_From the German of Theodore Koerner._
(_For the Mirror._)
I came from a party where the wine had not been spared, and the guests
had but just separated, in a state of tolerable elevation. It was a
drear and stormy autumn night. On reaching the door of my abode, I first
became aware that I had forgotten the key. As I could not imagine that
any one would be awake at this late hour,--for it now drew near
twelve--and, besides, as I lived on the fourth story, I had humanity
enough not to alarm the whole street, by ringing and shouting, for
admittance. As this was a circumstance of no very infrequent occurrence,
I was not long perplexed for a shelter; but directed my steps, as usual,
towards the sedan stand, at the market place, where of course I still
met with society, though fast locked in the fetters of sleep. In the
hall, lay stretched and snoring, the whole corps of the honourable
company of sedan chairmen; and on a bench near the wall, lay, as usual,
the sleeping guardian of the night. Without troubling myself much about
my companions, I gently opened a sedan--crept into the corner--and slept
much the sooner for "the good wine having done its good office" on me.
I had slept but a very short time when I heard it strike twelve; the
watchman now arose, and blew a blast upon his horn that thrilled through
my every nerve, and sang:--
List--Christians list!--the passing bell
Of twelve, has just now told its knell,
And midnight is, when evil sprites,
Scare the tired sense, with wild affrights.
Now close your eyes in peace, and rest
Till morning rays illume the west:
Praise God the Lord!
A second time he blew his horn, and the sound re-echoed fearfully
through the old Town House; the storm howled terrifically, and the rain
pattered against the panes of my dwelling. In spite of the injunction of
the watchman, I opened my eyes, and beheld him advancing towards the
other end of the market-place, where he stopped to repeat his song; and
again occasionally from street to street, till his voice died away in
the distance. At this moment I was seized with an indefinable sensation
of dread. I would have run after the watchman, but the rain deterred me.
He, too, might have sung of something else than exactly of that fearful
hour of night--
"When tombs do yawn and graves yield up their dead."
I did not feel at all comfortable. I was, notwithstanding, just about to
nestle myself up again in the corner, and once more close my eyes, when
they lighted on two, tall, meagre forms, whom I immediately recognised
by their garb as chairmen. There was something mysterious in their
movements, as if they were consulting on matters of grave import--of
their discourse I could understand nothing--and their voices sounded to
me, in the chair, something like the noise made by a brush when drawn
over the surface of a sheet of paper. I was considering what might be
the result of all this, when they suddenly seized hold of the chair, and
marched off. I ought now indeed to have called out to them, but partly
from a curiosity to discover the cause of this singular nocturnal
ramble, and partly from a fear of being roughly treated for my
obtrusiveness, I was induced to remain quietly in my corner. My weight
did not seem to attract their notice; but how great was my astonishment
on observing that my bearers were carrying me, in unvarying circles,
round the market place, though at every turn they contracted the space
they traversed--and that the usual heavy-sounding tread of the chairmen
was changed for a noiseless, gliding pace. I looked out to see whether
they had not drawn off their boots, but I was soon convinced by the
evidence of my eyes that their heavy boots were in unison with the rest
of the customary apparel of that class. Their evolutions now became
gradually narrower, and I, in the same proportion, more anxious and
excited. At length they stopped, panting, under the lamp-post which
stands in the middle of the market place, and I was once more greeted by
those low, hoarse sounds, which I have already mentioned, and it was
only by dint of the most attentive listening, that I could distinguish
the following words:
We are formed of the mist of the grave,
We bear to the feast of the slain,
There we carry the free and the slave,
The host and his numberless train,
Yonder we carry--to and fro,
Nor end our labours e'er shall know.
At this moment a mist floated before my eyes--I endeavoured to
shout--but although I used the utmost exertion, I could not produce a
sound--I felt as if palsied and enchained--my situation was
desperate--what species of civility could I expect from the spirits,
(for that they were supernatural beings I could no longer doubt) of
those chairmen who during their mortal career are so noted for their
brutality? After a short halt, they recommenced their march at the same
stealthy pace, through how many streets I cannot now tell, for fear
almost deprived me of my senses. We came to the town gate--it
opened--and my conductors bore me directly towards--the churchyard! I
was in a fever of excitement. They no sooner reached this desired spot,
than they stopped, and I heard their accursed voices for the third time.
They opened the door, as if waiting for some one--I endeavoured to
embrace this opportunity to escape, or to call out, but my strength had
totally deserted me; every limb felt paralyzed. And now a whole legion
of similar fiends swarmed around my conductors, and one after another,
sprang in upon me, apparently no more remarking my presence than if I
had formed part of the cushion. The first that fell upon me was a cold,
heavy carcass that might have been buried, at farthest, about three
days. I thought horror and disgust would have destroyed me. Then came a
countless myriad of the skeletons of the defunct, all crowding into the
sedan, as if it had been the ark of Noah. At length, to all appearance,
the whole of the inhabitants of the churchyard were safely seated upon
and beside me, and the tombstones which had pertinaciously adhered to
many a greasy soul, added not a little to the load which lay rattling
and groaning upon me. A monstrous skeleton which lay at my side--with
its eternal grin--made the most horrible inroads into my right side with
its bony elbow, and such a smell--even now I wonder that every sense did
not leave me. The patience of my bearers seemed however now to be
exhausted. They still battled at the door with hundreds of this amiable
fraternity; at length they dashed the door to with a force that made the
windows quiver, and made off with me and my noble troop. And now it was
that the rattling, and groaning, and the elbow manoeuvre were first
fully brought into action, and in their endeavours to seat themselves
more conveniently, my accursed freight jolted from one side to the other
till I thought my knees would have broken down under their burthen. One
would imagine that in such numerous society I should have been warmly
seated, yet no icehouse ever was colder. At every step that our bearers
took, the icy mass of putridity before me, shook together--my flesh
creeps even now at the recollection. The company, growing merry, began
to sing--and with organs similar to those I had already remarked in our
guides; but what airs! what tunes! The corpse before me seemed to be a
leading singer; his soul-moving, heart-rending treble, sounded something
like scraping slate pencil upon glass; the stave was of the following
joyous import:--
See, how glows the deadly wine,
Upon the bony lip,
And arranged in spectral line,
Our joyous numbers trip.
See--attentive at her side,
The ghastly lover woos his bride;
Whilst sepulchral music flowing,
Scares the dawning day from growing.
To the latest hour of my existence, I shall retain a vivid recollection
of this auricular martyrdom. After a ride of about half an hour, during
which, my situation was more horrible than I can depict, our conductors
stopped at another churchyard; the door was now opened, and as each
passed forward to escape, a terrific squabble ensued between the cargo
and my two attendants, probably about the fare. A third time I strained
every nerve to call out, but it was absolutely impossible; at length,
however, their quarrel seemed to have been adjusted; the chairman shut
the door, still grumbling, and I was again, thank God, alone--could once
more breathe freely--and by degrees became warmer. My conductors took
their way through the gate back again, and I became more easy in the
reflection that, in consonance with old habits of good order, they would
probably replace the chair in its original situation; but, to my
astonishment and terror, I now first became aware that the size of my
conductors was rapidly enlarging. Instantly their statures became more
exalted, their forms more aerial, and their strides more gigantic; and I
could see distinctly into the first floor of the houses of the street
through which we were passing. In the square where stands the monument
of our late lamented monarch, their forms became really terrific, and as
the foremost strode past, he swept the statue from its pedestal with his
coat, with as much apparent ease as if it had been a wax doll. In the
next street, I could, without difficulty, look into the third floor of
the houses we were passing, and on reaching the market place, I found
myself elevated to the altitude of the church-clock; my bearers having
become as attenuated as the conductor. Here all consciousness left me,
and what farther became of me, I know not. On recovering myself, I lay
in the chair which stood in its old place. It was already near mid-day;
I therefore crept softly out of my fearful tenement, and luckily escaped
unobserved. My friends to whom I related my adventure, said, that I had
dreamed--that I had been visited by the nightmare--but to me it has
always appeared singular, that for the whole of the next day, my coat
had a smell as earthy as if it had lain in a grave; and that the storm
should this very night have thrown down the statue of the king from its
pedestal.