CHAPTER XXXIX .

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And in he came with eyes of flame,
The fiend to fetch the dead.
Southey’s Old Woman of Berkeley.

Melmoth and MonÇada did not dare to approach the door till about noon. They then knocked gently at the door, and finding the summons unanswered, they entered slowly and irresolutely. The apartment was in the same state in which they had left it the preceding night, or rather morning; it was dusky and silent, the shutters had not been opened, and the Wanderer still seemed sleeping in his chair.At the sound of their approach he half-started up, and demanded what was the hour. They told him. “My hour is come,” said the Wanderer, “it is an hour you must neither partake or witness—the clock of eternity is about to strike, but its knell must be unheard by mortal ears!” As he spoke they approached nearer, and saw with horror the change the last few hours had wrought on him. The fearful lustre of his eyes had been deadened before their late interview, but now the lines of extreme age were visible in every feature. His hairs were as white as snow, his mouth had fallen in, the muscles of his face were relaxed and withered—he was the very image of hoary decrepid debility. He started himself at the impression which his appearance visibly made on the intruders. “You see what I feel,” he exclaimed, “the hour then is come. I am summoned, and I must obey the summons—my master has other work for me! When a meteor blazes in your atmosphere—when a comet pursues its burning path towards the sun—look up, and perhaps you may think of the spirit condemned to guide the blazing and erratic orb.”

The spirits, that had risen to a kind of wild elation, as suddenly subsided, and he added, “Leave me, I must be alone for the few last hours of my mortal existence—if indeed they are to be the last.” He spoke this with an inward shuddering, that was felt by his hearers. “In this apartment,” he continued, “I first drew breath, in this I must perhaps resign it,—would—would I had never been born! * * * * * *

“Men—retire—leave me alone. Whatever noises you hear in the course of the awful night that is approaching, come not near this apartment, at peril of your lives. Remember,” raising his voice, which still retained all its powers, “remember your lives will be the forfeit of your desperate curiosity. For the same stake I risked more than life—and lost it!—Be warned—retire!”They retired, and passed the remainder of that day without even thinking of food, from that intense and burning anxiety that seemed to prey on their very vitals. At night they retired, and though each lay down, it was without a thought of repose. Repose indeed would have been impossible. The sounds that soon after midnight began to issue from the apartment of the Wanderer, were at first of a description not to alarm, but they were soon exchanged for others of such indescribable horror, that Melmoth, though he had taken the precaution of dismissing the servants to sleep in the adjacent offices, began to fear that those sounds might reach them, and, restless himself from insupportable inquietude, rose and walked up and down the passage that led to that room of horror. As he was thus occupied, he thought he saw a figure at the lower end of the passage. So disturbed was his vision, that he did not at first recognize MonÇada. Neither asked the other the reason of his being there—they walked up and down together silently.

In a short time the sounds became so terrible, that scarcely had the awful warning of the Wanderer power to withhold them from attempting to burst into the room. These noises were of the most mixed and indescribable kind. They could not distinguish whether they were the shrieks of supplication, or the yell of blasphemy—they hoped inwardly they might be the former.

Towards morning the sounds suddenly ceased—they were stilled as in a moment. The silence that succeeded seemed to them for a few moments more terrible than all that preceded. After consulting each other by a glance, they hastened together to the apartment. They entered—it was empty—not a vestige of its last inhabitant was to be traced within.

After looking around in fruitless amazement, they perceived a small door opposite to that by which they had entered. It communicated with a back staircase, and was open. As they approached it, they discovered the traces of footsteps that appeared to be those of a person who had been walking in damp sand or clay. These traces were exceedingly plain—they followed them to a door that opened on the garden—that door was open also. They traced the foot-marks distinctly through the narrow gravel walk, which was terminated by a broken fence, and opened on a heathy field which spread half-way up a rock whose summit overlooked the sea. The weather had been rainy, and they could trace the steps distinctly through that heathy field. They ascended the rock together.

Early as it was, the cottagers, who were poor fishermen residing on the shore, were all up, and assuring Melmoth and his companion that they had been disturbed and terrified the preceding night by sounds which they could not describe. It was singular that these men, accustomed by nature and habit alike to exaggeration and superstition, used not the language of either on this occasion.

There is an overwhelming mass of conviction that falls on the mind, that annihilates idiom and peculiarities, and crushes out truth from the heart. Melmoth waved back all who offered to accompany him to the precipice which over-hung the sea. MonÇada alone followed him.

Through the furze that clothed this rock, almost to its summit, there was a kind of tract as if a person had dragged, or been dragged, his way through it—a down-trodden track, over which no footsteps but those of one impelled by force had ever passed. Melmoth and MonÇada gained at last the summit of the rock. The ocean was beneath—the wide, waste, engulphing ocean! On a crag beneath them, something hung as floating to the blast. Melmoth clambered down and caught it. It was the handkerchief which the Wanderer had worn about his neck the preceding night—that was the last trace of the Wanderer!

Melmoth and MonÇada exchanged looks of silent and unutterable horror, and returned slowly home.

FINIS.

John Pillans, Printer, Edinburgh.

(1) Here MonÇada expressed his surprise at this passage, (as savouring more of Christianity than Judaism), considering it occurred in the manuscript of a Jew.

(2) Fact,—it occurred in a French family not many years ago.

(3) Vide Cervantes, apud Don Quixote de Collibus UbedÆ.

(4) Vide Jonson’s play, in which is introduced a Puritan preacher, a Banbury man, named Zeal-of-the-land Busy.

(5) I have been an inmate in this castle for many months—it is still inhabited by the venerable descendant of that ancient family. His son is now High-Sheriff of the King’s county. Half the castle was battered down by Oliver Cromwell’s forces, and rebuilt in the reign of Charles the Second. The remains of the castle are a tower of about forty feet square, and five stories high, with a single spacious apartment on each floor, and a narrow staircase communicating with each, and reaching to the bartizan. A beautiful ash-plant, which I have often admired, is now displaying its foliage between the stones of the bartizan,—and how it got or grew there, heaven only knows. There it is, however; and it is better to see it there than to feel the discharge of hot water or molten lead from the apertures.

(6) See a comedy of Wycherly’s, entitled, “Love in a Wood, or St James’s Park,” where the company are represented going there at night in masks, and with torches.

(7) Taylor’s Book of Martyrs.

(8) Anachronism—n’importe.

(9) In Cowley’s “Cutter of Coleman Street,” Mrs Tabitha, a rigid Puritan, tells her husband she had danced the Canaries in her youth. And in Rushworth’s Collections, if I remember right, Prynne vindicates himself from the charge of a general denunciation against dancing, and even speaks of the “Measures,” a stately, solemn dance, with some approbation.

(10) As this whole scene is taken from fact, I subjoin the notes whose modulation is so simple, and whose effect was so profound.

Music

(11) Ireland,—forsan.

(12) Vide Dillon’s travels through Spain.

(13) The celebrated manufactory for glass in Spain.

(14) He called unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night?—Watchman, what of the night?——Isaiah.

(15) Vide the beautiful tale of Auheta the Princess of Egypt, and Maugraby the Sorcerer, in the Arabian Tales.

(16) From this it should seem that they were unacquainted with the story of Elinor Mortimer.

(17) Vide the original play, of which there is a curious and very obsolete translation.

Transcriber’s Note:

The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first passage is the original passage, the second the corrected one.

  • Page 1:
    CHAPTER XXI.
    CHAPTER XXIII.
  • Page 14:
    et senie confectus,”—or finally, the
    et senio confectus,”—or finally, the
  • Page 22:
    CHAPTER XXII.
    CHAPTER XXIV.
  • Page 24:
    of steps pursuing her.”
    of steps pursuing her.
  • Page 42:
    As they approached, in spite of the
    “As they approached, in spite of the
  • Page 48:
    darknesss so profound, that Isidora did
    darkness so profound, that Isidora did
  • Page 49:
    nor what she said. All was mist and darkness
    not what she said. All was mist and darkness
  • Page 50:
    CHAPTER XXIII.
    CHAPTER XXV.
  • Page 50:
    ???e ??????s? ???a?, e?d???a ?a??t??.
    Homer.
    ???e ’ e?????s? ???a?, e?d??a ?a??t??.
    Homer.
  • Page 50:

    We have now to retrace a short period

    “We have now to retrace a short period

  • Page 56:
    may be, could not aviod giving him his
    may be, could not avoid giving him his
  • Page 57:
    knowledge.
    knowledge.”
  • Page 61:
    CHAPTER XXIV.
    CHAPTER XXVI.
  • Page 73:
    This night he perhaps began to feel the
    “This night he perhaps began to feel the
  • Page 73:
    The weather was gloomy and cold that
    “The weather was gloomy and cold that
  • Page 79:
    “Father,” said Walberg, is not Everhard
    “Father,” said Walberg, “is not Everhard
  • Page 84:
    CHAPTER XXV.
    CHAPTER XXVII.
  • Page 99:
    The priest was as good as his word,—the
    “The priest was as good as his word,—the
  • Page 109:
    CHAPTER XXVI.
    CHAPTER XXVIII.
  • Page 110:
    among them—“and felt too.” The worthy
    among them—and felt too.” The worthy
  • Page 119:
    The mother, with the forced smile of a
    “The mother, with the forced smile of a
  • Page 145:
    do they moan for?” “Hunger I believe,’
    do they moan for?” “Hunger I believe,”
  • Page 153:
    must drag me from it yourselves.
    must drag me from it yourselves.”
  • Page 177:
    CHAPTER XXVII.
    CHAPTER XXIX.
  • Page 177:
    ?a?ep?? d? t? f???sa??
    ?a?ep?? t? ? f???sa??
    ?a?ep?te??? de pa?t??
    ap?t???a?e?? f?????ta.

    ?a?ep?? de t? f???sa??
    ?a?ep?? t? ? f???sa??
    ?a?ep?te??? de pa?t??
    ap?t???a?e?? f?????ta.
  • Page 180:
    tremble, les he was pursued by banditti at
    tremble, lest he was pursued by banditti at
  • Page 188:
    have had dealings with Shewsbury merchants,”
    have had dealings with Shrewsbury merchants,”
  • Page 200:
    by the name of—“Thou-art-not-worthy-to-unloose-the-latchets-of-his-shoes,—Sandal.
    by the name of—“Thou-art-not-worthy-to-unloose-the-latchets-of-his-shoes,—Sandal.”
  • Page 206:
    CHAPTER XXVIII.
    CHAPTER XXX.
  • Page 217:
    natics, after robbing a church of all its silver-plate,
    fanatics, after robbing a church of all its silver-plate,
  • Page 241:
    Such was the state of Elinor, when the
    “Such was the state of Elinor, when the
  • Page 263:
    doomed by many a thristy eye to be often
    doomed by many a thirsty eye to be often
  • Page 274:
    where the non-comformist ministers,
    where the non-conformist ministers,
  • Page 286:
    On a dim autumnal evening, when Mrs
    “On a dim autumnal evening, when Mrs
  • Page 307:
    CHAPTER XXIX.
    CHAPTER XXXI.
  • Page 307:

    The increasing decline of Elinor’s health

    “The increasing decline of Elinor’s health

  • Page 317:
    CHAPTER XXX.
    CHAPTER XXXII.
  • Page 338:
    I had not seen Melmoth for some years.
    “I had not seen Melmoth for some years.
  • Page 346:
    CHAPTER XXXI.
    CHAPTER XXXIII.
  • Page 355:
    CHAPTER XXXII.
    CHAPTER XXXIV.
  • Page 365:
    will show, said Donna
    will show, said Donna
  • Page 367:
    at all simes, I have been told,” answered
    at all times, I have been told,” answered
  • Page 380:
    CHAPTER XXXII.
    CHAPTER XXXV.
  • Page 402:
    CHAPTER XXXIII.
    CHAPTER XXXVI.
  • Page 414:
    one moment! cried Isidora,
    one moment! cried Isidora,
  • Page 415:
    Fra Jose melted at the appeal, and he
    “Fra Jose melted at the appeal, and he
  • Page 417:
    CHAPTER XXXIV.
    CHAPTER XXXVII.
  • Page 428:
    Daughter, said the priest, bending over
    Daughter,” said the priest, bending over
  • Page 431:
    CHAPTER XXXV.
    CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  • Page 446:
    CHAPTER XXXVI.
    CHAPTER XXXIX.




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