I 1 »l H H ■ ; i \ ■ 1 ■ r*',' ■ Book JlB TALES OF THE DEAD. Printed by S. Hamilton^^eybridge TALES OF THE DEAD. PRINCIPALLY TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. " Graves, at my command, Have waked their sleepers ; oped, and let them forth By my so potent art." Shakspeare. LONDON : HUNTED FOR WHITE, COCHRANE, AND CO., FLEET-STK BET 1813. 4 v ADVERTISEMENT. Although the passion for books of amusement founded on the marvellous relative to ghosts and spi- rits may be considered as having very much sub- sided ; yet I cannot but think that the tales which form the bulk of this little volume, may still afford gratification in the perusal. From the period when the late Lord Orford first published The Castle of Otranto, till the production of Mrs. Ratcliffe's ro- mances, the appetite for the species of reading in question gradually increased ; and perhaps it would not have been now surfeited, but for the multitude of contemptible imitations which the popularity of the latter writer called forth, and which continu- ally issued from the press, until the want of read- ers at length checked the inundation. The Northern nations have generally discovered more of imagination in this description of writing than their neighbours in the South or West ; and in proportion as they have been more the victims of credulity with respect to spirits, they have indulged in the wanderings of fancy on subjects of this kind, and have eagerly employed their invention in form- ing narrations founded on the supposed communi- cation between the spiritual world and mankind. The productions of Schiller, and others of the mo- dern German literati, of this nature, are well known in England. 11 ADVERTISEMENT. The first four tales in this collection, and the last, are imitated from a small French work, which professes to be translated from the German*. It contains several other stories of a similar cast; but which did not appear equally interesting, and they have therefore been omitted. The last tale has been considerably curtailed, as it contained much matter relative to the loves of the hero and heroine, which in a compilation of this kind appeared rather misplaced. The fifth tale, (or rather fragment,) is founded on an incident similar in its features, which was some years since communicated to me, by a female friend of very deserved literary celebrity, as having actually occurred in this country ; and I have therefore no other claim in respect to it, than that of having a little amplified the detail. The termination is abrupt, and necessarily so, as I must candidly confess a want of imagination to fulfil the expectations which may have been excited by the early part of the tale. The translation was the amusement of an idle hour ; and if it afford an equal portion of gratifica- tion to the reader, the time has not been altoge- ther misemployed. * Fantasmagoriana ; ou Recueil d'Histoires d' Appari- tions, de Spectres, Revenans, Fant6mes, &c. Traduitde 1'Allemand, par un Amateur. Paris, 1812. 2 torn. l2mo. PREFACE OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATOR. It is generally believed that at this time of day no one puts any faith in ghosts and apparitions. Yet, on reflection, this opinion does not appear to me quite correct: for, without alluding to workmen in mines, and the inhabitants of mountainous countries, — the former of whom believe in spectres and hob- goblins presiding over concealed treasures, and the latter in apparitions and phantoms announcing either agreeable or unfortunate tidings, — may we not ask why amongst ourselves there are certain in- dividuals who have a dread of passing through a church-yard after night-fall ? Why others experi- ence an involuntary shuddering at entering a church, or any other large uninhabited edifice, in the dark ? And, in fine, why persons who are deservedly consi- dered as possessing courage and good sense, dare not visit at night even places where they are certain of meeting with nothing they need dread from living beings ? They are ever repeating, that the living are only to be dreaded ; and yet fear night, because they believe, by tradition, that it is the time which a2 IV PREFACE phantoms choose for appearing to the inhabitants of the earth. Admitting, therefore, as an undoubted fact, that, with few exceptions, ghosts are no longer believed in, and that the species of fear we have just men- tioned arises from a natural horror of darkness inci- dent to man, — a horror which he cannot account for rationally, — yet it is well known that he listens with much pleasure to stories of ghosts, spectres, and phantoms. The wonderful ever excites a degree of interest, and gains an attentive ear ; consequently, all recitals relative to supernatural appearances please us. It was probably from this cause that the study of the sciences which was in former times in- termixed with the marvellous, is now reduced to the simple observation of facts. This wise revolution will undoubtedly assist the progress of truth ; but it has displeased many men of genius, who maintain that by so doing, the sciences are robbed of their greatest attractions, and that the new mode will tend to weary the mind and disenchant study; and they neg- lect no means in their power to give back to the su- pernatural, that empire of which it has been recently deprived : They loudly applaud their efforts, though they cannot pride themselves on their success: for in physic and natural history prodigies are entirely exploded. But if in these classes of writing, the marvellous OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATOR. V and supernatural would be improper, at least they cannot be considered as misplaced in the work we arc now about to publish : and they cannot have any dangerous tendency on the mind ; for the title-page announces extraordinary relations, to which more or less faith may be attached, according to the credu- lity of the person who reads them. Besides which, it is proper that some repertory should exist, in which we may discover the traces of those superstitions to which mankind have so long been subject. We now laugh at, and turn them into ridicule : and yet it is not clear to me, that recitals respecting phantoms have ceased to amuse; or that, so long as human nature exists, there will be wanting those who will attach faith to histories of ghosts and spectres. I might in this preface have entered into a learned and methodical disquisition respecting apparitions ; but should only have repeated what Dom Calmet* and the Abbe Lenglet-Dufresnoyf have already said * Dissertation sur les Apparitions; par Dom Augustin Calmet: Jrae edition. Paris, 1751, 2 torn. 12mo. tTraite Historique et Dograatique sur les Apparitions, les Vi- sions, et les Revelations partieuliers ; avec des Remarques sur la Dissertation du R. P. Dom Calmet : par l'Abbe Lenglet-Du- fresnoy. Avignon ou Paris, 1751. 2 torn. l2mo. Recueil de Dissertations, Anciennes et Nouvelles, sur les Ap- paritions, les Visions, et les Songesjavec une Preface historique; par l'Abbe L. Dufresnoy. Avignon ou Paris, 1751. 4 torn. 12mo. « PREFACE on the subject, and which they have so thoroughly exhausted, that it would be almost impossible to ad- vance any thing new. Persons curious to learn every thing relative to apparitions, will be amply recom- pensed by consulting the two writers above mentioned. They give to the full as strange recitals as any which are to be found in this work. Although the Abbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy says there really are apparitions; yet he does not appear to believe in them himself: butDom Cal met finishes (as Voltaire observes) as if hebelieved what he wrote,and especially with respect to the extraordinary histories of Vampires. And we may add, for the benefit of those anxious to make deeper search into the subject in question, that the Abbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy has given a list of the prin- cipal authors who have written on spirits, demons, apparitions, dreams, magic, and spectres. Since this laborious writer has published this list, Swedenborg and St. Martin have rendered them- selves notorious by their Works ; and there have also appeared in Germany treatises on this question of the appearance of spirits. The two authors who have the most largely entered into the detail are Wagener and Jung. The first, whose book is entitled The Spectres*, endeavours to explain apparitions by at- * Die Gespenster Kurze Erzsshlungen aus dem Reiche rier Walirheit. BerJin, 1797, et suiv. in 8vo. X 0F THE FRENCH TRANSLATOR. VU tributing them to natural causes. But the second, on the contrary, firmly believes in spirits ; and his Theory on Phantasmatology* furnishes us with an undoubted proof of this assertion. This work, the fruit of an ardent and exalted imagination, is in some degree a manual to the doctrines of the modern Seers, known in Germany under the denomination of Stillingianer. They take their name from Stilling, under which head Jung has written memoirs of his life, which forms a series of different works. This sect, which is actually in existence, is grafted on the Swedenborgians and Martinisme, and has a great number of adherents, especially in Switzerland. We also see in the number of the [English) Monthly Review for December 1811, that Mrs. Grant has given a pretty circumstantial detail of the appari- tions and spirits to which the Scottish mountaineers attach implicit faith. In making choice of the stories for my translations from the German, which I now offer to the public, I have neglected nothing to merit the approbation of those who take pleasure in this species of reading : and if this selection has the good fortune to meet with any success, it shall be followed by another ; in which I shall equally endeavour to excite the curio- sity of the lovers of romance ; while to those who are * Theorie der Geister-Kunde. Nuremberg, 1808, in 8vo.— This work has been censured by several Protestant consistories. Vlll PREFACE OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATOR. difficult to please, and to whom it seems strange that any one should attach the slightest degree of faith to such relations, I merely say, — Remember the words of Voltaire at the beginning of the article he wrote on " Apparition" in his Philosophical Dictionary: " It is no uncommon thing for a person of lively feel- ings to fancy he sees what never really existed." TALES OF THE DEAD. TALES OF THE DEAD. I. THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. No longer shall you gaze on't ; lest your fancy May think anon, it moves. — The fixure of her eye has motion in't." Winter's Tale. J\ ight had insensibly superseded day, when Fer- dinand's carriage continued its slow course through the forest; the postilion uttering a thousand com- plaints on the badness of the roads, and Ferdinand employing the leisure which the tedious progress of his carriage allowed, with reflections to which the purpose of his journey gave rise. As was usual with young men of rank, he had visited several universities; and after having tra- velled over the principal parts of Europe, he was now returning to his native country to take posses- sion of the property of his father, who had died in his absence. Ferdinand was an only son, and the last branch of the ancient family of Meltheim : it was on this account that his mother was the more anxious that b 2 4 TALES OF THE DEAD. he should form a brilliant alliance, to which both his birth and fortune entitled him; she frequently re- peated that Clotilde of Hainthal was of all others the person she should be most rejoiced to have as a daughter-in-law, and who should give to the world an heir to the name and estates of Mel- theim. In the first instance, she merely named her amongst other distinguished females whom she recommended to her son's attention : but after a short period she spoke of none but her: and at length declared, rather positively, that all her happiness depended on the completion of this alliance, and hoped her son would approve her choice. Ferdinand, however, never thought of this union but with regret; and the urgent remonstrances which his mother ceased not to make on the sub- iect, only contributed to render Clotilde, who was an entire stranger to him, less amiable in his eyes : he determined at last to take a journey to the ca- pital, whither Mr. Hainthal and his daughter were attracted by the carnival. He wished at least to know the lady, ere he consented to listen to his mother's entreaties ; and secretly flattered himself that he should find some more cogent reasons for opposing this union than mere caprice, which was the appellation the old lady gave to his repugnance. THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. b Whilst travelling alone in his carriage, as night approached, the solitary forest, his imagination drew a picture of his early life, which happy re- collections rendered still happier. It seemed, that the future presented no charms for him to equal the past ; and the greater pleasure he took in re- tracing what no longer existed, the less wish he felt to bestow a thought on that futurity to which, contrary to his inclinations, he seemed destined. Thus, notwithstanding the slowness with which his carriage proceeded over the rugged ground, he found that he was too rapidly approaching the termination of his journey. The postilion at length began to console him- self; for one half of the journey was accomplished, and the remainder presented only good roads : Fer- dinand, however, gave orders to his groom to stop at the approaching village, determining to pass the night there. The road through the village which led to the inn was bordered by gardens, and the sound of different musical instruments led Ferdinand to suppose that the villagers were celebrating some rural fete. He already anticipated the pleasure of joining them, and hoped that this recreation would dissipate his melancholy thoughts. But on listening more attentively, he remarked that the music did not resemble that usually heard at inns ; O TALES OF THE DEAD. and the great light he perceived at the window of a pretty house from whence came the sounds that had arrested his attention, did not permit him to doubt that a more select party than are accus- tomed to reside in the country at that unfavourable season, were amusing themselves in performing a concert, The carriage now stopped at the door of a small inn of mean appearance. Ferdinand, who counted on much inconvenience and few comforts, asked who was the lord of the village. They in- formed him that he occupied a chateau situated in an adjoining hamlet. Our traveller said no more, but was obliged to content himself with the best apartment the landlord could give him. To divert his thoughts, he determined to walk in the village, and directed his steps towards the spot where he had heard the music ; to this the harmonious sounds readily guided him : he approached softly, and found himself close to the house where the concert was performing. A young girl, sitting at the door, was playing with a little dog, who began to bark. Ferdinand, drawn from his reverie by this singular accompaniment, begged the little girl to inform him who lived in that house. " It is my father," she replied, smiling ; " come in, sir." And saying this, she slowly went up the steps. Ferdinand hesitated for an instant whether to THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 7 accept this unceremonious invitation. But the master of the house came down, saying to him in a friendly tone : " Our music, sir, has probably been the only attraction to this spot ; no matter, it is the pastor's abode, and to it you are heartily welcome. My neighbours and I," continued he, whilst leading Ferdinand in, " meet alternately at each other's houses once a week, to form a little concert ; and to-day it is my turn. Will you take a part in the performance, or only listen to it? Sit down in this apartment. Are you ac- customed to hear better music than that performed simply by amateurs? or do you prefer an assemblage where they pass their time in conversation ? If you like the latter, go into the adjoining room, where you will find my wife surrounded by a young cir- cle : here is our musical party, there is their conver- sazioni." Saying this, he opened the door, made a gentle inclination of the head to Ferdinand, and seated himself before his desk. Our traveller would fain have made apologies ; but the per- formers in an instant resumed the piece he had interrupted. At the same time the pastor's wife, a young and pretty woman, entreated Ferdinand, in the most gracious manner possible, entirely to follow his own inclinations, whether they led him to remain with the musicians, or to join the circle assembled in the other apartment. Ferdinand, 8 TALES OF THE DEAD. after uttering some common-place terms of polite- ness, followed her into the adjoining room. The chairs formed a semicircle round the sofa, and were occupied by several women and by some men. They all rose on Ferdinand's entering, and appeared a little disconcerted at the interruption. In the middle of the circle was a low chair, on which sat, with her back to the door, a young and sprightly female, who, seeing every one rise, changed her position, and at sight of a stranger blushed and appeared embarrassed. Ferdinand entreated the company not to interrupt the con- versation. They accordingly reseated themselves, and the mistress of the house invited the new guest to take a seat on the sofa by two elderly ladies, and drew her chair near him. " The music/' she said to him, " drew you amongst us, and yet in this apartment we have none ; I hear it nevertheless with pleasure myself: but I cannot participate in my husband's enthusiasm for simple quartetts and symphonies ; several of my friends are of the same way of thinking with me, which is the reason that, while our husbands are occupied with their favour- ite science, we here enjoy social converse, which sometimes, however, becomes too loud for our virtuoso neighbours. To-day, I give a long-pro- mised tea-drinking. Every one is to relate a story of ghosts, or something of a similar nature. You THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. Q see that my auditors are more numerous than the band of musicians." " Permit me, madam," replied Ferdinand, " to add to the number of your auditors ; although I have not much talent in explaining the marvellous." " That will not be .any hinderance to you here," answered a very pretty brunette ; " for it is agreed amongst us that no one shall search for any expla- nation, even though it bears the stamp of truth, as explanations would take away all pleasure from ghost stories." " I shall benefit by your instructions," answered Ferdinand : " but without doubt I interrupt a very interesting recital ; — dare I entreat — ?" The young lady with flaxen hair, who rose from the little seat, blushed anew; but the mistress of the house drew her by the arm, and laughing, con- ducted her to the middle of the circle. " Come, child," said she, " don't make any grimace ; reseat yourself, and relate your story. This gentleman will also give us his." " Do you promise to give us one, sir ?" said the young lady to Ferdinand. He replied by a low T bow. She then reseated herself in the place des- tined for the narrator, and thus began : " One of my youthful friends, named Juliana, passed every summer with her family at her father's estate. The chateau was situated in a romantic 10 TALES OF THE DEAD. country; high mountains formed a circle in the di- stance ; forests of oaks and fine groves surrounded it. It was an ancient edifice, and had descended through a long line of ancestry to Juliana's father ; for which reason, instead of making any alterations, he was only anxious to preserve it in the same state they had left it to him. " Among the number of antiquities most prized by him was the family picture gallery ; a vaulted room, dark, high, and of gothic architecture, where hung the portraits of his forefathers, as large as the natural size, covering the walls, which were black- ened by age. Conformable to an immemorial custom, they ate in this room: and Juliana has often told me, that she could not overcome, espe- cially at supper-time, a degree of fear and repug- nance ; and that she had frequently feigned indis- position, to avoid entering this formidable apart- ment. Among the portraits there was one of a female, who, it would seem, did not belong to the family; for Juliana's father could neither tell whom it represented, nor how it had become ranged amongst his ancestry : but as to all appearance it had retained its station for ages, my friend's father was unwilling to remove it. " Juliana never looked at this portrait without an involuntary shuddering: and she has told me, that from her earliest infancy she has felt this THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 11 secret terror, without being able to define the cause. Her father treated this sentiment as pue- rile, and compelled her sometimes to remain alone in that room. But as Juliana grew up, the terror this singular portrait occasioned, increased ; and she frequently supplicated her father, with tears in her eyes, not to leave her alone in that apartment — ' That portrait/ she would say, ' regards me not gloomily or terribly, but with looks full of a mild melancholy. It appears anxious to draw me to it, and as if the lips were about to open and speak to me. — That picture will certainly cause my death.' " Juliana's father at length relinquished all hope of conquering his daughter's fears. One night at supper, the terror she felt had thrown her into convulsions, for she fancied she saw the picture move its lips ; and the physician enjoined her father in future to remove from her view all similar causes of fear. In consequence, the terrifying portrait was removed from the gallery, and it was placed over the door of an uninhabited room in the attic story. " Juliana, after this removal, passed two years without experiencing any alarms. Her com- plexion resumed its brilliancy, which surprised every one ; for her continual fears had rendered her pale and wan : but the portrait and the fears it produced had alike disappeared, and Juliana — '* 12 TALES OF THE DEAI>. " Well," cried the mistress of the house, smiling, when she perceived that the narrator appeared to hesitate, " confess it, my dear child ; Juliana found an admirer of her beauty ; — was it not so ? " " 'Tis even so," resumed the young lady, blush- ing deeply; "she was affianced : and her intended husband coming to see her the day previous to bat fixed on for her marriage, she conducted him over the chateau, and from the attic rooms was shewing him the beautiful prospect which ex- tended to the distant mountains. On a sudden she found herself, without being aware of it, in the room where the unfortunate portrait was placed. And it was natural that a stranger, sur- prised at seeing it there alone, should ask who it represented. To look at it, recognise it, utter a piercing shriek, and run towards the door, were but the work of an instant with poor Juliana. But whether in effect owing to the violence with which she opened the door the picture was shaken, or whether the moment was arrived in which its baneful influence was to be exercised over Juliana, I know not ; but at the moment this unfortunate girl was striving to get out of the room and avoid her destiny, the portrait fell ; and Juliana, thrown down by her fears, and overpowered by the heavy weight of the picture, never rose more." A long silence followed this recital, which was THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 13 only interrupted by the exclamations of surprise and interest excited for the unfortunate Juliana. Ferdinand alone appeared untouched by the general emotions. At length, one of the ladies sitting near him broke the silence by saying, " This story is literally true; I knew the family where the fatal portrait caused the death of a charming young girl : I have also seen the picture ; it has, as the young lady truly observed, an indescribable air of good- ness which penetrates the heart, so that I could not bear to look on it long ; and yet, as you say, its look is so full of tender melancholy, and has such infinite attractions, that it appears that the eyes move and have life." " In general," resumed the mistress of the house, at the same time shuddering, " I don't like portraits, and I would not have any in the rooms I occupy. They say that they become pale when the original expires ; and the more faithful the likeness, the more they remind me of those waxen figures I cannot look at without aversion." " That is the reason," replied the young person who had related the history, "that 1 prefer those portraits where the individual is represented occu- pied in some employment, as then the figure is entirely independent of those who look at it ; where- as in a simple portrait the eyes are inanimately fixed on every thing that passes. Such portraits 14 TALES OF THE DEAD. appear to me as contrary to the laws of illusion as painted statues." " I participate in your opinion," replied Fer- dinand ; " for the remembrance of a terrible im- pression produced on my mind when young, by a portrait of that sort, will never be effaced." " O ! pray relate it to us," said the young lady with flaxen hair, who had not as yet quitted the low chair ; " you are obliged according to promise to take my place." She instantly arose, and jokingly forced Ferdinand to change seats with her. " This history," said he, " will resemble a little too much the one you have just related; permit me therefore " " That does not signify," resumed the mistress of the house, "one is never weary with recitals of this kind; and the greater repugnance I feel in looking at these horrible portraits, the greater is the pleasure I take in listening to histories of their eyes or feet being seen to move." " But seriously," replied Ferdinand, who would fain have retracted his promise, " my history is too horrible for so fine an evening. I confess to you that I cannot think of it without shuddering, al- though several years have elapsed since it hap- pened." " So much the better, so much the better ! " cried nearly all present ; " how you excite our THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 15 curiosity! and its having happened to yourself will afford double pleasure, as we cannot entertain any doubt of the fact." " It did not happen personally to me," answered Ferdinand, who reflected that he had gone too far, " but to one of my friends, on whose word I have as firm a reliance as if I had been myself a witness to it." They reiterated their entreaties ; and Ferdinand began in these words : — " One day, when I was arguing with the friend of whom I am about to make mention, on apparitions and omens, he told me the following story : — *' I had been invited,' said he, ' by one of my college companions, to pass my vacations with him at an estate of his father's. The spring was that year unusually late, owing to a long and severe winter, and appeared in consequence more gay and agreeable, which gave additional charms to our projected pleasures. We arrived at his father's in the pleasant mouth of April, animated by all the gaiety the season inspired. " As my companion and I were accustomed to live together at the university, he had recommended to his family, in his letters, so to arrange matters that we might live together at his father's also : we in consequence occupied two adjoining rooms, from whence we enjoyed a view of the garden and 16 TALES OF THE DEAD. a fine country, bounded in the distance by forests and vineyards. In a few days I found myself so completely at home in the house, and so famili- arised with its inhabitants, that nobody, whether of the family or among the domesticks, made any dif- ference between my friend and myself. His younger brothers, who were absent from me in the day, often passed the night in my room, or in that of their elder brother. Their sister, a charming girl about twelve years of age, lovely and blooming as a newly blown rose, gave me the appellation of brother, and fancied that under this title she was privileged to shew me all her favourite haunts in the garden, to gratify my wishes at table, and to furnish my apartment with all that was requisite. Her cares and attention will never be effaced from my recollection ; they will long outlive the scenes of horror that chateau never ceases to recall to my recollection. From the first of my arrival, I had remarked a huge portrait affixed to the wall of an antechamber through which I was obliged to pass to go to my room ; but, too much occupied by the new objects which on all sides attracted my attention, I had not particularly examined it. Meanwhile I could not avoid observing that, though the two younger brothers of my friend were so much attached to me, that they would never permit me to go at night into my room THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 17 Without them, yet they always evinced an unac- countable dread in crossing the hall where this picture hung. They clung to me, and embraced me that I might take them in my arms; and whichever I was compelled to take by the hand, invariably covered his face, in order that he might not see the least trace of the portrait* " Being aware that the generality of children are afraid of colossal figures, or even of those of a natural height, I endeavoured to give my two young friends courage. However, on more atten- tively considering the portrait which caused them so much dread, I could not avoid feeling a degree of fear myself. The picture represented a knight in the costume of a very remote period ; a full grey mantle descended from his shoulders to his knees; one of his feet placed in the foreground, appeared as if it was starting from the canvass ; his counte- nance had an expression which petrified me with fear. I had never before seen any thing at all like it in nature. It was a frightful mixture of the stillness of death, with the remains of a violent and baneful passion, which not even death itself was able to overcome. One would have thought the artist had copied the terrible features of one risen from the grave, in order to paint this terrific portrait. I was seized with a terror little less than the children, whenever I wished to con- c 18 TALES OF THE DEAD. template this picture. Its aspect was disagreeable to my friend, but did not cause him any terror : his sister was the only one who could look at this hideous figure with a smiling countenance ; and Said to me with a compassionate air, when I dis- covered my aversion to it, ' That man is not wicked, but he is certainly very unhappy.' My friend told me that the picture represented the founder of his race, and that his father attached uncommon value to it ; it had, in all probability, hung there from time immemorial, and it would not be possible to remove it from this chamber without destroying the regularity of its appearance. " Meanwhile, the term of our vacation was speedily drawing to its close, and time insensibly wore away in the pleasures of the country. The old count, who remarked our reluctance to quit him, his amiable family, his chateau, and the fine country that surrounded it, applied himself with kind and unremitting care, to make the day preceding our departure a continual succession of rustic diversions : each succeeded the other without the slightest appearance of art; they seemed of necessity to follow each other. The delight that illumined the eyes of my friend's sister when she perceived her father's satisfaction; the joy that was painted in Emily's countenance (which was the name of this charming girl) when she surprised THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 19 evea her father by her arrangements, which out- stripped his projects, led me to discover the entire confidence that existed between the father and daughter, and the active part Emily had taken in directing the order which reigned in that day's festivities. " Night arrived ; the company in the gardens dispersed ; but my amiable companions never quitted my side. The two young boys skipped gaily before us, chasing the may-bug, and shaking the shrubs to make them come out. The dew arose, and aided by the light of the moon formed silver spangles on the flowers and grass. Emily hung on my arm ; and an affectionate sister conducted me, as if to take leave, to all the groves and places I had been accustomed to visit with her, or with the family. On arriving at the door of the chateau, I was obliged to repeat the promise I had made to her father, of passing some weeks in the autumn with him. ' That season,' said she, ' is equally beau- tiful with the spring ! ' With what pleasure did I promise to decline all other engagements for this. Emily retired to her apartment, and, according to custom, I went up to mine, accompanied by my two little boys : they ran gaily up the stairs ; and in crossing the range of apartments but faintly lighted, to my no small surprise their boisterous mirth was not interrupted by the terrible portrait. 20 TALES OF THE DEAD. " For my own part, my head and heart were full of the intended journey, and of the agreeable manner in which my time had passed at the count's chateau. The images of those happy days crowded on my recollection ; my imagination, at that time possessing all the vivacity of youth, was so much agitated, that I could not enjoy the sleep which already overpowered my friend. Emily's image, so interesting by her sprightly grace, by her pure affection for me, was present to my mind like an amiable phantom shining in beauty. I placed myself at the window, to take another look at the country I had so frequently ranged with her, and traced our steps again probably for the last time. I remembered each spot illumined by the pale light the moon afforded. The nightingale was singing in the groves where we had delighted to repose ; the little river on which while gaily singing we often sailed, rolled murmuringly her silver waves. " Absorbed in a profound reverie, I mentally exclaimed : With the flowers of spring, this soft pure peaceful affection will probably fade ; and as frequently the after seasons blight the blossoms and destroy the promised fruit, so possibly may the approaching autumn envelop in cold reserve that heart which, at the present moment, appears only to expand with mine ! THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 21 " Saddened by these reflections, I withdrew from the window, and overcome by a painful agitation I traversed the adjoining rooms ; and on a sudden found myself before the portrait of my friend's ancestor. The moon's beams darted on it in the most singular manner possible, in- somuch as to give the appearance of a horrible moving spectre; and the reflexion of the light gave to it the appearance of a real substance about to quit the darkness by which it was surrounded. The inanimation of its features appeared to give place to the most profound melancholy ; the sad and glazed look of the eyes appeared the only hinderance to its uttering its grief. " My knees tremblingly knocked against each other, and with an unsteady step I regained my chamber : the window still remained open ; I reseated myself at it, in order that the freshness of the night air, and the aspect of the beautiful sur- rounding country, might dissipate the terror I had experienced. My wandering eyes fixed on a long vista of ancient linden trees, which extended from my window to the ruins of an old tower, which had often been the scene of our pleasures and rural fetes. The remembrance of the hideous portrait had vanished ; when on a sudden there appeared to me a thick fog issuing from the ruined 22 TALES OF THE DEAD. tower, which advancing through the vista of lin- dens came towards me. " I regarded this cloud with an anxious curiosity : it approached ; but again it was concealed by the thickly-spreading branches of the trees. " On a sudden I perceived, in a spot of the avenue less dark than the rest, the same figure represented in the formidable picture, enveloped in the grey mantle I so well knew. It advanced towards the chateau, as if hesitating : no noise was heard of its footsteps on the pavement ; it passed before my window without looking up, and gained a back door which led to the apartments in the colonnade of the chateau, " Seized with trembling apprehension, I darted towards my bed, and saw with pleasure that the two children were fast asleep on either side. The noise I made awoke them ; they started, but in an instant were asleep again. The agitation I had endured took from me the power of sleep, and I turned to awake one of the children to talk with me : but no powers can depict the horrors I en- dured when I saw the frightful figure at the side of the child's bed. " I was rjetrified with horror, and dared neither move nor shut my eyes. I beheld the spectre stoop towards the child and softly kiss his forehead : he THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 23 then went round the bed, and kissed the forehead of the other boy. " I lost all recollection at that moment ; and the following morning, when the children awoke me with their caresses, I was willing to consider the whole as a dream. " Meanwhile, the moment for our departure was at hand. We once again breakfasted all together in a grove of lilacs and flowers. ' I advise you to take a little more care of yourself,' said the old count in the midst of other conversation ; * for I last night saw you walking rather late in the garden, in a dress ill suited to the damp air ; and I was fearful such imprudence would expose you to cold and fever. Young people are apt to fancy they are invulnerable; but I repeat to you, Take advice from a friend.' " < In truth,' I answered, 1 1 believe readily that I have been attacked by a violent fever, for never before was I so harassed by terrifying visions : I can now conceive how dreams afford to a heated ima- gination subjects for the most extraordinary stories of apparitions.' " ' What would you tell me ?' demanded the count in a manner not wholly devoid of agitation. I related to him all that I had seen the preceding night ; and to my great surprise he appeared to me in no way astonished, but extremely affected. 24 TALES OF THE DEAD. u ' You say,' added he in a trembling voice, 4 that the phantom kissed the two children's fore- heads?' I answered him, that it was even so. He then exclaimed, in accents of the deepest de- spair, ' Oh heavens ! they must then both die ! ' "— ■» Till now the company had listened without the slightest noise or interruption to Ferdinand : but as he pronounced the last words, the greater part of his audience trembled ; and the young lady who had previously occupied the chair on which he sat, uttered a piercing shriek. " Imagine," continued Ferdinand, " how asto- nished my friend must have been at this unex- pected exclamation. The vision of the night had caused him excess of agitation ; but the melancholy voice of the count pierced his heart, and seemed to annihilate his being, by the terrifying conviction of the existence of the spiritual world, and the se- cret horrors with which this idea was accompanied. It was not then a dream, a chimera, the fruit of an over-heated imagination! but a mysterious and infallible messenger, which, dispatched from the world of spirits, had passed close to him, had placed itself by his couch, and by its fatal kiss had dropt the germ of death in the bosom of the two children. " He vainly entreated the count to explain this (extraordinary event. Equally fruitless were his son's THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 25 endeavours to obtain from the count the develope- ment of this mystery, which apparently concerned the whole family. ' You are as yet too young/ replied the count : ' too soon, alas ! for your peace of mind, will you be informed of these terrible cir- cumstances which you now think mysterious/ " Just as they came to announce to my friend that all was ready, he recollected that during the recital the count had sent away Emily and her two younger brothers. Deeply agitated, he took leave of the count and the two young children who came towards him, and who would scarcely permit themselves to be separated from him. Emily, who had placed herself at a window, made a sign of adieu. Three days afterwards the young count received news of the death of his two younger brothers. They were both taken off in the same night. " You see," continued Ferdinand, in a gayer tone, in order to counteract the impression of sad- ness and melancholy his story had produced on the company ; " You see my history is very far from affording any natural explication of the wonders it contains; explanations which only tend to shock one's reason : it does not even make you entirely, acquainted with the mysterious person, which one has a right to expect in all marvellous recitals. But I could learn nothing more ; and the old count 2(5 TALES OF THE DEAD. dying without revealing the mystery to his son, I see no other means of terminating the history of the portrait, which is undoubtedly by no means devoid of interest, than by inventing according to one's fancy a denouement which shall explain all." " That does not appear at all necessary to me," said a young man : " this history, like the one that preceded it, is in reality finished, and gives all the satisfaction one has any right to expect from re?- citals of this species." " I should not agree with you," replied Ferdi- nand, " if I was capable of explaining the myste- rious connection between the portrait and the death of the two children in the same night, or the terror of Juliana at sight of the other portrait, and her death, consequently caused by it. I am, how- ever, not the less obliged to you for the entire satisfaction you evince." " But," resumed the young man, " what benefit would your imagination receive, if the connections of which you speak were known to you ?" " Very great benefit, without doubt," replied Ferdinand; "for imagination requires the com- pletion of the objects it represents, as much as the judgment requires correctness and accuracy in its ideas." The mistress of the house, not being partial to these metaphysical disputes, took part with Fer- THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 27 dinand : " We ladies," said she, " are always cu- rious; therefore don't wonder that we complain when a story has no termination. It appears to me like seeing the last scene of Mozart's Don Juan without having witnessed the preceding ones ; and I am sure no one would be the better satisfied, although the last scene should possess infinite merit." The young man remained silent, perhaps less through conviction than politeness. Several per- sons were preparing to retire; and Ferdinand, who had vainly searched with all his eyes for the young lady with flaxen hair, was already at the door, when an elderly gentleman, whom he remembered to have seen in the music-room, asked him whe- ther the friend concerning whom he had related the story was not called Count Meltheim ? " That is his name/' answered Ferdinand a little drily ; " how did you guess it ? — are you ac- quainted with his family?" " You have advanced nothing but the simple truth," resumed the unknown. " Where is the count at this moment?" " He is on his travels," replied Ferdinand. " But I am astonished " " Do you correspond with him ?" demanded the unknown. 28 TALES OF THE DEAD. " J do," answered Ferdinand. " But I don't un- derstand " " Well then," continued the old man, " tell him that Emily still continues to think of him, and that he must return as speedily as possible, if he takes any interest in a secret that very particularly con- cerns her family." On this the old man stepped into his carriage, and had vanished from Ferdinand's sight ere he had recovered from his surprise. He looked around him in vain for some one who might in- form him of the name of the unknown : every one was gone ; and he was on the point of risking being- considered indiscreet, by asking for information of the pastor who had so courteously treated him, when they fastened the door of the house, and he was compelled to return in sadness to his inn, and leave his researches till the morning. The frightful scenes of the night preceding Fer- dinand's departure from the chateau of his friend's father, had tended to weaken the remembrance of Emily ; and the distraction which his journey so immediately after had produced, had not contri- buted to recall it with any force : but all at once the recollection of Emily darted across his mind with fresh vigour, aided by the recital of the pre- vious evening and the old man's conversation: it THE FAMILY PORTRAITS. 2 when the person whom they had observed as be- ing superior to the rest, advanced towards them^ and after making a low bow, asked permission to remain there a few days. The colonel was unable to refuse this request, as he shewed him a passport properly signed. " I beg you," replied the colonel, " to declare most positively to your company, that every equi- vocal action is punished in my villages ; as I am anxious to avoid all possibility of quarrels." " Do not in the least alarm yourself, Monsieur; H 98 TALES OF THE DEAD. an extremely severe discipline is kept up in my troop, which has in some respects the effect of a secret police among ourselves : all can answer for one, and one can answer for all. Each is bound to communicate any misconduct on the part of another to me, and is always rewarded for such communication ; but, on the contrary, if he omits, so to do, he is severely punished." The colonel's lady could not conceal her aver- sion to such a barbarous regulation ; which the stranger perceiving, shrugged his shoulders. " We must all accommodate our ideas to our condition. I have found, that if persons of this stamp are not so treated, there is no possibility of governing them. And you may the more confi- dently rely on my vigilance, as I had the happiness of being born in this place, and in consequence feel a double obligation : first, to the place of my birth ; secondly, to his worship." " Were you born here ?" demanded the co]<> nePs wife with surprise. " Yes, my lady ; my father was Schurster the schoolmaster, who died lately. But I call myself Calzolaro, finding that my profession succeeds bet- ter under an Italian than a German name." This explanation redoubled the interest the colo- nel and his lady already felt for this man, who ap- peared to -have received a tolerable education. the death's head. 99 They knew that the schoolmaster, whose profession had been pretty lucrative, owing to the nume- rous population of the village, had died worth some considerable property ; but that he had named a distant female relation as his sole heiress, leaving his only son an extremely scanty pittance. " My father," continued Calzolaro, " did not behave to me as he ought : and I cannot but think I should be justified in availing myself of some im portant informalities in his will, and endeavouring to set it aside, which is my present intention. But excuse, I pray you, my having tired your patience with relations to which the conversation has invo- luntarily given rise. I have still one more request to make : Permit me to return you my best thanks for your gracious condescension, and to shew you some of the exercises for which my troop is famous/' The colonel acceded to Calzolaro's request, and a day was fixed for the performance. Calzolaro went that very evening to the village pastor, and communicated to him his intentions relative to his father's will. The worthy minister condemned such procedure, and endeavoured to convince Calzolaro that his father's anger was just. " Picture to yourself, young man," said he, " a fa- ther who has grown old in an honest profession, and who rejoices in having a son to whom he can leave it : added to which, this son has great talents, a good y 2 100 TALES OF THE DEAD. understanding, and is well-disposed. It was natural that the father should use every possible exertion to obtain for this son his own situation at his death. The son is in truth nominated to succeed him. The father, thinking himself secure from misfortune, feels quite happy. It was at this period that the son, enticed by hair-brained companions, gave up a certain and respectable, though not very brilliant provision. My dear Schurster, if, when shaking off the salutary yoke, and quitting your venerable fa- ther, to ramble over the world, you could lightly forget the misery it would occasion him, you ought at least in the present instance to behave differ- ently ; or, in plain terms, I shall say you are a good-for-nothing fellow. Did not your father, even after this, do all he could to reclaim you ? but you were deaf to his remonstrances." " Because the connexion which I had formed imposed obligations on me, from which I could not free myself, as from a garment of which one is tired. For had I then been my own master, as I now am " " Here let us stop, if you please : I have only one request to make of you. You ought, from re- spect to your father's memory, not to dispute his will." This conversation and the venerable air of the pastor had a little shaken Calzolaro's resolutions : THE DEATH'S HEAD. 101 but the next day they returned with double force ; for lie heard several persons say, that shortly be- fore his death, his father was heard to speak of him with great bitterness. This discourse rendered him so indignant, that he would not even accede to a proposal of accom- modation with the heiress, made to him by the pastor. The colonel tried equally, but without success, to become a mediator, and at length determined to let the matter take its course. He however assisted at the rehearsals made by the troop ; and took so much pleasure in the per- formances prepared for the amusement of him and his family by Calzolaro, that he engaged him to act again, and invited several of his neighbours to witness them. Calzolaro said to him on this occasion : " You have as yet seen very trifling proofs of our abilities. But do not fancy that I am an idle spectator, and merely stand by to criticize : — I, as well as each in- dividual of my troop, have a sphere of action ; and I reserve myself to give you, before we take our leave, some entertaining experiments in electricity and magnetism." The colonel then told him, that he had recently seen in the capital a man who exhibited experi- ments of that sort, which had greatly delighted him ; 102 TALES OF THE DEAD. and above all, he had been singularly astonished by his powers of ventriloquism. " It is precisely in that particular point," replied Calzolaro, that I think myself equal to any one, be* they whom they may." " I am very glad of it," answered the colonel. " But what would produce the most astonishing effect on those who have never heard a ventrilo- quist, would be a dialogue between the actor and a death's head : — the man of whom I made mention gave us one." " If you command it, I can undertake it." " Delightful !" exclaimed the colonel. And Calzolaro having given some unequivocal proofs of his powers as a ventriloquist, the colonel add- ed : " The horror of the scene must be augmented by every possible means : for instance, we must hang the room with black ; the lights must be ex- tinguished ; we must fix on midnight. It will be a species of phantasmagoria dessert after supper ; an unexpected spectacle. We must contrive to throw the audience into a cold perspiration, in or- der that when the explanation takes place they may have ample reason to laugh at their fears. For if all succeeds, no one will be exempt from a certain degree of terror." Calzolaro entered into the project, and pro- mised that nothing should be neglected to make it THE DEATHS HEAD. 103 successful They unfurnished a closet, and hung it with black. The colonel's wife was the only one admitted to their confidence, as they could rely on her discre- tion. Her husband had even a little altercation on the subject with her. She wished, that for the ventriloquist scene they should use the model of a head in plaister, which her son used to draw from ; whereas the colonel maintained that they must have a real skull : " Otherwise," said he, " the specta- tors' illusion will speedily be at an end ; but after they have heard the death's head speak, we will cause it to be handed round, in order to convince them that it is in truth but a skull/' " And where can we procure this skull ?" asked the colonel's wife. " The sexton will undertake to provide us with it." " And whose corpse will you thus disturb, for a frivolous amusement ?" " How sentimental you are !" replied Kielholm, who did not consider the subject in so serious a light: " We may easily see you are not accustomed to the field of battle, where no further respect is paid to the repose of the dead, than suits the con- venience of the labourer in the fields where they are buried." " God preserve me from such a spectacle !" ex- 104 TALES OF THE DEAD. claimed the colonel's lady in quitting them, when she perceived her husband was insensible to her re- presentations. According to the orders which he received, the sexton one night brought a skull in good preserva- tion. The morning of the day destined for the repre- sentation, Calzolaro went into the adjacent forest to rehearse the dialogue which he was to have with the death's head. He considered in what way to place the head, so as to avoid all suspicion of the answers given by it being uttered by a person con^ cealed. In the mean while the pastor arrived at the spot from a neighbouring hamlet, where he had been called to attend a dying person : and be- lieving that the interposition of Providence was vh sible in this accidental meeting, the good man stopped, in order once again to exhort Calzolaro to agree to an accommodation with the heiress. " I yesterday," said he, " received a letter from her, in which she declares that, rather than any dis- respect should be paid to your father's last will and testament, she will give up to you half the inherit- ance to which she is thereby entitled. Ought you not to prefer this to a process at law, the issue of which is doubtful, and which at all events will ne- ver do you credit ?" Jpaljzolaro persisted in declaring that the law THE DEATH'S HEAD. 105 should decide between him and the testator. — The poor young man was not in a state to see in a pro- per point of view his father's conduct towards him. — The pastor, finding all his representations and entreaties fruitless, left him. Calzolaro pro- ceeded slowly to the inn, to assign to each of his band their particular part. He told them that he should not be with them ; but notwithstanding he should have an eye over their conduct. He was not willing to appear as the manager of these mountebanks, to the party assembled at the colo- nel's, thinking that if he appeared for the first time in the midnight scene, as an entire stranger, it would add still more to the marvellous. The tumblers' tricks and rope-dancing were per- formed to admiration. And those of the specta- tors whose constant residence in the country pre- vented their having witnessed similar feats, were the most inclined to admire and praise the agility of the troop. The little children in particular were applauded. The compassion excited by their un- happy destiny, mingled with the approbation be- stowed on them ; and the ladies were subjects of envy, in giving birth to the satisfaction depicted in the countenances of these little wretches by their liberal donations. The agility of the troop formed the subject of general conversation the whole afternoon. They 106 TALES OF THE DEAD. were even speaking in their praise after supper, — when the master of the house said to the company assembled : " I am rejoiced, my dear friends, to see the pleasure you have received from the little spectacle that I have been enabled to give you. My joy is so much the greater, since I find you doubting the possibility of things which are very natural ; for I have it in my power to submit for your examina- tion something of a very incomprehensible nature. At this very moment I have in my house a person who entertains a most singular intercourse with the world of spirits, and who can compel the dead to answer his questions." " O !" exclaimed a lady smiling, " don't terrify us." " You jest now" replied the colonel ; " but I venture t6 affirm your mirth will be a little changed when the scene takes place." " I accept the challenge," answered the incre- dulous fair one. All the party was of her opinion, and declared themselves so openly and so loudly against the truth of these terrific scenes, that the colonel began to be really apprehensive for the effects likely to be produced by those he had pre- pared. He would have even relinquished his pro- ject, if his guests, one and all, had not intreated him to the contrary. They even went further : they be- THE DEATH'S HEAD. 107 sought him not long to delay the wonderful things he promised. But the colonel, keeping his own counsel, feigned ignorance that they were laughing at him ; and with a grave air declared that the ex- periment could not take place till midnight. The clock at length struck twelve. The colo- nel gave his servants orders to place chairs facing the door of a closet which had been hitherto kept shut: he invited the company to sit down, and gave orders for all the lights to be put out. While these preparations were making, he thus addressed the company : " I entreat you, my friends, to abstain from all idle curiosity." The grave and solemn tone in which he uttered these words made a deep im- pression on the party, whose incredulity was not a little lessened by the striking of the clock, and the putting out the lights one after the other. Pre- sently they heard from the closet facing them the hoarse and singular sounds by which it is pre- tended spirits are conjured up ; and which were interrupted at intervals by loud strokes of a ham- mer. All on a sudden the door of the closet opened : and as by slow degrees the cloud of in- cense which filled it evaporated, they gradually dis- covered the black trappings with which it was hung, and an altar in the middle also hung with black drapery. On this altar was placed a skull, 108 TALES OF THE DEAD. which cast its terrifying regards on all the com- pany present. Meanwhile the spectators' breathing became more audible and difficult, and their embarrass- ment increased in proportion as the vapour gave place to a brilliant light issuing from an alabaster lamp suspended from the cieling. Many of them indeed turned their heads away in alarm on hearing a noise behind them ; which, however, they disco- vered simply proceeded from some of the servants, whom the colonel had given permission to be pre- sent during the exhibition , at a respectful distance. After a moment of profound silence, Calzolaro entered. A long beard had so effectually altered his youthful appearance, that though several of the spectators had previously seen him, they could not possibly recognize him under this disguise. And his Oriental costume added so much to the deceit, that his entrance had an excellent effect. In order that his art should impose the more, the colonel recommended to him a degree of haughtiness in addressing the company; and that he should not salute them according to any pre- scribed forms of politeness, but to announce him- self in terms foreign from all ordinary modes of conversation. They both agreed that a mysterU ous jargon would best answer their purpose. In consequence of such determination, Calzo-* THE DEATH'S HEAD. 10