean that it resembles the ultimate lifeK for when ? am entranced the senses of my rudimental life are in abeyance, and ? #ercei e eHternal things directly, without organs, through a medium which ? shall em#loy in the ultimate, unorganiGed life! P! 7norganiGedN '! "esK organs are contri ances by which the indi idual is brought into sensible relation with #articular classes and forms of matter, to the eHclusion of other classes and forms! The organs of man are ada#ted to his rudimental condition, and to that onlyK his ultimate condition, being unorganiGed, is of unlimited com#rehension in all #oints but oneCthe nature of the olition of GodCthat is to say, the motion of the un#articled matter! "ou will ha e a distinct idea of the ultimate body by concei ing it to be entire brain! This it is notK but a conce#tion of this nature will bring you near a com#rehension of what it is! A luminous body im#arts ibration to the luminiferous ether! The ibrations generate similar ones within the retinaK these again communicate similar ones to the o#tic ner e! The ner e con eys similar ones to the brainK the brain, also, similar ones to the un#articled matter which #ermeates it! The motion of this latter is thought, of which #erce#tion is the first undulation! This is the mode by which the mind of the rudimental life communicates with the eHternal worldK and this eHternal world is, to the rudimental life, limited, through the idiosyncrasy of its organs! But in the ultimate, unorganiGed life, the eHternal world reaches the whole body, )which is of a substance ha ing affinity to brain, as ? ha e said,+ with no other inter ention than that of an infinitely rarer ether than e en the luminiferousK and to this etherCin unison with itCthe whole body ibrates, setting in motion the un#articled matter which #ermeates it! ?t is to the absence of idiosyncratic organs, therefore, that we must attribute the nearly unlimited #erce#tion of the ultimate life! To rudimental beings, organs are the cages necessary to confine them until fledged! P! "ou s#eak of rudimental Mbeings!M Are there other rudimental thinking beings than manN

'! The multitudinous conglomeration of rare matter into nebulU, #lanets, suns, and other bodies which are neither nebulU, suns, nor #lanets, is for the sole #ur#ose of su##lying #abulum for the idiosyncrasy of the organs of an infinity of rudimental beings! But for the necessity of the rudimental, #rior to the ultimate life, there would ha e been no bodies such as these! Each of these is tenanted by a distinct ariety of organic, rudimental, thinking creatures! ?n all, the organs ary with the features of the #lace tenanted! At death, or metamor#hosis, these creatures, enjoying the ultimate lifeCimmortalityCand cogniGant of all secrets but the one, act all things and #ass e erywhere by mere olition& Cindwelling, not the stars, which to us seem the sole #al#abilities, and for the accommodation of which we blindly deem s#ace createdCbut that ;PAAE itselfCthat infinity of which the truly substanti e astness swallows u# the star$shadowsCblotting them out as non$entities from the #erce#tion of the angels! P! "ou say that Mbut for the necessity of the rudimental lifeM there would ha e been no stars! But why this necessityN '! ?n the inorganic life, as well as in the inorganic matter generally, there is nothing to im#ede the action of one sim#le uniLue lawCthe -i ine 'olition! With the iew of #roducing im#ediment, the organic life and matter, )com#leH, substantial, and law$encumbered,+ were contri ed! P! But againCwhy need this im#ediment ha e been #roducedN '! The result of law in iolate is #erfectionCrightCnegati e ha##iness! The result of law iolate is im#erfection, wrong, #ositi e #ain! Through the im#ediments afforded by the number, com#leHity, and substantiality of the laws of organic life and matter, the iolation of law is rendered, to a certain eHtent, #racticable! Thus #ain, which in the inorganic life is im#ossible, is #ossible in the organic! P! But to what good end is #ain thus rendered #ossibleN '! All things are either good or bad by com#arison! A sufficient analysis will show that #leasure, in all cases, is but the contrast of #ain! Positi e #leasure is a mere idea! To be ha##y at any one #oint we must ha e suffered at the same! 8e er to suffer would ha e been ne er to ha e been blessed! But it has been shown that, in the inorganic life, #ain cannot be thus the necessity for the organic! The #ain of the #rimiti e life of Earth, is the sole basis of the bliss of the ultimate life in >ea en! P! ;till, there is one of your eH#ressions which ? find it im#ossible to com#rehendCMthe truly substanti e astness of infinity!M '! This, #robably, is because you ha e no sufficiently generic conce#tion of the term MsubstanceM itself! We must not regard it as a Luality, but as a sentiment&Cit is the #erce#tion, in thinking beings, of the ada#tation of matter to their organiGation! There are many things on the Earth, which would be nihility to the inhabitants of 'enusCmany things isible and tangible in 'enus, which we could not be brought to a##reciate as eHisting at all! But to the inorganic beingsCto the angelsC the whole of the un#articled matter is substanceCthat is to say, the whole of what we term Ms#aceM is to them the truest substantialityKCthe stars, meantime, through what we consider their materiality, esca#ing the angelic sense, just in #ro#ortion as the un#articled matter, through what we consider its immateriality, eludes the organic! As the slee#$waker #ronounced these latter words, in a feeble tone, ? obser ed on his countenance a singular eH#ression, which somewhat alarmed me, and induced me to awake him at once! 8o sooner had ? done this, than,

with a bright smile irradiating all his features, he fell back u#on his #illow and eH#ired! ? noticed that in less than a minute afterward his cor#se had all the stern rigidity of stone! >is brow was of the coldness of ice! Thus, ordinarily, should it ha e a##eared, only after long #ressure from AGrael's hand! >ad the slee#$waker, indeed, during the latter #ortion of his discourse, been addressing me from out the region of the shadowsN >( anchor

T>E =AAT; ?8 T>E AA;E <= .! 'A%-E.A, <= course ? shall not #retend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the eHtraordinary case of .! 'aldemar has eHcited discussion! ?t would ha e been a miracle had it not$es#ecially under the circumstances! Through the desire of all #arties concerned, to kee# the affair from the #ublic, at least for the #resent, or until we had farther o##ortunities for in estigationCthrough our endea ors to effect thisCa garbled or eHaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source of many un#leasant misre#resentations, and, ery naturally, of a great deal of disbelief! ?t is now rendered necessary that ? gi e the factsCas far as ? com#rehend them myself! They are, succinctly, these& .y attention, for the last three years, had been re#eatedly drawn to the subject of .esmerismK and, about nine months ago it occurred to me, Luite suddenly, that in the series of eH#eriments made hitherto, there had been a ery remarkable and most unaccountable omission&Cno #erson had as yet been mesmeriGed in articulo mortis! ?t remained to be seen, first, whether, in such condition, there eHisted in the #atient any susce#tibility to the magnetic influenceK secondly, whether, if any eHisted, it was im#aired or increased by the conditionK thirdly, to what eHtent, or for how long a #eriod, the encroachments of -eath might be arrested by the #rocess! There were other #oints to be ascertained, but these most eHcited my curiosityCthe last in es#ecial, from the immensely im#ortant character of its conseLuences! ?n looking around me for some subject by whose means ? might test these #articulars, ? was brought to think of my friend, .! Ernest 'aldemar, the well$known com#iler of the MBibliotheca =orensica,M and author )under the nom de #lume of ?ssachar .arH+ of the Polish ersions of MWallensteinM and MGargantua!M .! 'aldemar, who has resided #rinci#ally at >arlaem, 8!"!, since the year /290, is )or was+ #articularly noticeable for the eHtreme s#areness of his #ersonChis lower limbs much resembling those of @ohn ,andol#hK and, also, for the whiteness of his whiskers, in iolent contrast to the blackness of his hairCthe latter, in conseLuence, being ery generally mistaken for a wig! >is tem#erament was markedly ner ous, and rendered him a good subject for mesmeric eH#eriment! <n two or three occasions ? had #ut him to slee# with little difficulty, but was disa##ointed in other results which his #eculiar constitution had naturally led me to antici#ate! >is will was at no #eriod #ositi ely, or thoroughly, under my control, and in regard to clair oyance, ? could accom#lish with him nothing to be relied u#on! ? always attributed my failure at these #oints to the disordered state of his health! =or some months #re ious to my becoming acLuainted with him, his #hysicians had

declared him in a confirmed #hthisis! ?t was his custom, indeed, to s#eak calmly of his a##roaching dissolution, as of a matter neither to be a oided nor regretted! When the ideas to which ? ha e alluded first occurred to me, it was of course ery natural that ? should think of .! 'aldemar! ? knew the steady #hiloso#hy of the man too well to a##rehend any scru#les from himK and he had no relati es in America who would be likely to interfere! ? s#oke to him frankly u#on the subjectK and, to my sur#rise, his interest seemed i idly eHcited! ? say to my sur#rise, for, although he had always yielded his #erson freely to my eH#eriments, he had ne er before gi en me any tokens of sym#athy with what ? did! >is disease was of that character which would admit of eHact calculation in res#ect to the e#och of its termination in deathK and it was finally arranged between us that he would send for me about twenty$four hours before the #eriod announced by his #hysicians as that of his decease! ?t is now rather more than se en months since ? recei ed, from .! 'aldemar himself, the subjoined note& .y -EA, PC$, "ou may as well come now! -CC and =CC are agreed that ? cannot hold out beyond to$morrow midnightK and ? think they ha e hit the time ery nearly! 'A%-E.A, ? recei ed this note within half an hour after it was written, and in fifteen minutes more ? was in the dying man's chamber! ? had not seen him for ten days, and was a##alled by the fearful alteration which the brief inter al had wrought in him! >is face wore a leaden hueK the eyes were utterly lustrelessK and the emaciation was so eHtreme that the skin had been broken through by the cheek$bones! >is eH#ectoration was eHcessi e! The #ulse was barely #erce#tible! >e retained, ne ertheless, in a ery remarkable manner, both his mental #ower and a certain degree of #hysical strength! >e s#oke with distinctnessCtook some #alliati e medicines without aidCand, when ? entered the room, was occu#ied in #enciling memoranda in a #ocket$book! >e was #ro##ed u# in the bed by #illows! -octors -CC and =CC were in attendance! After #ressing 'aldemar's hand, ? took these gentlemen aside, and obtained from them a minute account of the #atient's condition! The left lung had been for eighteen months in a semi$osseous or cartilaginous state, and was, of course, entirely useless for all #ur#oses of itality! The right, in its u##er #ortion, was also #artially, if not thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region was merely a mass of #urulent tubercles, running one into another! ;e eral eHtensi e #erforations eHistedK and, at one #oint, #ermanent adhesion to the ribs had taken #lace! These a##earances in the right lobe were of com#arati ely recent date! The ossification had #roceeded with ery unusual ra#idityK no sign of it had been disco ered a month before, and the adhesion had only been obser ed during the three #re ious days! ?nde#endently of the #hthisis, the #atient was sus#ected of aneurism of the aortaK but on this #oint the osseous sym#toms rendered an eHact diagnosis im#ossible! ?t was the o#inion of both #hysicians that .! 'aldemar would die about midnight on the morrow );unday+! ?t was then se en o'clock on ;aturday e ening! <n Luitting the in alid's bed$side to hold con ersation with myself, -octors -CC and =CC had bidden him a final farewell! ?t had not been their intention to returnK but, at my reLuest, they agreed to look in u#on the #atient about ten the neHt night!

When they had gone, ? s#oke freely with .! 'aldemar on the subject of his a##roaching dissolution, as well as, more #articularly, of the eH#eriment #ro#osed! >e still #rofessed himself Luite willing and e en anHious to ha e it made, and urged me to commence it at once! A male and a female nurse were in attendanceK but ? did not feel myself altogether at liberty to engage in a task of this character with no more reliable witnesses than these #eo#le, in case of sudden accident, might #ro e! ? therefore #ost#oned o#erations until about eight the neHt night, when the arri al of a medical student with whom ? had some acLuaintance, ).r! Theodore %C l,+ relie ed me from farther embarrassment! ?t had been my design, originally, to wait for the #hysiciansK but ? was induced to #roceed, first, by the urgent entreaties of .! 'aldemar, and secondly, by my con iction that ? had not a moment to lose, as he was e idently sinking fast! .r! %Cl 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 ? now ha e to relate is, for the most #art, either condensed or co#ied erbatim! ?t wanted about fi e minutes of eight when, taking the #atient's hand, ? begged him to state, as distinctly as he could, to .r! %Cl, whether he ).! 'aldemar+ was entirely willing that ? should make the eH#eriment of mesmeriGing him in his then condition! >e re#lied feebly, yet Luite audibly, M"es, ? wish to be! ? fear you ha e mesmeriGedMCadding immediately afterwards, Mdeferred it too long!M While he s#oke thus, ? commenced the #asses which ? had already found most effectual in subduing him! >e was e idently influenced with the first lateral stroke of my hand across his foreheadK but although ? eHerted all my #owers, no further #erce#tible effect was induced until some minutes after ten o'clock, when -octors -C and =C called, according to a##ointment! ? eH#lained to them, in a few words, what ? designed, and as they o##osed no objection, saying that the #atient was already in the death agony, ? #roceeded without hesitationCeHchanging, howe er, the lateral #asses for downward ones, and directing my gaGe entirely into the right eye of the sufferer! By this time his #ulse was im#erce#tible and his breathing was stertorous, and at inter als of half a minute! This condition was nearly unaltered for a Luarter of an hour! At the eH#iration of this #eriod, howe er, a natural although a ery dee# sigh esca#ed the bosom of the dying man, and the stertorous breathing ceasedC that is to say, its stertorousness was no longer a##arentK the inter als were undiminished! The #atient's eHtremities were of an icy coldness! At fi e minutes before ele en ? #ercei ed uneLui ocal signs of the mesmeric influence! The glassy roll of the eye was changed for that eH#ression of uneasy inward eHamination which is ne er seen eHce#t in cases of slee#$waking, and which it is Luite im#ossible to mistake! With a few ra#id lateral #asses ? made the lids Lui er, as in inci#ient slee#, and with a few more ? closed them altogether! ? was not satisfied, howe er, with this, but continued the mani#ulations igorously, and with the fullest eHertion of the will, until ? had com#letely stiffened the limbs of the slumberer, after #lacing them in a seemingly easy #osition! The legs were at full lengthK the arms were nearly so, and re#osed on the bed at a moderate distance from the loin! The head was ery slightly ele ated! When ? had accom#lished this, it was fully midnight, and ? reLuested the gentlemen #resent to eHamine .! 'aldemar's condition! After a few

eH#eriments, they admitted him to be an unusually #erfect state of mesmeric trance! The curiosity of both the #hysicians was greatly eHcited! -r! -CC resol ed at once to remain with the #atient all night, while -r! =CC took lea e with a #romise to return at daybreak! .r! %Cl and the nurses remained! We left .! 'aldemar entirely undisturbed until about three o'clock in the morning, when ? a##roached him and found him in #recisely the same condition as when -r! =Cwent awayCthat is to say, he lay in the same #ositionK the #ulse was im#erce#tibleK the breathing was gentle )scarcely noticeable, unless through the a##lication of a mirror to the li#s+K the eyes were closed naturallyK and the limbs were as rigid and as cold as marble! ;till, the general a##earance was certainly not that of death! As ? a##roached .! 'aldemar ? made a kind of half effort to influence his right arm into #ursuit of my own, as ? #assed the latter gently to and fro abo e his #erson! ?n such eH#eriments with this #atient, ? had ne er #erfectly succeeded before, and assuredly ? had little thought of succeeding nowK but to my astonishment, his arm ery readily, although feebly, followed e ery direction ? assigned it with mine! ? determined to haGard a few words of con ersation! M.! 'aldemar,M ? said, Mare you aslee#NM >e made no answer, but ? #ercei ed a tremor about the li#s, and was thus induced to re#eat the Luestion, again and again! At its third re#etition, his whole frame was agitated by a ery slight shi eringK the eyelids unclosed themsel es so far as to dis#lay a white line of the ballK the li#s mo ed sluggishly, and from between them, in a barely audible whis#er, issued the words& M"esKCaslee# now! -o not wake meOClet me die soOM ? here felt the limbs and found them as rigid as e er! The right arm, as before, obeyed the direction of my hand! ? Luestioned the slee#$waker again& M-o you still feel #ain in the breast, .! 'aldemarNM The answer now was immediate, but e en less audible than before& M8o #ain C? am dying!M ? did not think it ad isable to disturb him farther just then, and nothing more was said or done until the arri al of -r! =C, who came a little before sunrise, and eH#ressed unbounded astonishment at finding the #atient still ali e! After feeling the #ulse and a##lying a mirror to the li#s, he reLuested me to s#eak to the slee#$waker again! ? did so, saying& M.! 'aldemar, do you still slee#NM As before, some minutes ela#sed ere a re#ly was madeK and during the inter al the dying man seemed to be collecting his energies to s#eak! At my fourth re#etition of the Luestion, he said ery faintly, almost inaudibly& M"esK still aslee#Cdying!M ?t was now the o#inion, or rather the wish, of the #hysicians, that .! 'aldemar should be suffered to remain undisturbed in his #resent a##arently tranLuil condition, until death should su#er eneCand this, it was generally agreed, must now take #lace within a few minutes! ? concluded, howe er, to s#eak to him once more, and merely re#eated my #re ious Luestion! While ? s#oke, there came a marked change o er the countenance of the slee#$waker! The eyes rolled themsel es slowly o#en, the #u#ils disa##earing u#wardlyK the skin generally assumed a cada erous hue, resembling not so much #archment as white #a#erK and the circular hectic

s#ots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of each cheek, went out at once! ? use this eH#ression, because the suddenness of their de#arture #ut me in mind of nothing so much as the eHtinguishment of a candle by a #uff of the breath! The u##er li#, at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth, which it had #re iously co ered com#letelyK while the lower jaw fell with an audible jerk, lea ing the mouth widely eHtended, and disclosing in full iew the swollen and blackened tongue! ? #resume that no member of the #arty then #resent had been unaccustomed to death$bed horrorsK but so hideous beyond conce#tion was the a##earance of .! 'aldemar at this moment, that there was a general shrinking back from the region of the bed! ? now feel that ? ha e reached a #oint of this narrati e at which e ery reader will be startled into #ositi e disbelief! ?t is my business, howe er, sim#ly to #roceed! There was no longer the faintest sign of itality in .! 'aldemarK and concluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of the nurses, when a strong ibratory motion was obser able in the tongue! This continued for #erha#s a minute! At the eH#iration of this #eriod, there issued from the distended and motionless jaws a oiceCsuch as it would be madness in me to attem#t describing! There are, indeed, two or three e#ithets which might be considered as a##licable to it in #artK ? might say, for eHam#le, that the sound was harsh, and broken and hollowK but the hideous whole is indescribable, for the sim#le reason that no similar sounds ha e e er jarred u#on the ear of humanity! There were two #articulars, ne ertheless, which ? thought then, and still think, might fairly be stated as characteristic of the intonationCas well ada#ted to con ey some idea of its unearthly #eculiarity! ?n the first #lace, the oice seemed to reach our earsCat least mineCfrom a ast distance, or from some dee# ca ern within the earth! ?n the second #lace, it im#ressed me )? fear, indeed, that it will be im#ossible to make myself com#rehended+ as gelatinous or glutinous matters im#ress the sense of touch! ? ha e s#oken both of MsoundM and of M oice!M ? mean to say that the sound was one of distinctCof e en wonderfully, thrillingly distinctC syllabification! .! 'aldemar s#okeCob iously in re#ly to the Luestion ? had #ro#ounded to him a few minutes before! ? had asked him, it will be remembered, if he still sle#t! >e now said& M"esKCnoKC? ha e been slee#ingCand nowCnowC? am dead!M 8o #erson #resent e en affected to deny, or attem#ted to re#ress, the unutterable, shuddering horror which these few words, thus uttered, were so well calculated to con ey! .r! %Cl )the student+ swooned! The nurses immediately left the chamber, and could not be induced to return! .y own im#ressions ? would not #retend to render intelligible to the reader! =or nearly an hour, we busied oursel es, silentlyCwithout the utterance of a wordCin endea ors to re i e .r! %Cl! When he came to himself, we addressed oursel es again to an in estigation of .! 'aldemar's condition! ?t remained in all res#ects as ? ha e last described it, with the eHce#tion that the mirror no longer afforded e idence of res#iration! An attem#t to draw blood from the arm failed! ? should mention, too, that this limb was no farther subject to my will! ? endea ored in ain to make it follow the direction of my hand! The only real indication, indeed, of the mesmeric influence, was now found in the ibratory mo ement of the tongue, whene er ? addressed .! 'aldemar a Luestion! >e seemed to be making an effort to re#ly, but had no longer sufficient olition! To

Lueries #ut to him by any other #erson than myself he seemed utterly insensibleCalthough ? endea ored to #lace each member of the com#any in mesmeric ra##ort with him! ? belie e that ? ha e now related all that is necessary to an understanding of the slee#$waker's state at this e#och! <ther nurses were #rocuredK and at ten o'clock ? left the house in com#any with the two #hysicians and .r! %Cl! ?n the afternoon we all called again to see the #atient! >is condition remained #recisely the same! We had now some discussion as to the #ro#riety and feasibility of awakening himK but we had little difficulty in agreeing that no good #ur#ose would be ser ed by so doing! ?t was e ident that, so far, death )or what is usually termed death+ had been arrested by the mesmeric #rocess! ?t seemed clear to us all that to awaken .! 'aldemar would be merely to insure his instant, or at least his s#eedy dissolution! =rom this #eriod until the close of last weekCan inter al of nearly se en monthsCwe continued to make daily calls at .! 'aldemar's house, accom#anied, now and then, by medical and other friends! All this time the slee#er$waker remained eHactly as ? ha e last described him! The nurses' attentions were continual! ?t was on =riday last that we finally resol ed to make the eH#eriment of awakening or attem#ting to awaken himK and it is the )#erha#s+ unfortunate result of this latter eH#eriment which has gi en rise to so much discussion in #ri ate circlesCto so much of what ? cannot hel# thinking unwarranted #o#ular feeling! =or the #ur#ose of relie ing .! 'aldemar from the mesmeric trance, ? made use of the customary #asses! These, for a time, were unsuccessful! The first indication of re i al was afforded by a #artial descent of the iris! ?t was obser ed, as es#ecially remarkable, that this lowering of the #u#il was accom#anied by the #rofuse out$flowing of a yellowish ichor )from beneath the lids+ of a #ungent and highly offensi e odor! ?t was now suggested that ? should attem#t to influence the #atient's arm, as heretofore! ? made the attem#t and failed! -r! =Cthen intimated a desire to ha e me #ut a Luestion! ? did so, as follows& M.! 'aldemar, can you eH#lain to us what are your feelings or wishes nowNM There was an instant return of the hectic circles on the cheeksK the tongue Lui ered, or rather rolled iolently in the mouth )although the jaws and li#s remained rigid as beforeK+ and at length the same hideous oice which ? ha e already described, broke forth& M=or God's sakeOCLuickOCLuickOC#ut me to slee#Cor, LuickOCwaken meOC LuickOC? say to you that ? am deadOM ? was thoroughly unner ed, and for an instant remained undecided what to do! At first ? made an endea or to re$com#ose the #atientK but, failing in this through total abeyance of the will, ? retraced my ste#s and as earnestly struggled to awaken him! ?n this attem#t ? soon saw that ? should be successfulCor at least ? soon fancied that my success would be com#leteCand ? am sure that all in the room were #re#ared to see the #atient awaken! =or what really occurred, howe er, it is Luite im#ossible that any human being could ha e been #re#ared! As ? ra#idly made the mesmeric #asses, amid ejaculations of MdeadO deadOM absolutely bursting from the tongue and not from the li#s of the sufferer, his whole frame at onceCwithin the s#ace of a single minute, or e en less, shrunkCcrumbledCabsolutely rotted away beneath my hands! 7#on

the bed, before that whole com#any, there lay a nearly liLuid mass of loathsomeCof detestable #utridity! >( anchor

T>E B%AAB AAT! =<, the most wild, yet most homely narrati e which ? am about to #en, ? neither eH#ect nor solicit belief! .ad indeed would ? be to eH#ect it, in a case where my ery senses reject their own e idence! "et, mad am ? notC and ery surely do ? not dream! But to$morrow ? die, and to$day ? would unburthen my soul! .y immediate #ur#ose is to #lace before the world, #lainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household e ents! ?n their conseLuences, these e ents ha e terrifiedCha e torturedC ha e destroyed me! "et ? will not attem#t to eH#ound them! To me, they ha e #resented little but >orrorCto many they will seem less terrible than barroLues! >ereafter, #erha#s, some intellect may be found which will reduce my #hantasm to the common$#laceCsome intellect more calm, more logical, and far less eHcitable than my own, which will #ercei e, in the circumstances ? detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of ery natural causes and effects! =rom my infancy ? was noted for the docility and humanity of my dis#osition! .y tenderness of heart was e en so cons#icuous as to make me the jest of my com#anions! ? was es#ecially fond of animals, and was indulged by my #arents with a great ariety of #ets! With these ? s#ent most of my time, and ne er was so ha##y as when feeding and caressing them! This #eculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, ? deri ed from it one of my #rinci#al sources of #leasure! To those who ha e cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, ? need hardly be at the trouble of eH#laining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus deri able! There is something in the unselfish and self$sacrificing lo e of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had freLuent occasion to test the #altry friendshi# and gossamer fidelity of mere .an! ? married early, and was ha##y to find in my wife a dis#osition not uncongenial with my own! <bser ing my #artiality for domestic #ets, she lost no o##ortunity of #rocuring 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! ?n s#eaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with su#erstition, made freLuent allusion to the ancient #o#ular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise! 8ot that she was e er serious u#on this #ointCand ? mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it ha##ens, just now, to be remembered! PlutoCthis was the cat's nameCwas my fa orite #et and #laymate! ? alone fed him, and he attended me where er ? went about the house! ?t was e en with difficulty that ? could #re ent him from following me through the streets! <ur friendshi# lasted, in this manner, for se eral years, during which my general tem#erament and characterCthrough the instrumentality of the =iend ?ntem#eranceChad )? blush to confess it+ eH#erienced a radical alteration for the worse! ? grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable,

more regardless of the feelings of others! ? suffered myself to use intem#erate language to my wife! At length, ? e en offered her #ersonal iolence! .y #ets, of course, were made to feel the change in my dis#osition! ? not only neglected, but ill$used them! =or Pluto, howe er, ? still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as ? made no scru#le of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or e en the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way! But my disease grew u#on meCfor what disease is like AlcoholOCand at length e en Pluto, who was now becoming old, and conseLuently somewhat #ee ishCe en Pluto began to eH#erience the effects of my ill tem#er! <ne night, returning home, much intoHicated, from one of my haunts about town, ? fancied that the cat a oided my #resence! ? seiGed himK when, in his fright at my iolence, he inflicted a slight wound u#on my hand with his teeth! The fury of a demon instantly #ossessed me! ? knew myself no longer! .y original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish male olence, gin$nurtured, thrilled e ery fibre of my frame! ? took from my waistcoat$#ocket a #en$knife, o#ened it, gras#ed the #oor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socketO ? blush, ? burn, ? shudder, while ? #en the damnable atrocity! When reason returned with the morningCwhen ? had sle#t off the fumes of the night's debauchC? eH#erienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which ? had been guiltyK but it was, at best, a feeble and eLui ocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched! ? again #lunged into eHcess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed! ?n the meantime the cat slowly reco ered! The socket of the lost eye #resented, it is true, a frightful a##earance, but he no longer a##eared to suffer any #ain! >e went about the house as usual, but, as might be eH#ected, fled in eHtreme terror at my a##roach! ? had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grie ed by this e ident dislike on the #art of a creature which had once so lo ed me! But this feeling soon ga e #lace to irritation! And then came, as if to my final and irre ocable o erthrow, the s#irit of PE,'E,;E8E;;! <f this s#irit #hiloso#hy takes no account! "et ? am not more sure that my soul li es, than ? am that #er erseness is one of the #rimiti e im#ulses of the human heartCone of the indi isible #rimary faculties, or sentiments, which gi e direction to the character of .an! Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a ile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should notN >a e we not a #er#etual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to iolate that which is %aw, merely because we understand it to be suchN This s#irit of #er erseness, ? say, came to my final o erthrow! ?t was this unfathomable longing of the soul to eH itselfCto offer iolence to its own natureCto do wrong for the wrong's sake onlyCthat urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury ? had inflicted u#on the unoffending brute! <ne morning, in cool blood, ? sli##ed a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a treeKChung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heartKChung it because ? knew that it had lo ed me, and because ? felt it had gi en me no reason of offenceKChung it because ? knew that in so doing ? was committing a sinCa deadly sin that would so jeo#ardiGe my immortal soul as to #lace itCif such a thing wore #ossibleCe en beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the .ost .erciful and .ost Terrible God!

<n the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, ? was aroused from slee# by the cry of fire! The curtains of my bed were in flames! The whole house was blaGing! ?t was with great difficulty that my wife, a ser ant, and myself, made our esca#e from the conflagration! The destruction was com#lete! .y entire worldly wealth was swallowed u#, and ? resigned myself thenceforward to des#air! ? am abo e the weakness of seeking to establish a seLuence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity! But ? am detailing a chain of factsCand wish not to lea e e en a #ossible link im#erfect! <n the day succeeding the fire, ? isited the ruins! The walls, with one eHce#tion, had fallen in! This eHce#tion was found in a com#artment wall, not ery thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed! The #lastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fireCa fact which ? attributed to its ha ing been recently s#read! About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many #ersons seemed to be eHamining a #articular #ortion of it with ery minute and eager attention! The words MstrangeOM MsingularOM and other similar eH#ressions, eHcited my curiosity! ? a##roached and saw, as if gra en in bas relief u#on the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat! The im#ression was gi en with an accuracy truly mar ellous! There was a ro#e about the animal's neck! When ? first beheld this a##aritionCfor ? could scarcely regard it as lessCmy wonder and my terror were eHtreme! But at length reflection came to my aid! The cat, ? remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house! 7#on the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowdCby some one of whom the animal must ha e been cut from the tree and thrown, through an o#en window, into my chamber! This had #robably been done with the iew of arousing me from slee#! The falling of other walls had com#ressed the ictim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly$s#read #lasterK the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accom#lished the #ortraiture as ? saw it! Although ? thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a dee# im#ression u#on my fancy! =or months ? could not rid myself of the #hantasm of the catK and, during this #eriod, there came back into my s#irit a half$sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse! ? went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the ile haunts which ? now habitually freLuented, for another #et of the same s#ecies, and of somewhat similar a##earance, with which to su##ly its #lace! <ne night as ? sat, half stu#ified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, re#osing u#on the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of ,um, which constituted the chief furniture of the a#artment! ? had been looking steadily at the to# of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me sur#rise was the fact that ? had not sooner #ercei ed the object thereu#on! ? a##roached it, and touched it with my hand! ?t was a black catCa ery large oneCfully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in e ery res#ect but one! Pluto had not a white hair u#on any #ortion of his bodyK but this cat had a large, although indefinite s#lotch of white, co ering nearly the whole region of the breast! 7#on my touching him, he immediately arose, #urred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and a##eared delighted with my notice! This, then, was the ery creature of which ?

was in search! ? at once offered to #urchase it of the landlordK but this #erson made no claim to itCknew nothing of itChad ne er seen it before! ? continued my caresses, and, when ? #re#ared to go home, the animal e inced a dis#osition to accom#any me! ? #ermitted it to do soK occasionally stoo#ing and #atting it as ? #roceeded! When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great fa orite with my wife! =or my own #art, ? soon found a dislike to it arising within me! This was just the re erse of what ? had antici#atedK butC? know not how or why it wasCits e ident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed! By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred! ? a oided the creatureK a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, #re enting me from #hysically abusing it! ? did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise iolently ill use itK but graduallyC ery graduallyC? came to look u#on it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious #resence, as from the breath of a #estilence! What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the disco ery, on the morning after ? brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been de#ri ed of one of its eyes! This circumstance, howe er, only endeared it to my wife, who, as ? ha e already said, #ossessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my sim#lest and #urest #leasures! With my a ersion to this cat, howe er, its #artiality for myself seemed to increase! ?t followed my footste#s with a #ertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader com#rehend! Whene er ? sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or s#ring u#on my knees, co ering me with its loathsome caresses! ?f ? arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and shar# claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast! At such times, although ? longed to destroy it with a blow, ? was yet withheld from so doing, #artly by a memory of my former crime, but chieflyClet me confess it at onceCby absolute dread of the beast! This dread was not eHactly a dread of #hysical e ilCand yet ? should be at a loss how otherwise to define it! ? am almost ashamed to ownCyes, e en in this felon's cell, ? am almost ashamed to ownCthat the terror and horror with which the animal ins#ired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be #ossible to concei e! .y wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which ? ha e s#oken, and which constituted the sole isible difference between the strange beast and the one ? had destroyed! The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally ery indefiniteK but, by slow degreesCdegrees nearly im#erce#tible, and which for a long time my ,eason struggled to reject as fancifulCit had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline! ?t was now the re#resentation of an object that ? shudder to nameCand for this, abo e all, ? loathed, and dreaded, and would ha e rid myself of the monster had ? daredCit was now, ? say, the image of a hideousCof a ghastly thingCof the GA%%<W;OCoh, mournful and terrible engine of >orror and of ArimeCof Agony and of -eathO And now was ? indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere >umanity! And a brute beast Cwhose fellow ? had contem#tuously destroyedCa brute beast to work out for meCfor me a man, fashioned in the image of the >igh GodCso much of insufferable woO AlasO neither by day nor by night knew ?

the blessing of ,est any moreO -uring the former the creature left me no moment aloneK and, in the latter, ? started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing u#on my face, and its ast weightCan incarnate 8ight$.are that ? had no #ower to shake offC incumbent eternally u#on my heartO Beneath the #ressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed! E il thoughts became my sole intimatesCthe darkest and most e il of thoughts! The moodiness of my usual tem#er increased to hatred of all things and of all mankindK while, from the sudden, freLuent, and ungo ernable outbursts of a fury to which ? now blindly abandoned myself, my uncom#laining wife, alasO was the most usual and the most #atient of sufferers! <ne day she accom#anied me, u#on some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our #o erty com#elled us to inhabit! The cat followed me down the stee# stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, eHas#erated me to madness! 7#lifting an aHe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, ? aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would ha e #ro ed instantly fatal had it descended as ? wished! But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife! Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, ? withdrew my arm from her gras# and buried the aHe in her brain! ;he fell dead u#on the s#ot, without a groan! This hideous murder accom#lished, ? set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body! ? knew that ? could not remo e it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being obser ed by the neighbors! .any #rojects entered my mind! At one #eriod ? thought of cutting the cor#se into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire! At another, ? resol ed to dig a gra e for it in the floor of the cellar! Again, ? deliberated about casting it in the well in the yardCabout #acking it in a boH, as if merchandiGe, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a #orter to take it from the house! =inally ? hit u#on what ? considered a far better eH#edient than either of these! ? determined to wall it u# in the cellarCas the monks of the middle ages are recorded to ha e walled u# their ictims! =or a #ur#ose such as this the cellar was well ada#ted! ?ts walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been #lastered throughout with a rough #laster, which the dam#ness of the atmos#here had #re ented from hardening! .oreo er, in one of the walls was a #rojection, caused by a false chimney, or fire#lace, that had been filled u#, and made to resemble the red of the cellar! ? made no doubt that ? could readily dis#lace the bricks at this #oint, insert the cor#se, and wall the whole u# as before, so that no eye could detect any thing sus#icious! And in this calculation ? was not decei ed! By means of a crow$bar ? easily dislodged the bricks, and, ha ing carefully de#osited the body against the inner wall, ? #ro##ed it in that #osition, while, with little trouble, ? re$laid the whole structure as it originally stood! >a ing #rocured mortar, sand, and hair, with e ery #ossible #recaution, ? #re#ared a #laster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this ? ery carefully went o er the new brickwork! When ? had finished, ? felt satisfied that all was right! The wall did not #resent the slightest a##earance of ha ing been disturbed! The rubbish on the floor was #icked u# with the minutest care! ? looked around trium#hantly, and said to myselfCM>ere at least, then, my labor has not been in ain!M

.y neHt ste# was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchednessK for ? had, at length, firmly resol ed to #ut it to death! >ad ? been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could ha e been no doubt of its fateK but it a##eared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the iolence of my #re ious anger, and forebore to #resent itself in my #resent mood! ?t is im#ossible to describe, or to imagine, the dee#, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom! ?t did not make its a##earance during the nightCand thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, ? soundly and tranLuilly sle#tK aye, sle#t e en with the burden of murder u#on my soulO The second and the third day #assed, and still my tormentor came not! <nce again ? breathed as a freeman! The monster, in terror, had fled the #remises fore erO ? should behold it no moreO .y ha##iness was su#remeO The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little! ;ome few inLuiries had been made, but these had been readily answered! E en a search had been institutedCbut of course nothing was to be disco ered! ? looked u#on my future felicity as secured! 7#on the fourth day of the assassination, a #arty of the #olice came, ery uneH#ectedly, into the house, and #roceeded again to make rigorous in estigation of the #remises! ;ecure, howe er, in the inscrutability of my #lace of concealment, ? felt no embarrassment whate er! The officers bade me accom#any them in their search! They left no nook or corner uneH#lored! At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar! ? Lui ered not in a muscle! .y heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence! ? walked the cellar from end to end! ? folded my arms u#on my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro! The #olice were thoroughly satisfied and #re#ared to de#art! The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained! ? burned to say if but one word, by way of trium#h, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness! MGentlemen,M ? said at last, as the #arty ascended the ste#s, M? delight to ha e allayed your sus#icions! ? wish you all health, and a little more courtesy! By the bye, gentlemen, thisCthis is a ery well constructed house!M 3?n the rabid desire to say something easily, ? scarcely knew what ? uttered at all!6CM? may say an eHcellently well constructed house! These wallsCare you going, gentlemenNCthese walls are solidly #ut togetherKM and here, through the mere #hrenGy of bra ado, ? ra##ed hea ily, with a cane which ? held in my hand, u#on that ery #ortion of the brick$work behind which stood the cor#se of the wife of my bosom! But may God shield and deli er me from the fangs of the Arch$=iendO 8o sooner had the re erberation of my blows sunk into silence, than ? was answered by a oice from within the tombOCby a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then Luickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhumanCa howlCa wailing shriek, half of horror and half of trium#h, such as might ha e arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that eHult in the damnation! <f my own thoughts it is folly to s#eak! ;wooning, ? staggered to the o##osite wall! =or one instant the #arty u#on the stairs remained motionless, through eHtremity of terror and of awe! ?n the neHt, a doGen stout arms were toiling at the wall! ?t fell bodily! The cor#se, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the s#ectators! 7#on its head, with red eHtended mouth and solitary eye of

fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing oice had consigned me to the hangman! ? had walled the monster u# within the tombO >( anchor

T>E =A%% <= T>E ><7;E <= 7;>E, ;on coeur est un luth sus#enduK ;itJt Lu'on le touche il rRsonne!! -e BPranger! -7,?8G the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung o##ressi ely low in the hea ens, ? had been #assing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of countryK and at length found myself, as the shades of the e ening drew on, within iew of the melancholy >ouse of 7sher! ? know not how it wasC but, with the first glim#se of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom #er aded my s#irit! ? say insufferableK for the feeling was unrelie ed by any of that half$#leasurable, because #oetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually recei es e en the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible! ? looked u#on the scene before meCu#on the mere house, and the sim#le landsca#e features of the domainCu#on the bleak wallsCu#on the acant eye$like windowsCu#on a few rank sedgesCand u#on a few white trunks of decayed treesCwith an utter de#ression of soul which ? can com#are to no earthly sensation more #ro#erly than to the after$ dream of the re eller u#on o#iumCthe bitter la#se into e eryday lifeCthe hideous dro##ing off of the eil! There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heartCan unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime! What was itC? #aused to thinkCwhat was it that so unner ed me in the contem#lation of the >ouse of 7sherN ?t was a mystery all insolubleK nor could ? gra##le with the shadowy fancies that crowded u#on me as ? #ondered! ? was forced to fall back u#on the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of ery sim#le natural objects which ha e the #ower of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this #ower lies among considerations beyond our de#th! ?t was #ossible, ? reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the #articulars of the scene, of the details of the #icture, would be sufficient to modify, or #erha#s to annihilate its ca#acity for sorrowful im#ressionK and, acting u#on this idea, ? reined my horse to the #reci#itous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gaGed downC but with a shudder e en more thrilling than beforeCu#on the remodelled and in erted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree$stems, and the acant and eye$like windows! 8e ertheless, in this mansion of gloom ? now #ro#osed to myself a sojourn of some weeks! ?ts #ro#rietor, ,oderick 7sher, had been one of my boon com#anions in boyhoodK but many years had ela#sed since our last meeting! A letter, howe er, had lately reached me in a distant #art of the country Ca letter from himCwhich, in its wildly im#ortunate nature, had admitted of no other than a #ersonal re#ly! The .;! ga e e idence of ner ous agitation! The writer s#oke of acute bodily illnessCof a mental disorder which o##ressed himCand of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed his only #ersonal friend, with a iew of attem#ting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alle iation of his malady! ?t was the

manner in which all this, and much more, was saidCit was the a##arent heart that went with his reLuestCwhich allowed me no room for hesitationK and ? accordingly obeyed forthwith what ? still considered a ery singular summons! Although, as boys, we had been e en intimate associates, yet ? really knew little of my friend! >is reser e had been always eHcessi e and habitual! ? was aware, howe er, that his ery ancient family had been noted, time out of mind, for a #eculiar sensibility of tem#erament, dis#laying itself, through long ages, in many works of eHalted art, and manifested, of late, in re#eated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusi e charity, as well as in a #assionate de otion to the intricacies, #erha#s e en more than to the orthodoH and easily recognisable beauties, of musical science! ? had learned, too, the ery remarkable fact, that the stem of the 7sher race, all time$honored as it was, had #ut forth, at no #eriod, any enduring branchK in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with ery trifling and ery tem#orary ariation, so lain! ?t was this deficiency, ? considered, while running o er in thought the #erfect kee#ing of the character of the #remises with the accredited character of the #eo#le, and while s#eculating u#on the #ossible influence which the one, in the long la#se of centuries, might ha e eHercised u#on the otherCit was this deficiency, #erha#s, of collateral issue, and the conseLuent unde iating transmission, from sire to son, of the #atrimony with the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the Luaint and eLui ocal a##ellation of the M>ouse of 7sherMCan a##ellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the #easantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion! ? ha e said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish eH#erimentCthat of looking down within the tarnChad been to dee#en the first singular im#ression! There can be no doubt that the consciousness of the ra#id increase of my su#erstitionCfor why should ? not so term itNCser ed mainly to accelerate the increase itself! ;uch, ? ha e long known, is the #aradoHical law of all sentiments ha ing terror as a basis! And it might ha e been for this reason only, that, when ? again u#lifted my eyes to the house itself, from its image in the #ool, there grew in my mind a strange fancyCa fancy so ridiculous, indeed, that ? but mention it to show the i id force of the sensations which o##ressed me! ? had so worked u#on my imagination as really to belie e that about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmos#here #eculiar to themsel es and their immediate icinityCan atmos#here which had no affinity with the air of hea en, but which had reeked u# from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarnCa #estilent and mystic a#or, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden$hued! ;haking off from my s#irit what must ha e been a dream, ? scanned more narrowly the real as#ect of the building! ?ts #rinci#al feature seemed to be that of an eHcessi e antiLuity! The discoloration of ages had been great! .inute fungi o ers#read the whole eHterior, hanging in a fine tangled web$work from the ea es! "et all this was a#art from any eHtraordinary dila#idation! 8o #ortion of the masonry had fallenK and there a##eared to be a wild inconsistency between its still #erfect ada#tation of #arts, and the crumbling condition of the indi idual stones! ?n this there was much that reminded me of the s#ecious totality of old wood$work which has rotted for long years in some neglected ault, with no disturbance from the breath of the eHternal air! Beyond this

indication of eHtensi e decay, howe er, the fabric ga e little token of instability! Perha#s the eye of a scrutiniGing obser er might ha e disco ered a barely #erce#tible fissure, which, eHtending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a GigGag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn! 8oticing these things, ? rode o er a short causeway to the house! A ser ant in waiting took my horse, and ? entered the Gothic archway of the hall! A alet, of stealthy ste#, thence conducted me, in silence, through many dark and intricate #assages in my #rogress to the studio of his master! .uch that ? encountered on the way contributed, ? know not how, to heighten the ague sentiments of which ? ha e already s#oken! While the objects around meCwhile the car ings of the ceilings, the sombre ta#estries of the walls, the ebon blackness of the floors, and the #hantasmagoric armorial tro#hies which rattled as ? strode, were but matters to which, or to such as which, ? had been accustomed from my infancyCwhile ? hesitated not to acknowledge how familiar was all thisC? still wondered to find how unfamiliar were the fancies which ordinary images were stirring u#! <n one of the staircases, ? met the #hysician of the family! >is countenance, ? thought, wore a mingled eH#ression of low cunning and #er#leHity! >e accosted me with tre#idation and #assed on! The alet now threw o#en a door and ushered me into the #resence of his master! The room in which ? found myself was ery large and lofty! The windows were long, narrow, and #ointed, and at so ast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within! =eeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellissed #anes, and ser ed to render sufficiently distinct the more #rominent objects aroundK the eye, howe er, struggled in ain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the aulted and fretted ceiling! -ark dra#eries hung u#on the walls! The general furniture was #rofuse, comfortless, antiLue, and tattered! .any books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to gi e any itality to the scene! ? felt that ? breathed an atmos#here of sorrow! An air of stern, dee#, and irredeemable gloom hung o er and #er aded all! 7#on my entrance, 7sher arose from a sofa on which he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a i acious warmth which had much in it, ? at first thought, of an o erdone cordialityCof the constrained effort of the ennuyP man of the world! A glance, howe er, at his countenance, con inced me of his #erfect sincerity! We sat downK and for some moments, while he s#oke not, ? gaGed u#on him with a feeling half of #ity, half of awe! ;urely, man had ne er before so terribly altered, in so brief a #eriod, as had ,oderick 7sherO ?t was with difficulty that ? could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the com#anion of my early boyhood! "et the character of his face had been at all times remarkable! A cada erousness of com#leHionK an eye large, liLuid, and luminous beyond com#arisonK li#s somewhat thin and ery #allid, but of a sur#assingly beautiful cur eK a nose of a delicate >ebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formationsK a finely moulded chin, s#eaking, in its want of #rominence, of a want of moral energyK hair of a more than web$like softness and tenuityK these features, with an inordinate eH#ansion abo e the regions of the tem#le, made u# altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten! And now in the mere eHaggeration of the #re ailing character of these features, and of the eH#ression they were wont to con ey, lay so

much of change that ? doubted to whom ? s#oke! The now ghastly #allor of the skin, and the now miraculous lustre of the eye, abo e all things startled and e en awed me! The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer teHture, it floated rather than fell about the face, ? could not, e en with effort, connect its ArabesLue eH#ression with any idea of sim#le humanity! ?n the manner of my friend ? was at once struck with an incoherenceCan inconsistencyK and ? soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to o ercome an habitual tre#idancyCan eHcessi e ner ous agitation! =or something of this nature ? had indeed been #re#ared, no less by his letter, than by reminiscences of certain boyish traits, and by conclusions deduced from his #eculiar #hysical conformation and tem#erament! >is action was alternately i acious and sullen! >is oice aried ra#idly from a tremulous indecision )when the animal s#irits seemed utterly in abeyance+ to that s#ecies of energetic concisionCthat abru#t, weighty, unhurried, and hollow$sounding enunciationCthat leaden, self$balanced and #erfectly modulated guttural utterance, which may be obser ed in the lost drunkard, or the irreclaimable eater of o#ium, during the #eriods of his most intense eHcitement! ?t was thus that he s#oke of the object of my isit, of his earnest desire to see me, and of the solace he eH#ected me to afford him! >e entered, at some length, into what he concei ed to be the nature of his malady! ?t was, he said, a constitutional and a family e il, and one for which he des#aired to find a remedyCa mere ner ous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon #ass off! ?t dis#layed itself in a host of unnatural sensations! ;ome of these, as he detailed them, interested and bewildered meK although, #erha#s, the terms, and the general manner of the narration had their weight! >e suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the sensesK the most insi#id food was alone endurableK he could wear only garments of certain teHtureK the odors of all flowers were o##ressi eK his eyes were tortured by e en a faint lightK and there were but #eculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not ins#ire him with horror! To an anomalous s#ecies of terror ? found him a bounden sla e! M? shall #erish,M said he, M? must #erish in this de#lorable folly! Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall ? be lost! ? dread the e ents of the future, not in themsel es, but in their results! ? shudder at the thought of any, e en the most tri ial, incident, which may o#erate u#on this intolerable agitation of soul! ? ha e, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, eHce#t in its absolute effectCin terror! ?n this unner edCin this #itiable conditionC? feel that the #eriod will sooner or later arri e when ? must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim #hantasm, =EA,!M ? learned, moreo er, at inter als, and through broken and eLui ocal hints, another singular feature of his mental condition! >e was enchained by certain su#erstitious im#ressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he had ne er entured forthCin regard to an influence whose su##osititious force was con eyed in terms too shadowy here to be re$statedCan influence which some #eculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion, had, by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained o er his s#iritCan effect which the #hysiLue of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about u#on the morale of his eHistence!

>e admitted, howe er, although with hesitation, that much of the #eculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more #al#able originCto the se ere and long$continued illnessCindeed to the e idently a##roaching dissolutionCof a tenderly belo ed sisterChis sole com#anion for long yearsChis last and only relati e on earth! M>er decease,M he said, with a bitterness which ? can ne er forget, Mwould lea e him )him the ho#eless and the frail+ the last of the ancient race of the 7shers!M While he s#oke, the lady .adeline )for so was she called+ #assed slowly through a remote #ortion of the a#artment, and, without ha ing noticed my #resence, disa##eared! ? regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dreadCand yet ? found it im#ossible to account for such feelings! A sensation of stu#or o##ressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating ste#s! When a door, at length, closed u#on her, my glance sought instincti ely and eagerly the countenance of the brother Cbut he had buried his face in his hands, and ? could only #ercei e that a far more than ordinary wanness had o ers#read the emaciated fingers through which trickled many #assionate tears! The disease of the lady .adeline had long baffled the skill of her #hysicians! A settled a#athy, a gradual wasting away of the #erson, and freLuent although transient affections of a #artially catale#tical character, were the unusual diagnosis! >itherto she had steadily borne u# against the #ressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bedK but, on the closing in of the e ening of my arri al at the house, she succumbed )as her brother told me at night with ineH#ressible agitation+ to the #rostrating #ower of the destroyerK and ? learned that the glim#se ? had obtained of her #erson would thus #robably be the last ? should obtainCthat the lady, at least while li ing, would be seen by me no more! =or se eral days ensuing, her name was unmentioned by either 7sher or myself& and during this #eriod ? was busied in earnest endea ors to alle iate the melancholy of my friend! We #ainted and read togetherK or ? listened, as if in a dream, to the wild im#ro isations of his s#eaking guitar! And thus, as a closer and still closer intimacy admitted me more unreser edly into the recesses of his s#irit, the more bitterly did ? #ercei e the futility of all attem#t at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent #ositi e Luality, #oured forth u#on all objects of the moral and #hysical uni erse, in one unceasing radiation of gloom! ? shall e er bear about me a memory of the many solemn hours ? thus s#ent alone with the master of the >ouse of 7sher! "et ? should fail in any attem#t to con ey an idea of the eHact character of the studies, or of the occu#ations, in which he in ol ed me, or led me the way! An eHcited and highly distem#ered ideality threw a sul#hureous lustre o er all! >is long im#ro ised dirges will ring fore er in my ears! Among other things, ? hold #ainfully in mind a certain singular #er ersion and am#lification of the wild air of the last waltG of 'on Weber! =rom the #aintings o er which his elaborate fancy brooded, and which grew, touch by touch, into aguenesses at which ? shuddered the more thrillingly, because ? shuddered knowing not whyKCfrom these #aintings ) i id as their images now are before me+ ? would in ain endea or to educe more than a small #ortion which should lie within the com#ass of merely written words! By the utter sim#licity, by the nakedness of his designs, he arrested and o erawed attention! ?f e er mortal #ainted an idea, that mortal was ,oderick 7sher! =or me at leastCin the circumstances then surrounding meC

there arose out of the #ure abstractions which the hy#ochondriac contri ed to throw u#on his can ass, an intensity of intolerable awe, no shadow of which felt ? e er yet in the contem#lation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete re eries of =useli! <ne of the #hantasmagoric conce#tions of my friend, #artaking not so rigidly of the s#irit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although feebly, in words! A small #icture #resented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular ault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interru#tion or de ice! Aertain accessory #oints of the design ser ed well to con ey the idea that this eHca ation lay at an eHceeding de#th below the surface of the earth! 8o outlet was obser ed in any #ortion of its ast eHtent, and no torch, or other artificial source of light was discernibleK yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout, and bathed the whole in a ghastly and ina##ro#riate s#lendor! ? ha e just s#oken of that morbid condition of the auditory ner e which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the eHce#tion of certain effects of stringed instruments! ?t was, #erha#s, the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself u#on the guitar, which ga e birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his #erformances! But the fer id facility of his im#rom#tus could not be so accounted for! They must ha e been, and were, in the notes, as well as in the words of his wild fantasias )for he not unfreLuently accom#anied himself with rhymed erbal im#ro isations+, the result of that intense mental collectedness and concentration to which ? ha e #re iously alluded as obser able only in #articular moments of the highest artificial eHcitement! The words of one of these rha#sodies ? ha e easily remembered! ? was, #erha#s, the more forcibly im#ressed with it, as he ga e it, because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning, ? fancied that ? #ercei ed, and for the first time, a full consciousness on the #art of 7sher, of the tottering of his lofty reason u#on her throne! The erses, which were entitled MThe >aunted Palace,M ran ery nearly, if not accurately, thus& ?! ?n the greenest of our alleys, By good angels tenanted, <nce a fair and stately #alaceC ,adiant #alaceCreared its head! ?n the monarch Thought's dominion C ?t stood thereO 8e er sera#h s#read a #inion < er fabric half so fair! ??! Banners yellow, glorious, golden, <n its roof did float and flowK )ThisCall thisCwas in the olden Time long ago+ And e ery gentle air that dallied, ?n that sweet day, Along the ram#arts #lumed and #allid, A winged odor went away! ???! Wanderers in that ha##y alley Through two luminous windows saw ;#irits mo ing musically To a lute's well$tunPd law, ,ound about a throne, where sitting )Por#hyrogeneO+ ?n state his glory well befitting, The ruler of the realm was seen! ?'! And all with #earl and ruby glowing Was the fair #alace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, And s#arkling e ermore, A troo# of Echoes whose sweet duty Was but to sing, ?n oices of sur#assing beauty, The wit and wisdom of their king! '! But e il things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estateK )Ah, let us mourn, for ne er morrow ;hall dawn u#on him, desolateO+ And, round about his home, the glory That blushed and bloomed ?s but a dim$remembered

story <f the old time entombed! '?! And tra ellers now within that alley, Through the red$litten windows, see 'ast forms that mo e fantastically To a discordant melodyK While, like a ra#id ghastly ri er, Through the #ale door, A hideous throng rush out fore er, And laughC but smile no more! ? well remember that suggestions arising from this ballad, led us into a train of thought wherein there became manifest an o#inion of 7sher's which ? mention not so much on account of its no elty, )for other men : ha e thought thus,+ as on account of the #ertinacity with which he maintained it! This o#inion, in its general form, was that of the sentience of all egetable things! But, in his disordered fancy, the idea had assumed a more daring character, and tres#assed, under certain conditions, u#on the kingdom of inorganiGation! ? lack words to eH#ress the full eHtent, or the earnest abandon of his #ersuasion! The belief, howe er, was connected )as ? ha e #re iously 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 Cin the order of their arrangement, as well as in that of the many fungi which o ers#read them, and of the decayed trees which stood aroundCabo e all, in the long undisturbed endurance of this arrangement, and in its redu#lication in the still waters of the tarn! ?ts e idenceCthe e idence of the sentienceCwas to be seen, he said, )and ? here started as he s#oke,+ in the gradual yet certain condensation of an atmos#here of their own about the waters and the walls! The result was disco erable, he added, in that silent, yet im#ortunate and terrible influence which for centuries had moulded the destinies of his family, and which made him what ? now saw himCwhat he was! ;uch o#inions need no comment, and ? will make none! : Watson, -r! Perci al, ;#allanGani, and es#ecially the Bisho# of %andaff!C;ee MAhemical Essays,M ol ! <ur booksCthe books which, for years, had formed no small #ortion of the mental eHistence of the in alidCwere, as might be su##osed, in strict kee#ing with this character of #hantasm! We #ored together o er such works as the 'er ert et Ahartreuse of GressetK the Bel#hegor of .achia elliK the >ea en and >ell of ;wedenborgK the ;ubterranean 'oyage of 8icholas Blimm by >olbergK the Ahiromancy of ,obert =lud, of @ean -'?ndaginP, and of -e la AhambreK the @ourney into the Blue -istance of TieckK and the Aity of the ;un of Aam#anella! <ne fa orite olume was a small octa o edition of the -irectorium ?nLuisitorium, by the -ominican Eymeric de GironneK and there were #assages in Pom#onius .ela, about the old African ;atyrs and <Egi#ans, o er which 7sher would sit dreaming for hours! >is chief delight, howe er, was found in the #erusal of an eHceedingly rare and curious book in Luarto GothicCthe manual of a forgotten churchCthe 'igiliae .ortuorum secundum Ahorum Ecclesiae .aguntinae! ? could not hel# thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its #robable influence u#on the hy#ochondriac, when, one e ening, ha ing informed me abru#tly that the lady .adeline was no more, he stated his intention of #reser ing her cor#se for a fortnight, )#re iously to its final interment,+ in one of the numerous aults within the main walls of the building! The worldly reason, howe er, assigned for this singular #roceeding, was one which ? did not feel at liberty to dis#ute! 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 obtrusi e and eager inLuiries on the #art of her medical men, and of the remote and eH#osed situation of the burial$ground of the family! ? will not deny that when ? called to mind the sinister countenance of the #erson whom ? met u#on the staircase, on the day of my arri al at the house, ? had no desire to o##ose what ? regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, #recaution! At the reLuest of 7sher, ? #ersonally aided him in the arrangements for the tem#orary entombment! The body ha ing been encoffined, we two alone bore it to its rest! The ault in which we #laced it )and which had been so long uno#ened that our torches, half smothered in its o##ressi e atmos#here, ga e us little o##ortunity for in estigation+ was small, dam#, and entirely without means of admission for lightK lying, at great de#th, immediately beneath that #ortion of the building in which was my own slee#ing a#artment! ?t had been used, a##arently, in remote feudal times, for the worst #ur#oses of a donjon$kee#, and, in later days, as a #lace of de#osit for #owder, or some other highly combustible substance, as a #ortion of its floor, and the whole interior of a long archway through which we reached it, were carefully sheathed with co##er! The door, of massi e iron, had been, also, similarly #rotected! ?ts immense weight caused an unusually shar# grating sound, as it mo ed u#on its hinges! >a ing de#osited our mournful burden u#on tressels within this region of horror, we #artially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked u#on the face of the tenant! A striking similitude between the brother and sister now first arrested my attentionK and 7sher, di ining, #erha#s, my thoughts, murmured out some few words from which ? learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that sym#athies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always eHisted between them! <ur glances, howe er, rested not long u#on the deadCfor 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 catale#tical character, the mockery of a faint blush u#on the bosom and the face, and that sus#iciously lingering smile u#on the li# which is so terrible in death! We re#laced and screwed down the lid, and, ha ing secured the door of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely less gloomy a#artments of the u##er #ortion of the house! And now, some days of bitter grief ha ing ela#sed, an obser able change came o er the features of the mental disorder of my friend! >is ordinary manner had anished! >is ordinary occu#ations were neglected or forgotten! >e roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, uneLual, and objectless ste#! The #allor of his countenance had assumed, if #ossible, a more ghastly hueCbut the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out! The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no moreK and a tremulous Lua er, as if of eHtreme terror, habitually characteriGed his utterance! There were times, indeed, when ? thought his unceasingly agitated mind was laboring with some o##ressi e secret, to di ulge which he struggled for the necessary courage! At times, again, ? was obliged to resol e all into the mere ineH#licable agaries of madness, for ? beheld him gaGing u#on acancy for long hours, in an attitude of the #rofoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound! ?t was no wonder that his condition terrifiedCthat it infected me! ? felt cree#ing u#on me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet im#ressi e su#erstitions!

?t was, es#ecially, u#on retiring to bed late in the night of the se enth or eighth day after the #lacing of the lady .adeline within the donjon, that ? eH#erienced the full #ower of such feelings! ;lee# came not near my couchCwhile the hours waned and waned away! ? struggled to reason off the ner ousness which had dominion o er me! ? endea ored to belie e that much, if not all of what ? felt, was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the roomCof the dark and tattered dra#eries, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tem#est, swayed fitfully to and fro u#on the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed! But my efforts were fruitless! An irre#ressible tremor gradually #er aded my frameK and, at length, there sat u#on my ery heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm! ;haking this off with a gas# and a struggle, ? u#lifted myself u#on the #illows, and, #eering earnestly within the intense darkness of the chamber, harkenedC? know not why, eHce#t that an instincti e s#irit #rom#ted meCto certain low and indefinite sounds which came, through the #auses of the storm, at long inter als, ? knew not whence! < er#owered by an intense sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, ? threw on my clothes with haste )for ? felt that ? should slee# no more during the night+, and endea ored to arouse myself from the #itiable condition into which ? had fallen, by #acing ra#idly to and fro through the a#artment! ? had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light ste# on an adjoining staircase arrested my attention! ? #resently recognised it as that of 7sher! ?n an instant afterward he ra##ed, with a gentle touch, at my door, and entered, bearing a lam#! >is countenance was, as usual, cada erously wanCbut, moreo er, there was a s#ecies of mad hilarity in his eyesCan e idently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanor! >is air a##alled meCbut anything was #referable to the solitude which ? had so long endured, and ? e en welcomed his #resence as a relief! MAnd you ha e not seen itNM he said abru#tly, after ha ing stared about him for some moments in silenceCMyou ha e not then seen itNCbut, stayO you shall!M Thus s#eaking, and ha ing carefully shaded his lam#, he hurried to one of the casements, and threw it freely o#en to the storm! The im#etuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet! ?t was, indeed, a tem#estuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty! A whirlwind had a##arently collected its force in our icinityK for there were freLuent and iolent alterations in the direction of the windK and the eHceeding density of the clouds )which hung so low as to #ress u#on the turrets of the house+ did not #re ent our #ercei ing the life$like elocity with which they flew careering from all #oints against each other, without #assing away into the distance! ? say that e en their eHceeding density did not #re ent our #ercei ing thisCyet we had no glim#se of the moon or starsC nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning! But the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated a#or, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly isible gaseous eHhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion! M"ou must notCyou shall not behold thisOM said ?, shudderingly, to 7sher, as ? led him, with a gentle iolence, from the window to a seat! MThese a##earances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical #henomena not uncommonCor it may be that they ha e their ghastly origin in the rank miasma of the tarn! %et us close this casementKCthe air is chilling and dangerous to your frame! >ere is one of your fa orite romances! ? will

read, and you shall listenKCand so we will #ass away this terrible night together!M The antiLue olume which ? had taken u# was the M.ad TristM of ;ir %auncelot AanningK but ? had called it a fa orite of 7sher's more in sad jest than in earnestK for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and unimaginati e #roliHity which could ha e had interest for the lofty and s#iritual ideality of my friend! ?t was, howe er, the only book immediately at handK and ? indulged a ague ho#e that the eHcitement which now agitated the hy#ochondriac, might find relief )for the history of mental disorder is full of similar anomalies+ e en in the eHtremeness of the folly which ? should read! Aould ? ha e judged, indeed, by the wild o erstrained air of i acity with which he harkened, or a##arently harkened, to the words of the tale, ? might well ha e congratulated myself u#on the success of my design! ? had arri ed at that well$known #ortion of the story where Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, ha ing sought in ain for #eaceable admission into the dwelling of the hermit, #roceeds to make good an entrance by force! >ere, it will be remembered, the words of the narrati e run thus& MAnd Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty heart, and who was now mighty withal, on account of the #owerfulness of the wine which he had drunken, waited no longer to hold #arley with the hermit, who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and maliceful turn, but, feeling the rain u#on his shoulders, and fearing the rising of the tem#est, u#lifted his mace outright, and, with blows, made Luickly room in the #lankings of the door for his gauntleted handK and now #ulling therewith sturdily, he so cracked, and ri##ed, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and hollow$sounding wood alarummed and re erberated throughout the forest!M At the termination of this sentence ? started, and for a moment, #ausedK for it a##eared to me )although ? at once concluded that my eHcited fancy had decei ed me+Cit a##eared to me that, from some ery remote #ortion of the mansion, there came, indistinctly, to my ears, what might ha e been, in its eHact similarity of character, the echo )but a stifled and dull one certainly+ of the ery cracking and ri##ing sound which ;ir %auncelot had so #articularly described! ?t was, beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my attentionK 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 ha e interested or disturbed me! ? continued the story& MBut the good cham#ion Ethelred, now entering within the door, was sore enraged and amaGed to #ercei e no signal of the maliceful hermitK but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and #rodigious demeanor, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a #alace of gold, with a floor of sil erK and u#on the wall there hung a shield of shining brass with this legend enwrittenC Who entereth herein, a conLueror hath binK Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall winK And Ethelred u#lifted his mace, and struck u#on the head of the dragon, which fell before him, and ga e u# his #esty breath, with a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so #iercing, that Ethelred had fain to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it, the like whereof was ne er before heard!M >ere again ? #aused abru#tly, and now with a feeling of wild amaGementC for there could be no doubt whate er that, in this instance, ? did actually hear )although from what direction it #roceeded ? found it

im#ossible to say+ a low and a##arently distant, but harsh, #rotracted, and most unusual screaming or grating soundCthe eHact counter#art of what my fancy had already conjured u# for the dragon's unnatural shriek as described by the romancer! <##ressed, as ? certainly was, u#on the occurrence of this second and most eHtraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which wonder and eHtreme terror were #redominant, ? still retained sufficient #resence of mind to a oid eHciting, by any obser ation, the sensiti e ner ousness of my com#anion! ? was by no means certain that he had noticed the sounds in LuestionK although, assuredly, a strange alteration had, during the last few minutes, taken #lace in his demeanor! =rom a #osition fronting my own, he had gradually brought round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door of the chamberK and thus ? could but #artially #ercei e his features, although ? saw that his li#s trembled as if he were murmuring inaudibly! >is head had dro##ed u#on his breastCyet ? knew that he was not aslee#, from the wide and rigid o#ening of the eye as ? caught a glance of it in #rofile! The motion of his body, too, was at ariance with this ideaCfor he rocked from side to side with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway! >a ing ra#idly taken notice of all this, ? resumed the narrati e of ;ir %auncelot, which thus #roceeded& MAnd now, the cham#ion, ha ing esca#ed from the terrible fury of the dragon, bethinking himself of the braGen shield, and of the breaking u# of the enchantment which was u#on it, remo ed the carcass from out of the way before him, and a##roached alorously o er the sil er #a ement of the castle to where the shield was u#on the wallK which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but feel down at his feet u#on the sil er floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound!M 8o sooner had these syllables #assed my li#s, thanCas if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen hea ily u#on a floor of sil erC? became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous, yet a##arently muffled re erberation! Aom#letely unner ed, ? lea#ed to my feetK but the measured rocking mo ement of 7sher was undisturbed! ? rushed to the chair in which he sat! >is eyes were bent fiHedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity! But, as ? #laced my hand u#on his shoulder, there came a strong shudder o er his whole #ersonK a sickly smile Lui ered about his li#sK and ? saw that he s#oke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my #resence! Bending closely o er him, ? at length drank in the hideous im#ort of his words! M8ot hear itNCyes, ? hear it, and ha e heard it! %ongClongClongCmany minutes, many hours, many days, ha e ? heard itCyet ? dared notCoh, #ity me, miserable wretch that ? amOC? dared notC? dared not s#eakO We ha e #ut her li ing in the tombO ;aid ? not that my senses were acuteN ? now tell you that ? heard her first feeble mo ements in the hollow coffin! ? heard themCmany, many days agoCyet ? dared notC? dared not s#eakO And now Cto$nightCEthelredChaO haOCthe breaking of the hermit's door, and the death$cry of the dragon, and the clangor of the shieldOCsay, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her #rison, and her struggles within the co##ered archway of the aultO <h whither shall ? flyN Will she not be here anonN ?s she not hurrying to u#braid me for my hasteN >a e ? not heard her footste# on the stairN -o ? not distinguish that hea y and horrible beating of her heartN .admanOMChere he s#rang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in

the effort he were gi ing u# his soulCM.admanO ? tell you that she now stands without the doorOM As if in the su#erhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the #otency of a s#ellCthe huge antiLue #annels to which the s#eaker #ointed, threw slowly back, u#on the instant, their #onderous and ebony jaws! ?t was the work of the rushing gustCbut then without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady .adeline of 7sher! There was blood u#on her white robes, and the e idence of some bitter struggle u#on e ery #ortion of her emaciated frame! =or a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro u#on the thresholdCthen, with a low moaning cry, fell hea ily inward u#on the #erson of her brother, and in her iolent and now final death$agonies, bore him to the floor a cor#se, and a ictim to the terrors he had antici#ated! =rom that chamber, and from that mansion, ? fled aghast! The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as ? found myself crossing the old causeway! ;uddenly there shot along the #ath a wild light, and ? turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could ha e issuedK for the ast house and its shadows were alone behind me! The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood$red moon, which now shone i idly through that once barely$discernible fissure, of which ? ha e before s#oken as eHtending from the roof of the building, in a GigGag direction, to the base! While ? gaGed, this fissure ra#idly widenedCthere came a fierce breath of the whirlwindCthe entire orb of the satellite burst at once u#on my sightCmy brain reeled as ? saw the mighty walls rushing asunderCthere was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the oice of a thousand watersCand the dee# and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently o er the fragments of the M>ouse of 7sher!M >( anchor

;?%E8AECA =AB%E A%A.A8! The mountain #innacles slumberK alleys, crags and ca es are silent! M%?;TE8 to me,M said the -emon as he #laced his hand u#on my head! MThe region of which ? s#eak is a dreary region in %ibya, by the borders of the ri er Daire! And there is no Luiet there, nor silence! MThe waters of the ri er ha e a saffron and sickly hueK and they flow not onwards to the sea, but #al#itate fore er and fore er beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and con ulsi e motion! =or many miles on either side of the ri er's ooGy bed is a #ale desert of gigantic water$ lilies! They sigh one unto the other in that solitude, and stretch towards the hea en their long and ghastly necks, and nod to and fro their e erlasting 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! MBut there is a boundary to their realmCthe boundary of the dark, horrible, lofty forest! There, like the wa es about the >ebrides, the low underwood is agitated continually! But there is no wind throughout the hea en! And the tall #rime al trees rock eternally hither and thither with a crashing and mighty sound! And from their high summits, one by one, dro# e erlasting dews! And at the roots strange #oisonous flowers lie writhing in #erturbed slumber! And o erhead, with a rustling and loud

noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly fore er, until they roll, a cataract, o er the fiery wall of the horiGon! But there is no wind throughout the hea en! And by the shores of the ri er Daire there is neither Luiet nor silence! M?t was night, and the rain fellK and falling, it was rain, but, ha ing fallen, it was blood! And ? stood in the morass among the tall and the rain fell u#on my headCand the lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation! MAnd, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color! And mine eyes fell u#on a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the ri er, and was lighted by the light of the moon! And the rock was gray, and ghastly, and tall,Cand the rock was gray! 7#on its front were characters engra en in the stoneK and ? walked through the morass of water$lilies, until ? came close unto the shore, that ? might read the characters u#on the stone! But ? could not decy#her them! And ? was going back into the morass, when the moon shone with a fuller red, and ? turned and looked again u#on the rock, and u#on the charactersKCand the characters were -E;<%AT?<8! MAnd ? looked u#wards, and there stood a man u#on the summit of the rockK and ? hid myself among the water$lilies that ? might disco er the actions of the man! And the man was tall and stately in form, and was wra##ed u# from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old ,ome! And the outlines of his figure were indistinctCbut his features were the features of a deityK for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the moon, and of the dew, had left unco ered the features of his face! And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with careK and, in the few furrows u#on his cheek ? read the fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with mankind, and a longing after solitude! MAnd the man sat u#on the rock, and leaned his head u#on his hand, and looked out u#on the desolation! >e looked down into the low unLuiet shrubbery, and u# into the tall #rime al trees, and u# higher at the rustling hea en, and into the crimson moon! And ? lay close within shelter of the lilies, and obser ed the actions of the man! And the man trembled in the solitudeKCbut the night waned, and he sat u#on the rock! MAnd the man turned his attention from the hea en, and looked out u#on the dreary ri er Daire, and u#on the yellow ghastly waters, and u#on the #ale legions of the water$lilies! And the man listened to the sighs of the water$lilies, and to the murmur that came u# from among them! And ? lay close within my co ert and obser ed the actions of the man! And the man trembled in the solitudeKCbut the night waned and he sat u#on the rock! MThen ? went down into the recesses of the morass, and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies, and called unto the hi##o#otami which dwelt among the fens in the recesses of the morass! And the hi##o#otami heard my call, and came, with the behemoth, unto the foot of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon! And ? lay close within my co ert and obser ed the actions of the man! And the man trembled in the solitudeKCbut the night waned and he sat u#on the rock! MThen ? cursed the elements with the curse of tumultK and a frightful tem#est gathered in the hea en where, before, there had been no wind! And the hea en became li id with the iolence of the tem#estCand the rain beat u#on the head of the manCand the floods of the ri er came downCand the ri er was tormented into foamCand the water$lilies shrieked within their bedsCand the forest crumbled before the windCand the thunder rolled

Cand the lightning fellCand the rock rocked to its foundation! And ? lay close within my co ert and obser ed the actions of the man! And the man trembled in the solitudeKCbut the night waned and he sat u#on the rock! MThen ? grew angry and cursed, with the curse of silence, the ri er, and the lilies, and the wind, and the forest, and the hea en, and the thunder, and the sighs of the water$lilies! And they became accursed, and were still! And the moon ceased to totter u# its #athway to hea enCand the thunder died awayCand the lightning did not flashCand the clouds hung motionlessCand the waters sunk to their le el and remainedCand the trees ceased to rockCand the water$lilies sighed no moreCand the murmur was heard no longer from among them, nor any shadow of sound throughout the ast illimitable desert! And ? looked u#on the characters of the rock, and they were changedKCand the characters were ;?%E8AE! MAnd mine eyes fell u#on the countenance of the man, and his countenance was wan with terror! And, hurriedly, he raised his head from his hand, and stood forth u#on the rock and listened! But there was no oice throughout the ast illimitable desert, and the characters u#on the rock were ;?%E8AE! And the man shuddered, and turned his face away, and fled afar off, in haste, so that ? beheld him no more!M 8ow there are fine tales in the olumes of the .agiCin the iron$bound, melancholy olumes of the .agi! Therein, ? say, are glorious histories of the >ea en, and of the Earth, and of the mighty seaCand of the Genii that o er$ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty hea en! There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the ;ybilsK and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim lea es that trembled around -odonaC but, as Allah li eth, that fable which the -emon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, ? hold to be the most wonderful of allO And as the -emon made an end of his story, he fell back within the ca ity of the tomb and laughed! And ? could not laugh with the -emon, and he cursed me because ? could not laugh! And the lynH which dwelleth fore er in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the -emon, and looked at him steadily in the face! >( anchor

T>E .A;F7E <= T>E ,E- -EAT>! T>E M,ed -eathM had long de astated the country! 8o #estilence had e er been so fatal, or so hideous! Blood was its A atar and its sealCthe redness and the horror of blood! There were shar# #ains, and sudden diGGiness, and then #rofuse bleeding at the #ores, with dissolution! The scarlet stains u#on the body and es#ecially u#on the face of the ictim, were the #est ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sym#athy of his fellow$men! And the whole seiGure, #rogress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour! But the Prince Pros#ero was ha##y and dauntless and sagacious! When his dominions were half de#o#ulated, he summoned to his #resence a thousand hale and light$hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the dee# seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys! This was an eHtensi e and magnificent structure, the creation of the #rince's own eccentric yet august taste! A strong and lofty wall girdled it in! This wall had gates of iron! The courtiers, ha ing entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts!

They resol ed to lea e means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden im#ulses of des#air or of frenGy from within! The abbey was am#ly #ro isioned! With such #recautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion! The eHternal world could take care of itself! ?n the meantime it was folly to grie e, or to think! The #rince had #ro ided all the a##liances of #leasure! There were buffoons, there were im#ro isatori, there were ballet$dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine! All these and security were within! Without was the M,ed -eath!M ?t was toward the close of the fifth or siHth month of his seclusion, and while the #estilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Pros#ero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence! ?t was a olu#tuous scene, that masLuerade! But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held! There were se enCan im#erial suite! ?n many #alaces, howe er, such suites form a long and straight ista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the iew of the whole eHtent is scarcely im#eded! >ere the case was ery differentK as might ha e been eH#ected from the duke's lo e of the biGarre! The a#artments were so irregularly dis#osed that the ision embraced but little more than one at a time! There was a shar# turn at e ery twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a no el effect! To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out u#on a closed corridor which #ursued the windings of the suite! These windows were of stained glass whose color aried in accordance with the #re ailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it o#ened! That at the eastern eHtremity was hung, for eHam#le, in blueCand i idly blue were its windows! The second chamber was #ur#le in its ornaments and ta#estries, and here the #anes were #ur#le! The third was green throughout, and so were the casements! The fourth was furnished and lighted with orangeCthe fifth with whiteCthe siHth with iolet! The se enth a#artment was closely shrouded in black el et ta#estries that hung all o er the ceiling and down the walls, falling in hea y folds u#on a car#et of the same material and hue! But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to corres#ond with the decorations! The #anes here were scarletCa dee# blood color! 8ow in no one of the se en a#artments was there any lam# or candelabrum, amid the #rofusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or de#ended from the roof! There was no light of any kind emanating from lam# or candle within the suite of chambers! But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, o##osite to each window, a hea y tri#od, bearing a braGier of fire that #rojected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room! And thus were #roduced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic a##earances! But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire$light that streamed u#on the dark hangings through the blood$ tinted #anes, was ghastly in the eHtreme, and #roduced so wild a look u#on the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the com#any bold enough to set foot within its #recincts at all! ?t was in this a#artment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony! ?ts #endulum swung to and fro with a dull, hea y, monotonous clangK and when the minute$hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the braGen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and dee# and eHceedingly musical, but of so #eculiar a note and em#hasis that, at each

la#se of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to #ause, momentarily, in their #erformance, to hearken to the soundK and thus the waltGers #erforce ceased their e olutionsK and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay com#anyK and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was obser ed that the giddiest grew #ale, and the more aged and sedate #assed their hands o er their brows as if in confused re erie or meditation! But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once #er aded the assemblyK the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own ner ousness and folly, and made whis#ering ows, each to the other, that the neHt chiming of the clock should #roduce in them no similar emotionK and then, after the la#se of siHty minutes, )which embrace three thousand and siH 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 s#ite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent re el! The tastes of the duke were #eculiar! >e had a fine eye for colors and effects! >e disregarded the decora of mere fashion! >is #lans were bold and fiery, and his conce#tions glowed with barbaric lustre! There are some who would ha e thought him mad! >is followers felt that he was not! ?t was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not! >e had directed, in great #art, the mo eable embellishments of the se en chambers, u#on occasion of this great feteK and it was his own guiding taste which had gi en character to the masLueraders! Be sure they were grotesLue! There were much glare and glitter and #iLuancy and #hantasmC much of what has been since seen in M>ernani!M There were arabesLue figures with unsuited limbs and a##ointments! There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions! There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the biGarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might ha e eHcited disgust! To and fro in the se en chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams! And theseC the dreamsCwrithed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their ste#s! And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the el et! And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent sa e the oice of the clock! The dreams are stiff$froGen as they stand! But the echoes of the chime die awayCthey ha e endured but an instantCand a light, half$subdued laughter floats after them as they de#art! And now again the music swells, and the dreams li e, and writhe to and fro more merrily than e er, taking hue from the many$tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tri#ods! But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the se en, there are now none of the maskers who entureK for the night is waning awayK and there flows a ruddier light through the blood$colored #anesK and the blackness of the sable dra#ery a##alsK and to him whose foot falls u#on the sable car#et, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled #eal more solemnly em#hatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other a#artments! But these other a#artments were densely crowded, and in them beat fe erishly the heart of life! And the re el went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight u#on the clock! And then the music ceased, as ? ha e toldK and the e olutions of the waltGers were LuietedK and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before! But now there were twel e strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clockK and

thus it ha##ened, #erha#s, that more of thought cre#t, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who re elled! And thus, too, it ha##ened, #erha#s, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many indi iduals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the #resence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single indi idual before! And the rumor of this new #resence ha ing s#read itself whis#eringly around, there arose at length from the whole com#any a buGG, or murmur, eH#ressi e of disa##robation and sur#riseCthen, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust! ?n an assembly of #hantasms such as ? ha e #ainted, it may well be su##osed that no ordinary a##earance could ha e eHcited such sensation! ?n truth the masLuerade license of the night was nearly unlimitedK but the figure in Luestion had out$>eroded >erod, and gone beyond the bounds of e en the #rince's indefinite decorum! There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion! E en with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are eLually jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made! The whole com#any, indeed, seemed now dee#ly to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor #ro#riety eHisted! The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the gra e! The mask which concealed the isage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened cor#se that the closest scrutiny must ha e had difficulty in detecting the cheat! And yet all this might ha e been endured, if not a##ro ed, by the mad re ellers around! But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the ty#e of the ,ed -eath! >is esture was dabbled in bloodCand his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was bes#rinkled with the scarlet horror! When the eyes of Prince Pros#ero fell u#on this s#ectral image )which with a slow and solemn mo ement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltGers+ he was seen to be con ulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distasteK but, in the neHt, his brow reddened with rage! MWho daresNM he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him CMwho dares insult us with this blas#hemous mockeryN ;eiGe him and unmask himCthat we may know whom we ha e to hang at sunrise, from the battlementsOM ?t was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Pros#ero as he uttered these words! They rang throughout the se en rooms loudly and clearlyCfor the #rince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the wa ing of his hand! ?t was in the blue room where stood the #rince, with a grou# of #ale courtiers by his side! At first, as he s#oke, there was a slight rushing mo ement of this grou# in the direction of the intruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately ste#, made closer a##roach to the s#eaker! But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assum#tions of the mummer had ins#ired the whole #arty, there were found none who #ut forth hand to seiGe himK so that, unim#eded, he #assed within a yard of the #rince's #ersonK and, while the ast assembly, as if with one im#ulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterru#tedly, but with the same solemn and measured ste# which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the #ur#leCthrough the #ur#le to the greenC through the green to the orangeCthrough this again to the whiteCand e en

thence to the iolet, ere a decided mo ement had been made to arrest him! ?t was then, howe er, that the Prince Pros#ero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the siH chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seiGed u#on all! >e bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had a##roached, in ra#id im#etuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, ha ing attained the eHtremity of the el et a#artment, turned suddenly and confronted his #ursuer! There was a shar# cryCand the dagger dro##ed gleaming u#on the sable car#et, u#on which, instantly afterwards, fell #rostrate in death the Prince Pros#ero! Then, summoning the wild courage of des#air, a throng of the re ellers at once threw themsel es into the black a#artment, and, seiGing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gas#ed in unutterable horror at finding the gra e$cerements and cor#se$ like mask which they handled with so iolent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form! And now was acknowledged the #resence of the ,ed -eath! >e had come like a thief in the night! And one by one dro##ed the re ellers in the blood$ bedewed halls of their re el, and died each in the des#airing #osture 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 tri#ods eH#ired! And -arkness and -ecay and the ,ed -eath held illimitable dominion o er all! >( anchor

T>E AA;B <= A.<8T?%%A-<! T>E thousand injuries of =ortunato ? had borne as ? best couldK but when he entured u#on insult, ? owed re enge! "ou, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not su##ose, howe er, that ? ga e utterance to a threat! At length ? would be a engedK this was a #oint definiti ely settledCbut the ery definiti eness with which it was resol ed, #recluded the idea of risk! ? must not only #unish, but #unish with im#unity! A wrong is unredressed when retribution o ertakes its redresser! ?t is eLually unredressed when the a enger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong! ?t must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had ? gi en =ortunato cause to doubt my good will! ? continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not #ercei e that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation! >e had a weak #ointCthis =ortunatoCalthough in other regards he was a man to be res#ected and e en feared! >e #rided himself on his connoisseurshi# in wine! =ew ?talians ha e the true irtuoso s#irit! =or the most #art their enthusiasm is ado#ted to suit the time and o##ortunityCto #ractise im#osture u#on the British and Austrian millionaires! ?n #ainting and gemmary, =ortunato, like his countrymen, was a LuackCbut in the matter of old wines he was sincere! ?n this res#ect ? did not differ from him materially& ? was skilful in the ?talian intages myself, and bought largely whene er ? could! ?t was about dusk, one e ening during the su#reme madness of the carni al season, that ? encountered my friend! >e accosted me with eHcessi e warmth, for he had been drinking much! The man wore motley! >e had on a tight$fitting #arti$stri#ed dress, and his head was surmounted by the

conical ca# and bells! ? was so #leased to see him, that ? thought ? should ne er ha e done wringing his hand! ? said to himCM.y dear =ortunato, you are luckily met! >ow remarkably well you are looking to$dayO But ? ha e recei ed a #i#e of what #asses for Amontillado, and ? ha e my doubts!M M>owNM said he! MAmontilladoN A #i#eN ?m#ossibleO And in the middle of the carni alOM M? ha e my doubts,M ? re#liedK Mand ? was silly enough to #ay the full Amontillado #rice without consulting you in the matter! "ou were not to be found, and ? was fearful of losing a bargain!M MAmontilladoOM M? ha e my doubts!M MAmontilladoOM MAnd ? must satisfy them!M MAmontilladoOM MAs you are engaged, ? am on my way to %uchesi! ?f any one has a critical turn, it is he! >e will tell meCM M%uchesi cannot tell Amontillado from ;herry!M MAnd yet some fools will ha e it that his taste is a match for your own!M MAome, let us go!M MWhitherNM MTo your aults!M M.y friend, noK ? will not im#ose u#on your good nature! ? #ercei e you ha e an engagement! %uchesiCM M? ha e no engagementKCcome!M M.y friend, no! ?t is not the engagement, but the se ere cold with which ? #ercei e you are afflicted! The aults are insufferably dam#! They are encrusted with nitre!M M%et us go, ne ertheless! The cold is merely nothing! AmontilladoO "ou ha e been im#osed u#on! And as for %uchesi, he cannot distinguish ;herry from Amontillado!M Thus s#eaking, =ortunato #ossessed himself of my arm! Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roLuelaire closely about my #erson, ? suffered him to hurry me to my #alaGGo! There were no attendants at homeK they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time! ? had told them that ? should not return until the morning, and had gi en them eH#licit orders not to stir from the house! These orders were sufficient, ? well knew, to insure their immediate disa##earance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned! ? took from their sconces two flambeauH, and gi ing one to =ortunato, bowed him through se eral suites of rooms to the archway that led into the aults! ? #assed down a long and winding staircase, reLuesting him to be cautious as he followed! We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the dam# ground of the catacombs of the .ontresors! The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells u#on his ca# jingled as he strode! MThe #i#e,M said he! M?t is farther on,M said ?K Mbut obser e the white web$work which gleams from these ca ern walls!M >e turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoHication! M8itreNM he asked, at length! M8itre,M ? re#lied! M>ow long ha e you had that coughNM

M7ghO ughO ughOCughO ughO ughOCughO ughO ughOCughO ughO ughOCughO ughO ughOM .y #oor friend found it im#ossible to re#ly for many minutes! M?t is nothing,M he said, at last! MAome,M ? said, with decision, Mwe will go backK your health is #recious! "ou are rich, res#ected, admired, belo edK you are ha##y, as once ? was! "ou are a man to be missed! =or me it is no matter! We will go backK you will be ill, and ? cannot be res#onsible! Besides, there is %uchesiCM MEnough,M he saidK Mthe cough is a mere nothingK it will not kill me! ? shall not die of a cough!M MTrueCtrue,M ? re#liedK Mand, indeed, ? had no intention of alarming you unnecessarilyCbut you should use all #ro#er caution! A draught of this .edoc will defend us from the dam#s!M >ere ? knocked off the neck of a bottle which ? drew from a long row of its fellows that lay u#on the mould! M-rink,M ? said, #resenting him the wine! >e raised it to his li#s with a leer! >e #aused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled! M? drink,M he said, Mto the buried that re#ose around us!M MAnd ? to your long life!M >e again took my arm, and we #roceeded! MThese aults,M he said, Mare eHtensi e!M MThe .ontresors,M ? re#lied, Mwere a great and numerous family!M M? forget your arms!M MA huge human foot d'or, in a field aGureK the foot crushes a ser#ent ram#ant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel!M MAnd the mottoNM M8emo me im#une lacessit!M MGoodOM he said! The wine s#arkled in his eyes and the bells jingled! .y own fancy grew warm with the .edoc! We had #assed through walls of #iled bones, with casks and #uncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs! ? #aused again, and this time ? made bold to seiGe =ortunato by an arm abo e the elbow! MThe nitreOM ? said& Msee, it increases! ?t hangs like moss u#on the aults! We are below the ri er's bed! The dro#s of moisture trickle among the bones! Aome, we will go back ere it is too late! "our coughCM M?t is nothing,M he saidK Mlet us go on! But first, another draught of the .edoc!M ? broke and reached him a flagon of -e GrZ e! >e em#tied it at a breath! >is eyes flashed with a fierce light! >e laughed and threw the bottle u#wards with a gesticulation ? did not understand! ? looked at him in sur#rise! >e re#eated the mo ementCa grotesLue one! M"ou do not com#rehendNM he said! M8ot ?,M ? re#lied! MThen you are not of the brotherhood!M M>owNM M"ou are not of the masons!M M"es, yes,M ? said, Myes, yes!M M"ouN ?m#ossibleO A masonNM MA mason,M ? re#lied! MA sign,M he said! M?t is this,M ? answered, #roducing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roLuelaire!

M"ou jest,M he eHclaimed, recoiling a few #aces! MBut let us #roceed to the Amontillado!M MBe it so,M ? said, re#lacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm! >e leaned u#on it hea ily! We continued our route in search of the Amontillado! We #assed through a range of low arches, descended, #assed on, and descending again, arri ed at a dee# cry#t, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeauH rather to glow than flame! At the most remote end of the cry#t there a##eared another less s#acious! ?ts walls had been lined with human remains, #iled to the ault o erhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris! Three sides of this interior cry#t were still ornamented in this manner! =rom the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay #romiscuously u#on the earth, forming at one #oint a mound of some siGe! Within the wall thus eH#osed by the dis#lacing of the bones, we #ercei ed a still interior recess, in de#th about four feet, in width three, in height siH or se en! ?t seemed to ha e been constructed for no es#ecial use in itself, but formed merely the inter al between two of the colossal su##orts of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite! ?t was in ain that =ortunato, u#lifting his dull torch, endea ored to #ry into the de#ths of the recess! ?ts termination the feeble light did not enable us to see! MProceed,M ? saidK Mherein is the Amontillado! As for %uchesiCM M>e is an ignoramus,M interru#ted my friend, as he ste##ed unsteadily forward, while ? followed immediately at his heels! ?n an instant he had reached the eHtremity of the niche, and finding his #rogress arrested by the rock, stood stu#idly bewildered! A moment more and ? had fettered him to the granite! ?n its surface were two iron sta#les, distant from each other about two feet, horiGontally! =rom one of these de#ended a short chain, from the other a #adlock! Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it! >e was too much astounded to resist! Withdrawing the key ? ste##ed back from the recess! MPass your hand,M ? said, Mo er the wallK you cannot hel# feeling the nitre! ?ndeed it is ery dam#! <nce more let me im#lore you to return! 8oN Then ? must #ositi ely lea e you! But ? must first render you all the little attentions in my #ower!M MThe AmontilladoOM ejaculated my friend, not yet reco ered from his astonishment! MTrue,M ? re#liedK Mthe Amontillado!M As ? said these words ? busied myself among the #ile of bones of which ? ha e before s#oken! Throwing them aside, ? soon unco ered a Luantity of building stone and mortar! With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, ? began igorously to wall u# the entrance of the niche! ? had scarcely laid the first tier of my masonry when ? disco ered that the intoHication of =ortunato had in a great measure worn off! The earliest indication ? had of this was a low moaning cry from the de#th of the recess! ?t was not the cry of a drunken man! There was then a long and obstinate silence! ? laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourthK and then ? heard the furious ibrations of the chain! The noise lasted for se eral minutes, during which, that ? might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, ? ceased my labors and sat down u#on the bones! When at last the clanking subsided, ? resumed the trowel, and finished without interru#tion the fifth, the siHth, and the se enth tier! The wall

was now nearly u#on a le el with my breast! ? again #aused, and holding the flambeauH o er the mason$work, threw a few feeble rays u#on the figure within! A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me iolently back! =or a brief moment ? hesitatedC? trembled! 7nsheathing my ra#ier, ? began to gro#e with it about the recess& but the thought of an instant reassured me! ? #laced my hand u#on the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied! ? rea##roached the wall! ? re#lied to the yells of him who clamored! ? re$echoedC? aidedC? sur#assed them in olume and in strength! ? did this, and the clamorer grew still! ?t was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close! ? had com#leted the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier! ? had finished a #ortion of the last and the ele enthK there remained but a single stone to be fitted and #lastered in! ? struggled with its weightK ? #laced it #artially in its destined #osition! But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs u#on my head! ?t was succeeded by a sad oice, which ? had difficulty in recognising as that of the noble =ortunato! The oice saidC M>aO haO haOCheO heOCa ery good joke indeedCan eHcellent jest! We will ha e many a rich laugh about it at the #alaGGoCheO heO heOCo er our wineC heO heO heOM MThe AmontilladoOM ? said! M>eO heO heOCheO heO heOCyes, the Amontillado! But is it not getting lateN Will not they be awaiting us at the #alaGGo, the %ady =ortunato and the restN %et us be gone!M M"es,M ? said, Mlet us be gone!M M=or the lo e of God, .ontressorOM M"es,M ? said, Mfor the lo e of GodOM But to these words ? hearkened in ain for a re#ly! ? grew im#atient! ? called aloudC M=ortunatoOM 8o answer! ? called againC M=ortunatoOM 8o answer still! ? thrust a torch through the remaining a#erture and let it fall within! There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells! .y heart grew sickCon account of the dam#ness of the catacombs! ? hastened to make an end of my labor! ? forced the last stone into its #ositionK ? #lastered it u#! Against the new masonry ? re$erected the old ram#art of bones! =or the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them! ?n #ace reLuiescatO >( anchor

T>E ?.P <= T>E PE,'E,;E ?8 T>E consideration of the faculties and im#ulsesCof the #rima mobilia of the human soul, the #hrenologists ha e failed to make room for a #ro#ensity which, although ob iously eHisting as a radical, #rimiti e, irreducible sentiment, has been eLually o erlooked by all the moralists who ha e #receded them! ?n the #ure arrogance of the reason, we ha e all o erlooked it! We ha e suffered its eHistence to esca#e our senses, solely through want of beliefCof faithKCwhether it be faith in

,e elation, or faith in the Babbala! The idea of it has ne er occurred to us, sim#ly because of its su#ererogation! We saw no need of the im#ulseC for the #ro#ensity! We could not #ercei e its necessity! We could not understand, that is to say, we could not ha e understood, had the notion of this #rimum mobile e er obtruded itselfKCwe could not ha e understood in what manner it might be made to further the objects of humanity, either tem#oral or eternal! ?t cannot be denied that #hrenology and, in great measure, all meta#hysicianism ha e been concocted a #riori! The intellectual or logical man, rather than the understanding or obser ant man, set himself to imagine designsCto dictate #ur#oses to God! >a ing thus fathomed, to his satisfaction, the intentions of @eho ah, out of these intentions he built his innumerable systems of mind! ?n the matter of #hrenology, for eHam#le, we first determined, naturally enough, that it was the design of the -eity that man should eat! We then assigned to man an organ of alimenti eness, and this organ is the scourge with which the -eity com#els man, will$? nill$?, into eating! ;econdly, ha ing settled it to be God's will that man should continue his s#ecies, we disco ered an organ of amati eness, forthwith! And so with combati eness, with ideality, with causality, with constructi eness,Cso, in short, with e ery organ, whether re#resenting a #ro#ensity, a moral sentiment, or a faculty of the #ure intellect! And in these arrangements of the Princi#ia of human action, the ;#urGheimites, whether right or wrong, in #art, or u#on the whole, ha e but followed, in #rinci#le, the footste#s of their #redecessors& deducing and establishing e ery thing from the #reconcei ed destiny of man, and u#on the ground of the objects of his Areator! ?t would ha e been wiser, it would ha e been safer, to classify )if classify we must+ u#on the basis of what man usually or occasionally did, and was always occasionally doing, rather than u#on the basis of what we took it for granted the -eity intended him to do! ?f we cannot com#rehend God in his isible works, how then in his inconcei able thoughts, that call the works into beingN ?f we cannot understand him in his objecti e creatures, how then in his substanti e moods and #hases of creationN ?nduction, a #osteriori, would ha e brought #hrenology to admit, as an innate and #rimiti e #rinci#le of human action, a #aradoHical something, which we may call #er erseness, for want of a more characteristic term! ?n the sense ? intend, it is, in fact, a mobile without moti e, a moti e not moti irt! Through its #rom#tings we act without com#rehensible objectK or, if this shall be understood as a contradiction in terms, we may so far modify the #ro#osition as to say, that through its #rom#tings we act, for the reason that we should not! ?n 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! ? am not more certain that ? breathe, than that the assurance of the wrong or error of any action is often the one unconLuerable force which im#els us, and alone im#els us to its #rosecution! 8or will this o erwhelming tendency to do wrong for the wrong's sake, admit of analysis, or resolution into ulterior elements! ?t is a radical, a #rimiti e im#ulse$ elementary! ?t will be said, ? am aware, that when we #ersist in acts because we feel we should not #ersist in them, our conduct is but a modification of that which ordinarily s#rings from the combati eness of #hrenology! But a glance will show the fallacy of this idea! The #hrenological combati eness has for its essence, the necessity of self$ defence! ?t is our safeguard against injury! ?ts #rinci#le regards our well$beingK and thus the desire to be well is eHcited simultaneously with

its de elo#ment! ?t follows, that the desire to be well must be eHcited simultaneously with any #rinci#le which shall be merely a modification of combati eness, but in the case of that something which ? term #er erseness, the desire to be well is not only not aroused, but a strongly antagonistical sentiment eHists! An a##eal to one's own heart is, after all, the best re#ly to the so#histry just noticed! 8o one who trustingly consults and thoroughly Luestions his own soul, will be dis#osed to deny the entire radicalness of the #ro#ensity in Luestion! ?t is not more incom#rehensible than distincti e! There li es no man who at some #eriod has not been tormented, for eHam#le, by an earnest desire to tantaliGe a listener by circumlocution! The s#eaker is aware that he dis#leasesK he has e ery intention to #lease, he is usually curt, #recise, and clear, the most laconic and luminous language is struggling for utterance u#on his tongue, it is only with difficulty that he restrains himself from gi ing it flowK he dreads and de#recates the anger of him whom he addressesK yet, the thought strikes him, that by certain in olutions and #arentheses this anger may be engendered! That single thought is enough! The im#ulse increases to a wish, the wish to a desire, the desire to an uncontrollable longing, and the longing )to the dee# regret and mortification of the s#eaker, and in defiance of all conseLuences+ is indulged! We ha e a task before us which must be s#eedily #erformed! We know that it will be ruinous to make delay! The most im#ortant crisis of our life calls, trum#et$tongued, for immediate energy and action! We glow, we are consumed with eagerness to commence the work, with the antici#ation of whose glorious result our whole souls are on fire! ?t must, it shall be undertaken to$day, and yet we #ut it off until to$morrow, and whyN There is no answer, eHce#t that we feel #er erse, using the word with no com#rehension of the #rinci#le! To$morrow arri es, and with it a more im#atient anHiety to do our duty, but with this ery increase of anHiety arri es, also, a nameless, a #ositi ely fearful, because unfathomable, cra ing for delay! This cra ing gathers strength as the moments fly! The last hour for action is at hand! We tremble with the iolence of the conflict within us,Cof the definite with the indefiniteCof the substance with the shadow! But, if the contest ha e #roceeded thus far, it is the shadow which #re ails,Cwe struggle in ain! The clock strikes, and is the knell of our welfare! At the same time, it is the chanticleerCnote to the ghost that has so long o erawed us! ?t fliesCit disa##earsCwe are free! The old energy returns! We will labor now! Alas, it is too lateO We stand u#on the brink of a #reci#ice! We #eer into the abyssCwe grow sick and diGGy! <ur first im#ulse is to shrink from the danger! 7naccountably we remain! By slow degrees our sickness and diGGiness and horror become merged in a cloud of unnamable feeling! By gradations, still more im#erce#tible, this cloud assumes sha#e, as did the a#or from the bottle out of which arose the genius in the Arabian 8ights! But out of this our cloud u#on the #reci#ice's edge, there grows into #al#ability, a sha#e, 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 ery marrow of our bones with the fierceness of the delight of its horror! ?t is merely the idea of what would be our sensations during the swee#ing #reci#itancy of a fall from such a height! And this fallC this rushing annihilationCfor the ery reason that it in ol es that one most ghastly and loathsome of all the most ghastly and loathsome images

of death and suffering which ha e e er #resented themsel es to our imaginationCfor this ery cause do we now the most i idly desire it! And because our reason iolently deters us from the brink, therefore do we the most im#etuously a##roach it! There is no #assion in nature so demoniacally im#atient, as that of him who, shuddering u#on the edge of a #reci#ice, thus meditates a Plunge! To indulge, for a moment, in any attem#t at thought, is to be ine itably lostK for reflection but urges us to forbear, and therefore it is, ? say, that we cannot! ?f there be no friendly arm to check us, or if we fail in a sudden effort to #rostrate oursel es backward from the abyss, we #lunge, and are destroyed! EHamine these similar actions as we will, we shall find them resulting solely from the s#irit of the Per erse! We #er#etrate them because we feel that we should not! Beyond or behind this there is no intelligible #rinci#leK and we might, indeed, deem this #er erseness a direct instigation of the Arch$=iend, were it not occasionally known to o#erate in furtherance of good! ? ha e said thus much, that in some measure ? may answer your Luestion, that ? may eH#lain to you why ? am here, that ? may assign to you something that shall ha e at least the faint as#ect of a cause for my wearing these fetters, and for my tenanting this cell of the condemned! >ad ? not been thus #roliH, you might either ha e misunderstood me altogether, or, with the rabble, ha e fancied me mad! As it is, you will easily #ercei e that ? am one of the many uncounted ictims of the ?m# of the Per erse! ?t is im#ossible that any deed could ha e been wrought with a more thorough deliberation! =or weeks, for months, ? #ondered u#on the means of the murder! ? rejected a thousand schemes, because their accom#lishment in ol ed a chance of detection! At length, in reading some =rench .emoirs, ? found an account of a nearly fatal illness that occurred to .adame Pilau, through the agency of a candle accidentally #oisoned! The idea struck my fancy at once! ? knew my ictim's habit of reading in bed! ? knew, too, that his a#artment was narrow and ill$ entilated! But ? need not eH you with im#ertinent details! ? need not describe the easy artifices by which ? substituted, in his bed$room candle$stand, a waH$light of my own making for the one which ? there found! The neHt morning he was disco ered dead in his bed, and the Aoroner's erdict wasCM-eath by the isitation of God!M >a ing inherited his estate, all went well with me for years! The idea of detection ne er once entered my brain! <f the remains of the fatal ta#er ? had myself carefully dis#osed! ? had left no shadow of a clew by which it would be #ossible to con ict, or e en to sus#ect me of the crime! ?t is inconcei able how rich a sentiment of satisfaction arose in my bosom as ? reflected u#on my absolute security! =or a ery long #eriod of time ? was accustomed to re el in this sentiment! ?t afforded me more real delight than all the mere worldly ad antages accruing from my sin! But there arri ed at length an e#och, from which the #leasurable feeling grew, by scarcely #erce#tible gradations, into a haunting and harassing thought! ?t harassed because it haunted! ? could scarcely get rid of it for an instant! ?t is Luite 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 unim#ressi e snatches from an o#era! 8or will we be the less tormented if the song in itself be good, or the o#era air meritorious! ?n this manner, at last, ? would #er#etually catch myself

#ondering u#on my security, and re#eating, in a low undertone, the #hrase, M? am safe!M <ne day, whilst sauntering along the streets, ? arrested myself in the act of murmuring, half aloud, these customary syllables! ?n a fit of #etulance, ? remodelled them thusK M? am safeC? am safeCyesCif ? be not fool enough to make o#en confessionOM 8o sooner had ? s#oken these words, than ? felt an icy chill cree# to my heart! ? had had some eH#erience in these fits of #er ersity, )whose nature ? ha e been at some trouble to eH#lain+, and ? remembered well that in no instance ? had successfully resisted their attacks! And now my own casual self$suggestion that ? might #ossibly be fool enough to confess the murder of which ? had been guilty, confronted me, as if the ery ghost of him whom ? had murderedCand beckoned me on to death! At first, ? made an effort to shake off this nightmare of the soul! ? walked igorouslyCfasterCstill fasterCat length ? ran! ? felt a maddening desire to shriek aloud! E ery succeeding wa e of thought o erwhelmed me with new terror, for, alasO ? well, too well understood that to think, in my situation, was to be lost! ? still Luickened my #ace! ? bounded like a madman through the crowded thoroughfares! At length, the #o#ulace took the alarm, and #ursued me! ? felt then the consummation of my fate! Aould ? ha e torn out my tongue, ? would ha e done it, but a rough oice resounded in my earsCa rougher gras# seiGed me by the shoulder! ? turnedC ? gas#ed for breath! =or a moment ? eH#erienced all the #angs of suffocationK ? became blind, and deaf, and giddyK and then some in isible fiend, ? thought, struck me with his broad #alm u#on the back! The long im#risoned secret burst forth from my soul! They say that ? s#oke with a distinct enunciation, but with marked em#hasis and #assionate hurry, as if in dread of interru#tion before concluding the brief, but #regnant sentences that consigned me to the hangman and to hell! >a ing related all that was necessary for the fullest judicial con iction, ? fell #rostrate in a swoon! But why shall ? say moreN To$day ? wear these chains, and am hereO To$ morrow ? shall be fetterlessOCbut whereN >( anchor

T>E ?;%A8- <= T>E =A" 8ullus enim locus sine genio est!C;er ius! M%A .7;?F7E,M says .armontel, in those MAontes .orauHM ):/+ which in all our translations, we ha e insisted u#on calling M.oral Tales,M as if in mockery of their s#iritCMla musiLue est le seul des talents Lui jouissent de lui$memeK tous les autres eulent des temoins!M >e here confounds the #leasure deri able from sweet sounds with the ca#acity for creating them! 8o more than any other talent, is that for music susce#tible of com#lete enjoyment, where there is no second #arty to a##reciate its eHercise! And it is only in common with other talents that it #roduces effects which may be fully enjoyed in solitude! The idea which the raconteur has either failed to entertain clearly, or has sacrificed in its eH#ression to his national lo e of #oint, is, doubtless, the ery tenable one that the higher order of music is the most thoroughly estimated when we are eHclusi ely alone! The #ro#osition, in this form, will be admitted at

once by those who lo e the lyre for its own sake, and for its s#iritual uses! But there is one #leasure still within the reach of fallen mortality and #erha#s only oneCwhich owes e en more than does music to the accessory sentiment of seclusion! ? mean the ha##iness eH#erienced in the contem#lation of natural scenery! ?n truth, the man who would behold aright the glory of God u#on earth must in solitude behold that glory! To me, at least, the #resenceCnot of human life only, but of life in any other form than that of the green things which grow u#on the soil and are oicelessCis a stain u#on the landsca#eCis at war with the genius of the scene! ? lo e, indeed, to regard the dark alleys, and the gray rocks, and the waters that silently smile, and the forests that sigh in uneasy slumbers, and the #roud watchful mountains that look down u#on all,C? lo e to regard these as themsel es but the colossal members of one ast animate and sentient wholeCa whole whose form )that of the s#here+ is the most #erfect and most inclusi e of allK whose #ath is among associate #lanetsK whose meek handmaiden is the moon, whose mediate so ereign is the sunK whose life is eternity, whose thought is that of a GodK whose enjoyment is knowledgeK whose destinies are lost in immensity, whose cogniGance of oursel es is akin with our own cogniGance of the animalculae which infest the brainCa being which we, in conseLuence, regard as #urely inanimate and material much in the same manner as these animalculae must thus regard us! <ur telesco#es and our mathematical in estigations assure us on e ery handCnotwithstanding the cant of the more ignorant of the #riesthoodCthat s#ace, and therefore that bulk, is an im#ortant consideration in the eyes of the Almighty! The cycles in which the stars mo e are those best ada#ted for the e olution, without collision, of the greatest #ossible number of bodies! The forms of those bodies are accurately such as, within a gi en surface, to include the greatest #ossible amount of matterKCwhile the surfaces themsel es are so dis#osed as to accommodate a denser #o#ulation than could be accommodated on the same surfaces otherwise arranged! 8or is it any argument against bulk being an object with God, that s#ace itself is infiniteK for there may be an infinity of matter to fill it! And since we see clearly that the endowment of matter with itality is a #rinci#leCindeed, as far as our judgments eHtend, the leading #rinci#le in the o#erations of -eity,Cit is scarcely logical to imagine it confined to the regions of the minute, where we daily trace it, and not eHtending to those of the august! As we find cycle within cycle without end,Cyet all re ol ing around one far$distant centre which is the God$head, may we not analogically su##ose in the same manner, life within life, the less within the greater, and all within the ;#irit -i ineN ?n short, we are madly erring, through self$esteem, in belie ing man, in either his tem#oral or future destinies, to be of more moment in the uni erse than that ast Mclod of the alleyM which he tills and contemns, and to which he denies a soul for no more #rofound reason than that he does not behold it in o#eration! ):(+ These fancies, and such as these, ha e always gi en to my meditations among the mountains and the forests, by the ri ers and the ocean, a tinge of what the e eryday world would not fail to term fantastic! .y wanderings amid such scenes ha e been many, and far$searching, and often solitaryK and the interest with which ? ha e strayed through many a dim, dee# alley, or gaGed into the reflected >ea en of many a bright lake, has been an interest greatly dee#ened by the thought that ? ha e strayed and gaGed alone! What fli##ant =renchman was it who said in allusion to

the well$known work of Dimmerman, that, Mla solitude est une belle choseK mais il faut LuelLu'un #our ous dire Lue la solitude est une belle choseNM The e#igram cannot be gainsayedK but the necessity is a thing that does not eHist! ?t was during one of my lonely journeyings, amid a far distant region of mountain locked within mountain, and sad ri ers and melancholy tarn writhing or slee#ing within allCthat ? chanced u#on a certain ri ulet and island! ? came u#on them suddenly in the leafy @une, and threw myself u#on the turf, beneath the branches of an unknown odorous shrub, that ? might doGe as ? contem#lated the scene! ? felt that thus only should ? look u#on itCsuch was the character of #hantasm which it wore! <n all sidesCsa e to the west, where the sun was about sinkingCarose the erdant walls of the forest! The little ri er which turned shar#ly in its course, and was thus immediately lost to sight, seemed to ha e no eHit from its #rison, but to be absorbed by the dee# green foliage of the trees to the eastCwhile in the o##osite Luarter )so it a##eared to me as ? lay at length and glanced u#ward+ there #oured down noiselessly and continuously into the alley, a rich golden and crimson waterfall from the sunset fountains of the sky! About midway in the short ista which my dreamy ision took in, one small circular island, #rofusely erdured, re#osed u#on the bosom of the stream! ;o blended bank and shadow there That each seemed #endulous in airCso mirror$like was the glassy water, that it was scarcely #ossible to say at what #oint u#on the slo#e of the emerald turf its crystal dominion began! .y #osition enabled me to include in a single iew both the eastern and western eHtremities of the isletK and ? obser ed a singularly$marked difference in their as#ects! The latter was all one radiant harem of garden beauties! ?t glowed and blushed beneath the eyes of the slant sunlight, and fairly laughed with flowers! The grass was short, s#ringy, sweet$scented, and As#hodel$inters#ersed! The trees were lithe, mirthful, erectCbright, slender, and graceful,Cof eastern figure and foliage, with bark smooth, glossy, and #arti$colored! There seemed a dee# sense of life and joy about allK and although no airs blew from out the hea ens, yet e ery thing had motion through the gentle swee#ings to and fro of innumerable butterflies, that might ha e been mistaken for tuli#s with wings! ):5+ The other or eastern end of the isle was whelmed in the blackest shade! A sombre, yet beautiful and #eaceful gloom here #er aded all things! The trees were dark in color, and mournful in form and attitude, wreathing themsel es into sad, solemn, and s#ectral sha#es that con eyed ideas of mortal sorrow and untimely death! The grass wore the dee# tint of the cy#ress, and the heads of its blades hung droo#ingly, and hither and thither among it were many small unsightly hillocks, low and narrow, and not ery long, that had the as#ect of gra es, but were notK although o er and all about them the rue and the rosemary clambered! The shade of the trees fell hea ily u#on the water, and seemed to bury itself therein, im#regnating the de#ths of the element with darkness! ? fancied that each shadow, as the sun descended lower and lower, se#arated itself sullenly from the trunk that ga e it birth, and thus became absorbed by the streamK while other shadows issued momently from the trees, taking the #lace of their #redecessors thus entombed!

This idea, ha ing once seiGed u#on my fancy, greatly eHcited it, and ? lost myself forthwith in re ery! M?f e er island were enchanted,M said ? to myself, Mthis is it! This is the haunt of the few gentle =ays who remain from the wreck of the race! Are these green tombs theirsNCor do they yield u# their sweet li es as mankind yield u# their ownN ?n dying, do they not rather waste away mournfully, rendering unto God, little by little, their eHistence, as these trees render u# shadow after shadow, eHhausting their substance unto dissolutionN What the wasting tree is to the water that imbibes its shade, growing thus blacker by what it #reys u#on, may not the life of the =ay be to the death which engulfs itNM As ? thus mused, with half$shut eyes, while the sun sank ra#idly to rest, and eddying currents careered round and round the island, bearing u#on their bosom large, daGGling, white flakes of the bark of the sycamore$ flakes which, in their multiform #ositions u#on the water, a Luick imagination might ha e con erted into any thing it #leased, while ? thus mused, it a##eared to me that the form of one of those ery =ays about whom ? had been #ondering made its way slowly into the darkness from out the light at the western end of the island! ;he stood erect in a singularly fragile canoe, and urged it with the mere #hantom of an oar! While within the influence of the lingering sunbeams, her attitude seemed indicati e of joyCbut sorrow deformed it as she #assed within the shade! ;lowly she glided along, and at length rounded the islet and re$entered the region of light! MThe re olution which has just been made by the =ay,M continued ?, musingly, Mis the cycle of the brief year of her life! ;he has floated through her winter and through her summer! ;he is a year nearer unto -eathK for ? did not fail to see that, as she came into the shade, her shadow fell from her, and was swallowed u# in the dark water, making its blackness more black!M And again the boat a##eared and the =ay, but about the attitude of the latter there was more of care and uncertainty and less of elastic joy! ;he floated again from out the light and into the gloom )which dee#ened 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 #erson, while it grew feebler and far fainter and more indistinct, and at each #assage 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 de#arted, the =ay, 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 ? cannot say, for darkness fell o er all things and ? beheld her magical figure no more! >( anchor

T>E A;;?G8AT?<8 ;tay for me thereO ? will not fail! To meet thee in that hollow ale! 3EHeLuy on the death of his wife, by >enry Bing, Bisho# of Ahichester!6 ?%%$=ATE- and mysterious manOCbewildered in the brilliancy of thine own imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youthO Again in fancy ? behold theeO <nce more thy form hath risen before meOCnotCoh not as

thou artCin the cold alley and shadowCbut as thou shouldst beC sLuandering away a life of magnificent meditation in that city of dim isions, thine own 'eniceCwhich is a star$belo ed Elysium of the sea, and the wide windows of whose Palladian #alaces look down with a dee# and bitter meaning u#on the secrets of her silent waters! "esO ? re#eat itCas thou shouldst be! There are surely other worlds than thisCother thoughts than the thoughts of the multitudeCother s#eculations than the s#eculations of the so#hist! Who then shall call thy conduct into LuestionN who blame thee for thy isionary hours, or denounce those occu#ations as a wasting away of life, which were but the o erflowings of thine e erlasting energiesN ?t was at 'enice, beneath the co ered archway there called the Ponte di ;os#iri, that ? met for the third or fourth time the #erson of whom ? s#eak! ?t is with a confused recollection that ? bring to mind the circumstances of that meeting! "et ? rememberCahO how should ? forgetNC the dee# midnight, the Bridge of ;ighs, the beauty of woman, and the Genius of ,omance that stalked u# and down the narrow canal! ?t was a night of unusual gloom! The great clock of the PiaGGa had sounded the fifth hour of the ?talian e ening! The sLuare of the Aam#anile lay silent and deserted, and the lights in the old -ucal Palace were dying fast away! ? was returning home from the PiaGetta, by way of the Grand Aanal! But as my gondola arri ed o##osite the mouth of the canal ;an .arco, a female oice from its recesses broke suddenly u#on the night, in one wild, hysterical, and long continued shriek! ;tartled at the sound, ? s#rang u#on my feet& while the gondolier, letting sli# his single oar, lost it in the #itchy darkness beyond a chance of reco ery, and we were conseLuently left to the guidance of the current which here sets from the greater into the smaller channel! %ike some huge and sable$ feathered condor, we were slowly drifting down towards the Bridge of ;ighs, when a thousand flambeauH flashing from the windows, and down the staircases of the -ucal Palace, turned all at once that dee# gloom into a li id and #reternatural day! A child, sli##ing from the arms of its own mother, had fallen from an u##er window of the lofty structure into the dee# and dim canal! The Luiet waters had closed #lacidly o er their ictimK and, although my own gondola was the only one in sight, many a stout swimmer, already in the stream, was seeking in ain u#on the surface, the treasure which was to be found, alasO only within the abyss! 7#on the broad black marble flagstones at the entrance of the #alace, and a few ste#s abo e the water, stood a figure which none who then saw can ha e e er since forgotten! ?t was the .archesa A#hroditeCthe adoration of all 'eniceCthe gayest of the gayCthe most lo ely where all were beautifulCbut still the young wife of the old and intriguing .entoni, and the mother of that fair child, her first and only one, who now, dee# beneath the murky water, was thinking in bitterness of heart u#on her sweet caresses, and eHhausting its little life in struggles to call u#on her name! ;he stood alone! >er small, bare, and sil ery feet gleamed in the black mirror of marble beneath her! >er 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 gauGe$like dra#ery seemed to be nearly the sole co ering to her delicate formK but the mid$summer and midnight air was hot, sullen, and still, and no motion in the statue$like form itself, stirred e en the folds of that raiment of ery a#or which

hung around it as the hea y marble hangs around the 8iobe! "etCstrange to sayOCher large lustrous eyes were not turned downwards u#on that gra e wherein her brightest ho#e lay buriedCbut ri eted in a widely different directionO The #rison of the <ld ,e#ublic is, ? think, the stateliest building in all 'eniceCbut how could that lady gaGe so fiHedly u#on it, when beneath her lay stifling her only childN "on dark, gloomy niche, too, yawns right o##osite her chamber windowCwhat, then, could there be in its shadowsCin its architectureCin its i y$wreathed and solemn cornicesCthat the .archesa di .entoni had not wondered at a thousand times beforeN 8onsenseOCWho does not remember that, at such a time as this, the eye, like a shattered mirror, multi#lies the images of its sorrow, and sees in innumerable far$off #laces, the woe which is close at handN .any ste#s abo e the .archesa, and within the arch of the water$gate, stood, in full dress, the ;atyr$like figure of .entoni himself! >e was occasionally occu#ied in thrumming a guitar, and seemed ennuye to the ery death, as at inter als he ga e directions for the reco ery of his child! ;tu#ified and aghast, ? had myself no #ower to mo e from the u#right #osition ? had assumed u#on first hearing the shriek, and must ha e #resented to the eyes of the agitated grou# a s#ectral and ominous a##earance, as with #ale countenance and rigid limbs, ? floated down among them in that funereal gondola! All efforts #ro ed in ain! .any of the most energetic in the search were relaHing their eHertions, and yielding to a gloomy sorrow! There seemed but little ho#e for the childK )how much less than for the motherO+ but now, from the interior of that dark niche which has been already mentioned as forming a #art of the <ld ,e#ublican #rison, and as fronting the lattice of the .archesa, a figure muffled in a cloak, ste##ed out within reach of the light, and, #ausing a moment u#on the erge of the giddy descent, #lunged headlong into the canal! As, in an instant afterwards, he stood with the still li ing and breathing child within his gras#, u#on the marble flagstones by the side of the .archesa, his cloak, hea y with the drenching water, became unfastened, and, falling in folds about his feet, disco ered to the wonder$stricken s#ectators the graceful #erson of a ery young man, with the sound of whose name the greater #art of Euro#e was then ringing! 8o word s#oke the deli erer! But the .archesaO ;he will now recei e her childCshe will #ress it to her heartCshe will cling to its little form, and smother it with her caresses! AlasO another's arms ha e taken it from the strangerCanother's arms ha e taken it away, and borne it afar off, unnoticed, into the #alaceO And the .archesaO >er li#Cher beautiful li# trembles& tears are gathering in her eyesCthose eyes which, like Pliny's acanthus, are Msoft and almost liLuid!M "esO tears are gathering in those eyesCand seeO the entire woman thrills throughout the soul, and the statue has started into lifeO The #allor of the marble countenance, the swelling of the marble bosom, the ery #urity of the marble feet, we behold suddenly flushed o er with a tide of ungo ernable crimsonK and a slight shudder Lui ers about her delicate frame, as a gentle air at 8a#oli about the rich sil er lilies in the grass! Why should that lady blushO To this demand there is no answerCeHce#t that, ha ing left, in the eager haste and terror of a mother's heart, the #ri acy of her own boudoir, she has neglected to enthral her tiny feet in their sli##ers, and utterly forgotten to throw o er her 'enetian shoulders that dra#ery which is their due! What other #ossible reason

could there ha e been for her so blushingNCfor the glance of those wild a##ealing eyesN for the unusual tumult of that throbbing bosomNCfor the con ulsi e #ressure of that trembling handNCthat hand which fell, as .entoni turned into the #alace, accidentally, u#on the hand of the stranger! What reason could there ha e been for the lowCthe singularly low tone of those unmeaning words which the lady uttered hurriedly in bidding him adieuN MThou hast conLuered,M she said, or the murmurs of the water decei ed meK Mthou hast conLueredCone hour after sunriseCwe shall meetCso let it beOM The tumult had subsided, the lights had died away within the #alace, and the stranger, whom ? now recogniGed, stood alone u#on the flags! >e shook with inconcei able agitation, and his eye glanced around in search of a gondola! ? could not do less than offer him the ser ice of my ownK and he acce#ted the ci ility! >a ing obtained an oar at the water$gate, we #roceeded together to his residence, while he ra#idly reco ered his self$ #ossession, and s#oke of our former slight acLuaintance in terms of great a##arent cordiality! There are some subjects u#on which ? take #leasure in being minute! The #erson of the strangerClet me call him by this title, who to all the world was still a strangerCthe #erson of the stranger is one of these subjects! ?n height he might ha e been below rather than abo e the medium siGe& although there were moments of intense #assion when his frame actually eH#anded and belied the assertion! The light, almost slender symmetry of his figure, #romised more of that ready acti ity which he e inced at the Bridge of ;ighs, than of that >erculean strength which he has been known to wield without an effort, u#on occasions of more dangerous emergency! With the mouth and chin of a deityCsingular, wild, full, liLuid eyes, whose shadows aried from #ure haGel to intense and brilliant jetCand a #rofusion of curling, black hair, from which a forehead of unusual breadth gleamed forth at inter als all light and i oryChis were features than which ? ha e seen none more classically regular, eHce#t, #erha#s, the marble ones of the Em#eror Aommodus! "et his countenance was, ne ertheless, one of those which all men ha e seen at some #eriod of their li es, and ha e ne er afterwards seen again! ?t had no #eculiarCit had no settled #redominant eH#ression to be fastened u#on the memoryK a countenance seen and instantly forgottenCbut forgotten with a ague and ne er$ceasing desire of recalling it to mind! 8ot that the s#irit of each ra#id #assion failed, at any time, to throw its own distinct image u#on the mirror of that faceCbut that the mirror, mirror$ like, retained no estige of the #assion, when the #assion had de#arted! 7#on lea ing him on the night of our ad enture, he solicited me, in what ? thought an urgent manner, to call u#on him ery early the neHt morning! ;hortly after sunrise, ? found myself accordingly at his PalaGGo, one of those huge structures of gloomy, yet fantastic #om#, which tower abo e the waters of the Grand Aanal in the icinity of the ,ialto! ? was shown u# a broad winding staircase of mosaics, into an a#artment whose un#aralleled s#lendor burst through the o#ening door with an actual glare, making me blind and diGGy with luHuriousness! ? knew my acLuaintance to be wealthy! ,e#ort had s#oken of his #ossessions in terms which ? had e en entured to call terms of ridiculous eHaggeration! But as ? gaGed about me, ? could not bring myself to belie e that the wealth of any subject in Euro#e could ha e su##lied the #rincely magnificence which burned and blaGed around!

Although, as ? say, the sun had arisen, yet the room was still brilliantly lighted u#! ? judge from this circumstance, as well as from an air of eHhaustion in the countenance of my friend, that he had not retired to bed during the whole of the #receding night! ?n the architecture and embellishments of the chamber, the e ident design had been to daGGle and astound! %ittle attention had been #aid to the decora of what is technically called kee#ing, or to the #ro#rieties of nationality! The eye wandered from object to object, and rested u#on none Cneither the grotesLues of the Greek #ainters, nor the scul#tures of the best ?talian days, nor the huge car ings of untutored Egy#t! ,ich dra#eries in e ery #art of the room trembled to the ibration of low, melancholy music, whose origin was not to be disco ered! The senses were o##ressed by mingled and conflicting #erfumes, reeking u# from strange con olute censers, together with multitudinous flaring and flickering tongues of emerald and iolet fire! The rays of the newly risen sun #oured in u#on the whole, through windows, formed each of a single #ane of crimson$tinted glass! Glancing to and fro, in a thousand reflections, from curtains which rolled from their cornices like cataracts of molten sil er, the beams of natural glory mingled at length fitfully with the artificial light, and lay weltering in subdued masses u#on a car#et of rich, liLuid$looking cloth of Ahili gold! M>aO haO haOChaO haO haOMClaughed the #ro#rietor, motioning me to a seat as ? entered the room, and throwing himself back at full$length u#on an ottoman! M? see,M said he, #ercei ing that ? could not immediately reconcile myself to the bienseance of so singular a welcomeCM? see you are astonished at my a#artmentCat my statuesCmy #icturesCmy originality of conce#tion in architecture and u#holsteryO absolutely drunk, eh, with my magnificenceN But #ardon me, my dear sir, )here his tone of oice dro##ed to the ery s#irit of cordiality,+ #ardon me for my uncharitable laughter! "ou a##eared so utterly astonished! Besides, some things are so com#letely ludicrous, that a man must laugh or die! To die laughing, must be the most glorious of all glorious deathsO ;ir Thomas .oreCa ery fine man was ;ir Thomas .oreC;ir Thomas .ore died laughing, you remember! Also in the Absurdities of ,a isius TeHtor, there is a long list of characters who came to the same magnificent end! -o you know, howe er,M continued he musingly, Mthat at ;#arta )which is now PalUK ochori,+ at ;#arta, ? say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely isible ruins, is a kind of socle, u#on which are still legible the letters AAE.! They are undoubtedly #art of PEAAE.A! 8ow, at ;#arta were a thousand tem#les and shrines to a thousand different di inities! >ow eHceedingly strange that the altar of %aughter should ha e sur i ed all the othersO But in the #resent instance,M he resumed, with a singular alteration of oice and manner, M? ha e no right to be merry at your eH#ense! "ou might well ha e been amaGed! Euro#e cannot #roduce anything so fine as this, my little regal cabinet! .y other a#artments are by no means of the same orderCmere ultras of fashionable insi#idity! This is better than fashionCis it notN "et this has but to be seen to become the rageCthat is, with those who could afford it at the cost of their entire #atrimony! ? ha e guarded, howe er, against any such #rofanation! With one eHce#tion, you are the only human being besides myself and my alet, who has been admitted within the mysteries of these im#erial #recincts, since they ha e been bediGGened as you seeOM ? bowed in acknowledgmentCfor the o er#owering sense of s#lendor and #erfume, and music, together with the uneH#ected eccentricity of his

address and manner, #re ented me from eH#ressing, in words, my a##reciation of what ? might ha e construed into a com#liment! M>ere,M he resumed, arising and leaning on my arm as he sauntered around the a#artment, Mhere are #aintings from the Greeks to Aimabue, and from Aimabue to the #resent hour! .any are chosen, as you see, with little deference to the o#inions of 'irtu! They are all, howe er, fitting ta#estry for a chamber such as this! >ere, too, are some chefs d'oeu re of the unknown greatK and here, unfinished designs by men, celebrated in their day, whose ery names the #ers#icacity of the academies has left to silence and to me! What think you,M said he, turning abru#tly as he s#oke CMwhat think you of this .adonna della PietaNM M?t is Guido's ownOM ? said, with all the enthusiasm of my nature, for ? had been #oring intently o er its sur#assing lo eliness! M?t is Guido's ownOChow could you ha e obtained itNCshe is undoubtedly in #ainting what the 'enus is in scul#ture!M M>aOM said he thoughtfully, Mthe 'enusCthe beautiful 'enusNCthe 'enus of the .ediciNCshe of the diminuti e head and the gilded hairN Part of the left arm )here his oice dro##ed so as to be heard with difficulty,+ and all the right, are restorationsK and in the coLuetry of that right arm lies, ? think, the Luintessence of all affectation! Gi e me the Aano aO The A#ollo, too, is a co#yCthere can be no doubt of itCblind fool that ? am, who cannot behold the boasted ins#iration of the A#olloO ? cannot hel#C#ity meOC? cannot hel# #referring the Antinous! Was it not ;ocrates who said that the statuary found his statue in the block of marbleN Then .ichael Angelo was by no means original in his cou#letC '8on ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto Ahe un marmo solo in se non circunscri a!'M ?t 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 ulgar, without being at once #recisely able to determine in what such difference consists! Allowing the remark to ha e a##lied in its full force to the outward demeanor of my acLuaintance, ? felt it, on that e entful morning, still more fully a##licable to his moral tem#erament and character! 8or can ? better define that #eculiarity of s#irit which seemed to #lace him so essentially a#art from all other human beings, than by calling it a habit of intense and continual thought, #er ading e en his most tri ial actionsCintruding u#on his moments of dallianceCand interwea ing itself with his ery flashes of merrimentClike adders which writhe from out the eyes of the grinning masks in the cornices around the tem#les of Perse#olis! ? could not hel#, howe er, re#eatedly obser ing, through the mingled tone of le ity and solemnity with which he ra#idly descanted u#on matters of little im#ortance, a certain air of tre#idationCa degree of ner ous unction in action and in s#eechCan unLuiet eHcitability of manner which a##eared to me at all times unaccountable, and u#on some occasions e en filled me with alarm! =reLuently, too, #ausing in the middle of a sentence whose commencement he had a##arently forgotten, he seemed to be listening in the dee#est attention, as if either in momentary eH#ectation of a isiter, or to sounds which must ha e had eHistence in his imagination alone! ?t was during one of these re eries or #auses of a##arent abstraction, that, in turning o er a #age of the #oet and scholar Politian's beautiful tragedy MThe <rfeo,M )the first nati e ?talian tragedy,+ which lay near me u#on an ottoman, ? disco ered a #assage underlined in #encil! ?t was a

#assage towards the end of the third actCa #assage of the most heart$ stirring eHcitementCa #assage which, although tainted with im#urity, no man shall read without a thrill of no el emotionCno woman without a sigh! The whole #age was blotted with fresh tearsK and, u#on the o##osite interleaf, were the following English lines, written in a hand so ery different from the #eculiar characters of my acLuaintance, that ? had some difficulty in recognising it as his own&C Thou wast that all to me, lo e, =or which my soul did #ineC A green isle in the sea, lo e, A fountain and a shrine, All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowersK And all the flowers were mine! Ah, dream too bright to lastO Ah, starry >o#e, that didst arise But to be o ercastO A oice from out the =uture cries, M<nwardOMCbut o'er the Past )-im gulfO+ my s#irit ho ering lies, .uteCmotionlessCaghastO =or alasO alasO with me The light of life is o'er! M8o moreCno moreCno more,M );uch language holds the solemn sea To the sands u#on the shore,+ ;hall bloom the thunder$ blasted tree, <r the stricken eagle soarO 8ow all my hours are trancesK And all my nightly dreams Are where the dark eye glances, And where thy footste# gleams, ?n what ethereal dances, By what ?talian streams! AlasO for that accursed time They bore thee o'er the billow, =rom %o e to titled age and crime, And an unholy #illowOC =rom me, and from our misty clime, Where wee#s the sil er willowO That these lines were written in EnglishCa language with which ? had not belie ed their author acLuaintedCafforded me little matter for sur#rise! ? was too well aware of the eHtent of his acLuirements, and of the singular #leasure he took in concealing them from obser ation, to be astonished at any similar disco eryK but the #lace of date, ? must confess, occasioned me no little amaGement! ?t had been originally written %ondon, and afterwards carefully o erscoredCnot, howe er, so effectually as to conceal the word from a scrutiniGing eye! ? say, this occasioned me no little amaGementK for ? well remember that, in a former con ersation with a friend, ? #articularly inLuired if he had at any time met in %ondon the .archesa di .entoni, )who for some years #re ious to her marriage had resided in that city,+ when his answer, if ? mistake not, ga e me to understand that he had ne er isited the metro#olis of Great Britain! ? might as well here mention, that ? ha e more than once heard, )without, of course, gi ing credit to a re#ort in ol ing so many im#robabilities,+ that the #erson of whom ? s#eak, was not only by birth, but in education, an Englishman! MThere is one #ainting,M said he, without being aware of my notice ofthe tragedyCMthere is still one #ainting which you ha e not seen!M Andthrowing aside a dra#ery, he disco ered a full$length #ortrait of the.archesa A#hrodite! >uman art could ha e done no more in the delineation of hersu#erhuman beauty! The same ethereal figure which stood before me the#receding night u#on the ste#s of the -ucal Palace, stood before me onceagain! But in the eH#ression of the countenance, which was beaming allo er with smiles, there still lurked )incom#rehensible anomalyO+ thatfitful stain of melancholy which will e er be found inse#arable from the#erfection of the beautiful! >er right arm lay folded o er her bosom!With her left she #ointed downward to a curiously fashioned ase!<ne small, fairy foot, alone isible, barely touched the earthK and,scarcely discernible in the brilliant atmos#here which seemed

toencircle and enshrine her lo eliness, floated a #air of the mostdelicately imagined wings! .y glance fell from the #ainting to thefigure of my friend, and the igorous words of Aha#man's Bussy-'Ambois, Lui ered instincti ely u#on my li#s& M>e is u# There like a ,oman statueO >e will stand Till -eath hath made him marbleOM MAome,M he said at length, turning towards a table of richly enamelled and massi e sil er, u#on which were a few goblets fantastically stained, together with two large Etruscan ases, fashioned in the same eHtraordinary model as that in the foreground of the #ortrait, and filled with what ? su##osed to be @ohannisberger! MAome,M he said, abru#tly, Mlet us drinkO ?t is earlyCbut let us drink! ?t is indeed early,M he continued, musingly, as a cherub with a hea y golden hammer made the a#artment ring with the first hour after sunrise& M?t is indeed earlyCbut what matters itN let us drinkO %et us #our out an offering to yon solemn sun which these gaudy lam#s and censers are so eager to subdueOM And, ha ing made me #ledge him in a bum#er, he swallowed in ra#id succession se eral goblets of the wine! MTo dream,M he continued, resuming the tone of his desultory con ersation, as he held u# to the rich light of a censer one of the magnificent asesCMto dream has been the business of my life! ? ha e therefore framed for myself, as you see, a bower of dreams! ?n the heart of 'enice could ? ha e erected a betterN "ou behold around you, it is true, a medley of architectural embellishments! The chastity of ?onia is offended by antedilu ian de ices, and the s#hynHes of Egy#t are outstretched u#on car#ets of gold! "et the effect is incongruous to the timid alone! Pro#rieties of #lace, and es#ecially of time, are the bugbears which terrify mankind from the contem#lation of the magnificent! <nce ? was myself a decoristK but that sublimation of folly has #alled u#on my soul! All this is now the fitter for my #ur#ose! %ike these arabesLue censers, my s#irit is writhing in fire, and the delirium of this scene is fashioning me for the wilder isions of that land of real dreams whither ? am now ra#idly de#arting!M >e here #aused abru#tly, bent his head to his bosom, and seemed to listen to a sound which ? could not hear! At length, erecting his frame, he looked u#wards, and ejaculated the lines of the Bisho# of Ahichester& M;tay for me thereO ? will not fail To meet thee in that hollow ale!M ?n the neHt instant, confessing the #ower of the wine, he threw himself at full$length u#on an ottoman! A Luick ste# was now heard u#on the staircase, and a loud knock at the door ra#idly succeeded! ? was hastening to antici#ate a second disturbance, when a #age of .entoni's household burst into the room, and faltered out, in a oice choking with emotion, the incoherent words, M.y mistressOCmy mistressOCPoisonedOC#oisonedO <h, beautifulCoh, beautiful A#hroditeOM Bewildered, ? flew to the ottoman, and endea ored to arouse the slee#er to a sense of the startling intelligence! But his limbs were rigidChis li#s were li idChis lately beaming eyes were ri eted in death! ? staggered back towards the tableCmy hand fell u#on a cracked and blackened gobletCand a consciousness of the entire and terrible truth flashed suddenly o er my soul! >( anchor

T>E P?T A8- T>E PE8-7%7. ?m#ia tortorum longos hic turba furores ;anguinis innocui, non satiata, aluit! ;os#ite nunc #atria, fracto nunc funeris antro, .ors ubi dira fuit ita salusLue #atent! 3Fuatrain com#osed for the gates of a market to be erected u#on the site of the @acobin Alub >ouse at Paris!6 ? WA; sickCsick unto death with that long agonyK and when they at length unbound me, and ? was #ermitted to sit, ? felt that my senses were lea ing me! The sentenceCthe dread sentence of deathCwas the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears! After that, the sound of the inLuisitorial oices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate hum! ?t con eyed to my soul the idea of re olutionC#erha#s from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill wheel! This only for a brief #eriodK for #resently ? heard no more! "et, for a while, ? sawK but with how terrible an eHaggerationO ? saw the li#s of the black$robed judges! They a##eared to me whiteCwhiter than the sheet u#on which ? trace these wordsCand thin e en to grotesLuenessK thin with the intensity of their eH#ression of firmnessCof immo eable resolutionCof stern contem#t of human torture! ? saw that the decrees of what to me was =ate, were still issuing from those li#s! ? saw them writhe with a deadly locution! ? saw them fashion the syllables of my nameK and ? shuddered because no sound succeeded! ? saw, too, for a few moments of delirious horror, the soft and nearly im#erce#tible wa ing of the sable dra#eries which enwra##ed the walls of the a#artment! And then my ision fell u#on the se en tall candles u#on the table! At first they wore the as#ect of charity, and seemed white and slender angels who would sa e meK but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea o er my s#irit, and ? felt e ery fibre in my frame thrill as if ? had touched the wire of a gal anic battery, while the angel forms became meaningless s#ectres, with heads of flame, and ? saw that from them there would be no hel#! And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the gra e! The thought came gently and stealthily, and it seemed long before it attained full a##reciationK but just as my s#irit came at length #ro#erly to feel and entertain it, the figures of the judges anished, as if magically, from before meK the tall candles sank into nothingnessK their flames went out utterlyK the blackness of darkness su#er enedK all sensations a##eared swallowed u# in a mad rushing descent as of the soul into >ades! Then silence, and stillness, night were the uni erse! ? had swoonedK but still will not say that all of consciousness was lost! What of it there remained ? will not attem#t to define, or e en to describeK yet all was not lost! ?n the dee#est slumberCnoO ?n deliriumC noO ?n a swoonCnoO ?n deathCnoO e en in the gra e all is not lost! Else there is no immortality for man! Arousing from the most #rofound of slumbers, we break the gossamer web of some dream! "et in a second afterward, )so frail may that web ha e been+ we remember not that we ha e dreamed! ?n the return to life from the swoon there are two stagesK first, that of the sense of mental or s#iritualK secondly, that of the sense of #hysical, eHistence! ?t seems #robable that if, u#on reaching the second stage, we could recall the im#ressions of the first, we should find these im#ressions eloLuent in memories of the gulf beyond! And that

gulf isCwhatN >ow at least shall we distinguish its shadows from those of the tombN But if the im#ressions of what ? ha e termed the first stage, are not, at will, recalled, yet, after long inter al, do they not come unbidden, while we mar el whence they comeN >e who has ne er swooned, is not he who finds strange #alaces and wildly familiar faces in coals that glowK is not he who beholds floating in mid$air the sad isions that the many may not iewK is not he who #onders o er the #erfume of some no el flowerCis not he whose brain grows bewildered with the meaning of some musical cadence which has ne er before arrested his attention! Amid freLuent and thoughtful endea ors to rememberK amid earnest struggles to regather some token of the state of seeming nothingness into which my soul had la#sed, there ha e been moments when ? ha e dreamed of successK there ha e been brief, ery brief #eriods when ? ha e conjured u# remembrances which the lucid reason of a later e#och assures me could ha e 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 downCdownCstill downCtill a hideous diGGiness o##ressed me at the mere idea of the interminableness of the descent! They tell also of a ague horror at my heart, on account of that heart's unnatural stillness! Then comes a sense of sudden motionlessness throughout all thingsK as if those who bore me )a ghastly trainO+ had outrun, in their descent, the limits of the limitless, and #aused from the wearisomeness of their toil! After this ? call to mind flatness and dam#nessK and then all is madnessCthe madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things! 'ery suddenly there came back to my soul motion and soundCthe tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its beating! Then a #ause in which all is blank! Then again sound, and motion, and touchCa tingling sensation #er ading my frame! Then the mere consciousness of eHistence, without thoughtCa condition which lasted long! Then, ery suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and earnest endea or to com#rehend my true state! Then a strong desire to la#se into insensibility! Then a rushing re i al of soul and a successful effort to mo e! And now a full memory of the trial, of the judges, of the sable dra#eries, of the sentence, of the sickness, of the swoon! Then entire forgetfulness of all that followedK of all that a later day and much earnestness of endea or ha e enabled me aguely to recall! ;o far, ? had not o#ened my eyes! ? felt that ? lay u#on my back, unbound! ? reached out my hand, and it fell hea ily u#on something dam# and hard! There ? suffered it to remain for many minutes, while ? stro e to imagine where and what ? could be! ? longed, yet dared not to em#loy my ision! ? dreaded the first glance at objects around me! ?t was not that ? feared to look u#on things horrible, but that ? grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see! At length, with a wild des#eration at heart, ? Luickly unclosed my eyes! .y worst thoughts, then, were confirmed! The blackness of eternal night encom#assed me! ? struggled for breath! The intensity of the darkness seemed to o##ress and stifle me! The atmos#here was intolerably close! ? still lay Luietly, and made effort to eHercise my reason! ? brought to mind the inLuisitorial #roceedings, and attem#ted from that #oint to deduce my real condition! The sentence had #assedK and it a##eared to me that a ery long inter al of time had since ela#sed! "et not for a moment did ? su##ose myself actually dead! ;uch a su##osition, notwithstanding what we read in fiction, is altogether inconsistent with real eHistenceKCbut where and in

what state was ?N The condemned to death, ? knew, #erished usually at the autos$da$fe, and one of these had been held on the ery night of the day of my trial! >ad ? been remanded to my dungeon, to await the neHt sacrifice, which would not take #lace for many monthsN This ? at once saw could not be! 'ictims had been in immediate demand! .oreo er, my dungeon, as well as all the condemned cells at Toledo, had stone floors, and light was not altogether eHcluded! A fearful idea now suddenly dro e the blood in torrents u#on my heart, and for a brief #eriod, ? once more rela#sed into insensibility! 7#on reco ering, ? at once started to my feet, trembling con ulsi ely in e ery fibre! ? thrust my arms wildly abo e and around me in all directions! ? felt nothingK yet dreaded to mo e a ste#, lest ? should be im#eded by the walls of a tomb! Pers#iration burst from e ery #ore, and stood in cold big beads u#on my forehead! The agony of sus#ense grew at length intolerable, and ? cautiously mo ed forward, with my arms eHtended, and my eyes straining from their sockets, in the ho#e of catching some faint ray of light! ? #roceeded for many #acesK but still all was blackness and acancy! ? breathed more freely! ?t seemed e ident that mine was not, at least, the most hideous of fates! And now, as ? still continued to ste# cautiously onward, there came thronging u#on my recollection a thousand ague rumors of the horrors of Toledo! <f the dungeons there had been strange things narratedCfables ? had always deemed themCbut yet strange, and too ghastly to re#eat, sa e in a whis#er! Was ? left to #erish of star ation in this subterranean world of darknessK or what fate, #erha#s e en more fearful, awaited meN That the result would be death, and a death of more than customary bitterness, ? knew too well the character of my judges to doubt! The mode and the hour were all that occu#ied or distracted me! .y outstretched hands at length encountered some solid obstruction! ?t was a wall, seemingly of stone masonryC ery smooth, slimy, and cold! ? followed it u#K ste##ing with all the careful distrust with which certain antiLue narrati es had ins#ired me! This #rocess, howe er, afforded me no means of ascertaining the dimensions of my dungeonK as ? might make its circuit, and return to the #oint whence ? set out, without being aware of the factK so #erfectly uniform seemed the wall! ? therefore sought the knife which had been in my #ocket, when led into the inLuisitorial chamberK but it was goneK my clothes had been eHchanged for a wra##er of coarse serge! ? had thought of forcing the blade in some minute cre ice of the masonry, so as to identify my #oint of de#arture! The difficulty, ne ertheless, was but tri ialK although, in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at first insu#erable! ? tore a #art of the hem from the robe and #laced the fragment at full length, and at right angles to the wall! ?n gro#ing my way around the #rison, ? could not fail to encounter this rag u#on com#leting the circuit! ;o, at least ? thought& but ? had not counted u#on the eHtent of the dungeon, or u#on my own weakness! The ground was moist and sli##ery! ? staggered onward for some time, when ? stumbled and fell! .y eHcessi e fatigue induced me to remain #rostrateK and slee# soon o ertook me as ? lay! 7#on awaking, and stretching forth an arm, ? found beside me a loaf and a #itcher with water! ? was too much eHhausted to reflect u#on this circumstance, but ate and drank with a idity! ;hortly afterward, ? resumed my tour around the #rison, and with much toil came at last u#on the fragment of the serge! 7# to the #eriod when ? fell ? had counted fifty$two #aces, and u#on resuming my walk, ? had counted forty$eight

moreKCwhen ? arri ed at the rag! There were in all, then, a hundred #acesK and, admitting two #aces to the yard, ? #resumed the dungeon to be fifty yards in circuit! ? had met, howe er, with many angles in the wall, and thus ? could form no guess at the sha#e of the aultK for ault ? could not hel# su##osing it to be! ? had little objectCcertainly no ho#eCin these researchesK but a ague curiosity #rom#ted me to continue them! Fuitting the wall, ? resol ed to cross the area of the enclosure! At first ? #roceeded with eHtreme caution, for the floor, although seemingly of solid material, was treacherous with slime! At length, howe er, ? took courage, and did not hesitate to ste# firmlyK endea oring to cross in as direct a line as #ossible! ? had ad anced some ten or twel e #aces in this manner, when the remnant of the torn hem of my robe became entangled between my legs! ? ste##ed on it, and fell iolently on my face! ?n the confusion attending my fall, ? did not immediately a##rehend a somewhat startling circumstance, which yet, in a few seconds afterward, and while ? still lay #rostrate, arrested my attention! ?t was thisCmy chin rested u#on the floor of the #rison, but my li#s and the u##er #ortion of my head, although seemingly at a less ele ation than the chin, touched nothing! At the same time my forehead seemed bathed in a clammy a#or, and the #eculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils! ? #ut forward my arm, and shuddered to find that ? had fallen at the ery brink of a circular #it, whose eHtent, of course, ? had no means of ascertaining at the moment! Gro#ing about the masonry just below the margin, ? succeeded in dislodging a small fragment, and let it fall into the abyss! =or many seconds ? hearkened to its re erberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descentK at length there was a sullen #lunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes! At the same moment there came a sound resembling the Luick o#ening, and as ra#id closing of a door o erhead, while a faint gleam of light flashed suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away! ? saw clearly the doom which had been #re#ared for me, and congratulated myself u#on the timely accident by which ? had esca#ed! Another ste# before my fall, and the world had seen me no more! And the death just a oided, was of that ery character which ? had regarded as fabulous and fri olous in the tales res#ecting the ?nLuisition! To the ictims of its tyranny, there was the choice of death with its direst #hysical agonies, or death with its most hideous moral horrors! ? had been reser ed for the latter! By long suffering my ner es had been unstrung, until ? trembled at the sound of my own oice, and had become in e ery res#ect a fitting subject for the s#ecies of torture which awaited me! ;haking in e ery limb, ? gro#ed my way back to the wallK resol ing there to #erish rather than risk the terrors of the wells, of which my imagination now #ictured many in arious #ositions about the dungeon! ?n other conditions of mind ? might ha e had courage to end my misery at once by a #lunge into one of these abyssesK but now ? was the eriest of cowards! 8either could ? forget what ? had read of these #itsCthat the sudden eHtinction of life formed no #art of their most horrible #lan! Agitation of s#irit ke#t me awake for many long hoursK but at length ? again slumbered! 7#on arousing, ? found by my side, as before, a loaf and a #itcher of water! A burning thirst consumed me, and ? em#tied the essel at a draught! ?t must ha e been druggedK for scarcely had ? drunk, before ? became irresistibly drowsy! A dee# slee# fell u#on meCa slee# like that of death! >ow long it lasted of course, ? know notK but when,

once again, ? unclosed my eyes, the objects around me were isible! By a wild sul#hurous lustre, the origin of which ? could not at first determine, ? was enabled to see the eHtent and as#ect of the #rison! ?n its siGe ? had been greatly mistaken! The whole circuit of its walls did not eHceed twenty$fi e yards! =or some minutes this fact occasioned me a world of ain troubleK ain indeedO for what could be of less im#ortance, under the terrible circumstances which en ironed me, then the mere dimensions of my dungeonN But my soul took a wild interest in trifles, and ? busied myself in endea ors to account for the error ? had committed in my measurement! The truth at length flashed u#on me! ?n my first attem#t at eH#loration ? had counted fifty$two #aces, u# to the #eriod when ? fellK ? must then ha e been within a #ace or two of the fragment of sergeK in fact, ? had nearly #erformed the circuit of the ault! ? then sle#t, and u#on awaking, ? must ha e returned u#on my ste#s Cthus su##osing the circuit nearly double what it actually was! .y confusion of mind #re ented me from obser ing that ? began my tour with the wall to the left, and ended it with the wall to the right! ? had been decei ed, too, in res#ect to the sha#e of the enclosure! ?n feeling my way ? had found many angles, and thus deduced an idea of great irregularityK so #otent is the effect of total darkness u#on one arousing from lethargy or slee#O The angles were sim#ly those of a few slight de#ressions, or niches, at odd inter als! The general sha#e of the #rison was sLuare! What ? had taken for masonry seemed now to be iron, or some other metal, in huge #lates, whose sutures or joints occasioned the de#ression! The entire surface of this metallic enclosure was rudely daubed in all the hideous and re#ulsi e de ices to which the charnel su#erstition of the monks has gi en rise! The figures of fiends in as#ects of menace, with skeleton forms, and other more really fearful images, o ers#read and disfigured the walls! ? obser ed that the outlines of these monstrosities were sufficiently distinct, but that the colors seemed faded and blurred, as if from the effects of a dam# atmos#here! ? now noticed the floor, too, which was of stone! ?n the centre yawned the circular #it from whose jaws ? had esca#edK but it was the only one in the dungeon! All this ? saw indistinctly and by much effort& for my #ersonal condition had been greatly changed during slumber! ? now lay u#on my back, and at full length, on a s#ecies of low framework of wood! To this ? was securely bound by a long stra# resembling a surcingle! ?t #assed in many con olutions about my limbs and body, lea ing at liberty only my head, and my left arm to such eHtent that ? could, by dint of much eHertion, su##ly myself with food from an earthen dish which lay by my side on the floor! ? saw, to my horror, that the #itcher had been remo ed! ? say to my horrorK for ? was consumed with intolerable thirst! This thirst it a##eared to be the design of my #ersecutors to stimulate& for the food in the dish was meat #ungently seasoned! %ooking u#ward, ? sur eyed the ceiling of my #rison! ?t was some thirty or forty feet o erhead, and constructed much as the side walls! ?n one of its #anels a ery singular figure ri eted my whole attention! ?t was the #ainted figure of Time as he is commonly re#resented, sa e that, in lieu of a scythe, he held what, at a casual glance, ? su##osed to be the #ictured image of a huge #endulum such as we see on antiLue clocks! There was something, howe er, in the a##earance of this machine which caused me to regard it more attenti ely! While ? gaGed directly u#ward at it )for its #osition was immediately o er my own+ ? fancied that ? saw it in

motion! ?n an instant afterward the fancy was confirmed! ?ts swee# was brief, and of course slow! ? watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear, but more in wonder! Wearied at length with obser ing its dull mo ement, ? turned my eyes u#on the other objects in the cell! A slight noise attracted my notice, and, looking to the floor, ? saw se eral enormous rats tra ersing it! They had issued from the well, which lay just within iew to my right! E en then, while ? gaGed, they came u# in troo#s, hurriedly, with ra enous eyes, allured by the scent of the meat! =rom this it reLuired much effort and attention to scare them away! ?t might ha e been half an hour, #erha#s e en an hour, )for ? could take but im#erfect note of time+ before ? again cast my eyes u#ward! What ? then saw confounded and amaGed me! The swee# of the #endulum had increased in eHtent by nearly a yard! As a natural conseLuence, its elocity was also much greater! But what mainly disturbed me was the idea that had #erce#tibly descended! ? now obser edCwith what horror it is needless to sayCthat its nether eHtremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel, about a foot in length from horn to hornK the horns u#ward, and the under edge e idently as keen as that of a raGor! %ike a raGor also, it seemed massy and hea y, ta#ering from the edge into a solid and broad structure abo e! ?t was a##ended to a weighty rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air! ? could no longer doubt the doom #re#ared for me by monkish ingenuity in torture! .y cogniGance of the #it had become known to the inLuisitorial agentsCthe #it whose horrors had been destined for so bold a recusant as myselfCthe #it, ty#ical of hell, and regarded by rumor as the 7ltima Thule of all their #unishments! The #lunge into this #it ? had a oided by the merest of accidents, ? knew that sur#rise, or entra#ment into torment, formed an im#ortant #ortion of all the grotesLuerie of these dungeon deaths! >a ing failed to fall, it was no #art of the demon #lan to hurl me into the abyssK and thus )there being no alternati e+ a different and a milder destruction awaited me! .ilderO ? half smiled in my agony as ? thought of such a##lication of such a term! What boots it to tell of the long, long hours of horror more than mortal, during which ? counted the rushing ibrations of the steelO ?nch by inchC line by lineCwith a descent only a##reciable at inter als that seemed agesCdown and still down it cameO -ays #assedCit might ha e been that many days #assedCere it swe#t so closely o er me as to fan me with its acrid breath! The odor of the shar# steel forced itself into my nostrils! ? #rayedC? wearied hea en with my #rayer for its more s#eedy descent! ? grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself u#ward against the swee# of the fearful scimitar! And then ? fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at the glittering death, as a child at some rare bauble! There was another inter al of utter insensibilityK it was briefK for, u#on again la#sing into life there had been no #erce#tible descent in the #endulum! But it might ha e been longK for ? knew there were demons who took note of my swoon, and who could ha e arrested the ibration at #leasure! 7#on my reco ery, too, ? felt eryCoh, ineH#ressibly sick and weak, as if through long inanition! E en amid the agonies of that #eriod, the human nature cra ed food! With #ainful effort ? outstretched my left arm as far as my bonds #ermitted, and took #ossession of the small remnant which had been s#ared me by the rats! As ? #ut a #ortion of it within my li#s, there rushed to my mind a half formed thought of joyCof ho#e! "et what business had ? with ho#eN ?t was, as ? say, a half formed thoughtCman has many such which are ne er com#leted! ? felt that it was

of joyCof ho#eK but felt also that it had #erished in its formation! ?n ain ? struggled to #erfectCto regain it! %ong suffering had nearly annihilated all my ordinary #owers of mind! ? was an imbecileCan idiot! The ibration of the #endulum was at right angles to my length! ? saw that the crescent was designed to cross the region of the heart! ?t would fray the serge of my robeCit would return and re#eat its o#erationsCagain Cand again! 8otwithstanding terrifically wide swee# )some thirty feet or more+ and the hissing igor of its descent, sufficient to sunder these ery walls of iron, still the fraying of my robe would be all that, for se eral minutes, it would accom#lish! And at this thought ? #aused! ? dared not go farther than this reflection! ? dwelt u#on it with a #ertinacity of attentionCas if, in so dwelling, ? could arrest here the descent of the steel! ? forced myself to #onder u#on the sound of the crescent as it should #ass across the garmentCu#on the #eculiar thrilling sensation which the friction of cloth #roduces on the ner es! ? #ondered u#on all this fri olity until my teeth were on edge! -ownCsteadily down it cre#t! ? took a frenGied #leasure in contrasting its downward with its lateral elocity! To the rightCto the leftCfar and wideCwith the shriek of a damned s#iritK to my heart with the stealthy #ace of the tigerO ? alternately laughed and howled as the one or the other idea grew #redominant! -ownCcertainly, relentlessly downO ?t ibrated within three inches of my bosomO ? struggled iolently, furiously, to free my left arm! This was free only from the elbow to the hand! ? could reach the latter, from the #latter beside me, to my mouth, with great effort, but no farther! Aould ? ha e broken the fastenings abo e the elbow, ? would ha e seiGed and attem#ted to arrest the #endulum! ? might as well ha e attem#ted to arrest an a alancheO -ownCstill unceasinglyCstill ine itably downO ? gas#ed and struggled at each ibration! ? shrunk con ulsi ely at its e ery swee#! .y eyes followed its outward or u#ward whirls with the eagerness of the most unmeaning des#airK they closed themsel es s#asmodically at the descent, although death would ha e been a relief, ohO how uns#eakableO ;till ? Lui ered in e ery ner e to think how slight a sinking of the machinery would #reci#itate that keen, glistening aHe u#on my bosom! ?t was ho#e that #rom#ted the ner e to Lui erCthe frame to shrink! ?t was ho#eCthe ho#e that trium#hs on the rackCthat whis#ers to the death$condemned e en in the dungeons of the ?nLuisition! ? saw that some ten or twel e ibrations would bring the steel in actual contact with my robe, and with this obser ation there suddenly came o er my s#irit all the keen, collected calmness of des#air! =or the first time during many hoursCor #erha#s daysC? thought! ?t now occurred to me that the bandage, or surcingle, which en elo#ed me, was uniLue! ? was tied by no se#arate cord! The first stroke of the raGorlike crescent athwart any #ortion of the band, would so detach it that it might be unwound from my #erson by means of my left hand! But how fearful, in that case, the #roHimity of the steelO The result of the slightest struggle how deadlyO Was it likely, moreo er, that the minions of the torturer had not foreseen and #ro ided for this #ossibilityO Was it #robable that the bandage crossed my bosom in the track of the #endulumN -reading to find my faint, and, as it seemed, my last ho#e frustrated, ? so far ele ated my head as to obtain a distinct iew of my breast! The surcingle en elo#ed my limbs and body close in all directionsCsa e in the #ath of the destroying crescent!

;carcely had ? dro##ed my head back into its original #osition, when there flashed u#on my mind what ? cannot better describe than as the unformed half of that idea of deli erance to which ? ha e #re iously alluded, and of which a moiety only floated indeterminately through my brain when ? raised food to my burning li#s! The whole thought was now #resentCfeeble, scarcely sane, scarcely definite,Cbut still entire! ? #roceeded at once, with the ner ous energy of des#air, to attem#t its eHecution! =or many hours the immediate icinity of the low framework u#on which ? lay, had been literally swarming with rats! They were wild, bold, ra enousK their red eyes glaring u#on me as if they waited but for motionlessness on my #art to make me their #rey! MTo what food,M ? thought, Mha e they been accustomed in the wellNM They had de oured, in s#ite of all my efforts to #re ent them, all but a small remnant of the contents of the dish! ? had fallen into an habitual see$saw, or wa e of the hand about the #latter& and, at length, the unconscious uniformity of the mo ement de#ri ed it of effect! ?n their oracity the ermin freLuently fastened their shar# fangs in my fingers! With the #articles of the oily and s#icy iand which now remained, ? thoroughly rubbed the bandage where er ? could reach itK then, raising my hand from the floor, ? lay breathlessly still! At first the ra enous animals were startled and terrified at the changeC at the cessation of mo ement! They shrank alarmedly backK many sought the well! But this was only for a moment! ? had not counted in ain u#on their oracity! <bser ing that ? remained without motion, one or two of the boldest lea#ed u#on the frame$work, and smelt at the surcingle! This seemed the signal for a general rush! =orth from the well they hurried in fresh troo#s! They clung to the woodCthey o erran it, and lea#ed in hundreds u#on my #erson! The measured mo ement of the #endulum disturbed them not at all! A oiding its strokes they busied themsel es with the anointed bandage! They #ressedCthey swarmed u#on me in e er accumulating hea#s! They writhed u#on my throatK their cold li#s sought my ownK ? was half stifled by their thronging #ressureK disgust, for which the world has no name, swelled my bosom, and chilled, with a hea y clamminess, my heart! "et one minute, and ? felt that the struggle would be o er! Plainly ? #ercei ed the loosening of the bandage! ? knew that in more than one #lace it must be already se ered! With a more than human resolution ? lay still! 8or had ? erred in my calculationsCnor had ? endured in ain! ? at length felt that ? was free! The surcingle hung in ribands from my body! But the stroke of the #endulum already #ressed u#on my bosom! ?t had di ided the serge of the robe! ?t had cut through the linen beneath! Twice again it swung, and a shar# sense of #ain shot through e ery ner e! But the moment of esca#e had arri ed! At a wa e of my hand my deli erers hurried tumultuously away! With a steady mo ementCcautious, sidelong, shrinking, and slowC? slid from the embrace of the bandage and beyond the reach of the scimitar! =or the moment, at least, ? was free! =reeOCand in the gras# of the ?nLuisitionO ? had scarcely ste##ed from my wooden bed of horror u#on the stone floor of the #rison, when the motion of the hellish machine ceased and ? beheld it drawn u#, by some in isible force, through the ceiling! This was a lesson which ? took des#erately to heart! .y e ery motion was undoubtedly watched! =reeOC? had but esca#ed death in one form of agony, to be deli ered unto worse than death in some other! With that thought ? rolled my e es ner ously around on the

barriers of iron that hemmed me in! ;omething unusualCsome change which, at first, ? could not a##reciate distinctlyCit was ob ious, had taken #lace in the a#artment! =or many minutes of a dreamy and trembling abstraction, ? busied myself in ain, unconnected conjecture! -uring this #eriod, ? became aware, for the first time, of the origin of the sul#hurous light which illumined the cell! ?t #roceeded from a fissure, about half an inch in width, eHtending entirely around the #rison at the base of the walls, which thus a##eared, and were, com#letely se#arated from the floor! ? endea ored, but of course in ain, to look through the a#erture! As ? arose from the attem#t, the mystery of the alteration in the chamber broke at once u#on my understanding! ? ha e obser ed that, although the outlines of the figures u#on 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 ga e to the s#ectral and fiendish #ortraitures an as#ect that might ha e thrilled e en firmer ner es than my own! -emon eyes, of a wild and ghastly i acity, glared u#on me in a thousand directions, where none had been isible before, and gleamed with the lurid lustre of a fire that ? could not force my imagination to regard as unreal! 7nrealOCE en while ? breathed there came to my nostrils the breath of the a#our of heated ironO A suffocating odour #er aded the #risonO A dee#er glow settled each moment in the eyes that glared at my agoniesO A richer tint of crimson diffused itself o er the #ictured horrors of blood! ? #antedO ? gas#ed for breathO There could be no doubt of the design of my tormentorsCohO most unrelentingO ohO most demoniac of menO ? shrank from the glowing metal to the centre of the cell! Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that im#ended, the idea of the coolness of the well came o er my soul like balm! ? rushed to its deadly brink! ? threw my straining ision below! The glare from the enkindled roof illumined its inmost recesses! "et, for a wild moment, did my s#irit refuse to com#rehend the meaning of what ? saw! At length it forcedCit wrestled its way into my soulCit burned itself in u#on my shuddering reason!C<hO for a oice to s#eakOCohO horrorOCohO any horror but thisO With a shriek, ? rushed from the margin, and buried my face in my handsCwee#ing bitterly! The heat ra#idly increased, and once again ? looked u#, shuddering as with a fit of the ague! There had been a second change in the cellCand now the change was ob iously in the form! As before, it was in ain that ?, at first, endea oured to a##reciate or understand what was taking #lace! But not long was ? left in doubt! The ?nLuisitorial engeance had been hurried by my two$fold esca#e, and there was to be no more dallying with the Bing of Terrors! The room had been sLuare! ? saw that two of its iron angles were now acuteCtwo, conseLuently, obtuse! The fearful difference Luickly increased with a low rumbling or moaning sound! ?n an instant the a#artment had shifted its form into that of a loGenge! But the alteration sto##ed not here$? neither ho#ed nor desired it to sto#! ? could ha e clas#ed the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal #eace! M-eath,M ? said, Many death but that of the #itOM =oolO might ? ha e not known that into the #it it was the object of the burning iron to urge meN Aould ? resist its glowN or, if e en that, could ? withstand its #ressureN And now, flatter and flatter grew the loGenge, with a ra#idity that left me no time for contem#lation! ?ts centre, and of course, its greatest width, came just o er the yawning gulf! ? shrank backCbut the closing walls #ressed 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 #rison! ? struggled no more, but the agony of my soul found ent in one loud, long, and final scream of des#air! ? felt that ? tottered u#on the brinkC? a erted my eyesC There was a discordant hum of human oicesO There was a loud blast as of many trum#etsO There was a harsh grating as of a thousand thundersO The fiery walls rushed backO An outstretched arm caught my own as ? fell, fainting, into the abyss! ?t was that of General %asalle! The =rench army had entered Toledo! The ?nLuisition was in the hands of its enemies! >( anchor

T>E P,E.AT7,E B7,?A% T>E,E are certain themes of which the interest is all$absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the #ur#oses of legitimate fiction! These the mere romanticist must eschew, if he do not wish to offend or to disgust! They are with #ro#riety handled only when the se erity and majesty of Truth sanctify and sustain them! We thrill, for eHam#le, with the most intense of M#leasurable #ainM o er the accounts of the Passage of the Beresina, of the EarthLuake at %isbon, of the Plague at %ondon, of the .assacre of ;t! Bartholomew, or of the stifling of the hundred and twenty$three #risoners in the Black >ole at Aalcutta! But in these accounts it is the factCCit is the realityCCit is the history which eHcites! As in entions, we should regard them with sim#le abhorrence! ? ha e mentioned some few of the more #rominent and august calamities on recordK but in these it is the eHtent, not less than the character of the calamity, which so i idly im#resses the fancy! ? need not remind the reader that, from the long and weird catalogue of human miseries, ? might ha e selected many indi idual instances more re#lete with essential suffering than any of these ast generalities of disaster! The true wretchedness, indeedCthe ultimate woeCCis #articular, not diffuse! That the ghastly eHtremes of agony are endured by man the unit, and ne er by man the massCCfor this let us thank a merciful GodO To be buried while ali e is, beyond Luestion, the most terrific of these eHtremes which has e er fallen to the lot of mere mortality! That it has freLuently, ery freLuently, so fallen will scarcely be denied by those who think! The boundaries which di ide %ife from -eath are at best shadowy and ague! Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other beginsN We know that there are diseases in which occur total cessations of all the a##arent functions of itality, and yet in which these cessations are merely sus#ensions, #ro#erly so called! They are only tem#orary #auses in the incom#rehensible mechanism! A certain #eriod ela#ses, and some unseen mysterious #rinci#le again sets in motion the magic #inions and the wiGard wheels! The sil er cord was not for e er loosed, nor the golden bowl irre#arably broken! But where, meantime, was the soulN A#art, howe er, from the ine itable conclusion, a #riori that such causes must #roduce such effectsCCthat the well$known occurrence of such cases of sus#ended animation must naturally gi e rise, now and then, to #remature intermentsCa#art from this consideration, we ha e the direct testimony of medical and ordinary eH#erience to #ro e that a ast number of such interments ha e actually taken #lace! ? might refer at once, if

necessary to a hundred well authenticated instances! <ne of ery remarkable character, and of which the circumstances may be fresh in the memory of some of my readers, occurred, not ery long ago, in the neighboring city of Baltimore, where it occasioned a #ainful, intense, and widely$eHtended eHcitement! The wife of one of the most res#ectable citiGensCa lawyer of eminence and a member of AongressCwas seiGed with a sudden and unaccountable illness, which com#letely baffled the skill of her #hysicians! After much suffering she died, or was su##osed to die! 8o one sus#ected, indeed, or had reason to sus#ect, that she was not actually dead! ;he #resented all the ordinary a##earances of death! The face assumed the usual #inched and sunken outline! The li#s were of the usual marble #allor! The eyes were lustreless! There was no warmth! Pulsation had ceased! =or three days the body was #reser ed unburied, during which it had acLuired a stony rigidity! The funeral, in short, was hastened, on account of the ra#id ad ance of what was su##osed to be decom#osition! The lady was de#osited in her family ault, which, for three subseLuent years, was undisturbed! At the eH#iration of this term it was o#ened for the rece#tion of a sarco#hagusKCCbut, alasO how fearful a shock awaited the husband, who, #ersonally, threw o#en the doorO As its #ortals swung outwardly back, some white$a##arelled object fell rattling within his arms! ?t was the skeleton of his wife in her yet unmoulded shroud! A careful in estigation rendered it e ident that she had re i ed within two days after her entombmentK 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 #ermit her esca#e! A lam# which had been accidentally left, full of oil, within the tomb, was found em#tyK it might ha e been eHhausted, howe er, by e a#oration! <n the uttermost of the ste#s which led down into the dread chamber was a large fragment of the coffin, with which, it seemed, that she had endea ored to arrest attention by striking the iron door! While thus occu#ied, she #robably swooned, or #ossibly died, through sheer terrorK and, in failing, her shroud became entangled in some ironCwork which #rojected interiorly! Thus she remained, and thus she rotted, erect! ?n the year /2/1, a case of li ing inhumation ha##ened in =rance, attended with circumstances which go far to warrant the assertion that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction! The heroine of the story was a .ademoiselle 'ictorine %afourcade, a young girl of illustrious family, of wealth, and of great #ersonal beauty! Among her numerous suitors was @ulien Bossuet, a #oor litterateur, or journalist of Paris! >is talents and general amiability had recommended him to the notice of the heiress, by whom he seems to ha e been truly belo edK but her #ride of birth decided her, finally, to reject him, and to wed a .onsieur ,enelle, a banker and a di#lomatist of some eminence! After marriage, howe er, this gentleman neglected, and, #erha#s, e en more #ositi ely ill$treated her! >a ing #assed with him some wretched years, she died,CCat least her condition so closely resembled death as to decei e e ery one who saw her! ;he was buriedCCnot in a ault, but in an ordinary gra e in the illage of her nati ity! =illed with des#air, and still inflamed by the memory of a #rofound attachment, the lo er journeys from the ca#ital to the remote #ro ince in which the illage lies, with the romantic #ur#ose of disinterring the cor#se, and #ossessing himself of its luHuriant tresses! >e reaches the gra e! At midnight he unearths the coffin, o#ens it, and is in the act of detaching the hair, when he is arrested by the unclosing

of the belo ed eyes! ?n fact, the lady had been buried ali e! 'itality had not altogether de#arted, and she was aroused by the caresses of her lo er from the lethargy which had been mistaken for death! >e bore her frantically to his lodgings in the illage! >e em#loyed certain #owerful restorati es suggested by no little medical learning! ?n fine, she re i ed! ;he recogniGed her #reser er! ;he remained with him until, by slow degrees, she fully reco ered her original health! >er woman's heart was not adamant, and this last lesson of lo e sufficed to soften it! ;he bestowed it u#on Bossuet! ;he returned no more to her husband, but, concealing from him her resurrection, fled with her lo er to America! Twenty years afterward, the two returned to =rance, in the #ersuasion that time had so greatly altered the lady's a##earance that her friends would be unable to recogniGe her! They were mistaken, howe er, for, at the first meeting, .onsieur ,enelle did actually recogniGe and make claim to his wife! This claim she resisted, and a judicial tribunal sustained her in her resistance, deciding that the #eculiar circumstances, with the long la#se of years, had eHtinguished, not only eLuitably, but legally, the authority of the husband! The MAhirurgical @ournalM of %ei#sicCa #eriodical of high authority and merit, which some American bookseller would do well to translate and re#ublish, records in a late number a ery distressing e ent of the character in Luestion! An officer of artillery, a man of gigantic stature and of robust health, being thrown from an unmanageable horse, recei ed a ery se ere contusion u#on the head, which rendered him insensible at onceK the skull was slightly fractured, but no immediate danger was a##rehended! Tre#anning was accom#lished successfully! >e was bled, and many other of the ordinary means of relief were ado#ted! Gradually, howe er, he fell into a more and more ho#eless state of stu#or, and, finally, it was thought that he died! The weather was warm, and he was buried with indecent haste in one of the #ublic cemeteries! >is funeral took #lace on Thursday! <n the ;unday following, the grounds of the cemetery were, as usual, much thronged with isiters, and about noon an intense eHcitement was created by the declaration of a #easant that, while sitting u#on the gra e 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 #aid to the man's asse erationK but his e ident terror, and the dogged obstinacy with which he #ersisted in his story, had at length their natural effect u#on the crowd! ;#ades were hurriedly #rocured, and the gra e, which was shamefully shallow, was in a few minutes so far thrown o#en that the head of its occu#ant a##eared! >e was then seemingly deadK but he sat nearly erect within his coffin, the lid of which, in his furious struggles, he had #artially u#lifted! >e was forthwith con eyed to the nearest hos#ital, and there #ronounced to be still li ing, although in an as#hytic condition! After some hours he re i ed, recogniGed indi iduals of his acLuaintance, and, in broken sentences s#oke of his agonies in the gra e! =rom what he related, it was clear that he must ha e been conscious of life for more than an hour, while inhumed, before la#sing into insensibility! The gra e was carelessly and loosely filled with an eHceedingly #orous soilK and thus some air was necessarily admitted! >e heard the footste#s of the crowd o erhead, and endea ored to make himself heard in turn! ?t was the tumult within the grounds of the cemetery, he

said, which a##eared to awaken him from a dee# slee#, but no sooner was he awake than he became fully aware of the awful horrors of his #osition! This #atient, it is recorded, was doing well and seemed to be in a fair way of ultimate reco ery, but fell a ictim to the Luackeries of medical eH#eriment! The gal anic battery was a##lied, and he suddenly eH#ired in one of those ecstatic #aroHysms which, occasionally, it su#erinduces! The mention of the gal anic battery, ne ertheless, recalls to my memory a well known and ery eHtraordinary case in #oint, where its action #ro ed the means of restoring to animation a young attorney of %ondon, who had been interred for two days! This occurred in /29/, and created, at the time, a ery #rofound sensation where er it was made the subject of con erse! The #atient, .r! Edward ;ta#leton, had died, a##arently of ty#hus fe er, accom#anied with some anomalous sym#toms which had eHcited the curiosity of his medical attendants! 7#on his seeming decease, his friends were reLuested to sanction a #ost$mortem eHamination, but declined to #ermit it! As often ha##ens, when such refusals are made, the #ractitioners resol ed to disinter the body and dissect it at leisure, in #ri ate! Arrangements were easily effected with some of the numerous cor#s of body$snatchers, with which %ondon aboundsK and, u#on the third night after the funeral, the su##osed cor#se was unearthed from a gra e eight feet dee#, and de#osited in the o#ening chamber of one of the #ri ate hos#itals! An incision of some eHtent had been actually made in the abdomen, when the fresh and undecayed a##earance of the subject suggested an a##lication of the battery! <ne eH#eriment succeeded another, and the customary effects su#er ened, with nothing to characteriGe them in any res#ect, eHce#t, u#on one or two occasions, a more than ordinary degree of life$likeness in the con ulsi e action! ?t grew late! The day was about to dawnK and it was thought eH#edient, at length, to #roceed at once to the dissection! A student, howe er, was es#ecially desirous of testing a theory of his own, and insisted u#on a##lying the battery to one of the #ectoral muscles! A rough gash was made, and a wire hastily brought in contact, when the #atient, with a hurried but Luite uncon ulsi e mo ement, arose from the table, ste##ed into the middle of the floor, gaGed about him uneasily for a few seconds, and thenCs#oke! What he said was unintelligible, but words were utteredK the syllabification was distinct! >a ing s#oken, he fell hea ily to the floor! =or some moments all were #aralyGed with aweCbut the urgency of the case soon restored them their #resence of mind! ?t was seen that .r! ;ta#leton was ali e, although in a swoon! 7#on eHhibition of ether he re i ed and was ra#idly restored to health, and to the society of his friendsCfrom whom, howe er, all knowledge of his resuscitation was withheld, until a rela#se was no longer to be a##rehended! Their wonderCtheir ra#turous astonishmentCmay be concei ed! The most thrilling #eculiarity of this incident, ne ertheless, is in ol ed in what .r! ;! himself asserts! >e declares that at no #eriod was he altogether insensibleCthat, dully and confusedly, he was aware of e erything which ha##ened to him, from the moment in which he was #ronounced dead by his #hysicians, to that in which he fell swooning to the floor of the hos#ital! M? am ali e,M were the uncom#rehended words which, u#on recogniGing the locality of the dissecting$room, he had endea ored, in his eHtremity, to utter!

?t were an easy matter to multi#ly such histories as theseCbut ? forbearC for, indeed, we ha e no need of such to establish the fact that #remature interments occur! When we reflect how ery rarely, from the nature of the case, we ha e it in our #ower to detect them, we must admit that they may freLuently occur without our cogniGance! ;carcely, in truth, is a gra eyard e er encroached u#on, for any #ur#ose, to any great eHtent, that skeletons are not found in #ostures which suggest the most fearful of sus#icions! =earful indeed the sus#icionCbut more fearful the doomO ?t may be asserted, without hesitation, that no e ent is so terribly well ada#ted to ins#ire the su#remeness of bodily and of mental distress, as is burial before death! The unendurable o##ression of the lungsCthe stifling fumes from the dam# earthCthe clinging to the death garmentsCthe rigid embrace of the narrow houseCthe blackness of the absolute 8ightCthe silence like a sea that o erwhelmsCthe unseen but #al#able #resence of the AonLueror WormCthese things, with the thoughts of the air and grass abo e, with memory of dear friends who would fly to sa e us if but informed of our fate, and with consciousness that of this fate they can ne er be informed Cthat our ho#eless #ortion is that of the really deadCthese considerations, ? say, carry into the heart, which still #al#itates, a degree of a##alling and intolerable horror from which the most daring imagination must recoil! We know of nothing so agoniGing u#on EarthCwe can dream of nothing half so hideous in the realms of the nethermost >ell! And thus all narrati es u#on this to#ic ha e an interest #rofoundK an interest, ne ertheless, which, through the sacred awe of the to#ic itself, ery #ro#erly and ery #eculiarly de#ends u#on our con iction of the truth of the matter narrated! What ? ha e now to tell is of my own actual knowledgeCof my own #ositi e and #ersonal eH#erience! =or se eral years ? had been subject to attacks of the singular disorder which #hysicians ha e agreed to term catale#sy, in default of a more definiti e title! Although both the immediate and the #redis#osing causes, and e en the actual diagnosis, of this disease are still mysterious, its ob ious and a##arent character is sufficiently well understood! ?ts ariations seem to be chiefly of degree! ;ometimes the #atient lies, for a day only, or e en for a shorter #eriod, in a s#ecies of eHaggerated lethargy! >e is senseless and eHternally motionlessK but the #ulsation of the heart is still faintly #erce#tibleK some traces of warmth remainK a slight color lingers within the centre of the cheekK and, u#on a##lication of a mirror to the li#s, we can detect a tor#id, uneLual, and acillating action of the lungs! Then again the duration of the trance is for weeksCe en for monthsK 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 concei e of absolute death! 'ery usually he is sa ed from #remature interment solely by the knowledge of his friends that he has been #re iously subject to catale#sy, by the conseLuent sus#icion eHcited, and, abo e all, by the non$a##earance of decay! The ad ances of the malady are, luckily, gradual! The first manifestations, although marked, are uneLui ocal! The fits grow successi ely more and more distincti e, and endure each for a longer term than the #receding! ?n this lies the #rinci#al security from inhumation! The unfortunate whose first attack should be of the eHtreme character which is occasionally seen, would almost ine itably be consigned ali e to the tomb!

.y own case differed in no im#ortant #articular from those mentioned in medical books! ;ometimes, without any a##arent cause, ? sank, little by little, into a condition of hemi$synco#e, or half swoonK and, in this condition, without #ain, without ability to stir, or, strictly s#eaking, to think, but with a dull lethargic consciousness of life and of the #resence of those who surrounded my bed, ? remained, until the crisis of the disease restored me, suddenly, to #erfect sensation! At other times ? was Luickly and im#etuously smitten! ? grew sick, and numb, and chilly, and diGGy, and so fell #rostrate at once! Then, for weeks, all was oid, and black, and silent, and 8othing became the uni erse! Total annihilation could be no more! =rom these latter attacks ? awoke, howe er, with a gradation slow in #ro#ortion to the suddenness of the seiGure! @ust as the day dawns to the friendless and houseless beggar who roams the streets throughout the long desolate winter nightCjust so tardilyCjust so wearilyCjust so cheerily came back the light of the ;oul to me! A#art from the tendency to trance, howe er, my general health a##eared to be goodK nor could ? #ercei e that it was at all affected by the one #re alent maladyCunless, indeed, an idiosyncrasy in my ordinary slee# may be looked u#on as su#erinduced! 7#on awaking from slumber, ? could ne er gain, at once, thorough #ossession of my senses, and always remained, for many minutes, in much bewilderment and #er#leHityKCthe mental faculties in general, but the memory in es#ecial, being in a condition of absolute abeyance! ?n all that ? endured there was no #hysical suffering but of moral distress an infinitude! .y fancy grew charnel, ? talked Mof worms, of tombs, and e#ita#hs!M ? was lost in re eries of death, and the idea of #remature burial held continual #ossession of my brain! The ghastly -anger to which ? was subjected haunted me day and night! ?n the former, the torture of meditation was eHcessi eCin the latter, su#reme! When the grim -arkness o ers#read the Earth, then, with e ery horror of thought, ? shookCshook as the Lui ering #lumes u#on the hearse! When 8ature could endure wakefulness no longer, it was with a struggle that ? consented to slee#Cfor ? shuddered to reflect that, u#on awaking, ? might find myself the tenant of a gra e! And when, finally, ? sank into slumber, it was only to rush at once into a world of #hantasms, abo e which, with ast, sable, o ershadowing wing, ho ered, #redominant, the one se#ulchral ?dea! =rom the innumerable images of gloom which thus o##ressed me in dreams, ? select for record but a solitary ision! .ethought ? was immersed in a catale#tic trance of more than usual duration and #rofundity! ;uddenly there came an icy hand u#on my forehead, and an im#atient, gibbering oice whis#ered the word MAriseOM within my ear! ? sat erect! The darkness was total! ? could not see the figure of him who had aroused me! ? could call to mind neither the #eriod at which ? had fallen into the trance, nor the locality in which ? then lay! While ? remained motionless, and busied in endea ors to collect my thought, the cold hand gras#ed me fiercely by the wrist, shaking it #etulantly, while the gibbering oice said again& MAriseO did ? not bid thee ariseNM MAnd who,M ? demanded, Mart thouNM M? ha e no name in the regions which ? inhabit,M re#lied the oice, mournfullyK M? was mortal, but am fiend! ? was merciless, but am #itiful! Thou dost feel that ? shudder!C.y teeth chatter as ? s#eak, yet it is not with the chilliness of the nightCof the night without end! But this

hideousness is insufferable! >ow canst thou tranLuilly slee#N ? cannot rest for the cry of these great agonies! These sights are more than ? can bear! Get thee u#O Aome with me into the outer 8ight, and let me unfold to thee the gra es! ?s not this a s#ectacle of woeNCBeholdOM ? lookedK and the unseen figure, which still gras#ed me by the wrist, had caused to be thrown o#en the gra es of all mankind, and from each issued the faint #hos#horic radiance of decay, so that ? could see into the innermost recesses, and there iew the shrouded bodies in their sad and solemn slumbers with the worm! But alasO the real slee#ers were fewer, by many millions, than those who slumbered not at allK and there was a feeble strugglingK and there was a general sad unrestK and from out the de#ths of the countless #its there came a melancholy rustling from the garments of the buried! And of those who seemed tranLuilly to re#ose, ? saw that a ast number had changed, in a greater or less degree, the rigid and uneasy #osition in which they had originally been entombed! And the oice again said to me as ? gaGed& M?s it notCohO is it not a #itiful sightNMCbut, before ? could find words to re#ly, the figure had ceased to gras# my wrist, the #hos#horic lights eH#ired, and the gra es were closed with a sudden iolence, while from out them arose a tumult of des#airing cries, saying again& M?s it notC<, God, is it not a ery #itiful sightNM Phantasies such as these, #resenting themsel es at night, eHtended their terrific influence far into my waking hours! .y ner es became thoroughly unstrung, and ? fell a #rey to #er#etual horror! ? hesitated to ride, or to walk, or to indulge in any eHercise that would carry me from home! ?n fact, ? no longer dared trust myself out of the immediate #resence of those who were aware of my #roneness to catale#sy, lest, falling into one of my usual fits, ? should be buried before my real condition could be ascertained! ? doubted the care, the fidelity of my dearest friends! ? dreaded that, in some trance of more than customary duration, they might be #re ailed u#on to regard me as irreco erable! ? e en went so far as to fear that, as ? occasioned much trouble, they might be glad to consider any ery #rotracted attack as sufficient eHcuse for getting rid of me altogether! ?t was in ain they endea ored to reassure me by the most solemn #romises! ? eHacted the most sacred oaths, that under no circumstances they would bury me until decom#osition had so materially ad anced as to render farther #reser ation im#ossible! And, e en then, my mortal terrors would listen to no reasonCwould acce#t no consolation! ? entered into a series of elaborate #recautions! Among other things, ? had the family ault so remodelled as to admit of being readily o#ened from within! The slightest #ressure u#on a long le er that eHtended far into the tomb would cause the iron #ortal to fly back! There were arrangements also for the free admission of air and light, and con enient rece#tacles for food and water, within immediate reach of the coffin intended for my rece#tion! This coffin was warmly and softly #added, and was #ro ided with a lid, fashioned u#on the #rinci#le of the ault$door, with the addition of s#rings so contri ed that the feeblest mo ement of the body would be sufficient to set it at liberty! Besides all this, there was sus#ended from the roof of the tomb, a large bell, the ro#e of which, it was designed, should eHtend through a hole in the coffin, and so be fastened to one of the hands of the cor#se! But, alasN what a ails the igilance against the -estiny of manN 8ot e en these well$contri ed securities sufficed to sa e from the uttermost agonies of li ing inhumation, a wretch to these agonies foredoomedO

There arri ed an e#ochCas often before there had arri edCin which ? found myself emerging from total unconsciousness into the first feeble and indefinite sense of eHistence! ;lowlyCwith a tortoise gradationC a##roached the faint gray dawn of the #sychal day! A tor#id uneasiness! An a#athetic endurance of dull #ain! 8o careCno ho#eCno effort! Then, after a long inter al, a ringing in the earsK then, after a la#se still longer, a #rickling or tingling sensation in the eHtremitiesK then a seemingly eternal #eriod of #leasurable Luiescence, during which the awakening feelings are struggling into thoughtK then a brief re$sinking into non$entityK then a sudden reco ery! At length the slight Lui ering of an eyelid, and immediately thereu#on, an electric shock of a terror, deadly and indefinite, which sends the blood in torrents from the tem#les to the heart! And now the first #ositi e effort to think! And now the first endea or to remember! And now a #artial and e anescent success! And now the memory has so far regained its dominion, that, in some measure, ? am cogniGant of my state! ? feel that ? am not awaking from ordinary slee#! ? recollect that ? ha e been subject to catale#sy! And now, at last, as if by the rush of an ocean, my shuddering s#irit is o erwhelmed by the one grim -angerCby the one s#ectral and e er$#re alent idea! =or some minutes after this fancy #ossessed me, ? remained without motion! And whyN ? could not summon courage to mo e! ? dared not make the effort which was to satisfy me of my fateCand yet there was something at my heart which whis#ered me it was sure! -es#airCsuch as no other s#ecies of wretchedness e er calls into beingCdes#air alone urged me, after long irresolution, to u#lift the hea y lids of my eyes! ? u#lifted them! ?t was darkCall dark! ? knew that the fit was o er! ? knew that the crisis of my disorder had long #assed! ? knew that ? had now fully reco ered the use of my isual facultiesCand yet it was darkCall darkCthe intense and utter raylessness of the 8ight that endureth for e ermore! ? endea ored to shriekK and my li#s and my #arched tongue mo ed con ulsi ely together in the attem#tCbut no oice issued from the ca ernous lungs, which o##ressed as if by the weight of some incumbent mountain, gas#ed and #al#itated, with the heart, at e ery elaborate and struggling ins#iration! The mo ement of the jaws, in this effort to cry aloud, showed me that they were bound u#, as is usual with the dead! ? felt, too, that ? lay u#on some hard substance, and by something similar my sides were, also, closely com#ressed! ;o far, ? had not entured to stir any of my limbsC but now ? iolently threw u# my arms, which had been lying at length, with the wrists crossed! They struck a solid wooden substance, which eHtended abo e my #erson at an ele ation of not more than siH inches from my face! ? could no longer doubt that ? re#osed within a coffin at last! And now, amid all my infinite miseries, came sweetly the cherub >o#eCfor ? thought of my #recautions! ? writhed, and made s#asmodic eHertions to force o#en the lid& it would not mo e! ? felt my wrists for the bell$ ro#e& it was not to be found! And now the Aomforter fled for e er, and a still sterner -es#air reigned trium#hantK for ? could not hel# #ercei ing the absence of the #addings which ? had so carefully #re#aredCand then, too, there came suddenly to my nostrils the strong #eculiar odor of moist earth! The conclusion was irresistible! ? was not within the ault! ? had fallen into a trance while absent from homeCwhile among strangersCwhen, or how, ? could not rememberCand it was they who had buried me as a dogC nailed u# in some common coffinCand thrust dee#, dee#, and for e er, into some ordinary and nameless gra e!

As this awful con iction forced itself, thus, into the innermost chambers of my soul, ? once again struggled to cry aloud! And in this second endea or ? succeeded! A long, wild, and continuous shriek, or yell of agony, resounded through the realms of the subterranean 8ight! M>illoO hillo, thereOM said a gruff oice, in re#ly! MWhat the de il's the matter nowOM said a second! MGet out o' thatOM said a third! MWhat do you mean by yowling in that ere kind of style, like a cattymountNM said a fourthK and hereu#on ? was seiGed and shaken without ceremony, for se eral minutes, by a junto of ery rough$looking indi iduals! They did not arouse me from my slumberCfor ? was wide awake when ? screamedCbut they restored me to the full #ossession of my memory! This ad enture occurred near ,ichmond, in 'irginia! Accom#anied by a friend, ? had #roceeded, u#on a gunning eH#edition, some miles down the banks of the @ames ,i er! 8ight a##roached, and we were o ertaken by a storm! The cabin of a small sloo# lying at anchor in the stream, and laden with garden mould, afforded us the only a ailable shelter! We made the best of it, and #assed the night on board! ? sle#t in one of the only two berths in the esselCand the berths of a sloo# of siHty or twenty tons need scarcely be described! That which ? occu#ied had no bedding of any kind! ?ts eHtreme width was eighteen inches! The distance of its bottom from the deck o erhead was #recisely the same! ? found it a matter of eHceeding difficulty to sLueeGe myself in! 8e ertheless, ? sle#t soundly, and the whole of my isionCfor it was no dream, and no nightmare Carose naturally from the circumstances of my #ositionCfrom my ordinary bias of thoughtCand from the difficulty, to which ? ha e alluded, of collecting my senses, and es#ecially of regaining my memory, for a long time after awaking from slumber! The men who shook me were the crew of the sloo#, and some laborers engaged to unload it! =rom the load itself came the earthly smell! The bandage about the jaws was a silk handkerchief in which ? had bound u# my head, in default of my customary nightca#! The tortures endured, howe er, were indubitably Luite eLual for the time, to those of actual se#ulture! They were fearfullyCthey were inconcei ably hideousK but out of E il #roceeded GoodK for their ery eHcess wrought in my s#irit an ine itable re ulsion! .y soul acLuired toneCacLuired tem#er! ? went abroad! ? took igorous eHercise! ? breathed the free air of >ea en! ? thought u#on other subjects than -eath! ? discarded my medical books! MBuchanM ? burned! ? read no M8ight ThoughtsMCno fustian about churchyardsCno bugaboo talesCsuch as this! ?n short, ? became a new man, and li ed a man's life! =rom that memorable night, ? dismissed fore er my charnel a##rehensions, and with them anished the catale#tic disorder, of which, #erha#s, they had been less the conseLuence than the cause! There are moments when, e en to the sober eye of ,eason, the world of our sad >umanity may assume the semblance of a >ellCbut the imagination of man is no Aarathis, to eH#lore with im#unity its e ery ca ern! AlasO the grim legion of se#ulchral terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fancifulCbut, like the -emons in whose com#any Afrasiab made his oyage down the <Hus, they must slee#, or they will de our usCthey must be suffered to slumber, or we #erish! >( anchor

T>E -<.A?8 <= A,8>E?. The garden like a lady fair was cut, That lay as if she slumbered in delight, And to the o#en skies her eyes did shut! The aGure fields of >ea en were 'sembled right ?n a large round, set with the flowers of light! The flowers de luce, and the round s#arks of dew! That hung u#on their aGure lea es did shew %ike twinkling stars that s#arkle in the e ening blue! Giles =letcher! =,<. his cradle to his gra e a gale of #ros#erity bore my friend Ellison along! 8or do ? use the word #ros#erity in its mere worldly sense! ? mean it as synonymous with ha##iness! The #erson of whom ? s#eak seemed born for the #ur#ose of foreshadowing the doctrines of Turgot, Price, Priestley, and AondorcetCof eHem#lifying by indi idual instance what has been deemed the chimera of the #erfectionists! ?n the brief eHistence of Ellison ? fancy that ? ha e seen refuted the dogma, that in man's ery nature lies some hidden #rinci#le, the antagonist of bliss! An anHious eHamination of his career has gi en me to understand that in general, from the iolation of a few sim#le laws of humanity arises the wretchedness of mankindCthat as a s#ecies we ha e in our #ossession the as yet unwrought elements of contentCand that, e en now, in the #resent darkness and madness of all thought on the great Luestion of the social condition, it is not im#ossible that man, the indi idual, under certain unusual and highly fortuitous conditions, may be ha##y! With o#inions such as these my young friend, too, was fully imbued, and thus it is worthy of obser ation that the uninterru#ted enjoyment which distinguished his life was, in great measure, the result of #reconcert! ?t is indeed e ident that with less of the instincti e #hiloso#hy which, now and then, stands so well in the stead of eH#erience, .r! Ellison would ha e found himself #reci#itated, by the ery eHtraordinary success of his life, into the common orteH of unha##iness which yawns for those of #re$eminent endowments! But it is by no means my object to #en an essay on ha##iness! The ideas of my friend may be summed u# in a few words! >e admitted but four elementary #rinci#les, or more strictly, conditions of bliss! That which he considered chief was )strange to sayO+ the sim#le and #urely #hysical one of free eHercise in the o#en air! MThe health,M he said, Mattainable by other means is scarcely worth the name!M >e instanced the ecstasies of the foH$hunter, and #ointed to the tillers of the earth, the only #eo#le who, as a class, can be fairly considered ha##ier than others! >is second condition was the lo e of woman! >is third, and most difficult of realiGation, was the contem#t of ambition! >is fourth was an object of unceasing #ursuitK and he held that, other things being eLual, the eHtent of attainable ha##iness was in #ro#ortion to the s#irituality of this object! Ellison was remarkable in the continuous #rofusion of good gifts la ished u#on him by fortune! ?n #ersonal grace and beauty he eHceeded all men! >is intellect was of that order to which the acLuisition of knowledge is less a labor than an intuition and a necessity! >is family was one of the most illustrious of the em#ire! >is bride was the lo eliest and most de oted of women! >is #ossessions had been always am#leK but on the attainment of his majority, it was disco ered that one of those eHtraordinary freaks of fate had been #layed 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!

?t a##ears that about a hundred years before .r! Ellison's coming of age, there had died, in a remote #ro ince, one .r! ;eabright Ellison! This gentleman had amassed a #rincely fortune, and, ha ing no immediate connections, concei ed the whim of suffering his wealth to accumulate for a century after his decease! .inutely and sagaciously directing the arious modes of in estment, he beLueathed the aggregate amount to the nearest of blood, bearing the name of Ellison, who should be ali e at the end of the hundred years! .any attem#ts had been made to set aside this singular beLuestK their eH #ost facto character rendered them aborti eK but the attention of a jealous go ernment was aroused, and a legislati e act finally obtained, forbidding all similar accumulations! This act, howe er, did not #re ent young Ellison from entering into #ossession, on his twenty$first birthday, as the heir of his ancestor ;eabright, of a fortune of four hundred and fifty millions of dollars! ):/+ When it had become known that such was the enormous wealth inherited, there were, of course, many s#eculations as to the mode of its dis#osal! The magnitude and the immediate a ailability of the sum bewildered all who thought on the to#ic! The #ossessor of any a##reciable amount of money might ha e been imagined to #erform any one of a thousand things! With riches merely sur#assing those of any citiGen, it would ha e been easy to su##ose him engaging to su#reme eHcess in the fashionable eHtra agances of his timeCor busying himself with #olitical intrigueCor aiming at ministerial #owerCor #urchasing increase of nobilityCor collecting large museums of irtuCor #laying the munificent #atron of letters, of science, of artCor endowing, and bestowing his name u#on eHtensi e institutions of charity! But for the inconcei able wealth in the actual #ossession of the heir, these objects and all ordinary objects were felt to afford too limited a field! ,ecourse was had to figures, and these but sufficed to confound! ?t was seen that, e en at three #er cent!, the annual income of the inheritance amounted to no less than thirteen millions and fi e hundred thousand dollarsK which was one million and one hundred and twenty$fi e thousand #er monthK or thirty$siH thousand nine hundred and eighty$siH #er dayK or one thousand fi e hundred and forty$one #er hourK or siH and twenty dollars for e ery minute that flew! Thus the usual track of su##osition was thoroughly broken u#! .en knew not what to imagine! There were some who e en concei ed that .r! Ellison would di est himself of at least one$half of his fortune, as of utterly su#erfluous o#ulenceCenriching whole troo#s of his relati es by di ision of his su#erabundance! To the nearest of these he did, in fact, abandon the ery unusual wealth which was his own before the inheritance! ? was not sur#rised, howe er, to #ercei e that he had long made u# his mind on a #oint which had occasioned so much discussion to his friends! 8or was ? greatly astonished at the nature of his decision! ?n regard to indi idual charities he had satisfied his conscience! ?n the #ossibility of any im#ro ement, #ro#erly so called, being effected by man himself in the general condition of man, he had )? am sorry to confess it+ little faith! 7#on the whole, whether ha##ily or unha##ily, he was thrown back, in ery great measure, u#on self! ?n the widest and noblest sense he was a #oet! >e com#rehended, moreo er, the true character, the august aims, the su#reme majesty and dignity of the #oetic sentiment! The fullest, if not the sole #ro#er satisfaction of this sentiment he instincti ely felt to lie in the creation of no el forms of beauty! ;ome #eculiarities, either in his early education, or in

the nature of his intellect, had tinged with what is termed materialism all his ethical s#eculationsK and it was this bias, #erha#s, which led him to belie e that the most ad antageous at least, if not the sole legitimate field for the #oetic eHercise, lies in the creation of no el moods of #urely #hysical lo eliness! Thus it ha##ened he became neither musician nor #oetCif we use this latter term in its e ery$day acce#tation! <r it might ha e been that he neglected to become either, merely in #ursuance of his idea that in contem#t of ambition is to be found one of the essential #rinci#les of ha##iness on earth! ?s it not indeed, #ossible that, while a high order of genius is necessarily ambitious, the highest is abo e that which is termed ambitionN And may it not thus ha##en that many far greater than .ilton ha e contentedly remained Mmute and ingloriousNM ? belie e that the world has ne er seenC and that, unless through some series of accidents goading the noblest order of mind into distasteful eHertion, the world will ne er seeCthat full eHtent of trium#hant eHecution, in the richer domains of art, of which the human nature is absolutely ca#able! Ellison became neither musician nor #oetK although no man li ed more #rofoundly enamored of music and #oetry! 7nder other circumstances than those which in ested him, it is not im#ossible that he would ha e become a #ainter! ;cul#ture, although in its nature rigorously #oetical was too limited in its eHtent and conseLuences, to ha e occu#ied, at any time, much of his attention! And ? ha e now mentioned all the #ro inces in which the common understanding of the #oetic sentiment has declared it ca#able of eH#atiating! But Ellison maintained that the richest, the truest, and most natural, if not altogether the most eHtensi e #ro ince, had been unaccountably neglected! 8o definition had s#oken of the landsca#e$gardener as of the #oetK yet it seemed to my friend that the creation of the landsca#e$garden offered to the #ro#er .use the most magnificent of o##ortunities! >ere, indeed, was the fairest field for the dis#lay of imagination in the endless combining of forms of no el beautyK the elements to enter into combination being, by a ast su#eriority, the most glorious which the earth could afford! ?n the multiform and multicolor of the flowers and the trees, he recognised the most direct and energetic efforts of 8ature at #hysical lo eliness! And in the direction or concentration of this effortCor, more #ro#erly, in its ada#tation to the eyes which were to behold it on earthChe #ercei ed that he should be em#loying the best meansClaboring to the greatest ad antageC in the fulfilment, not only of his own destiny as #oet, but of the august #ur#oses for which the -eity had im#lanted the #oetic sentiment in man! M?ts ada#tation to the eyes which were to behold it on earth!M ?n his eH#lanation of this #hraseology, .r! Ellison did much toward sol ing what has always seemed to me an enigma&C? mean the fact )which none but the ignorant dis#ute+ that no such combination of scenery eHists in nature as the #ainter of genius may #roduce! 8o such #aradises are to be found in reality as ha e glowed on the can as of Alaude! ?n the most enchanting of natural landsca#es, there will always be found a defect or an eHcessCmany eHcesses and defects! While the com#onent #arts may defy, indi idually, the highest skill of the artist, the arrangement of these #arts will always be susce#tible of im#ro ement! ?n short, no #osition 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 Mcom#ositionM of the landsca#e! And yet how unintelligible is thisO ?n all other matters we are justly instructed to regard nature

as su#reme! With her details we shrink from com#etition! Who shall #resume to imitate the colors of the tuli#, or to im#ro e the #ro#ortions of the lily of the alleyN The criticism which says, of scul#ture or #ortraiture, that here nature is to be eHalted or idealiGed rather than imitated, is in error! 8o #ictorial or scul#tural combinations of #oints of human li eliness do more than a##roach the li ing and breathing beauty! ?n landsca#e alone is the #rinci#le of the critic trueK and, ha ing felt its truth here, it is but the headlong s#irit of generaliGation which has led him to #ronounce it true throughout all the domains of art! >a ing, ? say, felt its truth hereK for the feeling is no affectation or chimera! The mathematics afford no more absolute demonstrations than the sentiments of his art yields the artist! >e not only belie es, but #ositi ely knows, that such and such a##arently arbitrary arrangements of matter constitute and alone constitute the true beauty! >is reasons, howe er, ha e not yet been matured into eH#ression! ?t remains for a more #rofound analysis than the world has yet seen, fully to in estigate and eH#ress them! 8e ertheless he is confirmed in his instincti e o#inions by the oice of all his brethren! %et a Mcom#ositionM be defecti eK let an emendation be wrought in its mere arrangement of formK let this emendation be submitted to e ery artist in the worldK by each will its necessity be admitted! And e en far more than this&Cin remedy of the defecti e com#osition, each insulated member of the fraternity would ha e suggested the identical emendation! ? re#eat that in landsca#e arrangements alone is the #hysical nature susce#tible of eHaltation, and that, therefore, her susce#tibility of im#ro ement at this one #oint, was a mystery ? had been unable to sol e! .y own thoughts on the subject had rested in the idea that the #rimiti e intention of nature would ha e so arranged the earth's surface as to ha e fulfilled at all #oints man's sense of #erfection in the beautiful, the sublime, or the #icturesLueK but that this #rimiti e intention had been frustrated by the known geological disturbancesCdisturbances of form and colorCgrou#ing, in the correction or allaying of which lies the soul of art! The force of this idea was much weakened, howe er, by the necessity which it in ol ed of considering the disturbances abnormal and unada#ted to any #ur#ose! ?t was Ellison who suggested that they were #rognostic of death! >e thus eH#lained&CAdmit the earthly immortality of man to ha e been the first intention! We ha e then the #rimiti e arrangement of the earth's surface ada#ted to his blissful estate, as not eHistent but designed! The disturbances were the #re#arations for his subseLuently concei ed deathful condition! M8ow,M said my friend, Mwhat we regard as eHaltation of the landsca#e may be really such, as res#ects only the moral or human #oint of iew! Each alteration of the natural scenery may #ossibly effect a blemish in the #icture, if we can su##ose this #icture iewed at largeCin massCfrom some #oint distant from the earth's surface, although not beyond the limits of its atmos#here! ?t is easily understood that what might im#ro e a closely scrutiniGed detail, may at the same time injure a general or more distantly obser ed effect! There may be a class of beings, human once, but now in isible to humanity, to whom, from afar, our disorder may seem orderCour un#icturesLueness #icturesLue, in a word, the earth$angels, for whose scrutiny more es#ecially than our own, and for whose death$refined a##reciation of the beautiful, may ha e been set in array by God the wide landsca#e$gardens of the hemis#heres!M

?n the course of discussion, my friend Luoted some #assages from a writer on landsca#e$gardening who has been su##osed to ha e well treated his theme& MThere are #ro#erly but two styles of landsca#e$gardening, the natural and the artificial! <ne seeks to recall the original beauty of the country, by ada#ting its means to the surrounding scenery, culti ating trees in harmony with the hills or #lain of the neighboring landK detecting and bringing into #ractice those nice relations of siGe, #ro#ortion, and color which, hid from the common obser er, are re ealed e erywhere to the eH#erienced student of nature! The result of the natural style of gardening, is seen rather in the absence of all defects and incongruitiesCin the #re alence of a healthy harmony and orderCthan in the creation of any s#ecial wonders or miracles! The artificial style has as many arieties as there are different tastes to gratify! ?t has a certain general relation to the arious styles of building! There are the stately a enues and retirements of 'ersaillesK ?talian terracesK and a arious miHed old English style, which bears some relation to the domestic Gothic or English EliGabethan architecture! Whate er may be said against the abuses of the artificial landsca#e$gardening, a miHture of #ure art in a garden scene adds to it a great beauty! This is #artly #leasing to the eye, by the show of order and design, and #artly moral! A terrace, with an old moss$co ered balustrade, calls u# at once to the eye the fair forms that ha e #assed there in other days! The slightest eHhibition of art is an e idence of care and human interest!M M=rom what ? ha e already obser ed,M said Ellison, Myou will understand that ? reject the idea, here eH#ressed, of recalling the original beauty of the country! The original beauty is ne er so great as that which may be introduced! <f course, e ery thing de#ends on the selection of a s#ot with ca#abilities! What is said about detecting and bringing into #ractice nice relations of siGe, #ro#ortion, and color, is one of those mere aguenesses of s#eech which ser e to eil inaccuracy of thought! The #hrase Luoted 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 s#ecial wonders or miracles, is a #ro#osition better suited to the gro elling a##rehension of the herd than to the fer id dreams of the man of genius! The negati e merit suggested a##ertains to that hobbling criticism which, in letters, would ele ate Addison into a#otheosis! ?n truth, while that irtue which consists in the mere a oidance of ice a##eals directly to the understanding, and can thus be circumscribed in rule, the loftier irtue, which flames in creation, can be a##rehended in its results alone! ,ule a##lies but to the merits of denialCto the eHcellencies which refrain! Beyond these, the critical art can but suggest! We may be instructed to build a MAato,M but we are in ain told how to concei e a Parthenon or an M?nferno!M The thing done, howe erK the wonder accom#lishedK and the ca#acity for a##rehension becomes uni ersal! The so#hists of the negati e school who, through inability to create, ha e scoffed at creation, are now found the loudest in a##lause! What, in its chrysalis condition of #rinci#le, affronted their demure reason, ne er fails, in its maturity of accom#lishment, to eHtort admiration from their instinct of beauty! MThe author's obser ations on the artificial style,M continued Ellison, Mare less objectionable! A miHture of #ure art in a garden scene adds to it a great beauty! This is justK as also is the reference to the sense of

human interest! The #rinci#le eH#ressed is incontro ertibleCbut there may be something beyond it! There may be an object in kee#ing with the #rinci#leCan object unattainable by the means ordinarily #ossessed by indi iduals, yet which, if attained, would lend a charm to the landsca#e$ garden far sur#assing that which a sense of merely human interest could bestow! A #oet, ha ing ery unusual #ecuniary resources, might, while retaining the necessary idea of art or culture, or, as our author eH#resses it, of interest, so imbue his designs at once with eHtent and no elty of beauty, as to con ey the sentiment of s#iritual interference! ?t will be seen that, in bringing about such result, he secures all the ad antages of interest or design, while relie ing his work of the harshness or technicality of the worldly art! ?n the most rugged of wildernessesCin the most sa age of the scenes of #ure natureCthere is a##arent the art of a creatorK yet this art is a##arent to reflection onlyK in no res#ect has it the ob ious force of a feeling! 8ow let us su##ose this sense of the Almighty design to be one ste# de#ressedCto be brought into something like harmony or consistency with the sense of human artCto form an intermedium between the two&Clet us imagine, for eHam#le, a landsca#e whose combined astness and definiti enessCwhose united beauty, magnificence, and strangeness, shall con ey the idea of care, or culture, or su#erintendence, on the #art of beings su#erior, yet akin to humanityCthen the sentiment of interest is #reser ed, while the art inter ol ed is made to assume the air of an intermediate or secondary natureCa 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 ho er between man and God!M ?t was in de oting his enormous wealth to the embodiment of a ision such as thisCin the free eHercise in the o#en air ensured by the #ersonal su#erintendence of his #lansCin the unceasing object which these #lans affordedCin the high s#irituality of the objectCin the contem#t of ambition which it enabled him truly to feelCin the #erennial s#rings with which it gratified, without #ossibility of satiating, that one master #assion of his soul, the thirst for beauty, abo e all, it was in the sym#athy of a woman, not unwomanly, whose lo eliness and lo e en elo#ed his eHistence in the #ur#le atmos#here of Paradise, that Ellison thought to find, and found, eHem#tion from the ordinary cares of humanity, with a far greater amount of #ositi e ha##iness than e er glowed in the ra#t day$dreams of -e ;tael! ? des#air of con eying to the reader any distinct conce#tion of the mar els which my friend did actually accom#lish! ? wish to describe, but am disheartened by the difficulty of descri#tion, and hesitate between detail and generality! Perha#s the better course will be to unite the two in their eHtremes! .r! Ellison's first ste# regarded, of course, the choice of a locality, and scarcely had he commenced thinking on this #oint, when the luHuriant nature of the Pacific ?slands arrested his attention! ?n fact, he had made u# his mind for a oyage to the ;outh ;eas, when a night's reflection induced him to abandon the idea! MWere ? misanthro#ic,M he said, Msuch 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 charmsK but as yet ? am not Timon! ? wish the com#osure but not the de#ression of solitude! There must remain with me a certain control o er the eHtent and duration of my re#ose! There will be freLuent hours in which ? shall need, too, the sym#athy of the #oetic in

what ? ha e done! %et me seek, then, a s#ot not far from a #o#ulous cityC whose icinity, also, will best enable me to eHecute my #lans!M ?n search of a suitable #lace so situated, Ellison tra elled for se eral years, and ? was #ermitted to accom#any him! A thousand s#ots with which ? was enra#tured he rejected without hesitation, for reasons which satisfied me, in the end, that he was right! We came at length to an ele ated table$land of wonderful fertility and beauty, affording a #anoramic #ros#ect ery little less in eHtent than that of Aetna, and, in Ellison's o#inion as well as my own, sur#assing the far$famed iew from that mountain in all the true elements of the #icturesLue! M? am aware,M said the tra eller, as he drew a sigh of dee# delight after gaGing on this scene, entranced, for nearly an hour, M? know that here, in my circumstances, nine$tenths of the most fastidious of men would rest content! This #anorama is indeed glorious, and ? should rejoice in it but for the eHcess of its glory! The taste of all the architects ? ha e e er known leads them, for the sake of '#ros#ect,' to #ut u# buildings on hill$to#s! The error is ob ious! Grandeur in any of its moods, but es#ecially in that of eHtent, startles, eHcitesCand then fatigues, de#resses! =or the occasional scene nothing can be betterCfor the constant iew nothing worse! And, in the constant iew, the most objectionable #hase of grandeur is that of eHtentK the worst #hase of eHtent, that of distance! ?t is at war with the sentiment and with the sense of seclusionCthe sentiment and sense which we seek to humor in 'retiring to the country!' ?n looking from the summit of a mountain we cannot hel# feeling abroad in the world! The heart$sick a oid distant #ros#ects as a #estilence!M ?t was not until toward the close of the fourth year of our search that we found a locality with which Ellison #rofessed himself satisfied! ?t is, of course, needless to say where was the locality! The late death of my friend, in causing his domain to be thrown o#en to certain classes of isiters, has gi en to Arnheim a s#ecies of secret and subdued if not solemn celebrity, similar in kind, although infinitely su#erior in degree, to that which so long distinguished =onthill! The usual a##roach to Arnheim was by the ri er! The isiter left the city in the early morning! -uring the forenoon he #assed between shores of a tranLuil and domestic beauty, on which graGed innumerable shee#, their white fleeces s#otting the i id green of rolling meadows! By degrees the idea of culti ation subsided into that of merely #astoral care! This slowly became merged in a sense of retirementCthis again in a consciousness of solitude! As the e ening a##roached, the channel grew more narrow, the banks more and more #reci#itousK and these latter were clothed in rich, more #rofuse, and more sombre foliage! The water increased in trans#arency! 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 e ery instant the essel seemed im#risoned within an enchanted circle, ha ing insu#erable and im#enetrable walls of foliage, a roof of ultramarine satin, and no floorCthe keel balancing itself with admirable nicety on that of a #hantom bark which, by some accident ha ing been turned u#side down, floated in constant com#any with the substantial one, for the #ur#ose of sustaining it! The channel now became a gorgeC although the term is somewhat ina##licable, and ? em#loy it merely because the language has no word which better re#resents the most strikingCnot the most distincti eCfeature of the scene! The character of gorge was maintained only in the height and #arallelism of the shoresK it

was lost altogether in their other traits! The walls of the ra ine )through which the clear water still tranLuilly flowed+ arose to an ele ation 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 dayK while the long #lume$like moss which de#ended densely from the intertwining shrubberies o erhead, ga e the whole chasm an air of funereal gloom! The windings became more freLuent and intricate, and seemed often as if returning in u#on themsel es, so that the oyager had long lost all idea of direction! >e was, moreo er, enwra#t in an eHLuisite sense of the strange! The thought of nature still remained, but her character seemed to ha e undergone modification, there was a weird symmetry, a thrilling uniformity, a wiGard #ro#riety in these her works! 8ot a dead branchCnot a withered leafCnot a stray #ebbleCnot a #atch of the brown earth was anywhere isible! The crystal water welled u# against the clean granite, or the unblemished moss, with a shar#ness of outline that delighted while it bewildered the eye! >a ing threaded the maGes of this channel for some hours, the gloom dee#ening e ery moment, a shar# and uneH#ected turn of the essel brought it suddenly, as if dro##ed from hea en, into a circular basin of ery considerable eHtent when com#ared with the width of the gorge! ?t was about two hundred yards in diameter, and girt in at all #oints but oneC that immediately fronting the essel as it enteredCby hills eLual in general height to the walls of the chasm, although of a thoroughly different character! Their sides slo#ed from the water's edge at an angle of some forty$fi e degrees, and they were clothed from base to summitCnot a #erce#tible #oint esca#ingCin a dra#ery of the most gorgeous flower$ blossomsK scarcely a green leaf being isible among the sea of odorous and fluctuating color! This basin was of great de#th, but so trans#arent was the water that the bottom, which seemed to consist of a thick mass of small round alabaster #ebbles, was distinctly isible by glim#sesCthat is to say, whene er the eye could #ermit itself not to see, far down in the in erted hea en, the du#licate blooming of the hills! <n these latter there were no trees, nor e en shrubs of any siGe! The im#ressions wrought on the obser er were those of richness, warmth, color, Luietude, uniformity, softness, delicacy, daintiness, olu#tuousness, and a miraculous eHtremeness of culture that suggested dreams of a new race of fairies, laborious, tasteful, magnificent, and fastidiousK but as the eye traced u#ward the myriad$tinted slo#e, from its shar# junction with the water to its ague termination amid the folds of o erhanging cloud, it became, indeed, difficult not to fancy a #anoramic cataract of rubies, sa##hires, o#als, and golden onyHes, rolling silently out of the sky! The isiter, shooting suddenly into this bay from out the gloom of the ra ine, is delighted but astounded by the full orb of the declining sun, which he had su##osed to be already far below the horiGon, but which now confronts him, and forms the sole termination of an otherwise limitless ista seen through another chasm$like rift in the hills! But here the oyager Luits the essel which has borne him so far, and descends into a light canoe of i ory, stained with arabesLue de ices in i id scarlet, both within and without! The #oo# and beak of this boat arise high abo e the water, with shar# #oints, so that the general form is that of an irregular crescent! ?t lies on the surface of the bay with the #roud grace of a swan! <n its ermined floor re#oses a single feathery #addle of satin$woodK but no oarsmen or attendant is to be seen! The guest is bidden to be of good cheerCthat the fates will take care of him!

The larger essel disa##ears, and he is left alone in the canoe, which lies a##arently motionless in the middle of the lake! While he considers what course to #ursue, howe er, he becomes aware of a gentle mo ement in the fairy bark! ?t slowly swings itself around until its #row #oints toward the sun! ?t ad ances with a gentle but gradually accelerated elocity, while the slight ri##les it creates seem to break about the i ory side in di inest melody$seem to offer the only #ossible eH#lanation of the soothing yet melancholy music for whose unseen origin the bewildered oyager looks around him in ain! The canoe steadily #roceeds, and the rocky gate of the ista is a##roached, so that its de#ths can be more distinctly seen! To the right arise a chain of lofty hills rudely and luHuriantly wooded! ?t is obser ed, howe er, that the trait of eHLuisite cleanness where the bank di#s into the water, still #re ails! There is not one token of the usual ri er debris! To the left the character of the scene is softer and more ob iously artificial! >ere the bank slo#es u#ward from the stream in a ery gentle ascent, forming a broad sward of grass of a teHture resembling nothing so much as el et, and of a brilliancy of green which would bear com#arison with the tint of the #urest emerald! This #lateau aries in width from ten to three hundred yardsK reaching from the ri er$ bank to a wall, fifty feet high, which eHtends, in an infinity of cur es, but following the general direction of the ri er, until lost in the distance to the westward! This wall is of one continuous rock, and has been formed by cutting #er#endicularly the once rugged #reci#ice 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 #rofusely o erhung and o ers#read with the i y, the coral honeysuckle, the eglantine, and the clematis! The uniformity of the to# and bottom lines of the wall is fully relie ed by occasional trees of gigantic height, growing singly or in small grou#s, both along the #lateau and in the domain behind the wall, but in close #roHimity to itK so that freLuent limbs )of the black walnut es#ecially+ reach o er and di# their #endent eHtremities into the water! =arther back within the domain, the ision is im#eded by an im#enetrable screen of foliage! These things are obser ed during the canoe's gradual a##roach to what ? ha e called the gate of the ista! <n drawing nearer to this, howe er, its chasm$like a##earance anishesK a new outlet from the bay is disco ered to the leftCin which direction the wall is also seen to swee#, still following the general course of the stream! -own this new o#ening the eye cannot #enetrate ery farK for the stream, accom#anied by the wall, still bends to the left, until both are swallowed u# by the lea es! The boat, ne ertheless, glides magically into the winding channelK and here the shore o##osite the wall is found to resemble that o##osite the wall in the straight ista! %ofty hills, rising occasionally into mountains, and co ered with egetation in wild luHuriance, still shut in the scene! =loating gently onward, but with a elocity slightly augmented, the oyager, after many short turns, finds his #rogress a##arently barred by a gigantic gate or rather door of burnished gold, elaborately car ed and fretted, and reflecting the direct rays of the now fast$sinking sun with an effulgence that seems to wreath the whole surrounding forest in flames! This gate is inserted in the lofty wallK which here a##ears to cross the ri er at right angles! ?n a few moments, howe er, it is seen that the main body of the water still swee#s in a gentle and eHtensi e

cur e to the left, the wall following it as before, while a stream of considerable olume, di erging from the #rinci#al one, makes its way, with a slight ri##le, under the door, and is thus hidden from sight! The canoe falls into the lesser channel and a##roaches the gate! ?ts #onderous wings are slowly and musically eH#anded! The boat glides between them, and commences a ra#id descent into a ast am#hitheatre entirely begirt with #ur#le mountains, whose bases are la ed by a gleaming ri er throughout the full eHtent of their circuit! .eantime the whole Paradise of Arnheim bursts u#on the iew! There is a gush of entrancing melodyK there is an o##ressi e sense of strange sweet odor,C there is a dream$like intermingling to the eye of tall slender Eastern treesCbosky shrubberiesCflocks of golden and crimson birdsClily$fringed lakesCmeadows of iolets, tuli#s, #o##ies, hyacinths, and tuberosesClong intertangled lines of sil er streamletsCand, u#s#ringing confusedly from amid all, a mass of semi$Gothic, semi$;aracenic architecture sustaining itself by miracle in mid$air, glittering in the red sunlight with a hundred oriels, minarets, and #innaclesK and seeming the #hantom handiwork, conjointly, of the ;yl#hs, of the =airies, of the Genii and of the Gnomes! >( anchor

%A8-<,'; A<TTAGE A Pendant to MThe -omain of ArnheimM -7,?8G A #edestrian tri# last summer, through one or two of the ri er counties of 8ew "ork, ? found myself, as the day declined, somewhat embarrassed about the road ? was #ursuing! The land undulated ery remarkablyK and my #ath, for the last hour, had wound about and about so confusedly, in its effort to kee# in the alleys, that ? no longer knew in what direction lay the sweet illage of BCC, where ? had determined to sto# for the night! The sun had scarcely shoneCstrictly s#eakingCduring the day, which ne ertheless, had been un#leasantly warm! A smoky mist, resembling that of the ?ndian summer, en elo#ed all things, and of course, added to my uncertainty! 8ot that ? cared much about the matter! ?f ? did not hit u#on the illage before sunset, or e en before dark, it was more than #ossible that a little -utch farmhouse, or something of that kind, would soon make its a##earanceCalthough, in fact, the neighborhood )#erha#s on account of being more #icturesLue than fertile+ was ery s#arsely inhabited! At all e ents, with my kna#sack for a #illow, and my hound as a sentry, a bi ouac in the o#en air was just the thing which would ha e amused me! ? sauntered on, therefore, Luite at easeCPonto taking charge of my gunCuntil at length, just as ? had begun to consider whether the numerous little glades that led hither and thither, were intended to be #aths at all, ? was conducted by one of them into an unLuestionable carriage track! There could be no mistaking it! The traces of light wheels were e identK and although the tall shrubberies and o ergrown undergrowth met o erhead, there was no obstruction whate er below, e en to the #assage of a 'irginian mountain wagonCthe most as#iring ehicle, ? take it, of its kind! The road, howe er, eHce#t in being o#en through the woodCif wood be not too weighty a name for such an assemblage of light treesCand eHce#t in the #articulars of e ident wheel$tracksCbore no resemblance to any road ? had

before seen! The tracks of which ? s#eak were but faintly #erce#tibleC ha ing been im#ressed u#on the firm, yet #leasantly moist surface ofCwhat looked more like green Genoese el et than any thing else! ?t was grass, clearlyCbut grass such as we seldom see out of EnglandCso short, so thick, so e en, and so i id in color! 8ot a single im#ediment lay in the wheel$routeCnot e en a chi# or dead twig! The stones that once obstructed the way had been carefully #lacedCnot thrown$along the sides of the lane, so as to define its boundaries at bottom with a kind of half$#recise, half$negligent, and wholly #icturesLue definition! Alum#s of wild flowers grew e erywhere, luHuriantly, in the inters#aces! What to make of all this, of course ? knew not! >ere was art undoubtedlyC that did not sur#rise meCall roads, in the ordinary sense, are works of artK nor can ? say that there was much to wonder at in the mere eHcess of art manifestedK all that seemed to ha e been done, might ha e been done hereCwith such natural Mca#abilitiesM )as they ha e it in the books on %andsca#e Gardening+Cwith ery little labor and eH#ense! 8oK 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 gaGe u# and down this fairy$like a enue for half an hour or more in bewildered admiration! <ne thing became more and more e ident the longer ? gaGed& an artist, and one with a most scru#ulous eye for form, had su#erintended all these arrangements! The greatest care had been taken to #reser e a due medium between the neat and graceful on the one hand, and the #ittoresLue, in the true sense of the ?talian term, on the other! There were few straight, and no long uninterru#ted lines! The same effect of cur ature or of color a##eared twice, usually, but not oftener, at any one #oint of iew! E erywhere was ariety in uniformity! ?t was a #iece of Mcom#osition,M in which the most fastidiously critical taste could scarcely ha e suggested an emendation! ? had turned to the right as ? entered this road, and now, arising, ? continued in the same direction! The #ath was so ser#entine, that at no moment could ? trace its course for more than two or three #aces in ad ance! ?ts character did not undergo any material change! Presently the murmur of water fell gently u#on my earCand in a few moments afterward, as ? turned with the road somewhat more abru#tly than hitherto, ? became aware that a building of some kind lay at the foot of a gentle decli ity just before me! ? could see nothing distinctly on account of the mist which occu#ied all the little alley below! A gentle breeGe, howe er, now arose, as the sun was about descendingK and while ? remained standing on the brow of the slo#e, the fog gradually became dissi#ated into wreaths, and so floated o er the scene! As it came fully into iewCthus gradually as ? describe itC#iece by #iece, here a tree, there a glim#se of water, and here again the summit of a chimney, ? could scarcely hel# fancying that the whole was one of the ingenious illusions sometimes eHhibited under the name of M anishing #ictures!M By the time, howe er, that the fog had thoroughly disa##eared, the sun had made its way down behind the gentle hills, and thence, as if with a slight chasseG to the south, had come again fully into sight, glaring with a #ur#lish lustre through a chasm that entered the alley from the west! ;uddenly, thereforeCand as if by the hand of magicCthis whole alley and e ery thing in it became brilliantly isible! The first cou# d'oeil, as the sun slid into the #osition described, im#ressed me ery much as ? ha e been im#ressed, when a boy, by the concluding scene of some well$arranged theatrical s#ectacle or melodrama!

8ot e en the monstrosity of color was wantingK for the sunlight came out through the chasm, tinted all orange and #ur#leK while the i id green of the grass in the alley was reflected more or less u#on all objects from the curtain of a#or that still hung o erhead, as if loth to take its total de#arture from a scene so enchantingly beautiful! The little ale into which ? thus #eered down from under the fog cano#y could not ha e been more than four hundred yards longK while in breadth it aried from fifty to one hundred and fifty or #erha#s two hundred! ?t was most narrow at its northern eHtremity, o#ening out as it tended southwardly, but with no ery #recise regularity! The widest #ortion was within eighty yards of the southern eHtreme! The slo#es which encom#assed the ale could not fairly be called hills, unless at their northern face! >ere a #reci#itous ledge of granite arose to a height of some ninety feetK and, as ? ha e mentioned, the alley at this #oint was not more than fifty feet wideK but as the isiter #roceeded southwardly from the cliff, he found on his right hand and on his left, decli ities at once less high, less #reci#itous, and less rocky! All, in a word, slo#ed and softened to the southK and yet the whole ale was engirdled by eminences, more or less high, eHce#t at two #oints! <ne of these ? ha e already s#oken of! ?t lay considerably to the north of west, and was where the setting sun made its way, as ? ha e before described, into the am#hitheatre, through a cleanly cut natural cleft in the granite embankmentK this fissure might ha e been ten yards wide at its widest #oint, so far as the eye could trace it! ?t seemed to lead u#, u# like a natural causeway, into the recesses of uneH#lored mountains and forests! The other o#ening was directly at the southern end of the ale! >ere, generally, the slo#es were nothing more than gentle inclinations, eHtending from east to west about one hundred and fifty yards! ?n the middle of this eHtent was a de#ression, le el with the ordinary floor of the alley! As regards egetation, as well as in res#ect to e ery thing else, the scene softened and slo#ed to the south! To the northCon the craggy #reci#iceCa few #aces from the ergeCu# s#rang the magnificent trunks of numerous hickories, black walnuts, and chestnuts, inters#ersed with occasional oak, and the strong lateral branches thrown out by the walnuts es#ecially, s#read far o er the edge of the cliff! Proceeding southwardly, the eH#lorer saw, at first, the same class of trees, but less and less lofty and ;al atorish in characterK then he saw the gentler elm, succeeded by the sassafras and locustCthese again by the softer linden, red$bud, catal#a, and ma#leCthese yet again by still more graceful and more modest arieties! The whole face of the southern decli ity was co ered with wild shrubbery aloneCan occasional sil er willow or white #o#lar eHce#ted! ?n the bottom of the alley itselfC)for it must be borne in mind that the egetation hitherto mentioned grew only on the cliffs or hillsides+Cwere to be seen three insulated trees! <ne was an elm of fine siGe and eHLuisite form& it stood guard o er the southern gate of the ale! Another was a hickory, much larger than the elm, and altogether a much finer tree, although both were eHceedingly beautiful& it seemed to ha e taken charge of the northwestern entrance, s#ringing from a grou# of rocks in the ery jaws of the ra ine, and throwing its graceful body, at an angle of nearly forty$fi e degrees, far out into the sunshine of the am#hitheatre! About thirty yards east of this tree stood, howe er, the #ride of the alley, and beyond all Luestion the most magnificent tree ? ha e e er seen, unless, #erha#s, among the cy#resses of the ?tchiatuckanee! ?t was a tri#le$stemmed tuli#$

treeCthe %iriodendron Tuli#iferumCone of the natural order of magnolias! ?ts three trunks se#arated from the #arent at about three feet from the soil, and di erging ery slightly and gradually, were not more than four feet a#art at the #oint where the largest stem shot out into foliage& this was at an ele ation of about eighty feet! The whole height of the #rinci#al di ision was one hundred and twenty feet! 8othing can sur#ass in beauty the form, or the glossy, i id green of the lea es of the tuli#$tree! ?n the #resent instance they were fully eight inches wideK but their glory was altogether ecli#sed by the gorgeous s#lendor of the #rofuse blossoms! Aoncei e, closely congregated, a million of the largest and most res#lendent tuli#sO <nly thus can the reader get any idea of the #icture ? would con ey! And then the stately grace of the clean, delicately$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 alley with more than Arabian #erfumes! The general floor of the am#hitheatre was grass of the same character as that ? had found in the roadK if anything, more deliciously soft, thick, el ety, and miraculously green! ?t was hard to concei e how all this beauty had been attained! ? ha e s#oken of two o#enings into the ale! =rom the one to the northwest issued a ri ulet, which came, gently murmuring and slightly foaming, down the ra ine, until it dashed against the grou# of rocks out of which s#rang the insulated hickory! >ere, after encircling the tree, it #assed on a little to the north of east, lea ing the tuli# 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 alley! At this #oint, after a series of swee#s, it turned off at right angles and #ursued a generally southern direction meandering as it wentCuntil it became lost in a small lake of irregular figure )although roughly o al+, that lay gleaming near the lower eHtremity of the ale! This lakelet was, #erha#s, a hundred yards in diameter at its widest #art! 8o crystal could be clearer than its waters! ?ts bottom, which could be distinctly seen, consisted altogether, of #ebbles brilliantly white! ?ts banks, of the emerald grass already described, rounded, rather than slo#ed, off into the clear hea en belowK and so clear was this hea en, so #erfectly, at times, did it reflect all objects abo e it, that where the true bank ended and where the mimic one commenced, it was a #oint of no little difficulty to determine! The trout, and some other arieties of fish, with which this #ond seemed to be almost incon eniently crowded, had all the a##earance of eritable flying$fish! ?t was almost im#ossible to belie e that they were not absolutely sus#ended in the air! A light birch canoe that lay #lacidly on the water, was reflected in its minutest fibres with a fidelity unsur#assed by the most eHLuisitely #olished mirror! A small island, fairly laughing with flowers in full bloom, and affording little more s#ace than just enough for a #icturesLue little building, seemingly a fowl$houseCarose from the lake not far from its northern shoreCto which it was connected by means of an inconcei ably light$looking and yet ery #rimiti e bridge! ?t was formed of a single, broad and thick #lank of the tuli# wood! This was forty feet long, and s#anned the inter al between shore and shore with a slight but ery #erce#tible arch, #re enting all oscillation! =rom the southern eHtreme of the lake issued a continuation of the ri ulet, which, after meandering for, #erha#s, thirty yards, finally #assed through the

Mde#ressionM )already described+ in the middle of the southern decli ity, and tumbling down a sheer #reci#ice of a hundred feet, made its de ious and unnoticed way to the >udson! The lake was dee#Cat some #oints thirty feetCbut the ri ulet seldom eHceeded three, while its greatest width was about eight! ?ts bottom and banks were as those of the #ondCif a defect could ha e been attributed, in #oint of #icturesLueness, it was that of eHcessi e neatness! The eH#anse of the green turf was relie ed, here and there, by an occasional showy shrub, such as the hydrangea, or the common snowball, or the aromatic seringaK or, more freLuently, by a clum# of geraniums blossoming gorgeously in great arieties! These latter grew in #ots which were carefully buried in the soil, so as to gi e the #lants the a##earance of being indigenous! Besides all this, the lawn's el et was eHLuisitely s#otted with shee#Ca considerable flock of which roamed about the ale, in com#any with three tamed deer, and a ast number of brilliantly$#lumed ducks! A ery large mastiff seemed to be in igilant attendance u#on these animals, each and all! Along the eastern and western cliffsCwhere, toward the u##er #ortion of the am#hitheatre, the boundaries were more or less #reci#itousCgrew i y in great #rofusionCso that only here and there could e en a glim#se of the naked rock be obtained! The northern #reci#ice, in like manner, was almost entirely clothed by gra#e$ ines of rare luHurianceK some s#ringing from the soil at the base of the cliff, and others from ledges on its face! The slight ele ation which formed the lower boundary of this little domain, was crowned by a neat stone wall, of sufficient height to #re ent the esca#e of the deer! 8othing of the fence kind was obser able elsewhereK for nowhere else was an artificial enclosure needed&Cany stray shee#, for eHam#le, which should attem#t to make its way out of the ale by means of the ra ine, would find its #rogress arrested, after a few yards' ad ance, by the #reci#itous ledge of rock o er which tumbled the cascade that had arrested my attention as ? first drew near the domain! ?n short, the only ingress or egress was through a gate occu#ying a rocky #ass in the road, a few #aces below the #oint at which ? sto##ed to reconnoitre the scene! ? ha e described the brook as meandering ery irregularly through the whole of its course! ?ts two general directions, as ? ha e said, were first from west to east, and then from north to south! At the turn, the stream, swee#ing backward, made an almost circular loo#, so as to form a #eninsula which was ery nearly an island, and which included about the siHteenth of an acre! <n this #eninsula stood a dwelling$houseCand when ? say that this house, like the infernal terrace seen by 'athek, Metait d'une architecture inconnue dans les annales de la terre,M ? mean, merely, that its tout ensemble struck me with the keenest sense of combined no elty and #ro#rietyCin a word, of #oetryC)for, than in the words just em#loyed, ? could scarcely gi e, of #oetry in the abstract, a more rigorous definition+Cand ? do not mean that merely outre was #erce#tible in any res#ect! ?n fact nothing could well be more sim#leCmore utterly un#retending than this cottage! ?ts mar ellous effect lay altogether in its artistic arrangement as a #icture! ? could ha e fancied, while ? looked at it, that some eminent landsca#e$#ainter had built it with his brush! The #oint of iew from which ? first saw the alley, was not altogether, although it was nearly, the best #oint from which to sur ey the house! ?

will therefore describe it as ? afterwards saw itCfrom a #osition on the stone wall at the southern eHtreme of the am#hitheatre! The main building was about twenty$four feet long and siHteen broadC certainly not more! ?ts total height, from the ground to the a#eH of the roof, could not ha e eHceeded eighteen feet! To the west end of this structure was attached one about a third smaller in all its #ro#ortions&C the line of its front standing back about two yards from that of the larger house, and the line of its roof, of course, being considerably de#ressed below that of the roof adjoining! At right angles to these buildings, and from the rear of the main oneCnot eHactly in the middleC eHtended a third com#artment, ery smallCbeing, in general, one$third less than the western wing! The roofs of the two larger were ery stee#C swee#ing down from the ridge$beam with a long conca e cur e, and eHtending at least four feet beyond the walls in front, so as to form the roofs of two #iaGGas! These latter roofs, of course, needed no su##ortK but as they had the air of needing it, slight and #erfectly #lain #illars were inserted at the corners alone! The roof of the northern wing was merely an eHtension of a #ortion of the main roof! Between the chief building and western wing arose a ery tall and rather slender sLuare chimney of hard -utch bricks, alternately black and red&Ca slight cornice of #rojecting bricks at the to#! < er the gables the roofs also #rojected ery much&Cin the main building about four feet to the east and two to the west! The #rinci#al door was not eHactly in the main di ision, being a little to the eastCwhile the two windows were to the west! These latter did not eHtend to the floor, but were much longer and narrower than usual Cthey had single shutters like doorsCthe #anes were of loGenge form, but Luite large! The door itself had its u##er half of glass, also in loGenge #anesCa mo able shutter secured it at night! The door to the west wing was in its gable, and Luite sim#leCa single window looked out to the south! There was no eHternal door to the north wing, and it also had only one window to the east! The blank wall of the eastern gable was relie ed by stairs )with a balustrade+ running diagonally across itCthe ascent being from the south! 7nder co er of the widely #rojecting ea e these ste#s ga e access to a door leading to the garret, or rather loftCfor it was lighted only by a single window to the north, and seemed to ha e been intended as a store$ room! The #iaGGas of the main building and western wing had no floors, as is usualK 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! EHcellent #aths of the same materialCnot nicely ada#ted, but with the el ety sod filling freLuent inter als between the stones, led hither and thither from the house, to a crystal s#ring about fi e #aces off, to the road, or to one or two out$houses that lay to the north, beyond the brook, and were thoroughly concealed by a few locusts and catal#as! 8ot more than siH ste#s from the main door of the cottage stood the dead trunk of a fantastic #ear$tree, so clothed from head to foot in the gorgeous bignonia blossoms that one reLuired no little scrutiny to determine what manner of sweet thing it could be! =rom arious arms of this tree hung cages of different kinds! ?n one, a large wicker cylinder with a ring at to#, re elled a mocking birdK in another an orioleK in a third the im#udent bobolinkCwhile three or four more delicate #risons were loudly ocal with canaries!

The #illars of the #iaGGa were enwreathed in jasmine and sweet honeysuckleK while from the angle formed by the main structure and its west wing, in front, s#rang a gra#e$ ine of uneHam#led luHuriance! ;corning all restraint, it had clambered first to the lower roofCthen to the higherK 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 o er the stairs! The whole house, with its wings, was constructed of the old$fashioned -utch shinglesCbroad, and with unrounded corners! ?t is a #eculiarity of this material to gi e houses built of it the a##earance of being wider at bottom than at to#Cafter the manner of Egy#tian architectureK and in the #resent instance, this eHceedingly #icturesLue effect was aided by numerous #ots of gorgeous flowers that almost encom#assed the base of the buildings! The shingles were #ainted a dull grayK and the ha##iness with which this neutral tint melted into the i id green of the tuli# tree lea es that #artially o ershadowed the cottage, can readily be concei ed by an artist! =rom the #osition near the stone wall, as described, the buildings were seen at great ad antageCfor the southeastern angle was thrown forwardCso that the eye took in at once the whole of the two fronts, with the #icturesLue eastern gable, and at the same time obtained just a sufficient glim#se of the northern wing, with #arts of a #retty roof to the s#ring$house, and nearly half of a light bridge that s#anned the brook in the near icinity of the main buildings! ? did not remain ery long on the brow of the hill, although long enough to make a thorough sur ey of the scene at my feet! ?t was clear that ? had wandered from the road to the illage, and ? had thus good tra eller's eHcuse to o#en the gate before me, and inLuire my way, at all e entsK so, without more ado, ? #roceeded! The road, after #assing the gate, seemed to lie u#on a natural ledge, slo#ing gradually down along the face of the north$eastern cliffs! ?t led me on to the foot of the northern #reci#ice, and thence o er the bridge, round by the eastern gable to the front door! ?n this #rogress, ? took notice that no sight of the out$houses could be obtained! As ? 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! ? held him out my hand, howe er, in token of amityCand ? ne er yet knew the dog who was #roof against such an a##eal to his courtesy! >e not only shut his mouth and wagged his tail, but absolutely offered me his #awCafterward eHtending his ci ilities to Ponto! As no bell was discernible, ? ra##ed with my stick against the door, which stood half o#en! ?nstantly a figure ad anced to the thresholdCthat of a young woman about twenty$eight years of ageCslender, or rather slight, and somewhat abo e the medium height! As she a##roached, with a certain modest decision of ste# altogether indescribable! ? said to myself, M;urely here ? ha e found the #erfection of natural, in contradistinction from artificial grace!M The second im#ression which she made on me, but by far the more i id of the two, was that of enthusiasm! ;o intense an eH#ression of romance, #erha#s ? should call it, or of unworldliness, as that which gleamed from her dee#$set eyes, had ne er so sunk into my heart of hearts before! ? know not how it is, but this #eculiar eH#ression of the eye, wreathing itself occasionally into the li#s, is the most #owerful, if not absolutely the sole s#ell, which

ri ets my interest in woman! M,omance,M #ro ided my readers fully com#rehended what ? would here im#ly by the wordCMromanceM and MwomanlinessM seem to me con ertible terms& and, after all, what man truly lo es in woman, is sim#ly her womanhood! The eyes of Annie )? heard some one from the interior call her MAnnie, darlingOM+ were Ms#iritual greyKM her hair, a light chestnut& this is all ? had time to obser e of her! At her most courteous of in itations, ? enteredC#assing first into a tolerably wide estibule! >a ing come mainly to obser e, ? took notice that to my right as ? ste##ed in, was a window, such as those in front of the houseK to the left, a door leading into the #rinci#al roomK while, o##osite me, an o#en door enabled me to see a small a#artment, just the siGe of the estibule, arranged as a study, and ha ing a large bow window looking out to the north! Passing into the #arlor, ? found myself with .r! %andorCfor this, ? afterwards found, was his name! >e was ci il, e en cordial in his manner, but just then, ? was more intent on obser ing the arrangements of the dwelling which had so much interested me, than the #ersonal a##earance of the tenant! The north wing, ? now saw, was a bed$chamber, its door o#ened into the #arlor! West of this door was a single window, looking toward the brook! At the west end of the #arlor, were a fire#lace, and a door leading into the west wingC#robably a kitchen! 8othing could be more rigorously sim#le than the furniture of the #arlor! <n the floor was an ingrain car#et, of eHcellent teHtureCa white ground, s#otted with small circular green figures! At the windows were curtains of snowy white jaconet muslin& they were tolerably full, and hung decisi ely, #erha#s rather formally in shar#, #arallel #laits to the floorCjust to the floor! The walls were #re#ared with a =rench #a#er of great delicacy, a sil er ground, with a faint green cord running Gig$Gag throughout! ?ts eH#anse was relie ed merely by three of @ulien's eHLuisite lithogra#hs a trois crayons, fastened to the wall without frames! <ne of these drawings was a scene of <riental luHury, or rather olu#tuousnessK another was a Mcarni al #iece,M s#irited beyond com#areK the third was a Greek female headCa face so di inely beautiful, and yet of an eH#ression so #ro okingly indeterminate, ne er before arrested my attention! The more substantial furniture consisted of a round table, a few chairs )including a large rocking$chair+, and a sofa, or rather MsetteeKM its material was #lain ma#le #ainted a creamy white, slightly interstri#ed with greenK the seat of cane! The chairs and table were Mto match,M but the forms of all had e idently been designed by the same brain which #lanned Mthe groundsKM it is im#ossible to concei e anything more graceful! <n the table were a few books, a large, sLuare, crystal bottle of some no el #erfume, a #lain ground$glass astral )not solar+ lam# with an ?talian shade, and a large ase of res#lendently$blooming flowers! =lowers, indeed, of gorgeous colours and delicate odour formed the sole mere decoration of the a#artment! The fire$#lace was nearly filled with a ase of brilliant geranium! <n a triangular shelf in each angle of the room stood also a similar ase, aried only as to its lo ely contents! <ne or two smaller bouLuets adorned the mantel, and late iolets clustered about the o#en windows!

?t is not the #ur#ose of this work to do more than gi e in detail, a #icture of .r! %andor's residenceCas ? found it! >ow he made it what it wasCand whyCwith some #articulars of .r! %andor himselfCmay, #ossibly form the subject of another article! >( anchor

W?%%?A. W?%;<8 What say of itN what say of A<8;A?E8AE grim, That s#ectre in my #athN Ahamberlayne's Pharronida! %ET me call myself, for the #resent, William Wilson! The fair #age now lying before me need not be sullied with my real a##ellation! This has been already too much an object for the scornCfor the horrorCfor the detestation of my race! To the uttermost regions of the globe ha e not the indignant winds bruited its un#aralleled infamyN <h, outcast of all outcasts most abandonedOCto the earth art thou not fore er deadN to its honors, to its flowers, to its golden as#irationsNCand a cloud, dense, dismal, and limitless, does it not hang eternally between thy ho#es and hea enN ? would not, if ? could, here or to$day, embody a record of my later years of uns#eakable misery, and un#ardonable crime! This e#ochCthese later yearsCtook unto themsel es a sudden ele ation in tur#itude, whose origin alone it is my #resent #ur#ose to assign! .en usually grow base by degrees! =rom me, in an instant, all irtue dro##ed bodily as a mantle! =rom com#arati ely tri ial wickedness ? #assed, with the stride of a giant, into more than the enormities of an Elah$Gabalus! What chanceCwhat one e ent brought this e il thing to #ass, bear with me while ? relate! -eath a##roachesK and the shadow which foreruns him has thrown a softening influence o er my s#irit! ? long, in #assing through the dim alley, for the sym#athyC? had nearly said for the #ityCof my fellow men! ? would fain ha e them belie e that ? ha e been, in some measure, the sla e of circumstances beyond human control! ? would wish them to seek out for me, in the details ? am about to gi e, some little oasis of fatality amid a wilderness of error! ? would ha e them allowCwhat they cannot refrain from allowingCthat, although tem#tation may ha e erewhile eHisted as great, man was ne er thus, at least, tem#ted beforeCcertainly, ne er thus fell! And is it therefore that he has ne er thus sufferedN >a e ? not indeed been li ing in a dreamN And am ? not now dying a ictim to the horror and the mystery of the wildest of all sublunary isionsN ? am the descendant of a race whose imaginati e and easily eHcitable tem#erament has at all times rendered them remarkableK and, in my earliest infancy, ? ga e e idence of ha ing fully inherited the family character! As ? ad anced in years it was more strongly de elo#edK becoming, for many reasons, a cause of serious disLuietude to my friends, and of #ositi e injury to myself! ? grew self$willed, addicted to the wildest ca#rices, and a #rey to the most ungo ernable #assions! Weak$ minded, and beset with constitutional infirmities akin to my own, my #arents could do but little to check the e il #ro#ensities which distinguished me! ;ome feeble and ill$directed efforts resulted in com#lete failure on their #art, and, of course, in total trium#h on mine! Thenceforward my oice was a household lawK and at an age when few children ha e abandoned their leading$strings, ? was left to the guidance

of my own will, and became, in all but name, the master of my own actions! .y earliest recollections of a school$life, are connected with a large, rambling, EliGabethan house, in a misty$looking illage of England, where were a ast number of gigantic and gnarled trees, and where all the houses were eHcessi ely ancient! ?n truth, it was a dream$like and s#irit$soothing #lace, that enerable old town! At this moment, in fancy, ? feel the refreshing chilliness of its dee#ly$shadowed a enues, inhale the fragrance of its thousand shrubberies, and thrill anew with undefinable delight, at the dee# hollow note of the church$bell, breaking, each hour, with sullen and sudden roar, u#on the stillness of the dusky atmos#here in which the fretted Gothic stee#le lay imbedded and aslee#! ?t gi es me, #erha#s, as much of #leasure as ? can now in any manner eH#erience, to dwell u#on minute recollections of the school and its concerns! ;tee#ed in misery as ? amCmisery, alasO only too realC? shall be #ardoned for seeking relief, howe er slight and tem#orary, in the weakness of a few rambling details! These, moreo er, utterly tri ial, and e en ridiculous in themsel es, assume, to my fancy, ad entitious im#ortance, as connected with a #eriod and a locality when and where ? recognise the first ambiguous monitions of the destiny which afterwards so fully o ershadowed me! %et me then remember! The house, ? ha e said, was old and irregular! The grounds were eHtensi e, and a high and solid brick wall, to##ed with a bed of mortar and broken glass, encom#assed the whole! This #rison$like ram#art formed the limit of our domainK beyond it we saw but thrice a weekConce e ery ;aturday afternoon, when, attended by two ushers, we were #ermitted to take brief walks in a body through some of the neighbouring fieldsCand twice during ;unday, when we were #araded in the same formal manner to the morning and e ening ser ice in the one church of the illage! <f this church the #rinci#al of our school was #astor! With how dee# a s#irit of wonder and #er#leHity was ? wont to regard him from our remote #ew in the gallery, as, with ste# solemn and slow, he ascended the #ul#itO This re erend man, with countenance so demurely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely #owdered, so rigid and so ast,C$could this be he who, of late, with sour isage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand, the -raconian laws of the academyN <h, gigantic #aradoH, too utterly monstrous for solutionO At an angle of the #onderous wall frowned a more #onderous gate! ?t was ri eted and studded with iron bolts, and surmounted with jagged iron s#ikes! What im#ressions of dee# awe did it ins#ireO ?t was ne er o#ened sa e for the three #eriodical egressions and ingressions already mentionedK then, in e ery creak of its mighty hinges, we found a #lenitude of mysteryCa world of matter for solemn remark, or for more solemn meditation! The eHtensi e enclosure was irregular in form, ha ing many ca#acious recesses! <f these, three or four of the largest constituted the #lay$ ground! ?t was le el, and co ered with fine hard gra el! ? well remember it had no trees, nor benches, nor anything similar within it! <f course it was in the rear of the house! ?n front lay a small #arterre, #lanted with boH and other shrubsK but through this sacred di ision we #assed only u#on rare occasions indeedCsuch as a first ad ent to school or final de#arture thence, or #erha#s, when a #arent or friend ha ing called for

us, we joyfully took our way home for the Ahristmas or .idsummer holy$ days! But the houseOChow Luaint an old building was thisOCto me how eritably a #alace of enchantmentO There was really no end to its windingsCto its incom#rehensible subdi isions! ?t was difficult, at any gi en time, to say with certainty u#on which of its two stories one ha##ened to be! =rom each room to e ery other there were sure to be found three or four ste#s either in ascent or descent! Then the lateral branches were innumerableC inconcei ableCand so returning in u#on themsel es, that our most eHact ideas in regard to the whole mansion were not ery far different from those with which we #ondered u#on infinity! -uring the fi e years of my residence here, ? was ne er able to ascertain with #recision, in what remote locality lay the little slee#ing a#artment assigned to myself and some eighteen or twenty other scholars! The school$room was the largest in the houseC? could not hel# thinking, in the world! ?t was ery long, narrow, and dismally low, with #ointed Gothic windows and a ceiling of oak! ?n a remote and terror$ins#iring angle was a sLuare enclosure of eight or ten feet, com#rising the sanctum, Mduring hours,M of our #rinci#al, the ,e erend -r! Bransby! ?t was a solid structure, with massy door, sooner than o#en which in the absence of the M-ominic,M we would all ha e willingly #erished by the #eine forte et dure! ?n other angles were two other similar boHes, far less re erenced, indeed, but still greatly matters of awe! <ne of these was the #ul#it of the MclassicalM usher, one of the MEnglish and mathematical!M ?nters#ersed about the room, crossing and recrossing in endless irregularity, were innumerable benches and desks, black, ancient, and time$worn, #iled des#erately with much$bethumbed books, and so beseamed with initial letters, names at full length, grotesLue figures, and other multi#lied efforts of the knife, as to ha e entirely lost what little of original form might ha e been their #ortion in days long de#arted! A huge bucket with water stood at one eHtremity of the room, and a clock of stu#endous dimensions at the other! Encom#assed by the massy walls of this enerable academy, ? #assed, yet not in tedium or disgust, the years of the third lustrum of my life! The teeming brain of childhood reLuires no eHternal world of incident to occu#y or amuse itK and the a##arently dismal monotony of a school was re#lete with more intense eHcitement than my ri#er youth has deri ed from luHury, or my full manhood from crime! "et ? must belie e that my first mental de elo#ment had in it much of the uncommonCe en much of the outre! 7#on mankind at large the e ents of ery early eHistence rarely lea e in mature age any definite im#ression! All is gray shadowCa weak and irregular remembranceCan indistinct regathering of feeble #leasures and #hantasmagoric #ains! With me this is not so! ?n childhood ? must ha e felt with the energy of a man what ? now find stam#ed u#on memory in lines as i id, as dee#, and as durable as the eHergues of the Aarthaginian medals! "et in factCin the fact of the world's iewChow little was there to rememberO The morning's awakening, the nightly summons to bedK the connings, the recitationsK the #eriodical half$holidays, and #erambulationsK the #lay$ground, with its broils, its #astimes, its intriguesKCthese, by a mental sorcery long forgotten, were made to in ol e a wilderness of sensation, a world of rich incident, an uni erse of aried emotion, of eHcitement the most #assionate and s#irit$stirring! M<h, le bon tem#s, Lue ce siecle de ferOM

?n truth, the ardor, the enthusiasm, and the im#eriousness of my dis#osition, soon rendered me a marked character among my schoolmates, and by slow, but natural gradations, ga e me an ascendancy o er all not greatly older than myselfKCo er all with a single eHce#tion! This eHce#tion was found in the #erson of a scholar, who, although no relation, bore the same Ahristian and surname as myselfKCa circumstance, in fact, little remarkableK for, notwithstanding a noble descent, mine was one of those e eryday a##ellations which seem, by #rescri#ti e right, to ha e been, time out of mind, the common #ro#erty of the mob! ?n this narrati e ? ha e therefore designated myself as William Wilson,Ca fictitious title not ery dissimilar to the real! .y namesake alone, of those who in school #hraseology constituted Mour set,M #resumed to com#ete with me in the studies of the classCin the s#orts and broils of the #lay$groundCto refuse im#licit belief in my assertions, and submission to my willCindeed, to interfere with my arbitrary dictation in any res#ect whatsoe er! ?f there is on earth a su#reme and unLualified des#otism, it is the des#otism of a master mind in boyhood o er the less energetic s#irits of its com#anions! Wilson's rebellion was to me a source of the greatest embarrassmentKCthe more so as, in s#ite of the bra ado with which in #ublic ? made a #oint of treating him and his #retensions, ? secretly felt that ? feared him, and could not hel# thinking the eLuality which he maintained so easily with myself, a #roof of his true su#eriorityK since not to be o ercome cost me a #er#etual struggle! "et this su#eriorityCe en this eLualityCwas in truth acknowledged by no one but myselfK our associates, by some unaccountable blindness, seemed not e en to sus#ect it! ?ndeed, his com#etition, his resistance, and es#ecially his im#ertinent and dogged interference with my #ur#oses, were not more #ointed than #ri ate! >e a##eared to be destitute alike of the ambition which urged, and of the #assionate energy of mind which enabled me to eHcel! ?n his ri alry he might ha e been su##osed actuated solely by a whimsical desire to thwart, astonish, or mortify myselfK although there were times when ? could not hel# obser ing, with a feeling made u# of wonder, abasement, and #iLue, that he mingled with his injuries, his insults, or his contradictions, a certain most ina##ro#riate, and assuredly most unwelcome affectionateness of manner! ? could only concei e this singular beha ior to arise from a consummate self$conceit assuming the ulgar airs of #atronage and #rotection! Perha#s it was this latter trait in Wilson's conduct, conjoined with our identity of name, and the mere accident of our ha ing entered the school u#on the same day, which set afloat the notion that we were brothers, among the senior classes in the academy! These do not usually inLuire with much strictness into the affairs of their juniors! ? ha e before said, or should ha e said, that Wilson was not, in the most remote degree, connected with my family! But assuredly if we had been brothers we must ha e been twinsK for, after lea ing -r! Bransby's, ? casually learned that my namesake was born on the nineteenth of @anuary, /2/9Cand this is a somewhat remarkable coincidenceK for the day is #recisely that of my own nati ity! ?t may seem strange that in s#ite of the continual anHiety occasioned me by the ri alry of Wilson, and his intolerable s#irit of contradiction, ? could not bring myself to hate him altogether! We had, to be sure, nearly e ery day a Luarrel in which, yielding me #ublicly the #alm of ictory, he, in some manner, contri ed to make me feel that it was he who had

deser ed itK yet a sense of #ride on my #art, and a eritable dignity on his own, ke#t us always u#on what are called Ms#eaking terms,M while there were many #oints of strong congeniality in our tem#ers, o#erating to awake me in a sentiment which our #osition alone, #erha#s, #re ented from ri#ening into friendshi#! ?t is difficult, indeed, to define, or e en to describe, my real feelings towards him! They formed a motley and heterogeneous admiHtureKCsome #etulant animosity, which was not yet hatred, some esteem, more res#ect, 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 inse#arable of com#anions! ?t was no doubt the anomalous state of affairs eHisting between us, which turned all my attacks u#on him, )and they were many, either o#en or co ert+ into the channel of banter or #ractical joke )gi ing #ain while assuming the as#ect of mere fun+ rather than into a more serious and determined hostility! But my endea ours on this head were by no means uniformly successful, e en when my #lans were the most wittily concoctedK for my namesake had much about him, in character, of that unassuming and Luiet austerity which, while enjoying the #oignancy of its own jokes, has no heel of Achilles in itself, and absolutely refuses to be laughed at! ? could find, indeed, but one ulnerable #oint, and that, lying in a #ersonal #eculiarity, arising, #erha#s, from constitutional disease, would ha e been s#ared by any antagonist less at his wit's end than myselfKCmy ri al had a weakness in the faucal or guttural organs, which #recluded him from raising his oice at any time abo e a ery low whis#er! <f this defect ? did not fail to take what #oor ad antage lay in my #ower! Wilson's retaliations in kind were manyK and there was one form of his #ractical wit that disturbed me beyond measure! >ow his sagacity first disco ered at all that so #etty a thing would eH me, is a Luestion ? ne er could sol eK but, ha ing disco ered, he habitually #ractised the annoyance! ? had always felt a ersion to my uncourtly #atronymic, and its ery common, if not #lebeian #raenomen! The words were enom in my earsK and when, u#on the day of my arri al, a second William Wilson came also to the academy, ? 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 re#etition, who would be constantly in my #resence, and whose concerns, in the ordinary routine of the school business, must ine itably, on account of the detestable coincidence, be often confounded with my own! The feeling of eHation thus engendered grew stronger with e ery circumstance tending to show resemblance, moral or #hysical, between my ri al and myself! ? had not then disco ered the remarkable fact that we were of the same ageK but ? saw that we were of the same height, and ? #ercei ed that we were e en singularly alike in general contour of #erson and outline of feature! ? was galled, too, by the rumor touching a relationshi#, which had grown current in the u##er forms! ?n a word, nothing could more seriously disturb me, )although ? scru#ulously concealed such disturbance,+ than any allusion to a similarity of mind, #erson, or condition eHisting between us! But, in truth, ? had no reason to belie e that )with the eHce#tion of the matter of relationshi#, and in the case of Wilson himself,+ this similarity had e er been made a subject of comment, or e en obser ed at all by our schoolfellows! That he obser ed it in all its bearings, and as fiHedly as ?, was a##arentK but that he could disco er in such circumstances so fruitful a field of

annoyance, can only be attributed, as ? said before, to his more than ordinary #enetration! >is cue, which was to #erfect an imitation of myself, lay both in words and in actionsK and most admirably did he #lay his #art! .y dress it was an easy matter to co#yK my gait and general manner were, without difficulty, a##ro#riatedK in s#ite of his constitutional defect, e en my oice did not esca#e him! .y louder tones were, of course, unattem#ted, but then the key, it was identicalK and his singular whis#er, it grew the ery echo of my own! >ow greatly this most eHLuisite #ortraiture harassed me, )for it could not justly be termed a caricature,+ ? will not now enture to describe! ? had but one consolationCin the fact that the imitation, a##arently, was noticed by myself alone, and that ? had to endure only the knowing and strangely sarcastic smiles of my namesake himself! ;atisfied with ha ing #roduced in my bosom the intended effect, he seemed to chuckle in secret o er the sting he had inflicted, and was characteristically disregardful of the #ublic a##lause which the success of his witty endea ours might ha e so easily elicited! That the school, indeed, did not feel his design, #ercei e its accom#lishment, and #artici#ate in his sneer, was, for many anHious months, a riddle ? could not resol e! Perha#s the gradation of his co#y rendered it not so readily #erce#tibleK or, more #ossibly, ? owed my security to the master air of the co#yist, who, disdaining the letter, )which in a #ainting is all the obtuse can see,+ ga e but the full s#irit of his original for my indi idual contem#lation and chagrin! ? ha e already more than once s#oken of the disgusting air of #atronage which he assumed toward me, and of his freLuent officious interference with my will! This interference often took the ungracious character of ad iceK ad ice not o#enly gi en, but hinted or insinuated! ? recei ed it with a re#ugnance which gained strength as ? grew in years! "et, at this distant day, let me do him the sim#le justice to acknowledge that ? can recall no occasion when the suggestions of my ri al were on the side of those errors or follies so usual to his immature age and seeming ineH#erienceK that his moral sense, at least, if not his general talents and worldly wisdom, was far keener than my ownK and that ? might, to$day, ha e been a better, and thus a ha##ier man, had ? less freLuently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning whis#ers which ? then but too cordially hated and too bitterly des#ised! As it was, ? at length grew resti e in the eHtreme under his distasteful su#er ision, and daily resented more and more o#enly what ? considered his intolerable arrogance! ? ha e said that, in the first years of our conneHion as schoolmates, my feelings in regard to him might ha e been easily ri#ened into friendshi#& 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 #ro#ortion, #artook ery much of #ositi e hatred! 7#on one occasion he saw this, ? think, and afterwards a oided, or made a show of a oiding me! ?t was about the same #eriod, if ? remember aright, that, in an altercation of iolence with him, in which he was more than usually thrown off his guard, and s#oke and acted with an o#enness of demeanor rather foreign to his nature, ? disco ered, or fancied ? disco ered, in his accent, his air, and general a##earance, a something which first startled, and then dee#ly interested me, by bringing to mind dim isions of my earliest infancyCwild, confused and thronging memories of a time

when memory herself was yet unborn! ? cannot better describe the sensation which o##ressed me than by saying that ? could with difficulty shake off the belief of my ha ing been acLuainted with the being who stood before me, at some e#och ery long agoCsome #oint of the #ast e en infinitely remote! The delusion, howe er, faded ra#idly as it cameK and ? mention it at all but to define the day of the last con ersation ? there held with my singular namesake! The huge old house, with its countless subdi isions, had se eral large chambers communicating with each other, where sle#t the greater number of the students! There were, howe er, )as must necessarily ha##en in a building so awkwardly #lanned,+ many little nooks or recesses, the odds and ends of the structureK and these the economic ingenuity of -r! Bransby had also fitted u# as dormitoriesK although, being the merest closets, they were ca#able of accommodating but a single indi idual! <ne of these small a#artments was occu#ied by Wilson! <ne night, about the close of my fifth year at the school, and immediately after the altercation just mentioned, finding e ery one wra##ed in slee#, ? arose from bed, and, lam# in hand, stole through a wilderness of narrow #assages from my own bedroom to that of my ri al! ? had long been #lotting one of those ill$natured #ieces of #ractical wit at his eH#ense in which ? had hitherto been so uniformly unsuccessful! ?t was my intention, now, to #ut my scheme in o#eration, and ? resol ed to make him feel the whole eHtent of the malice with which ? was imbued! >a ing reached his closet, ? noiselessly entered, lea ing the lam#, with a shade o er it, on the outside! ? ad anced a ste#, and listened to the sound of his tranLuil breathing! Assured of his being aslee#, ? returned, took the light, and with it again a##roached the bed! Alose curtains were around it, which, in the #rosecution of my #lan, ? slowly and Luietly withdrew, when the bright rays fell i idly u#on the slee#er, and my eyes, at the same moment, u#on his countenance! ? lookedKCand a numbness, an iciness of feeling instantly #er aded my frame! .y breast hea ed, my knees tottered, my whole s#irit became #ossessed with an objectless yet intolerable horror! Gas#ing for breath, ? lowered the lam# in still nearer #roHimity to the face! Were theseCthese the lineaments of William WilsonN ? saw, indeed, that they were his, but ? shook as if with a fit of the ague in fancying they were not! What was there about them to confound me in this mannerN ? gaGedKCwhile my brain reeled with a multitude of incoherent thoughts! 8ot thus he a##earedCassuredly not thus Cin the i acity of his waking hours! The same nameO the same contour of #ersonO the same day of arri al at the academyO And then his dogged and meaningless imitation of my gait, my oice, my habits, and my mannerO Was it, in truth, within the bounds of human #ossibility, that what ? now saw was the result, merely, of the habitual #ractice of this sarcastic imitationN Awe$stricken, and with a cree#ing shudder, ? eHtinguished the lam#, #assed silently from the chamber, and left, at once, the halls of that old academy, ne er to enter them again! After a la#se of some months, s#ent at home in mere idleness, ? found myself a student at Eton! The brief inter al had been sufficient to enfeeble my remembrance of the e ents at -r! Bransby's, or at least to effect a material change in the nature of the feelings with which ? remembered them! The truthCthe tragedyCof the drama was no more! ? could now find room to doubt the e idence of my sensesK and seldom called u# the subject at all but with wonder at eHtent of human credulity, and a smile at the i id force of the imagination which ? hereditarily

#ossessed! 8either was this s#ecies of sce#ticism likely to be diminished by the character of the life ? led at Eton! The orteH of thoughtless folly into which ? there so immediately and so recklessly #lunged, washed away all but the froth of my #ast hours, engulfed at once e ery solid or serious im#ression, and left to memory only the eriest le ities of a former eHistence! ? do not wish, howe er, to trace the course of my miserable #rofligacy hereCa #rofligacy which set at defiance the laws, while it eluded the igilance of the institution! Three years of folly, #assed without #rofit, had but gi en me rooted habits of ice, and added, in a somewhat unusual degree, to my bodily stature, when, after a week of soulless dissi#ation, ? in ited a small #arty of the most dissolute students to a secret carousal in my chambers! We met at a late hour of the nightK for our debaucheries were to be faithfully #rotracted until morning! The wine flowed freely, and there were not wanting other and #erha#s more dangerous seductionsK so that the gray dawn had already faintly a##eared in the east, while our delirious eHtra agance was at its height! .adly flushed with cards and intoHication, ? was in the act of insisting u#on a toast of more than wonted #rofanity, when my attention was suddenly di erted by the iolent, although #artial unclosing of the door of the a#artment, and by the eager oice of a ser ant from without! >e said that some #erson, a##arently in great haste, demanded to s#eak with me in the hall! Wildly eHcited with wine, the uneH#ected interru#tion rather delighted than sur#rised me! ? staggered forward at once, and a few ste#s brought me to the estibule of the building! ?n this low and small room there hung no lam#K and now no light at all was admitted, sa e that of the eHceedingly feeble dawn which made its way through the semi$circular window! As ? #ut my foot o er the threshold, ? became aware of the figure of a youth about my own height, and habited in a white kerseymere morning frock, cut in the no el fashion of the one ? myself wore at the moment! This the faint light enabled me to #ercei eK but the features of his face ? could not distinguish! 7#on my entering he strode hurriedly u# to me, and, seiGing me by the arm with a gesture of #etulant im#atience, whis#ered the words MWilliam WilsonOM in my ear! ? grew #erfectly sober in an instant! There was that in the manner of the stranger, and in the tremulous shake of his u#lifted finger, as he held it between my eyes and the light, which filled me with unLualified amaGementK but it was not this which had so iolently mo ed me! ?t was the #regnancy of solemn admonition in the singular, low, hissing utteranceK and, abo e all, it was the character, the tone, the key, of those few, sim#le, and familiar, yet whis#ered syllables, which came with a thousand thronging memories of bygone days, and struck u#on my soul with the shock of a gal anic battery! Ere ? could reco er the use of my senses he was gone! Although this e ent failed not of a i id effect u#on my disordered imagination, yet was it e anescent as i id! =or some weeks, indeed, ? busied myself in earnest inLuiry, or was wra##ed in a cloud of morbid s#eculation! ? did not #retend to disguise from my #erce#tion the identity of the singular indi idual who thus #erse eringly interfered with my affairs, and harassed me with his insinuated counsel! But who and what was this WilsonNCand whence came heNCand what were his #ur#osesN 7#on neither of these #oints could ? be satisfiedK merely ascertaining, in regard to him, that a sudden accident in his family had caused his

remo al from -r! Bransby's academy on the afternoon of the day in which ? myself had elo#ed! But in a brief #eriod ? ceased to think u#on the subjectK my attention being all absorbed in a contem#lated de#arture for <Hford! Thither ? soon wentK the uncalculating anity of my #arents furnishing me with an outfit and annual establishment, which would enable me to indulge at will in the luHury already so dear to my heart,Cto ie in #rofuseness of eH#enditure with the haughtiest heirs of the wealthiest earldoms in Great Britain! EHcited by such a##liances to ice, my constitutional tem#erament broke forth with redoubled ardor, and ? s#urned e en the common restraints of decency in the mad infatuation of my re els! But it were absurd to #ause in the detail of my eHtra agance! %et it suffice, that among s#endthrifts ? out$>eroded >erod, and that, gi ing name to a multitude of no el follies, ? added no brief a##endiH to the long catalogue of ices then usual in the most dissolute uni ersity of Euro#e! ?t could hardly be credited, howe er, that ? had, e en here, so utterly fallen from the gentlemanly estate, as to seek acLuaintance with the ilest arts of the gambler by #rofession, and, ha ing become an ade#t in his des#icable science, to #ractise it habitually as a means of increasing my already enormous income at the eH#ense of the weak$minded among my fellow$collegians! ;uch, ne ertheless, was the fact! And the ery enormity of this offence against all manly and honourable sentiment #ro ed, beyond doubt, the main if not the sole reason of the im#unity with which it was committed! Who, indeed, among my most abandoned associates, would not rather ha e dis#uted the clearest e idence of his senses, than ha e sus#ected of such courses, the gay, the frank, the generous William WilsonCthe noblest and most liberal commoner at <HfordC him whose follies )said his #arasites+ were but the follies of youth and unbridled fancyCwhose errors but inimitable whimCwhose darkest ice but a careless and dashing eHtra aganceN ? had been now two years successfully busied in this way, when there came to the uni ersity a young #ar enu nobleman, GlendinningCrich, said re#ort, as >erodes AtticusChis riches, too, as easily acLuired! ? soon found him of weak intellect, and, of course, marked him as a fitting subject for my skill! ? freLuently engaged him in #lay, and contri ed, with the gambler's usual art, to let him win considerable sums, the more effectually to entangle him in my snares! At length, my schemes being ri#e, ? met him )with the full intention that this meeting should be final and decisi e+ at the chambers of a fellow$commoner, ).r! Preston,+ eLually intimate with both, but who, to do him @ustice, entertained not e en a remote sus#icion of my design! To gi e to this a better colouring, ? had contri ed to ha e assembled a #arty of some eight or ten, and was solicitously careful that the introduction of cards should a##ear accidental, and originate in the #ro#osal of my contem#lated du#e himself! To be brief u#on a ile to#ic, none of the low finesse was omitted, so customary u#on similar occasions that it is a just matter for wonder how any are still found so besotted as to fall its ictim! We had #rotracted our sitting far into the night, and ? had at length effected the manoeu re of getting Glendinning as my sole antagonist! The game, too, was my fa orite ecarteO The rest of the com#any, interested in the eHtent of our #lay, had abandoned their own cards, and were standing around us as s#ectators! The #ar enu, who had been induced by my artifices in the early #art of the e ening, to drink dee#ly, now shuffled, dealt, or #layed, with a wild ner ousness of manner for which

his intoHication, ? thought, might #artially, but could not altogether account! ?n a ery short #eriod he had become my debtor to a large amount, when, ha ing taken a long draught of #ort, he did #recisely what ? had been coolly antici#atingChe #ro#osed to double our already eHtra agant stakes! With a well$feigned show of reluctance, and not until after my re#eated refusal had seduced him into some angry words which ga e a color of #iLue to my com#liance, did ? finally com#ly! The result, of course, did but #ro e how entirely the #rey was in my toilsK in less than an hour he had Luadru#led his debt! =or some time his countenance had been losing the florid tinge lent it by the wineK but now, to my astonishment, ? #ercei ed that it had grown to a #allor truly fearful! ? say to my astonishment! Glendinning had been re#resented to my eager inLuiries as immeasurably wealthyK and the sums which he had as yet lost, although in themsel es ast, could not, ? su##osed, ery seriously annoy, much less so iolently affect him! That he was o ercome by the wine just swallowed, was the idea which most readily #resented itselfK and, rather with a iew to the #reser ation of my own character in the eyes of my associates, than from any less interested moti e, ? was about to insist, #erem#torily, u#on a discontinuance of the #lay, when some eH#ressions at my elbow from among the com#any, and an ejaculation e incing utter des#air on the #art of Glendinning, ga e me to understand that ? had effected his total ruin under circumstances which, rendering him an object for the #ity of all, should ha e #rotected him from the ill offices e en of a fiend! What now might ha e been my conduct it is difficult to say! The #itiable condition of my du#e had thrown an air of embarrassed gloom o er allK and, for some moments, a #rofound silence was maintained, during which ? could not hel# feeling my cheeks tingle with the many burning glances of scorn or re#roach cast u#on me by the less abandoned of the #arty! ? will e en own that an intolerable weight of anHiety was for a brief instant lifted from my bosom by the sudden and eHtraordinary interru#tion which ensued! The wide, hea y folding doors of the a#artment were all at once thrown o#en, to their full eHtent, with a igorous and rushing im#etuosity that eHtinguished, as if by magic, e ery candle in the room! Their light, in dying, enabled us just to #ercei e that a stranger had entered, about my own height, and closely muffled in a cloak! The darkness, howe er, was now totalK and we could only feel that he was standing in our midst! Before any one of us could reco er from the eHtreme astonishment into which this rudeness had thrown all, we heard the oice of the intruder! MGentlemen,M he said, in a low, distinct, and ne er$to$be$forgotten whis#er which thrilled to the ery marrow of my bones, MGentlemen, ? make no a#ology for this beha iour, because in thus beha ing, ? am but fulfilling a duty! "ou are, beyond doubt, uninformed of the true character of the #erson who has to$night won at ecarte a large sum of money from %ord Glendinning! ? will therefore #ut you u#on an eH#editious and decisi e #lan of obtaining this ery necessary information! Please to eHamine, at your leisure, the inner linings of the cuff of his left slee e, and the se eral little #ackages which may be found in the somewhat ca#acious #ockets of his embroidered morning wra##er!M While he s#oke, so #rofound was the stillness that one might ha e heard a #in dro# u#on the floor! ?n ceasing, he de#arted at once, and as abru#tly as he had entered! Aan ?Cshall ? describe my sensationsNCmust ? say that ? felt all the horrors of the damnedN .ost assuredly ? had little time

gi en for reflection! .any hands roughly seiGed me u#on the s#ot, and lights were immediately re#rocured! A search ensued! ?n the lining of my slee e were found all the court cards essential in ecarte, and, in the #ockets of my wra##er, a number of #acks, facsimiles of those used at our sittings, with the single eHce#tion that mine were of the s#ecies called, technically, arrondeesK the honours being slightly con eH at the ends, the lower cards slightly con eH at the sides! ?n this dis#osition, the du#e who cuts, as customary, at the length of the #ack, will in ariably find that he cuts his antagonist an honorK while the gambler, cutting at the breadth, will, as certainly, cut nothing for his ictim which may count in the records of the game! Any burst of indignation u#on this disco ery would ha e affected me less than the silent contem#t, or the sarcastic com#osure, with which it was recei ed! M.r! Wilson,M said our host, stoo#ing to remo e from beneath his feet an eHceedingly luHurious cloak of rare furs, M.r! Wilson, this is your #ro#erty!M )The weather was coldK and, u#on Luitting my own room, ? had thrown a cloak o er my dressing wra##er, #utting it off u#on reaching the scene of #lay!+ M? #resume it is su#ererogatory to seek here )eyeing the folds of the garment with a bitter smile+ for any farther e idence of your skill! ?ndeed, we ha e had enough! "ou will see the necessity, ? ho#e, of Luitting <HfordCat all e ents, of Luitting instantly my chambers!M Abased, humbled to the dust as ? then was, it is #robable that ? should ha e resented this galling language by immediate #ersonal iolence, had not my whole attention been at the moment arrested by a fact of the most startling character! The cloak which ? had worn was of a rare descri#tion of furK how rare, how eHtra agantly costly, ? shall not enture to say! ?ts fashion, too, was of my own fantastic in entionK for ? was fastidious to an absurd degree of coHcombry, in matters of this fri olous nature! When, therefore, .r! Preston reached me that which he had #icked u# u#on the floor, and near the folding doors of the a#artment, it was with an astonishment nearly bordering u#on terror, that ? #ercei ed my own already hanging on my arm, )where ? had no doubt unwittingly #laced it,+ and that the one #resented me was but its eHact counter#art in e ery, in e en the minutest #ossible #articular! The singular being who had so disastrously eH#osed me, had been muffled, ? remembered, in a cloakK and none had been worn at all by any of the members of our #arty with the eHce#tion of myself! ,etaining some #resence of mind, ? took the one offered me by PrestonK #laced it, unnoticed, o er my ownK left the a#artment with a resolute scowl of defianceK and, neHt morning ere dawn of day, commenced a hurried journey from <Hford to the continent, in a #erfect agony of horror and of shame! ? fled in ain! .y e il destiny #ursued me as if in eHultation, and #ro ed, indeed, that the eHercise of its mysterious dominion had as yet only begun! ;carcely had ? set foot in Paris ere ? had fresh e idence of the detestable interest taken by this Wilson in my concerns! "ears flew, while ? eH#erienced no relief! 'illainOCat ,ome, with how untimely, yet with how s#ectral an officiousness, ste##ed he in between me and my ambitionO At 'ienna, tooCat BerlinCand at .oscowO Where, in truth, had ? not bitter cause to curse him within my heartN =rom his inscrutable tyranny did ? at length flee, #anic$stricken, as from a #estilenceK and to the ery ends of the earth ? fled in ain!

And again, and again, in secret communion with my own s#irit, would ? demand the Luestions MWho is heNCwhence came heNCand what are his objectsNM But no answer was there found! And then ? scrutiniGed, with a minute scrutiny, the forms, and the methods, and the leading traits of his im#ertinent su#er ision! But e en here there was ery little u#on which to base a conjecture! ?t was noticeable, indeed, that, in no one of the multi#lied instances in which he had of late crossed my #ath, had he so crossed it eHce#t to frustrate those schemes, or to disturb those actions, which, if fully carried out, might ha e resulted in bitter mischief! Poor justification this, in truth, for an authority so im#eriously assumedO Poor indemnity for natural rights of self$agency so #ertinaciously, so insultingly deniedO ? had also been forced to notice that my tormentor, for a ery long #eriod of time, )while scru#ulously and with miraculous deHterity maintaining his whim of an identity of a##arel with myself,+ had so contri ed it, in the eHecution of his aried interference with my will, that ? saw not, at any moment, the features of his face! Be Wilson what he might, this, at least, was but the eriest of affectation, or of folly! Aould he, for an instant, ha e su##osed that, in my admonisher at EtonCin the destroyer of my honor at <Hford,Cin him who thwarted my ambition at ,ome, my re enge at Paris, my #assionate lo e at 8a#les, or what he falsely termed my a arice in Egy#t,Cthat in this, my arch$enemy and e il genius, could fail to recognise the William Wilson of my school boy days,Cthe namesake, the com#anion, the ri al,Cthe hated and dreaded ri al at -r! Bransby'sN ?m#ossibleOCBut let me hasten to the last e entful scene of the drama! Thus far ? had succumbed su#inely to this im#erious domination! The sentiment of dee# awe with which ? habitually regarded the ele ated character, the majestic wisdom, the a##arent omni#resence and omni#otence of Wilson, added to a feeling of e en terror, with which certain other traits in his nature and assum#tions ins#ired me, had o#erated, hitherto, to im#ress me with an idea of my own utter weakness and hel#lessness, and to suggest an im#licit, although bitterly reluctant submission to his arbitrary will! But, of late days, ? had gi en myself u# entirely to wineK and its maddening influence u#on my hereditary tem#er rendered me more and more im#atient of control! ? began to murmur,Cto hesitate,Cto resist! And was it only fancy which induced me to belie e that, with the increase of my own firmness, that of my tormentor underwent a #ro#ortional diminutionN Be this as it may, ? now began to feel the ins#iration of a burning ho#e, and at length nurtured in my secret thoughts a stern and des#erate resolution that ? would submit no longer to be ensla ed! ?t was at ,ome, during the Aarni al of /2C, that ? attended a masLuerade in the #alaGGo of the 8ea#olitan -uke -i Broglio! ? had indulged more freely than usual in the eHcesses of the wine$tableK and now the suffocating atmos#here of the crowded rooms irritated me beyond endurance! The difficulty, too, of forcing my way through the maGes of the com#any contributed not a little to the ruffling of my tem#erK for ? was anHiously seeking, )let me not say with what unworthy moti e+ the young, the gay, the beautiful wife of the aged and doting -i Broglio! With a too unscru#ulous confidence she had #re iously communicated to me the secret of the costume in which she would be habited, and now, ha ing caught a glim#se of her #erson, ? was hurrying to make my way into her

#resence!CAt this moment ? felt a light hand #laced u#on my shoulder, and that e er$remembered, low, damnable whis#er within my ear! ?n an absolute #hrenGy of wrath, ? turned at once u#on him who had thus interru#ted me, and seiGed him iolently by the collar! >e was attired, as ? had eH#ected, in a costume altogether similar to my ownK wearing a ;#anish cloak of blue el et, begirt about the waist with a crimson belt sustaining a ra#ier! A mask of black silk entirely co ered his face! M;coundrelOM ? said, in a oice husky with rage, while e ery syllable ? uttered seemed as new fuel to my fury, MscoundrelO im#ostorO accursed illainO you shall notCyou shall not dog me unto deathO =ollow me, or ? stab you where you standOMCand ? broke my way from the ball$room into a small ante$chamber adjoiningCdragging him unresistingly with me as ? went! 7#on entering, ? thrust him furiously from me! >e staggered against the wall, while ? closed the door with an oath, and commanded him to draw! >e hesitated but for an instantK then, with a slight sigh, drew in silence, and #ut himself u#on his defence! The contest was brief indeed! ? was frantic with e ery s#ecies of wild eHcitement, and felt within my single arm the energy and #ower of a multitude! ?n a few seconds ? forced him by sheer strength against the wainscoting, and thus, getting him at mercy, #lunged my sword, with brute ferocity, re#eatedly through and through his bosom! At that instant some #erson tried the latch of the door! ? hastened to #re ent an intrusion, and then immediately returned to my dying antagonist! But what human language can adeLuately #ortray that astonishment, that horror which #ossessed me at the s#ectacle then #resented to iewN The brief moment in which ? a erted my eyes had been sufficient to #roduce, a##arently, a material change in the arrangements at the u##er or farther end of the room! A large mirror,Cso at first it seemed to me in my confusionCnow stood where none had been #erce#tible beforeK and, as ? ste##ed u# to it in eHtremity of terror, mine own image, but with features all #ale and dabbled in blood, ad anced to meet me with a feeble and tottering gait! Thus it a##eared, ? say, but was not! ?t was my antagonistCit was Wilson, who then stood before me in the agonies of his dissolution! >is mask and cloak lay, where he had thrown them, u#on the floor! 8ot a thread in all his raimentCnot a line in all the marked and singular lineaments of his face which was not, e en in the most absolute identity, mine ownO ?t was WilsonK but he s#oke no longer in a whis#er, and ? could ha e fancied that ? myself was s#eaking while he said& M"ou ha e conLuered, and ? yield! "et, henceforward art thou also deadC dead to the World, to >ea en and to >o#eO ?n me didst thou eHistCand, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself!M >( anchor

T>E TE%%$TA%E >EA,T! T,7EOCner ousC ery, ery dreadfully ner ous ? had been and amK but why will you say that ? am madN The disease had shar#ened my sensesCnot destroyedCnot dulled them! Abo e all was the sense of hearing acute! ? heard all things in the hea en and in the earth! ? heard many things in

hell! >ow, then, am ? madN >earkenO and obser e how healthilyChow calmly ? can tell you the whole story! ?t is im#ossible to say how first the idea entered my brainK but once concei ed, it haunted me day and night! <bject there was none! Passion there was none! ? lo ed the old man! >e had ne er wronged me! >e had ne er gi en me insult! =or his gold ? had no desire! ? think it was his eyeO yes, it was thisO >e had the eye of a ultureCa #ale blue eye, with a film o er it! Whene er it fell u#on me, my blood ran coldK and so by degreesC ery graduallyC? made u# my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye fore er! 8ow this is the #oint! "ou fancy me mad! .admen know nothing! But you should ha e seen me! "ou should ha e seen how wisely ? #roceededCwith what cautionCwith what foresightCwith what dissimulation ? went to workO ? was ne er kinder to the old man than during the whole week before ? killed him! And e ery night, about midnight, ? turned the latch of his door and o#ened itCoh so gentlyO And then, when ? had made an o#ening sufficient for my head, ? #ut in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then ? thrust in my head! <h, you would ha e laughed to see how cunningly ? thrust it inO ? mo ed it slowlyC ery, ery slowly, so that ? might not disturb the old man's slee#! ?t took me an hour to #lace my whole head within the o#ening so far that ? could see him as he lay u#on his bed! >aO would a madman ha e been so wise as thisN And then, when my head was well in the room, ? undid the lantern cautiouslyCoh, so cautiouslyCcautiously )for the hinges creaked+C? undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell u#on the ulture eye! And this ? did for se en long nightsCe ery night just at midnightCbut ? found the eye always closedK and so it was im#ossible to do the workK for it was not the old man who eHed me, but his E il Eye! And e ery morning, when the day broke, ? went boldly into the chamber, and s#oke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inLuiring how he has #assed the night! ;o you see he would ha e been a ery #rofound old man, indeed, to sus#ect that e ery night, just at twel e, ? looked in u#on him while he sle#t! 7#on the eighth night ? was more than usually cautious in o#ening the door! A watch's minute hand mo es more Luickly than did mine! 8e er before that night had ? felt the eHtent of my own #owersCof my sagacity! ? could scarcely contain my feelings of trium#h! To think that there ? was, o#ening the door, little by little, and he not e en to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts! ? fairly chuckled at the ideaK and #erha#s he heard meK for he mo ed on the bed suddenly, as if startled! 8ow you may think that ? drew backCbut no! >is room was as black as #itch with the thick darkness, )for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,+ and so ? knew that he could not see the o#ening of the door, and ? ke#t #ushing it on steadily, steadily! ? had my head in, and was about to o#en the lantern, when my thumb sli##ed u#on the tin fastening, and the old man s#rang u# in bed, crying outCMWho's thereNM ? ke#t Luite still and said nothing! =or a whole hour ? did not mo e a muscle, and in the meantime ? did not hear him lie down! >e was still sitting u# in the bed listeningKCjust as ? ha e done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall! Presently ? heard a slight groan, and ? knew it was the groan of mortal terror! ?t was not a groan of #ain or of griefCoh, noOCit was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when o ercharged

with awe! ? knew the sound well! .any a night, just at midnight, when all the world sle#t, it has welled u# from my own bosom, dee#ening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me! ? say ? knew it well! ? knew what the old man felt, and #itied him, although ? chuckled at heart! ? knew that he had been lying awake e er since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed! >is fears had been e er since growing u#on him! >e had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not! >e had been saying to himselfCM?t is nothing but the wind in the chimneyCit is only a mouse crossing the floor,M or M?t is merely a cricket which has made a single chir#!M "es, he had been trying to comfort himself with these su##ositions& but he had found all in ain! All in ainK because -eath, in a##roaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and en elo#ed the ictim! And it was the mournful influence of the un#ercei ed shadow that caused him to feelCalthough he neither saw nor heardCto feel the #resence of my head within the room! When ? had waited a long time, ery #atiently, without hearing him lie down, ? resol ed to o#en a littleCa ery, ery little cre ice in the lantern! ;o ? o#ened itCyou cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthilyC until, at length a sim#le dim ray, like the thread of the s#ider, shot from out the cre ice and fell full u#on the ulture eye! ?t was o#enCwide, wide o#enCand ? grew furious as ? gaGed u#on it! ? saw it with #erfect distinctnessCall a dull blue, with a hideous eil o er it that chilled the ery marrow in my bonesK but ? could see nothing else of the old man's face or #erson& for ? had directed the ray as if by instinct, #recisely u#on the damned s#ot! And ha e ? not told you that what you mistake for madness is but o er$ acuteness of the senseNCnow, ? say, there came to my ears a low, dull, Luick sound, such as a watch makes when en elo#ed in cotton! ? knew that sound well, too! ?t was the beating of the old man's heart! ?t increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage! But e en yet ? refrained and ke#t still! ? scarcely breathed! ? held the lantern motionless! ? tried how steadily ? could maintain the ray u#on the e e! .eantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased! ?t grew Luicker and Luicker, and louder and louder e ery instant! The old man's terror must ha e been eHtremeO ?t grew louder, ? say, louder e ery momentOCdo you mark me well ? ha e told you that ? am ner ous& so ? am! And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this eHcited me to uncontrollable terror! "et, for some minutes longer ? refrained and stood still! But the beating grew louder, louderO ? thought the heart must burst! And now a new anHiety seiGed meCthe sound would be heard by a neighbourO The old man's hour had comeO With a loud yell, ? threw o#en the lantern and lea#ed into the room! >e shrieked onceConce only! ?n an instant ? dragged him to the floor, and #ulled the hea y bed o er him! ? then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done! But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound! This, howe er, did not eH meK it would not be heard through the wall! At length it ceased! The old man was dead! ? remo ed the bed and eHamined the cor#se! "es, he was stone, stone dead! ? #laced my hand u#on the heart and held it there many minutes! There was no #ulsation! >e was stone dead! >is eye would trouble me no more! ?f still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when ? describe the wise #recautions ? took for the concealment of the body! The night waned, and ? worked hastily, but in silence! =irst of all ? dismembered the cor#se! ? cut off the head and the arms and the legs!

? then took u# three #lanks from the flooring of the chamber, and de#osited all between the scantlings! ? then re#laced the boards so cle erly, so cunningly, that no human eyeCnot e en hisCcould ha e detected any thing wrong! There was nothing to wash outCno stain of any kindCno blood$s#ot whate er! ? had been too wary for that! A tub had caught allChaO haO When ? had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clockCstill dark as midnight! As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door! ? went down to o#en it with a light heart,Cfor what had ? now to fearN There entered three men, who introduced themsel es, with #erfect sua ity, as officers of the #olice! A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the nightK sus#icion of foul #lay had been arousedK information had been lodged at the #olice office, and they )the officers+ had been de#uted to search the #remises! ? smiled,Cfor what had ? to fearN ? bade the gentlemen welcome! The shriek, ? said, was my own in a dream! The old man, ? mentioned, was absent in the country! ? took my isitors all o er the house! ? bade them searchCsearch well! ? led them, at length, to his chamber! ? showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed! ?n the enthusiasm of my confidence, ? brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while ? myself, in the wild audacity of my #erfect trium#h, #laced my own seat u#on the ery s#ot beneath which re#osed the cor#se of the ictim! The officers were satisfied! .y manner had con inced them! ? was singularly at ease! They sat, and while ? answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things! But, ere long, ? felt myself getting #ale and wished them gone! .y head ached, and ? fancied a ringing in my ears& but still they sat and still chatted! The ringing became more distinct&C?t continued and became more distinct& ? talked more freely to get rid of the feeling& but it continued and gained definitenessCuntil, at length, ? found that the noise was not within my ears! 8o doubt ? now grew ery #aleKCbut ? talked more fluently, and with a heightened oice! "et the sound increasedCand what could ? doN ?t was a low, dull, Luick soundCmuch such a sound as a watch makes when en elo#ed in cotton! ? gas#ed for breathCand yet the officers heard it not! ? talked more LuicklyCmore ehementlyK but the noise steadily increased! ? arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with iolent gesticulationsK but the noise steadily increased! Why would they not be goneN ? #aced the floor to and fro with hea y strides, as if eHcited to fury by the obser ations of the menCbut the noise steadily increased! <h GodO what could ? doN ? foamedC? ra edC? sworeO ? swung the chair u#on which ? had been sitting, and grated it u#on the boards, but the noise arose o er all and continually increased! ?t grew louderClouderClouderO And still the men chatted #leasantly, and smiled! Was it #ossible they heard notN Almighty GodOCno, noO They heardOCthey sus#ectedOCthey knewOC they were making a mockery of my horrorO$this ? thought, and this ? think! But anything was better than this agonyO Anything was more tolerable than this derisionO ? could bear those hy#ocritical smiles no longerO ? felt that ? must scream or dieO and nowCagainOCharkO louderO louderO louderO louderO M'illainsOM ? shrieked, Mdissemble no moreO ? admit the deedOCtear u# the #lanksO here, hereOC?t is the beating of his hideous heartOM >( anchor

BE,E8?AE -icebant mihi sodales, si se#ulchrum amicae isitarem, curas meas aliLuantulum forele atas! CEbn Daiat! .?;E," is manifold! The wretchedness of earth is multiform! < erreaching the wide horiGon as the rainbow, its hues are as arious as the hues of that archCas distinct too, yet as intimately blended! < erreaching the wide horiGon as the rainbowO >ow is it that from beauty ? ha e deri ed a ty#e of unlo elinessNCfrom the co enant of #eace, a simile of sorrowN But as, in ethics, e il is a conseLuence of good, so, in fact, out of joy is sorrow born! Either the memory of #ast bliss is the anguish of to$day, or the agonies which are, ha e their origin in the ecstasies which might ha e been! .y ba#tismal name is EgaeusK that of my family ? will not mention! "et there are no towers in the land more time$honored than my gloomy, gray, hereditary halls! <ur line has been called a race of isionariesK and in many striking #articularsCin the character of the family mansionCin the frescos of the chief saloonCin the ta#estries of the dormitoriesCin the chiselling of some buttresses in the armoryCbut more es#ecially in the gallery of antiLue #aintingsCin the fashion of the library chamberCand, lastly, in the ery #eculiar nature of the library's contentsCthere is more than sufficient e idence to warrant the belief! The recollections of my earliest years are connected with that chamber, and with its olumesCof which latter ? will say no more! >ere died my mother! >erein was ? born! But it is mere idleness to say that ? had not li ed beforeCthat the soul has no #re ious eHistence! "ou deny itNClet us not argue the matter! Aon inced myself, ? seek not to con ince! There is, howe er, a remembrance of aerial formsCof s#iritual and meaning eyesCof sounds, musical yet sadCa remembrance which will not be eHcludedK a memory like a shadowC ague, ariable, indefinite, unsteadyK and like a shadow, too, in the im#ossibility of my getting rid of it while the sunlight of my reason shall eHist! ?n that chamber was ? born! Thus awaking from the long night of what seemed, but was not, nonentity, at once into the ery regions of fairy landCinto a #alace of imaginationCinto the wild dominions of monastic thought and eruditionCit is not singular that ? gaGed around me with a startled and ardent eyeCthat ? loitered away my boyhood in books, and dissi#ated my youth in re erieK but it is singular that as years rolled away, and the noon of manhood found me still in the mansion of my fathers Cit is wonderful what stagnation there fell u#on the s#rings of my lifeC wonderful how total an in ersion took #lace in the character of my commonest thought! The realities of the world affected me as isions, and as isions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn, not the material of my e ery$day eHistence, but in ery deed that eHistence utterly and solely in itself! Berenice and ? were cousins, and we grew u# together in my #aternal halls! "et differently we grewC?, ill of health, and buried in gloomCshe, agile, graceful, and o erflowing with energyK hers, the ramble on the hill$sideCmine the studies of the cloisterK ?, li ing within my own heart, and addicted, body and soul, to the most intense and #ainful

meditationCshe, roaming carelessly through life, with no thought of the shadows in her #ath, or the silent flight of the ra en$winged hours! BereniceOC? call u#on her nameCBereniceOCand from the gray ruins of memory a thousand tumultuous recollections are startled at the soundO Ah, i idly is her image before me now, as in the early days of her light$ heartedness and joyO <h, gorgeous yet fantastic beautyO <h, syl#h amid the shrubberies of ArnheimO <h, 8aiad among its fountainsO And thenCthen all is mystery and terror, and a tale which should not be told! -iseaseCa fatal disease, fell like the simoon u#on her frameK and, e en while ? gaGed u#on her, the s#irit of change swe#t o er her, #er ading her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in a manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing e en the identity of her #ersonO AlasO the destroyer came and wentOCand the ictimCwhere is sheN ? knew her notCor knew her no longer as Berenice! Among the numerous train of maladies su#erinduced by that fatal and #rimary one which effected a re olution of so horrible a kind in the moral and #hysical being of my cousin, may be mentioned as the most distressing and obstinate in its nature, a s#ecies of e#ile#sy not unfreLuently terminating in trance itselfCtrance ery nearly resembling #ositi e dissolution, and from which her manner of reco ery was in most instances, startlingly abru#t! ?n the mean time my own diseaseCfor ? ha e been told that ? should call it by no other a##ellationCmy own disease, then, grew ra#idly u#on me, and assumed finally a monomaniac character of a no el and eHtraordinary formChourly and momently gaining igorCand at length obtaining o er me the most incom#rehensible ascendancy! This monomania, if ? must so term it, consisted in a morbid irritability of those #ro#erties of the mind in meta#hysical science termed the attenti e! ?t is more than #robable that ? am not understoodK but ? fear, indeed, that it is in no manner #ossible to con ey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adeLuate idea of that ner ous intensity of interest with which, in my case, the #owers of meditation )not to s#eak technically+ busied and buried themsel es, in the contem#lation of e en the most ordinary objects of the uni erse! To muse for long unwearied hours, with my attention ri eted to some fri olous de ice on the margin, or in the ty#ogra#hy of a bookK to become absorbed, for the better #art of a summer's day, in a Luaint shadow falling aslant u#on the ta#estry or u#on the floorK to lose myself, for an entire night, in watching the steady flame of a lam#, or the embers of a fireK to dream away whole days o er the #erfume of a flowerK to re#eat, monotonously, some common word, until the sound, by dint of freLuent re#etition, ceased to con ey any idea whate er to the mindK to lose all sense of motion or #hysical eHistence, by means of absolute bodily Luiescence long and obstinately #erse ered in& such were a few of the most common and least #ernicious agaries induced by a condition of the mental faculties, not, indeed, altogether un#aralleled, but certainly bidding defiance to anything like analysis or eH#lanation! "et let me not be misa##rehended! The undue, earnest, and morbid attention thus eHcited by objects in their own nature fri olous, must not be confounded in character with that ruminating #ro#ensity common to all mankind, and more es#ecially indulged in by #ersons of ardent imagination! ?t was not e en, as might be at first su##osed, an eHtreme condition, or eHaggeration of such #ro#ensity, but #rimarily and essentially distinct and different! ?n the one instance, the dreamer, or enthusiast, being interested by an object usually not fri olous,

im#erce#tibly loses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestions issuing therefrom, until, at the conclusion of a day dream often re#lete with luHury, he finds the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings, entirely anished and forgotten! ?n my case, the #rimary object was in ariably fri olous, although assuming, through the medium of my distem#ered ision, a refracted and unreal im#ortance! =ew deductions, if any, were madeK and those few #ertinaciously returning in u#on the original object as a centre! The meditations were ne er #leasurableK and, at the termination of the re erie, the first cause, so far from being out of sight, had attained that su#ernaturally eHaggerated interest which was the #re ailing feature of the disease! ?n a word, the #owers of mind more #articularly eHercised were, with me, as ? ha e said before, the attenti e, and are, with the day$dreamer, the s#eculati e! .y books, at this e#och, if they did not actually ser e to irritate the disorder, #artook, it will be #ercei ed, largely, in their imaginati e and inconseLuential nature, of the characteristic Lualities of the disorder itself! ? well remember, among others, the treatise of the noble ?talian, Aoelius ;ecundus Aurio, M-e Am#litudine Beati ,egni -eiKM ;t! Austin's great work, the MAity of GodKM and Tertullian's M-e Aarne Ahristi,M in which the #aradoHical sentence M.ortuus est -ei filiusK credible est Luia ine#tum est& et se#ultus resurreHitK certum est Luia im#ossibile est,M occu#ied my undi ided time, for many weeks of laborious and fruitless in estigation! Thus it will a##ear that, shaken from its balance only by tri ial things, my reason bore resemblance to that ocean$crag s#oken of by Ptolemy >e#hestion, which steadily resisting the attacks of human iolence, and the fiercer fury of the waters and the winds, trembled only to the touch of the flower called As#hodel! And although, to a careless thinker, it might a##ear a matter beyond doubt, that the alteration #roduced by her unha##y malady, in the moral condition of Berenice, would afford me many objects for the eHercise of that intense and abnormal meditation whose nature ? ha e been at some trouble in eH#laining, yet such was not in any degree the case! ?n the lucid inter als of my infirmity, her calamity, indeed, ga e me #ain, and, taking dee#ly to heart that total wreck of her fair and gentle life, ? did not fail to #onder, freLuently and bitterly, u#on the wonder$working means by which so strange a re olution had been so suddenly brought to #ass! But these reflections #artook not of the idiosyncrasy of my disease, and were such as would ha e occurred, under similar circumstances, to the ordinary mass of mankind! True to its own character, my disorder re elled in the less im#ortant but more startling changes wrought in the #hysical frame of BereniceCin the singular and most a##alling distortion of her #ersonal identity! -uring the brightest days of her un#aralleled beauty, most surely ? had ne er lo ed her! ?n the strange anomaly of my eHistence, feelings with me, had ne er been of the heart, and my #assions always were of the mind! Through the gray of the early morningCamong the trellised shadows of the forest at noondayCand in the silence of my library at nightCshe had flitted by my eyes, and ? had seen herCnot as the li ing and breathing Berenice, but as the Berenice of a dreamK not as a being of the earth, earthy, but as the abstraction of such a beingK not as a thing to admire, but to analyGeK not as an object of lo e, but as the theme of the most abstruse although desultory s#eculation! And nowCnow ? shuddered in her #resence, and grew #ale at her a##roachK yet, bitterly lamenting her

fallen and desolate condition, ? called to mind that she had lo ed me long, and, in an e il moment, ? s#oke to her of marriage! And at length the #eriod of our nu#tials was a##roaching, when, u#on an afternoon in the winter of the yearCone of those unseasonably warm, calm, and misty days which are the nurse of the beautiful >alcyon ):/+,C? sat, )and sat, as ? thought, alone,+ in the inner a#artment of the library! But, u#lifting my eyes, ? saw that Berenice stood before me! Was it my own eHcited imaginationCor the misty influence of the atmos#hereCor the uncertain twilight of the chamberCor the gray dra#eries which fell around her figureCthat caused in it so acillating and indistinct an outlineN ? could not tell! ;he s#oke no wordK and ?Cnot for worlds could ? ha e uttered a syllable! An icy chill ran through my frameK a sense of insufferable anHiety o##ressed meK a consuming curiosity #er aded my soulK and sinking back u#on the chair, ? remained for some time breathless and motionless, with my eyes ri eted u#on her #erson! AlasO its emaciation was eHcessi e, and not one estige of the former being lurked in any single line of the contour! .y burning glances at length fell u#on the face! The forehead was high, and ery #ale, and singularly #lacidK and the once jetty hair fell #artially o er it, and o ershadowed the hollow tem#les with innumerable ringlets, now of a i id yellow, and jarring discordantly, in their fantastic character, with the reigning melancholy of the countenance! The eyes were lifeless, and lustreless, and seemingly #u#illess, and ? shrank in oluntarily from their glassy stare to the contem#lation of the thin and shrunken li#s! They #artedK and in a smile of #eculiar meaning, the teeth of the changed Berenice disclosed themsel es slowly to my iew! Would to God that ? had ne er beheld them, or that, ha ing done so, ? had diedO The shutting of a door disturbed me, and, looking u#, ? found that my cousin had de#arted from the chamber! But from the disordered chamber of my brain, had not, alasO de#arted, and would not be dri en away, the white and ghastly s#ectrum of the teeth! 8ot a s#eck on their surfaceCnot a shade on their enamelCnot an indenture in their edgesCbut what that #eriod of her smile had sufficed to brand in u#on my memory! ? saw them now e en more uneLui ocally than ? beheld them then! The teethOCthe teethOCthey were here, and there, and e erywhere, and isibly and #al#ably before meK long, narrow, and eHcessi ely white, with the #ale li#s writhing about them, as in the ery moment of their first terrible de elo#ment! Then came the full fury of my monomania, and ? struggled in ain against its strange and irresistible influence! ?n the multi#lied objects of the eHternal world ? had no thoughts but for the teeth! =or these ? longed with a #hrenGied desire! All other matters and all different interests became absorbed in their single contem#lation! TheyC they alone were #resent to the mental eye, and they, in their sole indi iduality, became the essence of my mental life! ? held them in e ery light! ? turned them in e ery attitude! ? sur eyed their characteristics! ? dwelt u#on their #eculiarities! ? #ondered u#on their conformation! ? mused u#on the alteration in their nature! ? shuddered as ? assigned to them in imagination a sensiti e and sentient #ower, and e en when unassisted by the li#s, a ca#ability of moral eH#ression! <f .ademoiselle ;alle it has been well said, MFue tous ses #as etaient des sentiments,M and of Berenice ? more seriously belie ed Lue toutes ses dents etaient des idees! -es ideesOCah here was the idiotic thought that destroyed meO

-es ideesOCah therefore it was that ? co eted them so madlyO ? felt that their #ossession could alone e er restore me to #eace, in gi ing me back to reason! And the e ening closed in u#on me thusCand then the darkness came, and tarried, and wentCand the day again dawnedCand the mists of a second night were now gathering aroundCand still ? sat motionless in that solitary roomCand still ? sat buried in meditationCand still the #hantasma of the teeth maintained its terrible ascendancy, as, with the most i id hideous distinctness, it floated about amid the changing lights and shadows of the chamber! At length there broke in u#on my dreams a cry as of horror and dismayK and thereunto, after a #ause, succeeded the sound of troubled oices, intermingled with many low moanings of sorrow or of #ain! ? arose from my seat, and throwing o#en one of the doors of the library, saw standing out in the ante$chamber a ser ant maiden, all in tears, who told me that Berenice wasCno moreO ;he had been seiGed with e#ile#sy in the early morning, and now, at the closing in of the night, the gra e was ready for its tenant, and all the #re#arations for the burial were com#leted! ? found myself sitting in the library, and again sitting there alone! ?t seemed that ? had newly awakened from a confused and eHciting dream! ? knew that it was now midnight, and ? was well aware, that since the setting of the sun, Berenice had been interred! But of that dreary #eriod which inter ened ? had no #ositi e, at least no definite com#rehension! "et its memory was re#lete with horrorChorror more horrible from being ague, and terror more terrible from ambiguity! ?t was a fearful #age in the record my eHistence, written all o er with dim, and hideous, and unintelligible recollections! ? stri ed to decy#her them, but in ainK while e er and anon, like the s#irit of a de#arted sound, the shrill and #iercing shriek of a female oice seemed to be ringing in my ears! ? had done a deedCwhat was itN ? asked myself the Luestion aloud, and the whis#ering echoes of the chamber answered me,CMwhat was itNM <n the table beside me burned a lam#, and near it lay a little boH! ?t was of no remarkable character, and ? had seen it freLuently before, for it was the #ro#erty of the family #hysicianK but how came it there, u#on my table, and why did ? shudder in regarding itN These things were in no manner to be accounted for, and my eyes at length dro##ed to the o#en #ages of a book, and to a sentence underscored therein! The words were the singular but sim#le ones of the #oet Ebn Daiat&CM-icebant mihi sodales si se#ulchrum amicae isitarem, curas meas aliLuantulum fore le atas!M Why then, as ? #erused them, did the hairs of my head erect themsel es on end, and the blood of my body become congealed within my einsN There came a light ta# at the library doorCand, #ale as the tenant of a tomb, a menial entered u#on ti#toe! >is looks were wild with terror, and he s#oke to me in a oice tremulous, husky, and ery low! What said heNC some broken sentences ? heard! >e told of a wild cry disturbing the silence of the nightCof the gathering together of the householdCof a search in the direction of the soundK and then his tones grew thrillingly distinct as he whis#ered me of a iolated gra eCof a disfigured body enshrouded, yet still breathingCstill #al#itatingCstill ali eO >e #ointed to garmentsKCthey were muddy and clotted with gore! ? s#oke not, and he took me gently by the hand& it was indented with the im#ress of human nails! >e directed my attention to some object against the wall!

? looked at it for some minutes& it was a s#ade! With a shriek ? bounded to the table, and gras#ed the boH that lay u#on it! But ? could not force it o#enK and in my tremor, it sli##ed from my hands, and fell hea ily, and burst into #iecesK and from it, with a rattling sound, there rolled out some instruments of dental surgery, intermingled with thirty$two small, white and i ory$looking substances that were scattered to and fro about the floor! >( anchor

E%E<8<,A ;ub conser atione formae s#ecificae sal a anima! ,aymond %ully! ? A. come of a race noted for igor of fancy and ardor of #assion! .en ha e called me madK but the Luestion is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligenceCwhether much that is gloriousC whether all that is #rofoundCdoes not s#ring from disease of thoughtCfrom moods of mind eHalted at the eH#ense of the general intellect! They who dream by day are cogniGant of many things which esca#e those who dream only by night! ?n their gray isions they obtain glim#ses of eternity, and thrill, in awakening, to find that they ha e been u#on the erge of the great secret! ?n snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of e il! They #enetrate, howe er, rudderless or com#assless into the ast ocean of the Mlight ineffable,M and again, like the ad entures of the 8ubian geogra#her, Magressi sunt mare tenebrarum, Luid in eo esset eH#loraturi!M We will say, then, that ? am mad! ? grant, at least, that there are two distinct conditions of my mental eHistenceCthe condition of a lucid reason, not to be dis#uted, and belonging to the memory of e ents forming the first e#och of my lifeCand a condition of shadow and doubt, a##ertaining to the #resent, and to the recollection of what constitutes the second great era of my being! Therefore, what ? shall tell of the earlier #eriod, belie eK and to what ? may relate of the later time, gi e only such credit as may seem due, or doubt it altogether, or, if doubt it ye cannot, then #lay unto its riddle the <edi#us! ;he whom ? lo ed in youth, and of whom ? now #en calmly and distinctly these remembrances, was the sole daughter of the only sister of my mother long de#arted! Eleonora was the name of my cousin! We had always dwelled together, beneath a tro#ical sun, in the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass! 8o unguided footste# e er came u#on that aleK for it lay away u# among a range of giant hills that hung beetling around about it, shutting out the sunlight from its sweetest recesses! 8o #ath was trodden in its icinityK and, to reach our ha##y home, there was need of #utting 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 li ed all alone, knowing nothing of the world without the alleyC?, and my cousin, and her mother! =rom the dim regions beyond the mountains at the u##er end of our encircled domain, there cre#t out a narrow and dee# ri er, brighter than all sa e the eyes of EleonoraK and, winding stealthily about in maGy courses, it #assed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued! We called it the M,i er of

;ilenceMK for there seemed to be a hushing influence in its flow! 8o murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the #early #ebbles u#on which we lo ed to gaGe, far down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old station, shining on gloriously fore er! The margin of the ri er, and of the many daGGling ri ulets that glided through de ious ways into its channel, as well as the s#aces that eHtended from the margins away down into the de#ths of the streams until they reached the bed of #ebbles at the bottom,Cthese s#ots, not less than the whole surface of the alley, from the ri er to the mountains that girdled it in, were car#eted all by a soft green grass, thick, short, #erfectly e en, and anilla$#erfumed, but so bes#rinkled throughout with the yellow buttercu#, the white daisy, the #ur#le iolet, and the ruby$ red as#hodel, that its eHceeding beauty s#oke to our hearts in loud tones, of the lo e and of the glory of God! And, here and there, in gro es about this grass, like wildernesses of dreams, s#rang u# fantastic trees, whose tall slender stems stood not u#right, but slanted gracefully toward the light that #eered at noon$day into the centre of the alley! Their mark was s#eckled with the i id alternate s#lendor of ebony and sil er, and was smoother than all sa e the cheeks of EleonoraK so that, but for the brilliant green of the huge lea es that s#read from their summits in long, tremulous lines, dallying with the De#hyrs, one might ha e fancied them giant ser#ents of ;yria doing homage to their so ereign the ;un! >and in hand about this alley, for fifteen years, roamed ? with Eleonora before %o e entered within our hearts! ?t was one e ening at the close of the third lustrum of her life, and of the fourth of my own, that we sat, locked in each other's embrace, beneath the ser#ent$like trees, and looked down within the water of the ,i er of ;ilence at our images therein! We s#oke no words during the rest of that sweet day, and our words e en u#on the morrow were tremulous and few! We had drawn the God Eros from that wa e, and now we felt that he had enkindled within us the fiery souls of our forefathers! The #assions which had for centuries distinguished our race, came thronging with the fancies for which they had been eLually noted, and together breathed a delirious bliss o er the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass! A change fell u#on all things! ;trange, brilliant flowers, star$sha#ed, burn out u#on the trees where no flowers had been known before! The tints of the green car#et dee#enedK and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there s#rang u# in #lace of them, ten by ten of the ruby$red as#hodel! And life arose in our #athsK for the tall flamingo, hitherto unseen, with all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet #lumage before us! The golden and sil er fish haunted the ri er, out of the bosom of which issued, little by little, a murmur that swelled, at length, into a lulling melody more di ine than that of the har# of Aeolus$sweeter than all sa e the oice of Eleonora! And now, too, a oluminous cloud, which we had long watched in the regions of >es#er, floated out thence, all gorgeous in crimson and gold, and settling in #eace abo e us, sank, day by day, lower and lower, until its edges rested u#on the to#s of the mountains, turning all their dimness into magnificence, and shutting us u#, as if fore er, within a magic #rison$house of grandeur and of glory! The lo eliness of Eleonora was that of the ;era#himK but she was a maiden artless and innocent as the brief life she had led among the flowers! 8o guile disguised the fer or of lo e which animated her heart, and she

eHamined with me its inmost recesses as we walked together in the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass, and discoursed of the mighty changes which had lately taken #lace therein! At length, ha ing s#oken one day, in tears, of the last sad change which must befall >umanity, she thenceforward dwelt only u#on this one sorrowful theme, interwea ing it into all our con erse, as, in the songs of the bard of ;chiraG, the same images are found occurring, again and again, in e ery im#ressi e ariation of #hrase! ;he had seen that the finger of -eath was u#on her bosomCthat, like the e#hemeron, she had been made #erfect in lo eliness only to dieK but the terrors of the gra e to her lay solely in a consideration which she re ealed to me, one e ening at twilight, by the banks of the ,i er of ;ilence! ;he grie ed to think that, ha ing entombed her in the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass, ? would Luit fore er its ha##y recesses, transferring the lo e which now was so #assionately her own to some maiden of the outer and e eryday world! And, then and there, ? threw myself hurriedly at the feet of Eleonora, and offered u# a ow, to herself and to >ea en, that ? would ne er bind myself in marriage to any daughter of EarthCthat ? would in no manner #ro e recreant to her dear memory, or to the memory of the de out affection with which she had blessed me! And ? called the .ighty ,uler of the 7ni erse to witness the #ious solemnity of my ow! And the curse which ? in oked of >im and of her, a saint in >elusion should ? #ro e traitorous to that #romise, in ol ed a #enalty the eHceeding great horror of which will not #ermit me to make record of it here! And the bright eyes of Eleonora grew brighter at my wordsK and she sighed as if a deadly burthen had been taken from her breastK and she trembled and ery bitterly we#tK but she made acce#tance of the ow, )for what was she but a childN+ and it made easy to her the bed of her death! And she said to me, not many days afterward, tranLuilly dying, that, because of what ? had done for the comfort of her s#irit she would watch o er me in that s#irit when de#arted, and, if so it were #ermitted her return to me isibly in the watches of the nightK but, if this thing were, indeed, beyond the #ower of the souls in Paradise, that she would, at least, gi e me freLuent indications of her #resence, sighing u#on me in the e ening winds, or filling the air which ? breathed with #erfume from the censers of the angels! And, with these words u#on her li#s, she yielded u# her innocent life, #utting an end to the first e#och of my own! Thus far ? ha e faithfully said! But as ? #ass the barrier in Time's #ath, formed by the death of my belo ed, and #roceed with the second era of my eHistence, ? feel that a shadow gathers o er my brain, and ? mistrust the #erfect sanity of the record! But let me on!C"ears dragged themsel es along hea ily, and still ? dwelled within the 'alley of the .any$Aolored GrassK but a second change had come u#on all things! The star$sha#ed flowers shrank into the stems of the trees, and a##eared no more! The tints of the green car#et fadedK and, one by one, the ruby$red as#hodels withered awayK and there s#rang u#, in #lace of them, ten by ten, dark, eye$like iolets, that writhed uneasily and were e er encumbered with dew! And %ife de#arted from our #athsK for the tall flamingo flaunted no longer his scarlet #lumage before us, but flew sadly from the ale into the hills, with all the gay glowing birds that had arri ed in his com#any! And the golden and sil er fish swam down through the gorge at the lower end of our domain and bedecked the sweet ri er ne er again! And the lulling melody that had been softer than the wind$

har# of Aeolus, and more di ine than all sa e the oice 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 oluminous cloud u#rose, and, abandoning the to#s of the mountains to the dimness of old, fell back into the regions of >es#er, and took away all its manifold golden and gorgeous glories from the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass! "et the #romises of Eleonora were not forgottenK for ? heard the sounds of the swinging of the censers of the angelsK and streams of a holy #erfume floated e er and e er about the alleyK and at lone hours, when my heart beat hea ily, the winds that bathed my brow came unto me laden with soft sighsK and indistinct murmurs filled often the night air, and onceCoh, but once onlyO ? was awakened from a slumber, like the slumber of death, by the #ressing of s#iritual li#s u#on my own! But the oid within my heart refused, e en thus, to be filled! ? longed for the lo e which had before filled it to o erflowing! At length the alley #ained me through its memories of Eleonora, and ? left it for e er for the anities and the turbulent trium#hs of the world! ? found myself within a strange city, where all things might ha e ser ed to blot from recollection the sweet dreams ? had dreamed so long in the 'alley of the .any$Aolored Grass! The #om#s and #ageantries of a stately court, and the mad clangor of arms, and the radiant lo eliness of women, bewildered and intoHicated my brain! But as yet my soul had #ro ed true to its ows, and the indications of the #resence of Eleonora were still gi en me in the silent hours of the night! ;uddenly these manifestations they ceased, and the world grew dark before mine eyes, and ? stood aghast at the burning thoughts which #ossessed, at the terrible tem#tations which beset meK for there came from some far, far distant and unknown land, into the gay court of the king ? ser ed, a maiden to whose beauty my whole recreant heart yielded at onceCat whose footstool ? bowed down without a struggle, in the most ardent, in the most abject worshi# of lo e! What, indeed, was my #assion for the young girl of the alley in com#arison with the fer or, and the delirium, and the s#irit$lifting ecstasy of adoration with which ? #oured out my whole soul in tears at the feet of the ethereal ErmengardeNC<h, bright was the sera#h ErmengardeO and in that knowledge ? had room for none other!C<h, di ine was the angel ErmengardeO and as ? looked down into the de#ths of her memorial eyes, ? thought only of themCand of her! ? weddedKCnor dreaded the curse ? had in okedK and its bitterness was not isited u#on me! And onceCbut once again in the silence of the nightK there came through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken meK and they modelled themsel es into familiar and sweet oice, saying& M;lee# in #eaceOCfor the ;#irit of %o e reigneth and ruleth, and, in taking to thy #assionate heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art absol ed, for reasons which shall be made known to thee in >ea en, of thy ows unto Eleonora!M >( anchor

8<TE; T< T>?; '<%7.E >( anchor

8otes C ;cheheraGade ):/+ The coralites! ):(+ M<ne of the most remarkable natural curiosities in TeHas is a #etrified forest, near the head of Pasigno ri er! ?t consists of se eral hundred trees, in an erect #osition, all turned to stone! ;ome trees, now growing, are #artly #etrified! This is a startling fact for natural #hiloso#hers, and must cause them to modify the eHisting theory of #etrification!CBennedy! This account, at first discredited, has since been corroborated by the disco ery of a com#letely #etrified forest, near the head waters of the Aheyenne, or Ahienne ri er, which has its source in the Black >ills of the rocky chain! There is scarcely, #erha#s, a s#ectacle on the surface of the globe more remarkable, either in a geological or #icturesLue #oint of iew than that #resented by the #etrified forest, near Aairo! The tra eller, ha ing #assed the tombs of the cali#hs, just beyond the gates of the city, #roceeds to the southward, nearly at right angles to the road across the desert to ;ueG, and after ha ing tra elled some ten miles u# a low barren alley, co ered with sand, gra el, and sea shells, fresh as if the tide had retired but yesterday, crosses a low range of sandhills, which has for some distance run #arallel to his #ath! The scene now #resented to him is beyond conce#tion singular and desolate! A mass of fragments of trees, all con erted into stone, and when struck by his horse's hoof ringing like cast iron, is seen to eHtend itself for miles and miles around him, in the form of a decayed and #rostrate forest! The wood is of a dark brown hue, but retains its form in #erfection, the #ieces 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 Egy#tian donkey can scarcely thread its way through amongst them, and so natural that, were it in ;cotland or ?reland, it might #ass without remark for some enormous drained bog, on which the eHhumed trees lay rotting in the sun! The roots and rudiments of the branches are, in many cases, nearly #erfect, and in some the worm$holes eaten under the bark are readily recogniGable! The most delicate of the sa# essels, and all the finer #ortions of the centre of the wood, are #erfectly entire, and bear to be eHamined with the strongest magnifiers! The whole are so thoroughly silicified as to scratch glass and are ca#able of recei ing the highest #olish!C Asiatic .agaGine! ):9+ The .ammoth Aa e of Bentucky! ):5+ ?n ?celand, /W29! ):*+ M-uring the eru#tion of >ecla, in /WVV, clouds of this kind #roduced such a degree of darkness that, at Glaumba, which is more than fifty leagues from the mountain, #eo#le could only find their way by gro#ing! -uring the eru#tion of 'esu ius, in /W05, at Aaserta, four leagues distant, #eo#le could only walk by the light of torches! <n the first of .ay, /2/(, a cloud of olcanic ashes and sand, coming from a olcano in the island of ;t! 'incent, co ered the whole of Barbadoes, s#reading o er it so intense a darkness that, at mid$day, in the o#en air, one could not #ercei e the trees or other objects near him, or e en a white handkerchief #laced at the distance of siH inches from the eye!MC.urray, #! (/*, Phil! edit!

):V+ ?n the year /W01, in the Aaraccas during an earthLuake a #ortion of the granite soil sank and left a lake eight hundred yards in diameter, and from eighty to a hundred feet dee#! ?t was a #art of the forest of Ari#ao which sank, and the trees remained green for se eral months under the water!MC.urray, #! ((/ ):W+ The hardest steel e er manufactured may, under the action of a blow#i#e, be reduced to an im#al#able #owder, which will float readily in the atmos#heric air! ):2+ The region of the 8iger! ;ee ;immona's Aolonial .agaGine! ):0+ The .yrmeleon$lion$ant! The term MmonsterM is eLually a##licable to small abnormal things and to great, while such e#ithets as M astM are merely com#arati e! The ca ern of the myrmeleon is ast in com#arison with the hole of the common red ant! A grain of sileH is also a Mrock!M ):/1+ The E#idendron, =los Aeris, of the family of the <rchideae, grows with merely the surface of its roots attached to a tree or other object, from which it deri es no nutrimentCsubsisting altogether u#on air! )://+ The Parasites, such as the wonderful ,afflesia Arnaldii! ):/(+ ;chouw ad ocates a class of #lants that grow u#on li ing animalsC the Plantae E#iGoae! <f this class are the =uci and Algae! .r! @! B! Williams, of ;alem, .ass!, #resented the M8ational ?nstituteM with an insect from 8ew Dealand, with the following descri#tion& M'The >otte, a decided cater#illar, or worm, is found gnawing at the root of the ,ota tree, with a #lant growing out of its head! This most #eculiar and eHtraordinary insect tra els u# both the ,ota and =erriri trees, and entering into the to#, eats its way, #erforating the trunk of the trees until it reaches the root, and dies, or remains dormant, and the #lant #ro#agates out of its headK the body remains #erfect and entire, of a harder substance than when ali e! =rom this insect the nati es make a coloring for tattooing! ):/9+ ?n mines and natural ca es we find a s#ecies of cry#togamous fungus that emits an intense #hos#horescence! ):/5+ The orchis, scabius and alisneria! ):/*+ The corolla of this flower )Aristolochia Alematitis+, which is tubular, but terminating u#wards in a ligulate limb, is inflated into a globular figure at the base! The tubular #art is internally beset with stiff hairs, #ointing downwards! The globular #art contains the #istil, which consists merely of a germen and stigma, together with the surrounding stamens! But the stamens, being shorter than the germen, cannot discharge the #ollen so as to throw it u#on the stigma, as the flower stands always u#right till after im#regnation! And hence, without some additional and #eculiar aid, the #ollen must necessarily fan down to the bottom of the flower! 8ow, the aid that nature has furnished in this case, is that of the Ti#uta Pennicornis, a small insect, which entering the tube of the corrolla in Luest of honey, descends to the bottom, and rummages about till it becomes Luite co ered with #ollenK but not being able to force its way out again, owing to the downward #osition of the hairs, which con erge to a #oint like the wires of a mouse$tra#, and being somewhat im#atient of its confinement it brushes backwards and forwards, trying e ery corner, till, after re#eatedly tra ersing the stigma, it co ers it with #ollen sufficient for its im#regnation, in conseLuence of which the flower soon begins to droo#, and the hairs to shrink to the sides of the tube, effecting an easy #assage for the esca#e of the insect!MC,e ! P! Beith$;ystem of Physiological Botany!

):/V+ The beesCe er since bees wereCha e been constructing their cells with just such sides, in just such number, and at just such inclinations, as it has been demonstrated )in a #roblem in ol ing the #rofoundest mathematical #rinci#les+ are the ery sides, in the ery number, and at the ery angles, which will afford the creatures the most room that is com#atible with the greatest stability of structure! -uring the latter #art of the last century, the Luestion arose among mathematiciansCMto determine the best form that can be gi en to the sails of a windmill, according to their arying distances from the re ol ing anes, and likewise from the centres of the re oloution!M This is an eHcessi ely com#leH #roblem, for it is, in other words, to find the best #ossible #osition at an infinity of aried distances and at an infinity of #oints on the arm! There were a thousand futile attem#ts to answer the Luery on the #art of the most illustrious mathematicians, and when at length, an undeniable solution was disco ered, men found that the wings of a bird had gi en it with absolute #recision e er since the first bird had tra ersed the air! ):/W+ >e obser ed a flock of #igeons #assing betwiHt =rankfort and the ?ndian territory, one mile at least in breadthK it took u# four hours in #assing, which, at the rate of one mile #er minute, gi es a length of (51 milesK and, su##osing three #igeons to each sLuare yard, gi es (,(91,(W(,111 Pigeons!CMTra els in Aanada and the 7nited ;tates,M by %ieut! =! >all! ):/2+ The earth is u#held by a cow of a blue color, ha ing horns four hundred in number!MC;ale's Boran! ):/0+ MThe EntoGoa, or intestinal worms, ha e re#eatedly been obser ed in the muscles, and in the cerebral substance of men!MC;ee Wyatt's Physiology, #! /59! ):(1+ <n the Great Western ,ailway, between %ondon and EHeter, a s#eed of W/ miles #er hour has been attained! A train weighing 01 tons was whirled from Paddington to -idcot )*9 miles+ in */ minutes! ):(/+ The Eccalobeion ):((+ .aelGel's Automaton Ahess$#layer! ):(9+ Babbage's Aalculating .achine! ):(5+ Ahabert, and since him, a hundred others! ):(*+ The Electroty#e! ):(V+ Wollaston made of #latinum for the field of iews in a telesco#e a wire one eighteen$thousandth #art of an inch in thickness! ?t could be seen only by means of the microsco#e! ):(W+ 8ewton demonstrated that the retina beneath the influence of the iolet ray of the s#ectrum, ibrated 011,111,111 of times in a second! ):(2+ 'oltaic #ile! ):(0+ The Electro Telegra#h Printing A##aratus! ):91+ The Electro telegra#h transmits intelligence instantaneously$ at least at so far as regards any distance u#on the earth! ):9/+ Aommon eH#eriments in 8atural Philoso#hy! ?f two red rays from two luminous #oints be admitted into a dark chamber so as to fall on a white surface, and differ in their length by 1!1111(*2 of an inch, their intensity is doubled! ;o also if the difference in length be any whole$ number multi#le of that fraction! A multi#le by ( /[5, 9 /[5, Yc!, gi es an intensity eLual to one ray onlyK but a multi#le by ( /[(, 9 /[(, Yc!, gi es the result of total darkness! ?n iolet rays similar effects arise when the difference in length is 1!111/*W of an inchK and with all other

rays the results are the sameCthe difference arying with a uniform increase from the iolet to the red! MAnalogous eH#eriments in res#ect to sound #roduce analogous results!M ):9(+ Place a #latina crucible o er a s#irit lam#, and kee# it a red heatK #our in some sul#huric acid, which, though the most olatile of bodies at a common tem#erature, will be found to become com#letely fiHed in a hot crucible, and not a dro# e a#oratesCbeing surrounded by an atmos#here of its own, it does not, in fact, touch the sides! A few dro#s of water are now introduced, when the acid, immediately coming in contact with the heated sides of the crucible, flies off in sul#hurous acid a#or, and so ra#id is its #rogress, that the caloric of the water #asses off with it, which falls a lum# of ice to the bottomK by taking ad antage of the moment before it is allowed to remelt, it may be turned out a lum# of ice from a red$hot essel! ):99+ The -aguerreoty#e! ):95+ Although light tra els /VW,111 miles in a second, the distance of V/ Aygni )the only star whose distance is ascertained+ is so inconcei ably great, that its rays would reLuire more than ten years to reach the earth! =or stars beyond this, (1Cor e en /111 yearsCwould be a moderate estimate! Thus, if they had been annihilated (1, or /111 years ago, we might still see them to$day by the light which started from their surfaces (1 or /111 years in the #ast time! That many which we see daily are really eHtinct, is not im#ossibleCnot e en im#robable! >( anchor

8otesC.aelstrom ):/+ ;ee Archimedes, M-e ?ncidentibus in =luido!MClib! (! >( anchor

8otesC?sland of the =ay ):/+ .orauH is here deri ed from moeurs, and its meaning is MfashionableM or more strictly Mof manners!M ):(+ ;#eaking of the tides, Pom#onius .ela, in his treatise M-e ;itu <rbis,M says Meither the world is a great animal, orM etc ):9+ BalGacCin substanceC? do not remember the words ):5+ =lorem #utares nare #er liLuidum aethera!CP! Aommire! >( anchor

8otes C -omain of Arnheim ):/+ An incident, similar in outline to the one here imagined, occurred, not ery long ago, in England! The name of the fortunate heir was Thelluson! ? first saw an account of this matter in the MTourM of Prince Puckler .uskau, who makes the sum inherited ninety millions of #ounds, and justly obser es that Min the contem#lation of so ast a sum, and of the ser ices to which it might be a##lied, there is something e en of the

sublime!M To suit the iews of this article ? ha e followed the Prince's statement, although a grossly eHaggerated one! The germ, and in fact, the commencement of the #resent #a#er was #ublished many years agoC#re ious to the issue of the first number of ;ue's admirable @uif Errant, which may #ossibly ha e been suggested to him by .uskau's account! >( anchor

8otesCBerenice ):/+ =or as @o e, during the winter season, gi es twice se en days of warmth, men ha e called this element and tem#erate time the nurse of the beautiful >alcyonC;imonides End of Project Gutenberg's The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe::: E8- <= T>?; P,<@EAT G7TE8BE,G EB<<B T>E W<,B; <= E-GA, A%%A8 P<E :::::::: This file should be named (/52$h!htm or (/52$h!Gi# :::::This and all associated files of arious formats will be found in& htt#&[[www!gutenberg!org[([/[5[(/52[Produced by -a id Widger7#dated editions will re#lace the #re ious one$$the old editionswill be renamed!Areating the works from #ublic domain #rint editions means that noone owns a 7nited ;tates co#yright in these works, so the =oundation)and youO+ can co#y and distribute it in the 7nited ;tates without#ermission and without #aying co#yright royalties! ;#ecial rules,set forth in the General Terms of 7se #art of this license, a##ly toco#ying and distributing Project Gutenberg$tm electronic works to#rotect the P,<@EAT G7TE8BE,G$tm conce#t and trademark! ProjectGutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if youcharge for the eBooks, unless you recei e s#ecific #ermission! ?f youdo not charge anything for co#ies of this eBook, com#lying with therules is ery easy! "ou may use this eBook for nearly any #ur#osesuch as creation of deri ati e works, re#orts, #erformances andresearch! They may be modified and #rinted and gi en away$$you may do#ractically A8"T>?8G with #ublic domain eBooks! ,edistribution issubject to the trademark license, es#ecially commercialredistribution!::: ;TA,T& =7%% %?AE8;E :::T>E =7%% P,<@EAT G7TE8BE,G %?AE8;EP%EA;E ,EA- T>?; BE=<,E "<7 -?;T,?B7TE <, 7;E T>?; W<,BTo #rotect the Project Gutenberg$tm mission of #romoting the freedistribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work)or any other work associated in any way with the #hrase MProjectGutenbergM+, you agree to com#ly with all the terms of the =ull ProjectGutenberg$tm %icense )a ailable with this file or online athtt#&[[gutenberg!org[license+!;ection /! General Terms of 7se and ,edistributing Project Gutenberg$tmelectronic works/!A! By reading or using any #art of this Project Gutenberg$tmelectronic work, you indicate that you ha e read, understand, agree toand acce#t all the terms of this license and intellectual #ro#erty)trademark[co#yright+ agreement! ?f you do not agree to abide by allthe terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroyall co#ies of Project Gutenberg$tm electronic works in your #ossession!?f you #aid a fee for obtaining a co#y of or access to a ProjectGutenberg$tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by theterms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the #erson orentity to whom you #aid the fee as set forth in #aragra#h

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