Clad in a doublet gold and green,
A youthful knight: he frowning stood,
And noble was his mournful mien;
And now he said, with heaving sigh,
"Lady, all that live must die."
She rose to quit the altar's stone,
She cast a look to heav'n, and sigh'd:
When, lo! the youthful knight was gone;
And, scowling by the lady's side,
With sightless skull and bony hand,
She saw a giant spectre stand!
His flowing robe was long and clear,
His ribs were white as drifted snow.
The lady's heart was chill'd with fear;
She rose, but scarce had power to go:
The spectre grinn'd a dreadful smile,
And walk'd beside her down the aisle.
And now he wav'd his ratt'ling hand;
And now they reach'd the chapel door,
And there the spectre took his stand;
While, rising from the marble floor,
A hollow voice was heard to cry,
"Lady, all that live must die.
"Watch no more the evening star!
Watch no more the glimpse of morn!
Never from the holy war,
Lady, will thy love return!
See this bloody cross; and, see,
His bloody scarf he sends to thee!"
And now again the youthful knight
Stood smiling by the lady's side!
His helmet shone with crimson light,
His sword with drops of blood was dy'd:
And now a soft and mournful song
Stole the chapel aisles among.
Now from the spectre's paley cheek
The flesh began to waste away;
The vaulted doors were heard to creak,
And dark became the summer day!
The spectre's eyes were sunk, but he
Seem'd with their sockets still to see;
The second bell is heard to ring:
Four barefoot monks, of orders grey,
Again their holy service sing,
And round their chapel altar pray:
The lady counted o'er and o'er,
And shudder'd while she counted _four_!
"Oh! fathers, who was he, so gay,
That stood beside the chapel door?
Oh! tell me, fathers, tell me, pray,"
The monks replied, "We fathers four:
Lady, _no other_ have we seen,
Since in this holy place we've been!"
_PART SECOND._
Now the merry bugle-horn
Through the forest sounded far;
When on the lofty tow'r, forlorn,
The lady watch'd the evening star;
The evening star that seemed to be
Rising from the dark'ned sea.
The summer sea was dark and still,
The sky was streak'd with lines of gold,
The mist rose grey above the hill,
And low the clouds of amber roll'd:
The lady on the lofty tow'r
Watch'd the calm and silent hour.
And while she watch'd, she saw advance
A ship, with painted streamers gay:
She saw it on the green wave dance,
And plunge amid the silver spray;
While from the forest's haunts forlorn,
Again she heard the bugle horn.
The sails were full; the breezes rose;
The billows curl'd along the shore;
And now the day began to close--
The bugle horn was heard no more.
But, rising from the wat'ry way
An airy voice was heard to say--
"Watch no more the evening star;
Watch no more the billowy sea;
Lady, from the holy war,
Thy lover hastes to comfort thee:
Lady, lady, cease to mourn;
Soon thy lover will return."
Now she hastens to the bay;
Now the rising storm she hears:
Now the sailors smiling say,
"Lady, lady, check your fears:
Trust us, lady; we will be
Your pilots o'er the stormy sea."
Now the little bark she view'd,
Moor'd beside the flinty steep;
And now, upon the foamy flood,
The tranquil breezes seemed to sleep.
The moon arose; her silver ray
Seem'd on the silent deep to play.
Now music stole across the main:
It was a sweet but mournful tone;
It came a slow and dulcet strain;
It came from where the pale moon shone:
And while it pass'd across the sea,
More soft and soft it seem'd to be.
Now on the deck the lady stands.
The vessel steers across the main;
It steers towards the Holy Land,
Never to return again:
Still the sailors cry, "We'll be
Your pilots o'er the stormy sea."
Now she hears a low voice say,
"Deeper, deeper, deeper still;
Hark! the black'ning billows play;
Hark! the waves the vessel fill:
Lower, lower, down we go;
All is dark and still below."
Now a flash of vivid light
On the rolling deep was seen!
And now the lady saw the knight,
With doublet rich, of gold and green:
From the sockets of his eyes,
A pale and streaming light she spies.
And now his form transparent stood,
Smiling with a ghastly mien:
And now the calm and boundless flood
Was like the emerald, bright and green;
And now 'twas of a troubled hue,
While "Deeper, deeper," sang the crew.
Slow advanced the morning light,
Slow they plough'd the wavy tide;
When, on a cliff of dreadful height,
A castle's lofty tow'r they spied:
The lady heard the sailor-band
Cry, "Lady, this is Holy Land.
"Watch no more the glitt'ring spray;
Watch no more the weedy sand;
Watch no more the star of day;
Lady, this is Holy Land:
This castle's lord shall welcome thee;
Then, lady, lady, cheerful be!"
Now the castle-gates they pass;
Now across the spacious square,
Cover'd high with dewy grass,
Trembling steals the lady fair:
And now _the castle's lord_ was seen,
Clad in a doublet gold and green.
He led her through the Gothic hall,
With bones and skulls encircled round;
"Oh, let not this thy soul appal!"
He cried, "for this is holy ground."
He led her through the chambers lone,
'Mid many a shriek and many a groan.
Now to the banquet-room they came:
Around a table of black stone,
She mark'd a faint and vapoury flame;
Upon the horrid feast it shone--
And there, to close the madd'ning sight,
Unnumber'd spectres met the light.
Their teeth were like the brilliant, bright;
Their eyes were blue as sapphire clear;
Their bones were of a polish'd white;
Gigantic did their ribs appear!
And now the knight the lady led,
And placed her at the table's head!
Just now the lady _woke_:--for she
Had slept upon the lofty tow'r,
And dreams of dreadful phantasie
Had fill'd the lonely moonlight hour:
Her pillow was the turret stone,
And on her breast the pale moon shone.
But now _a real_ voice she hears:
It was her lover's voice; for he,
To calm her bosom's rending fears,
That night had cross'd the stormy sea:
"I come," said he, "from Palestine,
To prove myself, _sweet Lady, thine_."
INDEX.
Ackland, Sir Hugh, his Extraordinary Resuscitation, Page 208
Agreeable Explanation, 209
Aix-la-Chapelle, Extraordinary Event at, 29
Anatomical Professor, and the Dead Man, 75
Apparitions, Essay on, 13
Apparition, the Castle, 143
Apparition Investigated, 167
B.
Bed-Room, the Haunted, 41
Benighted Traveller, and Haunted Room, 170
Bishop, the Credulous, 116
C.
Carrier, the Frightened, 158
Castle Apparition, 143
Castle, Haunted, 152
Chimney-Sweep, and Drunken Bucks, 80
Church-Yard Encounter, or Heroic Midshipman, 122
Church-Yard Ghost, and Milkman, 178
Club-Room Ghost, 159
Cock-Lane Ghost, 125
College Ghost, or Double Mistake, 150
Couple, the Superstitious, 39
Credulous Bishop, 116
Credulous Peasants, 94
Cripplegate Ghost, 81
D.
Dead Body, and Unfortunate Priest, 183
Dead Man, and Anatomical Professor, 75
Dominican Friar, 29
Double Mistake, or College Ghost, 150
Drunken Bucks, and Chimney Sweep, 80
E.
Essay on Apparitions, &c., 13
Extraordinary Double Dream, 216
F.
Fakenham Ghost, 179
Fatal Superstition, 185
Fatal Effects of Wanton Mischief, 214
Female Fanatic, and Heavenly Visitor, 59
Female Sprites, 64
Floating Wonder, or Female Spectre, 187
Friar, the Dominican, 29
Frightened Carrier, 158
Funeral, the Ideot's, 55
G.
Gassendi, the Philosopher, and Haunted Bed-Room, 222
Giles the Shepherd, and Spectre, 195
Ghost of the Field, or the Twins, 147
Ghost, and no Ghost, 176
Ghost on Ship-Board, 223
Ghostly Adventurer, 119
Ghost, thrice called for, as an Evidence in a Court of Justice, 226
H.
Hammersmith Ghost, 156
Haunted Beach, or Power of Conscience on a Murderer, 172
Haunted Bed-Room, 41
Haunted Bed-Room, and Benighted Traveller, 170
Haunted Castle, 152
Haunted Castle, and Mareschal Saxe, 103
Heavenly Visitor, and Female Fanatic, 59
Heroic Midshipman, or Church-Yard Encounter, 122
Hypochondriac Gentleman, and Jack Ass, 138
I.
Ideot's Funeral, 55
Imagination, Remarkable Instance of the Power of, 45
Innocent Devil, or Agreeable Disappointment, 201
J.
Jealousy, Fatal Effects of, or the Prussian Domino, 66
L.
Lady of the Black Tower, 228
Lunatic Apparition, 162
M.
Maniac; or, Fatal Effects of Wanton Mischief, 214
Man with his Head on Fire, and covered with Blood, 198
Mareschal Saxe, and the Haunted Castle, 103
Mary (Poor), the Maid of the Inn, 190
Midshipman, Heroic, and Church-Yard Encounter, 122
Milkman, and Church-Yard Ghost, 178
N.
Nocturnal Disturber, 95
P.
Peasants, the Credulous, 94
Poor Mary, the Maid of the Inn, 190
Power of Conscience on a Murderer, 172
Priest, the Unfortunate, and Dead Body, 183
Prussian Domino, or Fatal Effects of Jealousy, 66
R.
Resuscitation, Remarkable, 113
Remarkable Effects of the Power of Vision, 219
S.
School-Boy Apparition, 91
Sir Hugh Ackland, 208
Somersetshire Demoniac, 211
Sprites, the Female, 64
Spectre of the Broken, 203
Superstitious Couple, 39
Subterranean Traveller, or Ghost and No Ghost, 176
Supposed Supernatural Appearance, 164
Sweep, and Drunken Bucks, 80
T.
Twin Brothers, or Ghost of the Field, 147
V.
Ventriloquist, 57, 83
Vigil of St. Mark, or Fatal Superstition, 185
Vision, Remarkable Effects of the Power of, 219
W.
Westminster Scholars, and Hackney Coachman, 51
FINIS.
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Transcriber's Note:
The following errors have been corrected:
p. xi: pecant to peccant (upon the peccant part)
p. 15: ramble to rumble (solemn rumble)
p. 23: adyantage to advantage (turn them to my advantage)
p. 31: cieling to ceiling (as high as the ceiling)
p. 36: missing "been" added (had been in bed)
p. 51: instanly to instantly (They then instantly dressed)
p. 53: mercy to mercy's (for mercy's sake)
p. 59: Ferronerie to Ferronnerie (Rue de la Ferronnerie)
p. 64: Bartholemew to Bartholomew (Bartholomew Close)
p. 68: plantive to plaintive (plaintive tone of voice)
p. 69: faultering to faltering (his tongue faltering)
p. 104: announed to announced (whose visit was announced)
p. 104: colon to period (their feelings. But I was)
p. 113: Celebres to Celebres (Causes Celebres)
p. 130: missing closing bracket added (was heard.))
p. 158: Remnstone to Rempstone (the village of Rempstone)
p. 165: accended to ascended (ascended the stairs)
p. 177: missing open quote added ('_Who's there? What are ye?_')
p. 177: missing close quote added ('_How came you there?_')
p. 187: extra "in" removed (Caerleon, in Wales)
p. 191: comma to period (They listen'd to hear the wind roar.)
p. 205: missing open quote added ("'After having been here for)
p. 217: missing close quote added (thee art dead!_')
p. 225: missing close quote added (in his dream.")
p. 237: missing open quote added ("Deeper, deeper, deeper still;)
p. 239: line indented to match others (Her pillow was the turret stone,)
Archaic and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have not been
corrected. Inconsistencies between the Index and the rest of the text
have also been left as in the original.
As in the original, there are two different stories called "THE
VENTRILOQUIST."
Omitted lines of poetry on p. 195 are represented with a line of 23
asterisks in the plain text versions, as in the original. Short lines
used as thought breaks on pp. 220 and 221 are represented with a line of
5 asterisks.
In the plain text versions, two superscript t's with a dot below them in
the caption of the Frontispiece are represented as plain letter t's, and
oe-ligatures have been changed to oe.
------------------------------------------------------------------------