UC-NRLF 
 
 
 
 
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 P* 
 
 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 The Estate of 
 Mrs. Sophie D. Browi 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 X > >* 
 
 
 x V 
 
 
THE FATE OF THE VERY GREATEST 
 
 I have sometimes amused myself by endeavoring to fancy 
 what would be the fate of an individual gifted, or rather accursed, 
 with an intellect very far superior to that of his race. Of course, he 
 would be conscious of his superiority; nor could he (if otherwise 
 constituted as man is) help manifesting his consciousness* Thus he 
 would make himself enemies at all points. And since his opinions 
 and speculations would widely differ from those of all mankind 
 that he would be considered a madman is evident. How horribly 
 painful such a condition I Hell could invent no greater torture than 
 that of being charged with abnormal weakness on account of being 
 abnormally strong. 
 
 In like manner, nothing can be clearer than that a very gen 
 erous spirit truly feeling what all merely profess must inevitably 
 find itself misconceived in every direction its motives misinterpreted. 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE. 
 
MADE BY 
 
 THE WERNER COMPANY 
 
 AKRON, OHIO 
 
O 
 
Centenarp <tition 
 
 The Complete tf^orks of 
 
 With Biography and 
 
 Introduction 
 
 by 
 
 NATHAN HASKELL DOLE 
 
 TEN VOLUMES 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 Clje dlerner Company 
 
Edition 
 
 tuition LtmtteU to nc 
 
 jBumftereU ^ete of tol)tc|) 
 is 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1908 
 
 BY 
 THE WERNER COMPANY 
 

 FOG 
 
 v.i 
 
 TALES 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUMB I. 
 
 BERENICE ........ 
 
 THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURE OF ONE HANS PFAALL 
 MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE ..... 
 
 THE ASSIGNATION ...... 
 
 MORELLA ........ 
 
 BON-BON ...*.... 
 
 LIONIZING ........ 
 
 THE DUG DE L OMELETTE ..... 
 
 SHADOW: A PARABLE ...... 
 
 LOSS OF BREATH . . . . . 
 
 KING PEST ........ 
 
 METZENGERSTEIN ...... 
 
 WILLIAM WILSON ....... 
 
 A TALE OF JERUSALEM ..... 
 
 FOUR BEASTS IN ONE ...... 
 
 THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER . . . 
 THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP Y . 
 
 PACE 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 I GO 
 Il6 
 134 
 143 
 l68 
 176 
 
 182 
 
 1 86 
 2O5 
 224 
 237 
 268 
 274 
 286 
 
 (vfl) 
 
 M877701 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 PACK 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE . . . . Frontispiece 
 
 ?T SEEMED TO ME THAT I HAD NEWLY AWAKENED 
 
 FROM A CONFUSED AND EXCITING DREAM . 1 8 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY STOOPED TO TAKE IT UP . . 26 
 I FOUND LITTLE DIFFICULTY IN GAINING THEM OVER 
 
 TO MY PURPOSE . . . . 70 
 HE PORED, WITH A FIERY, UNQUIET EYE OVER 
 
 A PAPER . I 12 
 
 AND THE SHADOW ANSWERED I "l AM SHADOW" 184 
 THE STEED BOUNDED FAR UP THE TOTTERING 
 
 STAIRCASES OF THE PALACE . . . 234 
 
 CAN I SHALL I DESCRIBE MY SENSATIONS? . . 260 
 
 1 MADMAN ! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS 
 
 WITHOUT THE DOOR" . . . . .312 
 
,. TTliffmiBil I I1UJJJJM 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE LIFE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN HASKELL DOLE 
 
 IT is a laudable canon of Criticism that 
 works of Art and Literature are to be 
 judged absolutely on their merits, with 
 out consideration of the character of their 
 originators. Some of the greatest pro 
 ductions of the human intellect are wholly anony 
 mous; of others little or nothing is known beyond 
 the names or dates of their authors. Time invari 
 ably veils all personality. The life-work, however 
 involved and entangled contemporarily with the life, 
 ultimately crystallizes out from the mixture and stands 
 alone. Nevertheless it is natural to desire to know 
 all we can about artists and writers, and there is 
 often much in their lives that throws light on the 
 origin and significance of what we read, see or 
 hear. 
 
 Edgar Allan Poe, whom Tennyson characterized 
 as "the most original genius that America has pro 
 duced," was born in Boston on the i9th of January, 
 1809. His paternal grandfather was General David Poe 
 
 (i) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 of Baltimore, whose services in the War of the Rev 
 olution brought him the friendship of La Fayette. 
 The family came from the north of Ireland. Poe and 
 his Providence affinity, Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, 
 liked to amuse themselves by tracing their pedigree 
 back to a common ancestor named Le Poers, who 
 went from Italy to France and from France across 
 the channel. Enthusiastic genealogists, especially 
 when they are in love, easily leap a gap of a gene 
 ration or two, made small by the perspective of 
 time. His father, the eldest of General Poe s five 
 sons, and the only one who married, left his home, 
 which was in Augusta, Georgia, and joined a com 
 pany of English actors, in 1804. When the director, 
 C. D. Hopkins, died the following year, David mar 
 ried his widow who, as Elizabeth Arnold, is said to 
 have been a remarkably talented dancer, singer and 
 actor. She had also a talent for painting. An ex 
 tant miniature gives an exquisite likeness of the 
 sylph-like creature, with her big bright eyes, her 
 vivacious expression, her curly hair clustering under 
 a quaint bonnet over a fair brow, her bodice cut low 
 and high-girdled. What the influence of this por 
 trait had upon her impressionable son may be easily 
 gathered from a perusal of his weird and delicately 
 imaginative lyrics. The "Virginia Comedians" ap 
 peared in various places, presenting various enter 
 tainment and finally arrived in Boston, where she 
 danced, sang and played before sympathetic aud 
 iences. David Poe was taken ill of consumption 
 and vanished from sight. A child, Rosalie, believed 
 
 (2) 
 

 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to have been posthumous, came to complicate the 
 poor mother s troubles. The exposures and priva 
 tions connected with the life of "strolling Thespians" 
 in those early days, when travel was rendered a 
 misery by slow and inconvenient conveyances, and 
 when the actors profession was considered far more 
 derogatory than it is at present, were too much 
 for Elizabeth Poe. After a heroic struggle to support 
 herself and her little family of three, she died early 
 in December at Richmond, where her company was 
 playing. Charity took charge of the children. Henry 
 had already been adopted by his grandfather; Rosalie 
 was taken by a Scotch family of Mackenzies who 
 kept a young ladies school; John Allan, a Scotchman, 
 at the urgent insistence of his wife, since they were 
 childless, but contrary to his own wishes, took Ed 
 gar, who was a bright, precocious boy. The Allans 
 were at the time in comparatively humble circum 
 stances and lived in rooms above the shop in which 
 he carried on trade. 
 
 Allan took his family to England in 1815, and 
 Edgar was put under the tuition of Dr. Bransby 
 at the Manor House School at Stoke Newington, 
 where all the associations were eminently historical 
 and literary. He visited Scotland and the Conti 
 nent. The influence of this environment may be 
 traced in his story of "William Wilson." Here he 
 began his classical education, which on his return 
 to America, five years later, was continued under 
 English professors until he entered the University of 
 Virginia in 1826. John Allan made an assignment 
 
 (3) 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 in 1822, but his fortunes were retrieved in 1825 when 
 he received a large share of the fortune of his uncle, 
 William Gait. He immediately bought a large house 
 and entered into the wider social life of Richmond, 
 then one of the most interesting and aristocratic cities 
 of the South. The son of Allan s partner long re 
 membered young Poe as "a very beautiful boy, yet 
 brave and manly for one so young ... a leader 
 among his playmates." His activity sometimes led 
 him into mischief. Once he was whipped by Allan for 
 having taken young Ellis into the woods and keep 
 ing him there till after dark; another time for having 
 shot some domestic fowls belonging to Judge Bushrod 
 Washington. He was fond of swimming, skating, 
 and playing games. He once swam seven miles in 
 the James, rivaling Byron s famous feat. He had a 
 talent for declamation, though it is said that as a lec 
 turer in later life he was not particularly eloquent. 
 He enjoyed taking part in private theatricals. The 
 story is told of his having once put on a mask and 
 a sheet and tried to frighten a company of gentle 
 men by appearing in the character of a ghost. Other 
 practical jokes are told of him. One of his school 
 mates called him a liar, and though he was generally 
 peaceable he resented the term and administered a 
 sound pummeling to his opponent, who was larger 
 and heavier than he. It is a moot point whether he 
 was "retiring in disposition and singularly unsociable 
 in manner" or fairly cordial and friendly with his 
 companions. 
 
 While at the Richmond Academy he had a boyish 
 
 (4) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 love affair which had a profound influence on his 
 development. The mother of one of his young friends 
 spoke kindly to him one day and filled his heart 
 with vague dreams. She immediately became his 
 confidante and her advice was frequently whole 
 some for him when thrown into temptation. After 
 her death in 1824 he used to haunt her grave. Her 
 memory is enshrined in many of his poems. Mrs. 
 Whitman wrote that the image of this lady, long and 
 tenderly and sorrowfully cherished, suggested the 
 stanzas "To Helen." Her real name was Jane a 
 name which he could not endure. Poe himself, shortly 
 before his death, spoke of the love that inspired 
 these almost perfect verses as "The one, idola 
 trous and purely ideal love of his passionate boy 
 hood." The title to the earlier version of "Lenore" 
 was " Helen." 
 
 He had another early and more practical love- 
 affair with a young lady named Sarah Elmirah Roys- 
 ter. He became engaged to her, but when he entered 
 the University his letters to her were intercepted by 
 her father who thought her too young for such an 
 entanglement. Years afterwards she wrote enthusi 
 astically of him, declaring that he was a gentleman 
 in every sense of the word and one of the most fas 
 cinating and refined men she had ever known. She 
 characterized his reticence, his sadness of expression, 
 his impulsive and enthusiastic nature, his strong preju 
 dices, his hatred of everything coarse and unrefined, 
 his generosity, his talent for drawing and his pas 
 sionate love for music. 
 
 (5) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 
 
 Poe had spent scarcely six months in his foster- 
 parents new home, when he was sent to Jefferson s 
 new University at Charlottesville. Of the eight pro 
 fessors six were foreign-born and men of high ac 
 complishments. It may have well been that Poe s 
 English training had specially fitted him in the lan 
 guages, for there is record of his skill in capping 
 Latin verses, and a voluntary translation which he 
 made from Tasso brought him a high compli 
 ment. He was fond of reading rather abstruse French 
 books. The freedom or license which Jefferson had 
 taken for the basis of the University training, had its 
 undoubted advantages, but the lack of supervision 
 was disastrous upon the life of such a youth as 
 Edgar Allan Poe. 
 
 Although many of the young men who were 
 Poe s college contemporaries rose to eminence, 
 yet there was unquestionably an unusual amount of 
 dissipation drinking, gambling and other riotous 
 conduct. Poe had more pocket-money than was 
 good for him, and while he took advantage of the 
 facilities afforded for study and debate he was Sec 
 retary of the JefTersonian Society and was reported 
 as excellent in the Senior Latin and Senior French 
 class there seems to be no doubt that he involved 
 himself seriously in so-called " debts of honor." When 
 he returned to Richmond he entered Allan s count 
 ing-room; but when that gentleman refused to sanc 
 tion Poe s debts amounting to about $2,000 they 
 quarreled and parted. Poe evidently went to Boston; 
 
 (6) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 for there, in 1827, was printed by Calvin F. S. Thomas, 
 a tiny forty-page booklet entitled "Tamerlane and 
 Other Poems by a Bostonian." On the back of a 
 picture which Poe s mother had painted she had in 
 scribed these words: "For my little son Edgar, 
 who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, 
 and where his mother found her best and most sympa 
 thetic friends." It may be that Edgar as it were in 
 stinctively returned to his birthplace in search of 
 some of these friends. It has been pointed out that 
 the names of some of them occur in Poe s earlier 
 stories. 
 
 In the preface to Tamerlane he says: "The 
 greater part of the poems which compose this little 
 volume were written in the year 1821-2, when the 
 author had not completed his fourteenth year. They 
 were of course not intended for publication; why 
 they are now published concerns no one but him 
 self. Of the smaller pieces very little need be said: 
 they perhaps savor too much of egotism; but they 
 were written by one too young to have any knowl 
 edge of the world but from his own breast. . . . 
 In Tamerlane he has endeavored to expose the 
 folly of even risking the best feelings of the heart 
 at the shrine of Ambition. He is conscious that in 
 this there are many faults (besides that of the 
 general character of the poem), which he flatters 
 himself he could, with little trouble, have corrected, 
 but unlike many of his predecessors he has been too 
 fond of his early productions to amend them in his 
 old age." 
 
 (7) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 He was eighteen years old! Forty copies of " Tam 
 erlane" were issued and most of these have disap 
 peared. When a supposed unique example turned 
 up, seventy-three years later, it was sold for more 
 than $2,500, so precious was this first flowering of 
 Poe s genius in this insignificant little brochure, des 
 tined to fall unheeded and unknown. Viewed in the 
 light of his later achievements, these crude, vague, yet 
 sometimes melodious trivialities have some interest. 
 How Poe got the money to print "Tamerlane" is 
 not known. His later disgust with Boston and the 
 Bostonians (whom he calls the Frogpondians) possibly 
 dates from this period. At Boston, this same year, 
 he enlisted as a private in the regular army under 
 the name of Edgar A. Perry. He gave his occupa 
 tion as that of a clerk, his age as twenty-two; the 
 record as existing in army documents describes his 
 height as five feet, eight inches, his eyes grey, his 
 hair brown and his complexion fair. The truth is, 
 if his own description may be taken as reliable, his 
 hair was black and wavy, generally worn long, of 
 "weblike softness and tenuity." His complexion, 
 he says, was cadaverous; he had thin and pallid 
 lips with a remarkably beautiful curve; his nose was 
 of a delicate Hebtew model but with abnormally 
 broad nostrils; his chin was finely moulded but 
 wanting moral energy. Bishop D. P. FitzGerald 
 describes him as a compact, well-set man, about five 
 feet six inches high, straight as an arrow, easy- 
 gaited, with white linen coat and trousers, black 
 
 (8) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 velvet vest and broad Panama hat, features sad yet 
 finely cut, shapely head and eyes that were strangely 
 magnetic as you looked into them. Others who 
 knew him spoke of his large, liquid and luminous 
 eyes. It has been claimed by phrenologists that; a 
 line dividing his face perpendicularly separated very 
 dissimilar halves, as if each expressed a different 
 side of his nature. 
 
 He served for a time in Fort Independence but by 
 the first of October was at Fort Moultrie, Charleston, 
 S. C., and a year later at Fortress Monroe in his be 
 loved Virginia. His attainments made him company 
 clerk and assistant in the commissariat department. 
 He was promoted on his merits to be sergeant-major. 
 His superiors testified to his "unexceptionable con 
 duct," his good habits, his exemplary deportment, his 
 promptness and fidelity in the discharge of his duties, 
 his admirable education and his excellent character. 
 Echoes of his army service are discoverable in his 
 stories, "The Gold Bug," "The Balloon Hoax" and 
 "The Man That Was Used Up." He communicated 
 with his foster-father in the early part of 1828 and a 
 few days after the death of Mrs. Allan was in Rich 
 mond on leave of absence. In April, he was honor 
 ably discharged from the service with the avowed 
 intention of entering West Point, where his classmate 
 John B. Magruder was already a cadet. This com 
 mission he secured through influential friends of John 
 Allan s, and he entered the Academy in July, 1830, 
 this time reporting his age as nineteen years and five 
 months. 
 
 (9) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 In the meantime he brought out his second vol 
 ume entitled "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor 
 Poems " under the imprint of Hatch & Dunning, of 
 Baltimore. It is described as a thin octavo of seventy- 
 one pages, bound in boards, crimson sprinkled, with 
 yellow linen back. "Tamerlane" was rewritten, but 
 was still left vague and abrupt. No one familiar 
 with the "Endymion" of the gifted Keats, written 
 undoubtedly at about the same relative age and pub 
 lished nine years before, can read the smooth-flow 
 ing inconsequentiality of "Al Aaraaf" without in 
 stantly recognizing where Poe found his model. There 
 are dozens of passages where the phrasing, the use 
 of epithets, the classical allusions, the turn of rhyme, 
 the rhythm, and the meaningless, meandering evolu 
 tions of graceful imagery, would allow them to be 
 dovetailed into "Endymion" with little break in con 
 tinuity and almost without detection, except by the 
 expert. 
 
 Poe in a letter to Neal said: " Al Aaraaf has 
 some good poetry and much extravagance which I 
 have not had time to throw away. Al Aaraaf is 
 a tale of another world the star discovered by 
 Tycho Brahe, which appeared and disappeared so 
 suddenly or rather, it is no tale at all." Such ara 
 besques of verse are characteristic of young genius. 
 " Al Aaraaf" is as far removed from the cameo direct 
 ness of Poe s later lyrics as "Endymion" is from 
 the chaste, classic simplicity of "Hyperion." 
 
 He did not include a short poem which was pub 
 lished in December, 1829, in "The Yankee and Bos- 
 
 (10) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ton Literary Gazette," edited by John Neal, of Port 
 land, Maine. This follows: 
 
 THE MAGICIAN 
 
 MAGICIAN 
 
 Thou dark, sea-stirring storm, 
 Whence comest thou in thy might 
 Nay wait, thou dim and dreamy form 
 Storm spirit, I call thee tis mine of right 
 Arrest thee in thy troubled flight. 
 
 STORM SPIRIT 
 
 Thou askest me whence I came 
 
 I came o er the sleeping sea, 
 
 It roused at my torrent of storm and flame, 
 
 And it howled aloud in its agony, 
 
 And swelled to the sky that sleeping sea. 
 
 Thou askest me what I met 
 
 A ship from the Indian shore, 
 
 A tall proud ship with her sails all set 
 
 Far down in the sea that ship I bore, 
 
 My storm s wild rushing wings before. 
 
 And her men will forever lie, 
 
 Below the unquiet sea ; 
 
 And tears will dim full many an eye 
 
 Of those who shall widows and orphans be, 
 
 And their days be years for their misery. 
 
 A boat with a starving crew 
 
 For hunger they howled and swore ; 
 
 While the blood from a fellow s veins they drew 
 
 I came upon them with rush and roar 
 
 Far under the waves that boat I bore. 
 
 (ID 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Two ships in a fearful fight 
 
 When a hundred guns did flash 
 
 I came upon them no time for flight 
 
 But under the sea their timbers crash 
 
 And over their guns the wild waters dash. 
 
 A wretch on a single plank 
 
 And I tossed him on the shore 
 
 A night and a day of the sea he d drank, 
 
 But the wearied wretch to the land I bore 
 
 And now he walketh the land once more. 
 
 MAGICIAN 
 
 Storm spirit go on thy path 
 The spirit has spread his wings 
 And comes on the sea with a rush of wrath, 
 As a war horse when he springs 
 And over the earth his winds he flings 
 And over the earth nor stop nor stay 
 The winds of the storm-king go out on their way. 
 
 (Signed) P 
 
 A foot note states that the punctuation through 
 out is the author s by desire. It might have said 
 lack of punctuation, for there is a decided dearth of 
 periods. 
 
 Neal prophesied great things from the young poet, 
 a part of whose manuscript he had seen; he cited 
 a number of characteristic extracts, and said of their 
 author: "With all their faults, if the remainder of 
 Al Aaraaf and Tamerlane are as good as the body 
 of the extracts here given to say nothing of the more 
 extraordinary parts, he will deserve to stand high-- 
 very high in the estimation of the shining brother 
 hood." 
 
 (12) 
 
->MMHHBOMMBMMIMMHMMMMMMHMBHWMMNBBR>- 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Poe was duly grateful for Neal s encomium which 
 he declared were the very first words of encourage 
 ment that he ever remembered to have heard, and 
 he took his Hannibal s oath that though he had 
 as yet not written the beautiful if not magnificent 
 poem which Neal expected of him, he was able to 
 do it provided time was given him. It is inter 
 esting to note that in the same number of "The 
 Yankee" appears one of Whittier s earliest poems, 
 not known apparently to any of his later editors or 
 biographers. 
 
 West Point provided Poe with a living. In his 
 studies he made an excellent record but the regu 
 larity of discipline was galling to him. It was recog 
 nized that he was an accomplished French scholar 
 and had a wonderful aptitude for mathematics, that 
 he was a devourer of books, but his neglect of the 
 ordinary routine of roll-calls, drills, and guard-duties 
 frequently subjected him to arrest and punishment. 
 
 He remained in this poet s prison only from July, 
 1830, until March, 1831, and was evidently delibe 
 rate in his intention of getting himself court-martialed 
 and expelled. Shortly after he left the Academy he 
 published his third volume through Elam Bliss of New 
 York. It was " respectfully dedicated" to the U. S. 
 Corps of Cadets and consisted of an introduction 
 in the form of a letter and eleven poems, occu 
 pying 124 duodecimo pages. Professor Harrison calls 
 attention to the interesting fact that Tennyson s 
 "Poems Chiefly Lyrical" was issued only a year 
 earlier and he says: "Certainly this collection con- 
 
 (13) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 tains nothing of finer edge or dreamier grace than 
 Poe s work, which was contemporary with it." 
 
 Four days after the decision of the court-martial 
 took effect Poe wrote a letter to Colonel Thayer, the 
 Superintendent of the Academy, begging him to use 
 his influence in assisting him to proceed to Paris and 
 secure through the Marquis de La Fayette an appoint 
 ment in the Polish army. What happened to him 
 during the next two years and a half is almost wholly 
 a matter of conjecture. In May, 1831, he wrote to 
 William Gwynn, editor of the "Federal Gazette and 
 Baltimore Daily Advertiser," whom he had met shortly 
 before his appointment to West Point, and begged him 
 to help him secure some employment, now that Mr. 
 Allan was married again and Richmond was no longer 
 his home. He was evidently in the vicinity of Bal 
 timore, since he gave as an excuse for not calling, 
 the fact that he was housed by a sprained knee. 
 A not wholly authenticated story asserts that Poe 
 spent that year in Baltimore with his aunt, Maria 
 Clemm, and was paying ardent court to a young 
 lady, who at first was fascinated by the handsome 
 young soldier and kept up an ardent correspondence 
 with him, the notes being exchanged through the in 
 termediary of his cousin Virginia, then a girl of ten. 
 He is said to have offered himself to her, but being- 
 penniless was refused. A lover s quarrel caused by 
 jealousy and indulgence in wine quenched this flame. 
 She refused to receive his letters and he retaliated 
 by writing satires on her character. This brought 
 about a personal encounter between Poe and Mary s 
 
 (H) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 uncle. This lady long years afterward visited Poe 
 and his dying wife at Fordham. Such is the story. 
 
 There is also a legend to the effect that Poe car 
 ried out his project of going abroad, that he went 
 to fight for the independence of Greece, that he wan 
 dered to Russia, that he fought a duel in France and 
 had other exciting adventures. This legend arose in 
 Poe s own time and he did not deny it; probably, with 
 his vivid imagination and his love of mystery, he 
 liked to have it abroad. 
 
 In the summer of 1833, "The Baltimore Visitor" 
 offered prizes of $100 for the best short story and of 
 $50 for the best poem. Poe submitted six tales and 
 the prize was awarded to the "MS. Found in a Bot 
 tle," though "A Descent Into the Maelstrom" was 
 a close second. His poem, "The Coliseum" would 
 have secured the prize for the verse competition had 
 it not seemed inexpedient to award both to one and 
 the same person. One of the judges who saw Poe 
 at the time, thus described him: "He was, if any 
 thing, below the middle size, and yet could not be 
 described as a small man. His figure was remark 
 ably good, and he carried himself erect and well, as 
 one who had been trained to it. He was dressed 
 in black, and his frock coat was buttoned to the 
 throat, where it met the black stock, then almost 
 universally worn. Not a particle of white was worn. 
 Coat, hat, boots and gloves had very evidently seen 
 their best days, but so far as mending and brushing 
 go, everything had been done, apparently, to make 
 them presentable. On most men his clothes would 
 
 (15) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 have looked shabby and seedy, but there was some 
 thing about this man that prevented one from criti 
 cising his garments. . . . Gentleman was writ 
 ten all over him. His manner was easy and quiet 
 and although he came to return thanks for what he 
 regarded as deserving them, there was nothing obse 
 quious in what he said or did." 
 
 About this time John P. Kennedy, who took an 
 interest in the young writer, invited him to dinner, 
 and in reply received this significant note: "Your 
 invitation to dinner has wounded me to the quick. 
 I cannot come for reasons of the most humiliating 
 nature my personal appearance. You may imagine 
 my mortification in making this disclosure to you, 
 but it is necessary." Kennedy gave him clothing 
 and other comfort and, to use his own words, 
 "brought him up from the very verge of despair." 
 
 The next March, John Allan died, leaving three 
 children by his second wife. But of his large for 
 tune which Poe states to have been $750,000 not 
 a cent was bequeathed to the young man for whose 
 early training he was responsible. He never forgave 
 him. 
 
 Poe wrote Kennedy, the following November, that 
 he was wholly penniless and begged him to arrange, 
 if possible, for Carey & Lea to advance a small sum in 
 consideration of the "Tales of the Arabesque" which 
 he had submitted to that firm of Philadelphia pub 
 lishers, after his prize story had created such a sen 
 sation. On the strength of it he had apparently 
 married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who was only 
 
 (16) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 fourteen, though on the marriage bond, still pre 
 served, her age is stated "of the full age of twenty- 
 one years." Misstating ages seems to have been one 
 of the Poe failings. 
 
 Kennedy performed the good office which Poe 
 requested. Carey & Lea agreed to publish the book 
 and suggested that they be permitted to offer some 
 of the tales to various magazines. This was done, 
 and Poe received small sums from this source. Ken 
 nedy also secured for Poe a chance to do literary 
 work for T. W. White, who had just established 
 "The Southern Literary Messenger" at Richmond. 
 His work was so satisfactory that he was asked to 
 become its assistant editor. His salary was at first 
 at the rate of $10 a week, afterwards increased to 
 $800 a year with the promise of still more. After 
 his removal to Richmond he seems to have a period 
 of great depression of spirits. He wrote Kennedy a 
 letter full of despair and hinting at the possibility of 
 committing suicide. "I am wretched" he wrote, 
 "and know not why. Console me for you can. 
 But let it be quickly or it will be too late. Write 
 me immediately. Convince me that it is worth one s 
 while, that it is at all necessary to live, and you 
 will prove yourself indeed my friend. Persuade me 
 to do what is right." 
 
 Although he was working indefatigably for the 
 "Messenger," one can see from contemporary letters 
 that his enemy, Strong Drink, was again getting the 
 better of him. White tells him most affectionately 
 to beware of the bottle. "No man is safe " he says, 
 
 (17) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 " who drinks before breakfast." The office of "The 
 Messenger" was near his foster-father s old tobacco 
 factory, a most trying juxtaposition. Poe and his 
 young wife, with Mrs. Clemm, after lodging for a 
 while decided to keep house and take boarders, bor 
 rowing the money to furnish their modest establish 
 ment. 
 
 Kennedy again come to his aid and gave him also 
 good advice about cheerfulness, early rising, working 
 methodically and frequenting the best company only." 
 "Be rigidly temperate both in body and mind" he 
 wrote "and I will ensure you at a moderate premium 
 all the success and comfort you covet." 
 
 This was indeed the crisis of Poe s life. He was 
 not able to meet it. White dismissed him in De 
 cember, 1836. During his editorship the circulation 
 had increased more than seven-fold. He had con 
 tributed an extraordinary number of stories, poems 
 and criticisms, many of which are regarded as his 
 masterpieces. And yet, owing to his unfortunate dis 
 ease, for it is the general consensus of expert opinion 
 that his susceptibility to the effect of alcohol was 
 due to a lesion of the brain, he was unable to retain 
 a position which he had filled so admirably and which 
 promised such brilliant rewards. 
 
 He seems to have gone first to New York, where 
 he wrote "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," 
 a Poesque, De Foesque bit of imaginative realism. 
 His little family found shelter in a "wretched wooden 
 shanty" on Carmine Street a suggestive name. 
 One of the boarders whom they took to help eke 
 
 (18) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 out their meager income, declares that he never, 
 during eight months or more, saw Poe the least affected 
 with liquor or descend to any known vice. He 
 described the girl-wife as "of matchless beauty and 
 loveliness." "Her eyes" he said "could match that 
 of any houri, and her face defy the genius of a Canova 
 to imitate; a temper and disposition of surpassing 
 sweetness. She had rare musical powers and a beauti 
 ful voice." 
 
 About this time William E. Burton, a Philadelphia 
 actor and theatrical manager, was also the proprie 
 tor of the "Gentleman s Magazine." Poe went to 
 Philadelphia in May, 1838, and while there wrote 
 a letter to Burton offering his services as editor. 
 Burton was pleased and promised him $10 a week 
 for the rest of the year, adding in his reply: 
 "Should we remain together, which I see no reason 
 to negative, your proposition shall be in force 
 for 1840. A month s notice to be given on either 
 side previous to a separation. Two hours a day, 
 except occasionally, will, I believe, be sufficient for 
 all required, except in the production of any article 
 of your own. At all events, you could easily find 
 time for any other light avocation." He adds: 
 "I shall dine at home to-day. If you will cut your 
 mutton with me, good. If not, write or see me at 
 your leisure." 
 
 The result was that the Poes removed to Phila 
 delphia, which was their home for six years. They 
 lived in a small brick tenement on North Seventh 
 Street, cheaply but tastefully furnished, and provided 
 
 (19) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 with ample space for a garden. His duties consisted 
 in " proof-reading, alteration and preparation of man 
 uscripts, with compilation of articles, such as plate 
 articles, field sports, etc." This, together with his 
 own contributions, kept him so busy that he con 
 fessed himself unable to find the time for preparing 
 a criticism of Washington Irving for the first num 
 ber of the "Baltimore American Museum," though in 
 his letter to its editor he said: "It is a theme upon 
 which I should very much like to write, for there is a 
 vast deal to be said upon it. Irving is much overrated, 
 and a nice distinction might be drawn between his 
 just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation 
 between what is due to the pioneer solely and what 
 to the writer. The merit, too, of his tame propriety 
 and faultlessness of style should be candidly weighed." 
 He added the pleasant news that he had got nearly 
 out of his late embarrassments. 
 
 One of the Foes Philadelphia friends bears wit 
 ness to the idyllic life which they enjoyed in their 
 flower-adorned home. Of his wife, even then be 
 ginning to fade away, this writer says: "She was 
 an exquisite picture of patient loveliness, always 
 wearing upon her beautiful countenance the smile 
 of resignation, and the warm, ever-cheerful look with 
 which she ever greeted her friends." Even Rufus 
 W. Griswold who met him first at this time bears 
 witness to Poe s gentlemanly qualities: "He was 
 usually dressed with simplicity and elegance," he 
 says, "and when once he sent for me to visit him 
 during a period of illness caused by protracted and 
 
 (20) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 anxious watching at the side of his sick wife, I was 
 impressed by the singular neatness and the air of 
 refinement in his home." C. W. Alexander, the pub 
 lisher of "The Gentleman s Magagine," spoke of the 
 "uniform gentleness of disposition and kindness of 
 heart which distinguished him." 
 
 Among the avocations which Poe undertook, dur 
 ing his first year in Philadelphia, was the prepara 
 tion of "The Conchologist s First Book." This 
 work, for which the title-page makes Poe solely re 
 sponsible, was in reality a revival of an expensive 
 book published by a Professor Wyatt through the 
 Harpers. It had not been successful and Poe s name 
 was "put to it" as best known and most likely to 
 aid its circulation. Professor Harrison, Poe s best 
 and most lenient biographer says: "Poe s course 
 in the composition of this work up to page twenty 
 was undoubtedly irregular and reprehensible in not 
 calling attention to the fact that the first twenty 
 pages of the work, including preface, introduction 
 and explanation of the shells, were a paraphrase of 
 Captain Thomas Brown s Conchologist s Text-Book 
 published in Glasgow in 1837, whence also Poe s 
 plates were drawn. . . . Wyatt engaged the 
 poet to popularize the work and issue an edition 
 under his own (Poe s) name. Wyatt sold the book 
 himself and is, jointly with Poe, responsible for it 
 and its exhibition of moral obliquity." 
 
 This year, 1859, was also signalized by the pub 
 lication of the first two volume edition of the "Tales 
 of the Grotesque and Arabesque " through Lea & 
 
 (21) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Blanchard of Philadelphia. Of these Professor Harri 
 son says: 
 
 "At thirty years of age, before George Eliot or 
 Emerson, or, one might say, Walter Scott, had be 
 gun to write, Poe had produced most of the prose 
 and much of the verse upon which his enduring 
 fame will rest. All the Poe types reveal themselves 
 in these volumes and stand befere us in statuesque 
 perfection. . ., . What Poe did in the remaining 
 decade of his life was to refine, polish, amplify this 
 already ample achievement, and to add those inimit 
 able jingle poems which Emerson, having no sense 
 of rhythm himself, strove vainly to sneer out of ex 
 istence with an epithet. To have accomplished all 
 this in three decades, handicapped as Poe was by 
 disease, illness, poverty, want, and persecution, was 
 to achieve a high and noble distinction that places 
 him even above the young immortals, Keats and 
 Andre Chenier, who possessed solely the gift of song." 
 
 Poe soon quarreled with Burton. Passages from 
 a letter which he wrote Burton in June seem to ex 
 plain the cause: Poe had the ambition to establish 
 a magazine of his own. His correspondence all his 
 life long is full of plans for carrying out such a 
 scheme. Burton suspected him, apparently, of un 
 derhanded conduct in securing a possible list of sub 
 scribers from Burton s list. Poe wrote that Burton s 
 attempts to bully him excited only his mirth, and ad 
 vised him to preserve the dignity of a gentleman 
 when he addressed him again. He said: 
 
 "As usual, you have wrought yourself into a pas- 
 
 (22) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 sion with me on account of some imaginary wrong; for 
 no real injury, or attempt at injury, have you ever 
 received at my hands. As I live, I am utterly unable 
 to say why you are angry, or what true grounds of 
 complaint you have against me. You are a man of 
 impulses; have made yourself, in consequence, some 
 enemies; have been in many respects ill-treated by 
 those whom you had looked upon as friends and 
 these things have rendered you suspicious. You 
 once wrote in your magazine a sharp critique upon 
 a book of mine a very silly book Pym. Had I 
 written a similar criticism upon a book of yours, you 
 feel that you would have been my enemy for life, 
 and you therefore imagine in my bosom a latent hos 
 tility towards yourself. This has been a mainspring 
 in your whole conduct towards me since our first 
 acquaintance. It has acted to prevent all cordiality. 
 "In a general view of human nature your idea is just 
 but you will find yourself puzzled in judging me by 
 ordinary motives. Your criticism was essentially cor 
 rect, and therefore, although severe, it did not oc 
 casion in me one solitary emotion either of anger or 
 dislike. But even while I write these words, I am 
 sure you will not believe them. Did I not think 
 you, in spite of the exceeding littleness of some of 
 your hurried actions, a man of many honorable im 
 pulses, I would not now take the trouble to send 
 you this letter. I cannot permit myself to suppose 
 that you would say to me in cool blood what you 
 said in your letter of yesterday. You are of course, 
 only mistaken in asserting that I owe you a hundred 
 
 (23) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 dollars, and you will rectify the mistake at once 
 when you come to look at your accounts." 
 
 He goes on to detail what he had done for the 
 magazine, proving that he had contributed not less 
 than ten pages a month during the year. His letter 
 ends with these words: 
 
 "Upon the whole I am not willing to admit 
 that you have greatly overpaid me. That I did not 
 do four times as much as I did for the magazine 
 was your own fault. At first I wrote long articles 
 which you deemed inadmissible, and never did I 
 suggest any to which you had not some immediate 
 and decided objection. Of course I grew discour 
 aged, and could feel no interest in the journal. 
 
 " I am at loss to know why you call me selfish. If 
 you mean that I borrowed money of you you know 
 that you offered it, and you know that I am poor. In 
 what instance has anyone ever found me selfish ? Was 
 there selfishness in the affront which I offered Ben 
 jamin (whom I respect, and who spoke well of me), 
 because I deemed it a duty not to receive commen 
 dation at your expense ? . . Place yourself in my 
 situation and see whether you would not have acted 
 as I have done. You first enforced, as you say, a 
 reduction of salary; giving me to understand thereby 
 that you thought of parting company. You next 
 spoke disrespectfully of me behind my back this 
 as an habitual thing to those whom you supposed 
 your friends, and who punctually retailed to me, as 
 a matter of course, every ill-natured word which you 
 uttered. Lastly you advertised your magazine for 
 
 (24) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 sale without saying a word to me about it. I felt no 
 anger at what you did none in the world. Had 
 I not firmly believed it your design to give up your 
 journal, with a view of attending to the theatre, 1 
 should never have dreamed of attempting one of my 
 own. The opportunity of doing something for my 
 self seemed a good one (and I was about to be 
 thrown out of business) and I embraced it. Now I 
 ask you as a man of honor and as a man of sense 
 what is there wrong in all this? What have I done 
 at which you have any right to take offense?" 
 
 There seems to have been no claim that Poe 
 neglected his duties as Burton s associate editor. 
 During his years in Philadelphia he was habitually 
 temperate. His mother-in-law testified that for years 
 he did not taste even a glass of wine. Two years 
 later he wrote Dr. J. E. Snodgrass of Baltimore, com 
 plaining bitterly of Burton s treatment of him and 
 threatening to sue him for malicious libel, though 
 he was afraid that Burton would bring a counter 
 suit since he had " always told him to his face, and 
 everybody else, that he looked upon him as a black 
 guard and a villain." Speaking of his own habits 
 he said: 
 
 " You will never be brought to believe that 1 
 could write what I daily write, as I write it, were I as 
 this villain would induce those who know me not, 
 to believe. In fine, I pledge you, before God, the 
 solemn word of a gentleman, that I am temperate 
 even to rigor. From the hour in which I first saw 
 this basest of calumniators to the hour in which 
 
 (25) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 I retired from his office in uncontrollable disgust 
 at his chicanery, arrogance, ignorance and brutality, 
 nothing stronger than water ever passed my lips. 
 
 "It is, however, due to candor that I inform you 
 upon what foundations he has erected his slanders. 
 At no period of my life was I ever what men call 
 intemperate. I never was in the habit of intoxica 
 tion. I never drank drams, etc. But, for a period, 
 while I resided in Richmond and edited the Mes 
 senger, 1 certainly did give way, at long intervals, 
 to the temptation held out on all sides by the spirit 
 of Southern conviviality. My sensitive temperament 
 could not stand an excitement which was an every 
 day matter to my companions. In short, it some 
 times happened that I was completely intoxicated. 
 For some days after each excess I was invariably 
 confined to bed. But it is now quite four years 
 since 1 have abandoned every kind of alcoholic 
 drink four years, with the exception of a single 
 deviation, which occurred shortly after my leaving 
 Burton, and when I was induced to the occasional 
 use of cider, with the hope of relieving a nervous 
 attack. ... I have now only to repeat to you, 
 in general, my solemn assurance that my habits are 
 as far removed from intemperance as the day from 
 the night. My sole drink is water." 
 
 In 1841, George R. Graham bought Burton s month 
 ly and combined it with his own "Casket," under the 
 title of "Graham s Magazine." Poe, whose scheme 
 of a personal journal to be called "The Penn Month 
 ly" had not materialized, was engaged as its editor 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and its circulation almost immediately increased from 
 5,000 to 57,000, and it enlisted all of the best writers 
 of the time. Poe himself contributed to it some of 
 his finest pieces in prose and verse, though many of 
 them were redactions of what had appeared else 
 where. He was editor until April, 1843. It is 
 stated that he left the magazine in a fit of pique 
 because, having been absent for a short time, owing 
 to illness or some other cause, when he returned he 
 found Rufus W. Griswold acting as his substitute. 
 Graham himself denied afterwards that he had dis 
 charged him. He simply walked out at seeing the 
 interloper and could not be persuaded to enter the 
 office again. Nevertheless, he still continued to write 
 for "Graham s," his contributions amounting to not 
 less than fifty all told. His written excuse for leav 
 ing was as follows: "My reason for resigning 
 was disgust with the namby-pamby character of the 
 magazine a character which it was impossible to 
 eradicate. I allude to the contemptible pictures, 
 fashion plates, music and love tales. The salary, 
 moreover, did not pay me for the labour which I 
 was forced to bestow." 
 
 He immediately began to lay plans again for his 
 own magazine, and this time it was to be called 
 "The Stylus." At the suggestion of his friend F. 
 W. Thomas, he also went to Washington with the 
 hope of securing some small government position. 
 But here once more he fell under the old temptation. 
 He was in despair; his beloved wife had ruptured a 
 blood vessel and was hopelessly ill. 
 
 (27) 
 
 6 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 "At each accession of the disorder " he confessed in 
 a letter written six years later, "I loved her more dear 
 ly and clung to her life with more desperate pertinacity. 
 But I am constitutionally sensitive nervous in a 
 very unusual degree. I became insane with long in 
 tervals of horrible sanity. During these fits [of ab 
 solute unconsciousness, I drank God only knows 
 how often or how much. As a matter of course my 
 enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather 
 than the drink to the insanity." 
 
 To Mrs. Whitman he wrote: "I have abso 
 lutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I some 
 times so madly indulge. It has not been in the 
 pursuit of pleasure that I have imperiled life and 
 reputation and reason. It has been in the desperate 
 attempt to escape from torturing memories." 
 
 In April, 1844, Poe took his wife and her mother 
 to New York for the second time. Here he still 
 cherished his hope of publishing "The Stylus" and 
 he secured promises of contributors and advance sub 
 scribers. He almost persuaded Dr. T. H. Chivers to 
 join him in this quixotic enterprise. Chivers was the 
 Southern poet who afterwards claimed to have first 
 evolved the peculiar rhythm characteristic of "The 
 Raven." Chivers had a little fortune and was not averse 
 to expending it in a venture with a man who stood 
 for him as the very incarnation of genius. He was not 
 blind to his faults, however, and in commenting on his 
 prospectus cautioned him not to be so fierce in his 
 criticisms. In a letter written in 1840 he said: "In 
 the Paradise of Literature I do not know one better 
 
 (28) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 calculated than yourself to prune the young scions of 
 their exuberant thoughts. In some instances, let me 
 remark, you seem to me to lay aside the pruning- 
 knife for the tomahawk, and not only to lop off the 
 redundant limbs, but absolutely to eradicate the whole 
 tree." 
 
 Poe took himself seriously as a critic and, as he 
 had formulated a certain canon of comparison, he was 
 often exceedingly severe, though he was also just. 
 His tendency to use the bludgeon naturally incensed 
 the petty authors of the day, who were as vulner 
 able in their conceit as they were in their produc 
 tions. Poe could not fail to raise about his head a 
 swarm of venomous enemies. 
 
 When he reached New York with his sick wife, 
 after an all day s journey, he found a cheap board 
 ing-house near Cedar Street on the West Side. In 
 his letter to Mfe. ; -Clemm he expressed himself as 
 greatly delighted with the board. He writes in 
 homely enthusiasm of his first supper and break 
 fast : "The nicest tea you ever drank, strong and 
 hot, the tea-cakes (elegant), a great dish (two dishes) 
 of elegant ham and two of cold veal, piled up like 
 a mountain, and large slices; and everything in the 
 greatest profusion." He declared that he and "Sis" 
 were "in excellent spirits" and yet, poor things, he 
 had only four dollars and a half left. 
 
 He found an engagement as "mechanical para- 
 graphist" on N. P. Willis s "Evening Mirror" and by 
 September writes that he is living about five miles out 
 of the city, Virginia s health being extremely precarious. 
 
 (29) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Willis wrote of his association with him in the highest 
 terms of appreciation, pitying him for being obliged 
 to occupy a subordinate position, praising his wil 
 lingness to carry out any suggestion. "He was in 
 variably punctual and industrious" he says. "With 
 his pale, beautiful and intellectual face, as a reminder 
 of what genius was in him, it was impossible, of 
 course, not to treat him always with deferential 
 courtesy, and to our occasional request that he would 
 not probe too deep in a criticism, or that he would 
 erase a passage coloured too highly with his resent 
 ment against society and mankind, he readily and 
 courteously assented far more yielding than most 
 men, we thought, on points so excusably sensitive. 
 With a prospect of taking the lead in another peri 
 odical, he at last voluntarily gave up his employ 
 ment with us, and, through all this considerable period, 
 we had seen but one presentment of the man a 
 quiet, patient, industrious and most gentlemanly per 
 son, commanding the utmost respect and good feel 
 ing by his unvarying deportment and ability." 
 
 He published in "The Sun" his famous "Bal 
 loon Hoax" which like his " Pym " was accepted as 
 genuine. Years before "The Sun" had published a 
 "Moon Hoax" which Poe claimed was suggested 
 by his story "Hans Pfaall s Journey to the Moon." 
 . . . Professor Harrison says " The Balloon Hoax 
 produced a prodigious sensation, and once more Poe 
 rode Triton-like, on the crest of a wave of popularity, 
 blowing his horn and scattering the spray of his 
 laughter in the faces of the gullible." During that 
 
 (30) 
 

 INTRODUCTION 
 
 same year, 1844, besides writing a number of tren 
 chant reviews and several stories he made the 
 acquaintance of James Russell Lowell, which at first 
 promised to become a warm friendship but later de 
 veloped into mutual coldness. In one of his letters to 
 Lowell he names as his best poems, though criticising 
 them as " hurried and unconsidered," " The Sleeper," 
 "The Conqueror Worm," "The Haunted Palace," 
 "Lenore," "Dreamland," and "The Coliseum"; and 
 as his best tales, "Ligeia," "The Gold-Bug," "The 
 Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Fall of the 
 House of Usher," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The 
 Black Cat," " William Wilson " and " A Descent Into 
 the Maelstrom." 
 
 In 1845, Charles F. Briggs and John Bisco estab 
 lished "The Broadway Magazine" and, in November, 
 Poe became associated with it. Lowell introduced 
 Poe to Briggs who at first took kindly to him, though 
 he confessed to grave prejudice against him, due 
 to Griswold s report. Briggs took umbrage at Poe s 
 attack on Longfellow and soon began to undervalue 
 his criticisms, charging that they were "so verbal and 
 so purely selfish that he could no longer have any 
 sympathy with him." He also charged him with 
 drunkenness. The weekly was temporarily sus 
 pended, then it was resumed with Poe in Briggs s 
 place as editor and finally, in October, he bought Bis- 
 co s interest in it for the munificent sum of $50 ! 
 He tried to borrow the money of both Griswold and 
 Kennedy. He saw a fortune in the enterprise. This 
 was a somewhat different proposition from the " large 
 
 (31) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 octavo of 128 pages printed in bold type, single 
 column, on the finest paper" and "circulating 20,000 
 copies at $5.00, with a profit of $70,000" which Poe 
 had outlined. Of course even with Poe s popularity it 
 was foredoomed to fail. And yet Poe had just pub 
 lished "The Raven" concerning which Briggs wrote 
 to Lowell " Everybody has been raven-mad about 
 his last poem." Willis declared that in his opinion 
 it was the most effective single example of "fugitive 
 poetry" ever published in this country and unsur 
 passed in English poetry for subtle conception, mas 
 terly ingenuity of versification and consistent sustaining 
 of imaginative lift." It flew across the Atlantic and 
 was there enthusiastically received. It is said that Poe 
 took it in its earliest form to Graham, telling him that his 
 wife and Mrs. Clemm were starving and that he was 
 in pressing need of money. Several who read it 
 then and there condemned the poem but contributed 
 as a charity the fifteen dollars which he received for it. 
 From the self-sufficiency of Poe s literary criticisms 
 it was only a step to his wild delusion that most of 
 his contemporaries plagiarized from him. He thus 
 involved himself in a controversy in which the 
 tables were turned. He also made sport of that 
 sacred movement, Boston transcendentalism, and won 
 still more enemies. Nor did he better himself by 
 the fiasco that he made in Boston, in October, when, 
 instead of delivering a lecture before the Lyceum as 
 he had been engaged to do, he disappointed his 
 audience by reading "Al Aaraaf" and "The Raven." 
 This year was made notable by the publication of a 
 
 (32) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 revised edition of his poems with "The Raven" as 
 the title-piece. The "Broadway Journal," in spite 
 of all Poe s efforts, died. He appealed in vain for 
 pecuniary assistance. He was obliged to relinquish 
 the enterprise which seemed to promise so well, and 
 retire from the city where he had made a reputation 
 as a brilliant talker and a world-poet. He found oc 
 cupation in writing for "Godey s Lady s Book " a series 
 of critical articles on his contemporaries. These were 
 entitled " The Literati " and they attracted wide at 
 tention. One of them relating to Thomas Dunn 
 English brought a libelous response. Poe sued Eng 
 lish and was awarded $225. This sum it is sup 
 posed he spent in furnishing the little cottage at 
 Fordham. This house, which was shingled and stood 
 with its gable end toward the street, had only three 
 rooms, but it was " pleasantly situated on a little eleva 
 tion in a large open space, with cherry trees about it." 
 Here, Poe, submerged in the deepest poverty and 
 heart-breaking misery, watched his young wife s pass 
 ing life. Here he proposed and probably began to 
 extend the plan of his Literati into "a book on Ameri 
 can letters generally." But it was not completed 
 and the MS. was afterwards lost while in Griswold s 
 hands. A report of the sad condition of the Poes 
 was circulated in the press and an attempt was made 
 to aid them. Poe was mortified and tried to make 
 the best of his situation. Mrs. Gove-Nichols 
 visited them and left a pathetic picture of the doomed 
 family: It was Autumn. "There was no clothing 
 on the bed, which was only straw, but a snow- 
 
 (33) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 white counterpane and sheets. The weather was cold, 
 and the sick lady had the dreadful chills that accom 
 pany the hectic fever of consumption. She lay on 
 the straw bed, wrapped in her husband s great-coat, 
 with a large tortoise-shell cat in her bosom. The 
 wonderful cat seemed conscious of her great useful 
 ness. The coat and the cat were the sufferer s only 
 means of warmth; except as her husband held her 
 hands, and her mother her feet." 
 
 Virginia died on the thirtieth of January, 1847. 
 Poe, who has been called "the greatest Artist of 
 Death " is said to have arisen night after night from 
 his sleepless pillow and gone to the grave of his 
 lost Lenore. Under the spell of his sorrow he wrote 
 "Ulalume." But nevertheless, after his friends had 
 paid his debts and he had recovered from his attack 
 of brain fever, his correspondence shows that his 
 ambition soon awakened again. He was making an 
 earnest effort to be abstemious; his health was im 
 proving. He wrote some unknown friend that he 
 was done with drinking forever. Less than a year 
 from the death of Virginia he declared that he had 
 never been so well. The project of a new maga 
 zine had cropped up again and he was proposing 
 to go South on a lecture tournee using his chances 
 to secure subscribers. He wrote to John Neal with 
 a view of lecturing in Portland; he also tried to se 
 cure a hall and an audience of 300 in New York 
 City all with the same end to start his many- 
 times postponed " Stylus." He also wrote his trans 
 cendental prose poem "Eureka," which he tried to 
 
 (34) 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 induce Putnam to print in an edition of 50,000 cop 
 ies. What was more, he was rapidly falling in love 
 with Mrs. Whitman. He had once refused to meet 
 her, but having heard about her "eccentricities and 
 sorrows " and having received a poetic valentine 
 from her he wrote her: " A profound sympathy took 
 immediate possession of my soul. I cannot better 
 explain to you what I felt than by saying that your 
 unknown heart seemed to pass into my bosom 
 there to dwell forever while mine, I thought, was 
 translated into your own. From that hour I loved 
 
 you 
 
 A little later he was assuring her of his eager 
 desire to hold her close to his heart, and recalling to 
 her how, when they had taken a walk together, the 
 bitter, bitter tears had sprung into his eyes and he 
 cried "Helen, I love tiow now for the first and 
 only time." 
 
 In October of that year 1848, he wrote her: 
 "By the God who reigns in Heaven, I swear to you 
 that my soul is incapable of dishonor that, with 
 the exception of occasional follies and excesses which 
 1 bitterly lament but to which I have been driven 
 by intolerable sorrow, and which are hourly com 
 mitted by others without attracting any notice what 
 ever I can call to mind no act of my life which 
 would bring a blush to my cheek or to yours. If 
 I have erred at all in this regard, it has been on the 
 side of what the world would call a quixotic sense 
 of the honorable of the chivalrous. The indul 
 gence of this sense has been the true voluptuous- 
 
 (35) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ness of my life. It was for this species of luxury 
 that in early youth I deliberately threw away from 
 me a large fortune rather than endure a trivial wrong. 
 Ah! how profound is my love for you, since it forces 
 me into these egotisms for which you will inevitably 
 despise me. 
 
 On the contrary, Mrs. Whitman, who was equally 
 sentimental engaged herself to Poe and would have 
 married him, had not her friends made her see the 
 folly of so rash a step. 
 
 Some of Poe s letters to his " kindest best friend" 
 Marie Louise Shew, look a little as if a slight en 
 couragement would have inflamed his susceptible 
 heart in that quarter also. It is notable that this 
 Mrs. Shew, who had come as a good angel to help the 
 distressed family and staid on, not only suggested 
 to Poe the theme of "The Bells," but also actually, in 
 pretending to mimic his style, gave him the start for 
 each stanza of the earliest form of the poem. It con 
 sisted at first of eighteen lines, but it was not pub 
 lished until it had been rewritten at least twice, and 
 then not until six months after its author s death. 
 
 Poe is said to have written "Annabel Lee" in 
 response to a poem of Mrs. Whitman s entitled "The 
 Island of Dreams." 
 
 Still another of the lovely women to whom Poe 
 was devoted in the last year of his life, was Mrs. S. D. 
 Lewis, whom he celebrated as "Stella." Poe called 
 her " the best educated, if not the most accomplished 
 of American authoresses." Poe wrote his "Enigma" 
 to her. Her name is hidden in the lines. He also 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 became acquainted with Annie Richmond of West- 
 ford, when he went to Lowell to lecture. To her 
 he addressed a poem which has hidden meaning. 
 
 All sorts of disappointments overwhelmed him. 
 Magazines on which he placed reliance failed; some 
 of his articles were lost in the mails. He wrote 
 Annie Richmond that he was full of dark forebodings, 
 that his life seemed wasted, but he declared that he 
 would struggle on and hope against hope. 
 
 He went to make a visit in Richmond. He told 
 Mrs. Lewis that he had a presentiment that he should 
 never see her again. At Philadelphia he stayed with 
 j. Sartain, who published a magazine. He was pos 
 sessed with the notion that some foe was pursuing 
 him. He wanted to borrow a razor to remove his 
 moustache and disguise himself. It was long before 
 ne found rest from his disordered fancies. When he 
 reached Richmond his fame had preceded him, and 
 for ten weeks he was feted and royally entertained. 
 He delivered several lectures and recited his "Raven." 
 He renewed old friendships and, what was more ex 
 traordinary, became once more engaged to the old 
 flame of his University and Academy days, Sarah 
 Elmirah Royster, then the widow of a man named 
 Shelton. At Richmond, Poe took the temperance 
 pledge which was so soon and so fatally broken. On 
 his way back to New York he stopped in Baltimore; in 
 some unknown way he fell in with evil companions, 
 who may or may not have drugged and robbed him of 
 the $1,500 which he is said to have made in Richmond. 
 He was taken to the hospital and there, after declar- 
 
 (37) 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ing that the best thing his best friend could do would 
 be to blow his brains out with a pistol, he died on 
 the seventh of October. His last words were " Lord 
 help my poor soul." 
 
 Such was the distressful life of Edgar Allan Poe. 
 The world has long since recognized his transcend 
 ent genius. It has seen in his sad failings rather the 
 result of environment and circumstance than of any 
 deliberate breaking of moral law; it was disease and 
 not sin prepense. All that is forgotten and forgiven. 
 His works are accepted as a splendid legacy of lit 
 erature. In them there is not a line to erase. They 
 are full of lofty purity and fine imagination. They 
 will live. 
 
 (38) 
 
BERENICE 
 
 Dicebant mihi sodales, si sepulchrum arnicas visitarem, 
 curas meas aliquantulum fore levatas. EBN ZAIAT. 
 
 ISERY is manifold. The wretchedness of 
 IV /I earth is multiform. Overreaching the 
 
 I y I wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues 
 
 are as various as the hues of that arch 
 as distinct too, yet as intimately 
 blended. Overreaching the wide horizon as the rain 
 bow! How is it that from beauty I have derived a 
 type of unloveliness ? from the covenant of peace, 
 a simile of sorrow? But, as in ethics, evil is a 
 consequence of good, so, in fact, out of joy is sorrow 
 born. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish 
 of to-day, or the agonies which are, have their origin 
 in the ecstasies which MIGHT HAVE BEEN. 
 
 My baptismal name is Egaeus ; that of my family I 
 will not mention. Yet there are no towers in the land 
 more time-honored than my gloomy, gray, hereditary 
 halls. Our line has been called a race of visionaries ; 
 and in many striking particulars-^ the character 
 of the family mansion, in the frescoes of the chief 
 saloon, in the tapestries of the dormitories, in the 
 chiselling of some buttresses in the armory, but more 
 especially in the gallery of antique paintings, in the 
 fashion of the library chamber, and, lastly, in the 
 
 i 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 very peculiar nature of the library s contents there 
 is more than sufficient evidence to warrant the be 
 lief. 
 
 The recollection of my earliest years are connected 
 with that chamber, and with its volumes of which 
 latter I will say no more. Here died my mother. 
 Herein was I born. But it is mere idleness to say 
 that I had not lived before that the soul has no 
 previous existence. You deny it? let us not argue 
 the matter. Convinced myself, I seek not to convince. 
 There is, however, a remembrance of aerial forms 
 of spiritual and meaning eyes of sounds, musical 
 yet sad; a* remembrance which will not be excluded; 
 a memory like a shadow vague, variable, indefinite, 
 unsteady; and like a shadow, too, in the impossibility 
 of my getting rid of it while the sunlight of my 
 reason shall exist. 
 
 In that chamber was I born. Thus awaking from 
 the long night of what seemed, but was not, nonentit}^ 
 at once into the very regions of fairy-land into a 
 palace of imagination into the wild dominions of 
 monastic thought and erudition, it is not singular that 
 I gazed around me with a startled and ardent eye, 
 that I loitered away my boyhood in books, and 
 dissipated my youth in revery; but it is singular 
 that as years rolled away, and the noon of manhood 
 found me still in the mansion of my fathers it is 
 wonderful what a stagnation there fell upon the 
 springs of my life wonderful how total an inversion 
 took place in the character of my commonest thought. 
 The realities of the world affected me as visions, and 
 
 10 
 
BERENICE 
 
 as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of 
 dreams became, in turn, not the material of my 
 every-day existence, but in very deed that existence 
 
 utterly and solely in itself. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Berenice and I were cousins, and we grew up to 
 gether in my paternal halls. Yet differently we grew 
 -I, ill of health, and buried in gloom she, agile, 
 graceful, and overflowing with energy; hers the 
 ramble on the hillside, mine, the studies of the 
 cloister; I, living within my own heart and addicted, 
 body and soul, to the most intense and painful 
 meditation she, roaming carelessly through life, 
 with no thought of the shadows in her path, or the 
 silent flight of the raven- winged hours. Berenice ! I 
 call upon her name Berenice ! and from the gray 
 ruins of memory a thousand tumultuous recollections 
 are startled at the sound! Ah, vividly is her image 
 before me now, as in the early days of her light- 
 heartedness and joy! O gorgeous yet fantastic 
 beauty! sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim!; 
 O naiad among its fountains ! And then then all \ 
 is mystery and terror, and a tale which should not 
 be told. Disease a fatal disease, fell like the 
 simoon upon her frame ; and even, while I gazed upon 
 her the spirit of change swept over her, pervading 
 her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in a 
 manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing even 
 the identity of her person ! Alas ! the destroyer came 
 and went ! and the victim where is she ? I knew 
 her not or knew her no longer as Berenice ! 
 
 u 
 

 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Among the numerous train of maladies superin 
 duced by that fatal and primary one which effected 
 a revolution of so horrible a kind in the moral and 
 physical being of my cousin may be mentioned, as 
 the most distressing and obstinate in its nature, a 
 species of epilepsy not unfrequently terminating in 
 TRANCE itself trance very nearly resembling posi 
 tive dissolution, and from which her manner of re 
 covery was, in most instances, startlingly abrupt. In 
 the meantime, my own disease for I have been told 
 that I should call it by no other appellation my 
 own disease, then, grew rapidly upon me, and as 
 sumed finally a monomaniac character of a novel and 
 extraordinary form hourly and momently gaining 
 vigor and at length obtaining over me the most 
 incomprehensible ascendency. This monomania, if 
 I must so term it, consisted in a morbid irritability of 
 those properties of the mind in metaphysical science 
 termed the ATTENTIVE. It is more than probable that 
 I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is 
 in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the 
 merely general reader an adequate idea of that 
 nervous INTENSITY OP INTEREST with which, in my 
 
 II "* n " " -v-^j^** 
 
 case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technic 
 ally) busied and buried themselves, in the contempla 
 tion of even the most ordinary objects of the universe. 
 To muse for long unwearied hours, with my atten 
 tion riveted to some frivolous device on the margin or 
 in the typography of a book ; to become absorbed, for 
 the better part of a summer s day, in a quaint shadow 
 falling aslant upon the tapestry or upon the floor; to 
 
 12 
 
BERENICE 
 
 i entire night, in wj 
 flame of a lamp or the embers of a fire; to dream 
 
 lose myself, for an entire night, in watching the steady 
 
 
 away whole days over the perfume of a flower; to 
 repeat, monotonously, some common word, until the 
 
 i 
 
 vey any idea whatever to the mind; to lose all sense 
 of motion or physical existence, by means of absolute 
 bodily quiescence long and obstinately persevered in, 
 such were a few of the most common and least 
 pernicious vagaries induced by a condition of the 
 mental faculties, not, indeed, altogether unparalleled, 
 but certainly bidding defiance to anything like anal 
 ysis or explanation. 
 
 Yet let me not be misapprehended. The undue, 
 earnest, and morbid attention thus excited by objects, 
 in their own nature frivolous, must not be confounded 
 in character with that ruminating propensity common 
 to all mankind, and more especially indulged in by 
 persons of ardent imagination. It was not even, as 
 might be at first supposed, an extreme condition, or 
 exaggeration of such propensity, but primarily and 
 essentially distinct and different. In the one instance, 
 the dreamer, or enthusiast, being interested by an 
 object usually NOT frivolous, imperceptibly loses sight 
 of this object in a wilderness of deductions and sug 
 gestions issuing therefrom, until, at the conclusion of 
 a day-dream OFTEN REPLETE WITH LUXURY, he finds 
 the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings, en 
 tirely vanished and forgotten. In my case, the pri 
 mary object was INVARIABLY FRIVOLOUS, although as 
 suming, through the medium of my distempered 
 
 13 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 vision, a refracted and unreal importance. Few 
 deductions, if any, were made; and those few 
 pertinaciously returning in upon the original object 
 as a center. The meditations were NEVER pleasurable ; 
 and at the termination of the revery the first cause, 
 so far from being out of sight, had attained that 
 supernaturally exaggerated interest which was the 
 prevailing feature of the disease. In a word, the 
 powers of mind more particularly exercised were, with 
 me, as I have said before, the ATTENTIVE, and are. 
 with the day-dreamer, the SPECULATIVE. 
 
 My books, at this epoch, if they did not actually 
 serve to irritate the disorder, partook, it will be per 
 ceived, largely, in their imaginative and incon 
 sequential nature, of the characteristic qualities of the 
 disorder itself. I well remember, among others, the 
 treatise of the noble Italian, Coelius Secundus Curio, 
 De Amplitudine Beati Regni Dei; St. Austin s great 
 work, The City of God; and Tertullian s De Came 
 Christi, in which the paradoxical sentence, "Mortuus 
 est Dei filius; credibile est quid ineptum est; et sepultus 
 resurrcxit; cerium est quia impossibile est," occupied 
 my undivided time, for many weeks of laborious and 
 fruitless investigation. 
 
 Thus it will appear that, shaken from its balance 
 only by trivial things, my reason bore resemblance to 
 that ocean-crag spoken of by Ptolemy Hephestion, 
 which steadily resisting the attacks of human vio 
 lence, and the fiercer fury of the waters and the winds, 
 trembled only to the touch of the flower called Aspho 
 del. And although, to a careless thinker, it might 
 
BERENICE 
 
 appear a matter beyond doubt, that the alteration pro 
 duced by her unhappy malady, in the MORAL condition 
 of Berenice, would afford me many objects for the 
 exercise of that intense and abnormal meditation 
 whose nature I have been at some trouble in ex 
 plaining, yet such was not in any degree the case. 
 In the lucid intervals of my infirmity, her calmity, 
 indeed, gave me pain/>nd, taking deeply to heart 
 that total wreck of her fair and gentle life, I did not 
 fail to ponder, frequently and bitterly, upon the 
 wonder-working means by which so strange a revolu 
 tion had been so suddenly brought to pass. But these 
 reflections partook not of the idiosyncrasy of my 
 disease, and were such as would have occurred, under 
 similar circumstances, to the ordinary mass of man 
 kind. True to its own character, my disorder 
 revelled in- the less important but more startling 
 changes wrought in the physical frame of Berenice 
 - in the singular and most appalling distortion of 
 her personal identity. 
 
 During the brightest days of her unparalleled 
 beauty, most surely I had never loved her. In the 
 strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with me HAD 
 NEVER BEEN of the heart, and my passions ALWAYS 
 WERE of the mind. Through the gray of the early 
 morning among the trellised shadows of the forest 
 at noonday and in the silence of my library at 
 night she had flitted by my eyes, and I had seen 
 her not as the living and breathing Berenice, but 
 as the Berenice of a dream; not as a being of the 
 earth, earthy, but as the abstraction of such a being; 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 not as a thing to admire, but to analyze; not as aiv 
 object of love, but as the theme of the most abstruse 
 although desultory speculation. And NOW now I 
 shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her 
 approach; yet, bitterly lamenting her fallen and 
 desolate condition, I called to mind that she had 
 loved me long, and in an evil moment I spoke to her 
 of marriage. 
 
 And at length the period of our nuptials was ap 
 proaching, when, upon an afternoon in the winter of 
 the year, one of those unseasonably warm, calm, and 
 misty days which are the nurse of the beautiful Hal 
 cyon,* I sat (and sat, as I thought alone) in the inner 
 apartment of the library. But, uplifting my eyes, I 
 saw that Berenice stood before me. 
 
 Was it my own excited imagination or the 
 misty influence of the atmosphere or the uncertain 
 twilight of the chamber or the gray draperies which 
 fell around her figure that caused in it so 
 vacillating and indistinct an outline? I could not 
 tell. She spoke no word; and I not for worlds 
 could I have uttered a syllable ! An icy chill ran 
 through my frame; a sense of insufferable anxiety 
 oppressed me; a consuming curiosity pervaded my 
 soul; and, sinking back upon the chair, I remained 
 for some time breathless and motionless, with my 
 eyes riveted upon her person. Alas! its emaciation 
 
 * For as Jove, during the winter season, gives twice 
 seven days of warmth, men have called this clement and 
 temperate time the nurse of the beautiful Halcyon. . 
 Simonides. 
 
 16 
 

 BERENICE 
 
 was excessive, and not one vestige of the former be 
 ing lurked in any single line of the contour. My 
 burning glances at length fell upon the face. 
 
 The forehead was high and very pale, and singu 
 larly placid; and the once jetty hair fell partially 
 over it, and overshadowed the hollow temples with 
 innumerable ringlets, now of a vivid yellow, and 
 jarring discordantly, in their fantastic character, with 
 the reigning melancholy of the countenance. The 
 eyes were lifeless, and lustreless, and seemingly 
 pupilless, and I shrank involuntarily from their 
 glassy stare to the contemplation of the thin and 
 shrunken lips. They parted; and in a smile of 
 peculiar meaning, THE TEETH of the changed Berenice 
 disclosed themselves slowly to my view. Would to 
 God that I had never beheld them, or that, having 
 
 done so, I had died! 
 
 ***** 
 
 The shutting of a door disturbed me, and looking 
 up, I found that my cousin had departed from the 
 chamber. But from the disordered chamber of my 
 brain had not, alas ! departed, and would not be 
 driven away, the white and ghastly SPECTRUM of the 
 teeth. Not a speck on their surface not a shade 
 on their enamel not an indenture in their edges 
 but what that brief period of her smile had sufficed 
 to brand in upon my memory. I saw them NOW even 
 more unequivocally than I beheld them THEN. Ike 
 teeth ! the teeth ! they were here, and there, and 
 everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; 
 long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale 
 
 i 2 17 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of 
 their first terrible development. Then came the full 
 fury of my MONOMANIA, and I struggled in vain 
 against its strange and irresistible influence. In the 
 multiplied objects of the external world I liad no 
 thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with 
 a frenzied desire. All other matters and all different 
 interests became absorbed in their single contempla 
 tion. They, they alone were present to the mental 
 eye, and they, in their sole individuality, became the 
 essence of my mental life. I held them in every light. 
 I turned them in every attitude. I surveyed their 
 characteristics. I dwelt upon their peculiarities. I 
 pondered upon their conformation. I mused upon 
 the alteration in their nature. I shuddered as I as 
 signed to them, in imagination, a sensitive and sen 
 tient power, and, even when unassisted by the lips, 
 a capability of moral expression. Of Mademoiselle 
 Salle it has been well said: "Que tons ses pas 
 etaient des sentiments," and of Berenice I more seri 
 ously believed que tons ses dents etaient des idees. 
 Des idees! ah, here was the idiotic thought that de 
 stroyed me! Des idees! ah, THEREFORE it was that 
 J coveted him so madly! I felt their possession 
 ould alone ever restore me to peace, in giving me 
 back to reason. 
 
 And the evening closed in upon me thus and 
 then the darkness came, and tarried, and went and 
 the day again dawned and the mists of_a second 
 night were now gathering around and still I sat ^mo 
 tionless in that solitary room and still I sat buried 
 
 18 
 
BERENICE 
 
 in meditation and still the PHANTASMA of the teeth / 
 maintained its terrible ascendency, as, with the most i 
 vivid and hideous distinctness, it floated about amidj 
 the changing lights and shadows of the chamber. At 
 length there broke in upon my dreams a cry as of 
 horror and dismay; and thereunto, after a pause, 
 succeeded the sound of troubled voices, intermingled 
 with many low moanings of sorrow or of pain. I 
 arose from my seat, and throwing open one of the 
 doors of the library, saw standing out in the ante 
 chamber a servant maiden, all in tears, who told me 
 that Berenice was no more! She had been seized 
 with epilepsy in the early morning, and now, at the 
 closing in of the night, the grave was ready for its 
 tenant, and all the preparations for the burial were 
 
 completed. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 I found myself sitting in the library, and again 
 sitting there alone. It seemed to me that I had 
 newly awakened from a confused and exciting dream. 
 I knew that it was now midnight, and I was well 
 aware, that since the setting of the sun, Berenice 
 had been interred. But of that dreary period which 
 intervened I had no positive, at least no definite, 
 comprehension. Yet its memory was replete with 
 horror horror more horrible from being vague, and 
 terror more terrible from ambiguity. It was a fear 
 ful, page in the record of my existence, written all 
 over with dim, and hideous, and unintelligible recol 
 lections. I strived to decipher them, but in vain; 
 while ever and anon, like the spirit of a departed 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 sound, the shrill and piercing shriek of a female voice 
 .seemed to be ringing in my ears. I had done a deed 
 what was it ? I asked myself the question aloud, 
 and the whispering echoes of the chamber answered 
 me, "WHAT WAS IT?" 
 
 On the table beside me burned a lamp, and near it 
 lay a little box. It was of no remarkable character, 
 and I had seen it frequently before, for it was the 
 property of the family physician; but how came it 
 THERE, upon my table, and why did I shudder in 
 regarding it? These things were in no manner to be 
 accounted for, and my eyes at length dropped to 
 the open pages of a book, and to a sentence under 
 scored therein. The words were the singular but 
 simple ones of the poet Ebn Zaiat: "Dicebant mihi 
 sodales si sepulchrum amicce visitarem, curas meas 
 aliquantulum fore levatas." Why, then, as I perused 
 them, did the hairs of my head erect themselves on 
 end, and the blood of my body become congealed 
 within my veins? 
 
 There came a light tap at the library door and, 
 pale as the tenant of a tomb, a menial entered upon 
 tiptoe. His looks were wild with terror, and he spoke 
 to me in a voice tremulous, husky, and very low. 
 What said he? Some broken sentences I heard. He 
 told of a wild cry disturbing the silence of the night 
 . of the gathering together of the household of 
 a search in the direction of the sound; and then his 
 tones grew thrillingly distinct as he whispered me 
 of a violated grave, of a disfigured body enshrouded, 
 yet still breathing, still palpitating, STILL ALIVE ! 
 
 20 
 
BERENICE 
 
 He pointed to my garments ; they were muddy and 
 clotted with gore. I spoke not, and he took me 
 gently by the hand: it was indented with the im 
 press oi human nails. He directed my attention to 
 some object against the wall. I looked at it for some 
 minutes ; it was a spade. With a shriek I bounded to 
 the table, and grasped the box that lay upon it. But 
 I could not force it open; and, in my tremor it 
 slipped from my hands and fell heavily, and burst 
 into pieces ; and from it, with a rattling sound, there 
 rolled out some instruments of dental surgery, inter 
 mingled with thirty-two small, white, and ivory-look 
 ing substances that were scattered to and fro about 
 the floor. 
 
 21 
 
THE 
 
 UNPARALLELED ADVENTURE 
 OF ONE HANS PFAALL 
 
 With a heart of furious fancies, 
 
 Whereof I am commander, 
 With a burning spear and a horse of air, 
 
 To the wilderness I wander. 
 
 Tom O Bedlam s Song. 
 
 Y LATE accounts from Rotterdam, that 
 I j city seems to be in a high state of 
 
 ~J philosophical excitement. Indeed, phe 
 
 nomena have there occurred of a na 
 ture so completely unexpected so 
 entirely novel so utterly at variance with precon 
 ceived opinions as to leave no doubt on my mind 
 that long ere this all Europe is in an uproar, all 
 physics in a ferment, all reason and astronomy to 
 gether by the ears. 
 
 It appears that on the day of - (I am 
 
 not positive about the date,) a vast crowd of people, 
 for purposes not specifically mentioned, were as 
 sembled in the great square of the Exchange in the 
 well-conditioned city of Rotterdam. The day was 
 warm -unusually so for the season there was 
 hardly a breath of air stirring, and the multitude 
 were in no bad humor at being now and then 
 
 Vol, 1 
 
 22 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 besprinkled with friendly showers of momentary 
 duration that fell from large white masses of cloud 
 profusely distributed about the blue vault of the 
 firmament. Nevertheless, about noon, a slight but 
 remarkable agitation became apparent in the as 
 sembly: the clattering of ten thousand tongues suc 
 ceeded; and, in an instant afterward, ten thousand 
 faces were upturned toward the heavens, ten thousand 
 pipes descended simultaneously from the corners of 
 ten thousand mouths, and a shout, which could be 
 compared to nothing but the roaring of Niagara, re 
 sounded long, loudly, and furiously through all the 
 city and through all the environs of Rotterdam. 
 
 The origin of this hubbub soon became sufficiently 
 evident. From behind the huge bulk of one of those 
 sharply defined masses of cloud already mentioned, 
 was seen slowly to emerge into an open area of blue 
 space a queer, heterogeneous, but apparently solid sub 
 stance, so oddly shaped, so whimsically put together, 
 as not to be in any manner comprehended, and never 
 to be sufficiently admired, by the host of sturdy 
 burghers who stood open-mouthed below. What 
 could it be? In the name of all the devils in Rot 
 terdam, what could it possibly portend? No one 
 knew; no one could imagine; no one, not even the 
 burgomaster, Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk, had 
 the slightest clew by which to unravel the mystery; 
 so, as nothing more reasonable could be done, every 
 one, to a man, replaced his pipe carefully in the 
 corner of his mouth, and, maintaining an eye steadily 
 upon the phenomenon, puffed, paused, waddled about, 
 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and grunted significantly; then waddled back, 
 grunted, paused, and, finally, puffed again. 
 
 In the meantime, however, lower and still lower 
 toward the goodly city, came the object of so much 
 curiosity, and the cause of so much smoke. In a 
 very few minutes it arrived near enough to be 
 accurately discerned. It appeared to be yes ! it 
 WAS undoubtedly a species of balloon; but surely no 
 SUCH balloon had ever been seen in Rotterdam be 
 fore. For who, let me ask, ever heard of a balloon 
 manufactured entirely of dirty newspapers ? No man 
 in Holland certainly; yet here, under the very noses 
 of the people, or rather at some distance ABOVE their 
 noses, was the identical thing in question, and com 
 posed (I have it on the best authority) of the precise 
 material which no one had ever before known to be 
 used for a similar purpose. It was an egregious in 
 sult to the good sense of the burghers of Rotterdam. 
 As to the shape of the phenomenon, it was even still 
 more reprehensible, being little or nothing better than 
 a huge fool s-cap turned upside down. And this 
 similitude was regarded as by no means lessened 
 when, upon nearer inspection, the crowd saw a large 
 tassel depending from its apex, and, around the upper 
 rim or base of the cone, a circle of little instruments, 
 resembling sheep-bells, which kept up a continual 
 tinkling to the tune of Betty Martin. But still worse. 
 Suspended by blue ribbons to the end of this fantastic 
 machine, there hung, by way of car, an enormous 
 drab beaver hat, with a brim superlatively broad, and 
 a hemispherical crown with a black band and a silver 
 
 24 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 buckle. It is, however, somewhat remarkable that 
 many citizens of Rotterdam swore to having seen the 
 same hat repeatedly before; and indeed the whole 
 assembly seemed to regard it with eyes of familiarity ; 
 while the vrow Grettel Pfaall, upon sight of it, uttered 
 an exclamation of joyful surprise, and declared it 
 to be the identical hat of her goodman himself. Now 
 this was a circumstance the more to be observed, as 
 Pfaall, with three companions, had actually disap 
 peared from Rotterdam about five years before, in 
 a very sudden and unaccountable manner, and up to 
 the date of this narrative all attempts at obtaining 
 intelligence concerning them had failed. To be sure, 
 some bones which were thought to be human, mixed 
 up with a quantity of odd-looking rubbish, had been 
 lately discovered in a retired situation to the east 
 of the city ; and some people went so far as to imagine 
 that in this spot a foul murder had been committed, 
 and that the sufferers were in all probability Hans 
 Pfaall and his associates. But to return. 
 
 The balloon (for such no doubt it was) had now 
 descended to within a hundred feet of the earth, 
 allowing the crowd below a sufficiently distinct view 
 of the person of its occupant. This was in truth a 
 very singular somebody. He could not have been 
 more than two feet in height; but this altitude, little 
 as it was, would have been sufficient to destroy his 
 EQUILIBRIUM and tilt him over the edge of his tiny 
 car but for the intervention of a circular rim reach 
 ing as high as the breast and rigged on to the cords 
 of the balloon. The body of the little man was more 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 than proportionally broad, giving to his entire figure 
 a rotundity highly absurd. His feet, of course, could 
 not be seen at all. His hands were enormously large. 
 His hair was gray, and collected into a queue be 
 hind. His nose was prodigiously long, crooked, and 
 inflammatory; his eyes full, brilliant, and acute; his 
 chin and cheeks, although wrinkled with age, were 
 broad, puffy, and double; but of ears of any kind 
 there was not a semblance to be discovered upon any 
 portion of his head. This odd little gentleman was 
 dressed in a loose surtout of sky-blue satin, with tight 
 breeches to match, fastened with silver buckles at the 
 knees. His vest was of some bright yellow material ; 
 a white taffety cap was set jauntily on one side of 
 his head; and, to complete his equipment, a blood- 
 red silk handkerchief enveloped his throat, and fell 
 down, in a dainty manner, upon his bosom, in a 
 fantastic bow-knot of super-eminent dimensions. 
 
 Having descended, as I said before, to about one 
 hundred feet from the surface of the earth, the little 
 old gentleman was suddenly seized with a fit of trepi 
 dation, and appeared disinclined to make any nearer 
 approach to terra firma. Throwing out, therefore, a 
 quantity of sand from a canvas bag, which he lifted 
 with great difficulty, he became stationary in an in 
 stant. He then proceeded, in a hurried and agitated 
 manner, to extract from a side-pocket in his surtout 
 a large morocco pocketbook. This he poised sus 
 piciously in his hand, then eyed it with an air of ex 
 treme surprise, and was evidently astonished at its 
 weight. He at length opened it, and, drawing there- 
 

ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 from a huge letter sealed with red sealing-wax and 
 tied carefully with red tape, let it fall precisely at the 
 feet of the burgomaster, Superbus Von Underbuk. 
 His Excellency stooped to take it up. But the 
 aeronaut, still greatly discomposed, and having 
 apparently no further business to detain him in Rot 
 terdam, began at this moment to make busy prepara 
 tions for departure; and it being necessary to dis 
 charge a portion of ballast to enable him to reascend, 
 the half-dozen bags which he threw out, one after 
 another, without taking the trouble to empty their 
 contents, tumbled, every one of them, most unfor 
 tunately, upon the back of the burgomaster, and 
 rolled him over and over no less than half a dozen 
 times, in the face of every individual in Rotterdam. 
 It is not to be supposed, however, that the great 
 Underduk suffered this impertinence on the part of 
 the little old man to pass off with impunity. It is 
 said, on the contrary, that during each of his half- 
 dozen circumvolutions he emitted no less than half 
 a dozen distinct and furious whiffs from his pipe, to 
 which he held fast the whole time with all his might, 
 and to which he intends holding fast (God willing) 
 until the day of his decease. 
 
 In the meantime the balloon arose like a lark, and, 
 soaring far away above the city, at length drifted 
 quietly behind a cloud similar to that from which it 
 had so oddly emerged, and was thus lost forever to 
 the wondering eyes of the good citizens of Rotterdam. 
 All attention was now directed to the letter, the 
 descent of which, and the consequences attending 
 
 27 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 thereupon, had proved so fatally subversive of both 
 person and personal dignity to his Excellency, Yon 
 Underduk. That functionary, however, had not 
 failed, during his circumgyratory movements, to 
 bestow a thought upon the important object of secur 
 ing the epistle, which was seen, upon inspection, to 
 have fallen into the most proper hands, being actually 
 addressed to himself and Professor Rubadub, in their 
 official capacities of President and Vice-President of 
 the Rotterdam College of Astronomy. It was ac 
 cordingly opened by those dignitaries upon the spot, 
 and found to contain the following extraordinary, 
 and indeed very serious, communication : 
 
 1 l To their Excellencies Ton Underduk and Rubadub, 
 President and Vice-President of the States College 
 of Astronomer s, in the city of Rotterdam. 
 
 "Your Excellencies may perhaps be able to re 
 member an humble artisan, by name Hans Pfaall, 
 and by occupation a mender of bellows, who, with 
 three others, disappeared from Rotterdam, about five 
 years ago, in a manner which must have been con 
 sidered unaccountable. If, however, it so please your 
 Excellencies, I, the writer of this communication, 
 am the identical Hans Pfaall himself. It is well known 
 to most of my fellow-citizens that for the period of 
 forty years I continued to occupy the little square 
 brick building at the head of the alley called 
 Sauerkraut, in which I resided at the time of my 
 disappearance. My ancestors have also resided 
 
 28 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 therein time out of mind they, as well as my 
 self, steadily following the respectable and indeed 
 lucrative profession of mending of bellows: for, to 
 speak the truth, until of late years that the heads 
 of all the people have been set agog with politics, 
 no better business than my own could an honest 
 citizen of Rotterdam either desire or deserve. Credit 
 was good, employment was never wanting, and there 
 was no lack of either money or good-will. But, as 
 I was saying, we soon began to feel the effects of 
 liberty, and long speeches, and radicalism, and all 
 that sort of thing. People who were formerly the 
 best customers in the world had now not a moment 
 of time to think of us at all. They had as much as 
 they could do to read about the revolutions, and keep 
 up with the march of intellect and the spirit of the 
 age. If a fire wanted fanning, it could readily be 
 fanned with a newspaper; and as the government 
 grew weaker, I have no doubt that leather and iron 
 acquired durability in proportion; for, in a very 
 short time, there was not a pair of bellows in all 
 Rotterdam that ever stood in need of a stitch or re 
 quired the assistance of a hammer. This was a 
 state of things not to be endured. I soon grew as 
 poor as a rat, and, having a wife and children to 
 provide for, my burdens at length became intoler 
 able, and I spent hour after hour in reflecting upon 
 the most convenient method of putting an end to my 
 life. Duns, in the meantime, left me little leisure for 
 contemplation. My house was literally besieged 
 from morning till night. There were three fellows in 
 
 29 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 particular who worried me beyond endurance, keep 
 ing watch continually about my door, and threaten- 
 Iing me with the law. Upon these three I vowed the 
 bitterest revenge if ever I should be so happy as to 
 get them within my clutches; and I believe nothing 
 in the world but the pleasure of this anticipation 
 prevented me from putting my plan of suicide into 
 immediate execution, by blowing my brains out with 
 a blunderbuss. I thought it best, however, to 
 dissemble my wrath, and to treat them with promises 
 and fair words, until, by some good turn of fate, an 
 opportunity of vengeance should be afforded me. 
 
 "One day, having given them the slip, and feeling 
 more than usually dejected, I continued for a long 
 time to wander about the most obscure streets with 
 out object, until at length I chanced to stumble 
 against the corner of a bookseller s stall. Seeing a 
 chair close at hand, for the use of customers, I threw 
 myself doggedly into it, and, hardly knowing why, 
 opened the pages of the first volume which came 
 within my reach. It proved to be a small pamphlet 
 treatise on Speculative Astronomy, written either by 
 Professor Encke of Berlin or by a Frenchman of 
 somewhat similar name. I had some little tincture of 
 information on matters of this nature, and soon be 
 came more and more absorbed in the contents of the 
 book, reading it actually through twice before I 
 awoke to a collection of what was passing around me. 
 By this time it began to grow dark, and I directed my 
 steps toward home. But the treatise (in conjunction 
 with a discovery in pneumatics, lately communicated 
 
 50 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 to me as an important secret by a cousin from Nantz) 
 had made an indelible impression on my mind, and, 
 as I sauntered along the dusky streets, I revolved 
 carefully over in my memory the wild and sometimes 
 unintelligible reasonings of the writer. There are 
 some particular passages which affected my imagina 
 tion in an extraordinary manner. The longer I 
 meditated upon these, the more intense grew the 
 interest which had been excited within me. The 
 limited nature of my education in general, and, more 
 especially, my ignorance on subjects connected with 
 natural philosophy, so far from rendering me dif 
 fident of my own ability to comprehend what I had 
 read, or inducing me to mistrust the many vague 
 notions which had arisen in consequence, merely 
 served as a further stimulus to imagination; and I 
 was vain enough, or perhaps reasonable enough, to 
 doubt whether those crude ideas which, arising in 
 ill-regulated minds, have all the appearance, may not 
 often in effect possess all the force, the reality, and 
 other inherent properties, of instinct or intuition. 
 
 "It was late when I reached home, and I went 
 immediately to bed. My mind, however, was too 
 much occupied to sleep, and I lay the whole night 
 buried in meditation. Arising early in the morning, 
 I repaired eagerly to the bookseller s stall, and laid 
 out what little ready money I possessed in the pur 
 chase of some volumes of Mechanics and Practical 
 Astronomy. Having arrived at home safely with 
 these, I devoted every spare moment to their perusal, 
 and soon made such proficiency in studies of this na- 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ture as I thought sufficient for the execution of a 
 certain design with which either the devil or my 
 better genius had inspired me. In the intervals of 
 this period, I made every endeavor to conciliate the 
 three creditors who had given me so much annoyance. 
 In this I finally succeeded ; partly by selling enough of 
 my household furniture to satisfy a moiety of their 
 claim, and partly by a promise of paying the balance 
 upon completion of a little project which I told them 
 I had in view, and for assistance in which I solicited 
 their services. By these means (for they were igno 
 rant men) I found little difficulty in gaining them over 
 to my purpose. 
 
 "Matters being thus arranged, I contrived, by the 
 aid of my wife, and with the greatest secrecy and 
 caution, to dispose of what property I had remaining, 
 and to borrow, in small sums, under various pre 
 tences, and without giving any attention (I am 
 ashamed to say) to my future means of repayment, 
 no inconsiderable quantity of ready money. With the 
 means thus accruing I proceeded to procure, at in 
 tervals, cambric muslin, very fine, in pieces of twelve 
 yards each; twine; a lot of varnish of caoutchouc; a 
 large and deep basket of wickerwork, made to order ; 
 and several other articles necessary in the construc 
 tion and equipment of a balloon of extraordinary 
 dimensions. This I directed my wife to make up as 
 soon as possible, and gave her all requisite informa 
 tion as to the particular method of proceeding. In 
 the meantime I worked up the twine into network 
 of sufficient dimensions; rigged it with a hoop and 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 the necessary cords ; and made purchase of numerous 
 instruments and materials for experiment in the 
 upper regions of the upper atmosphere. I then took 
 opportunities of conveying by night, to a retired 
 situation east of Rotterdam, five iron-bound casks, to 
 contain about fifty gallons each, and one of a larger 
 size; six tin tubes, three inches in diameter, properly 
 shaped, and ten feet in length; a quantity of a 
 
 PARTICULAR MBTALIC SUBSTANCE, OR SEMI-METAL, 
 
 which I shall not name, and a dozen demijohns of 
 A VERY COMMON ACID. The gas to be formed from 
 these latter materials is a gas never yet generated 
 by any other person than myself or at least never 
 applied to any similar purpose. I can only venture 
 to say here it is A CONSTITUENT OP AZOTE, so 
 long considered irreducible, and that its density is 
 about 37.4 times less THAN THAT OF HYDROGEN. It 
 is tasteless, but not odorless ; burns, when pure, with 
 a greenish flame; and is instantaneously fatal to 
 animal life. Its full secret I would make no diffi 
 culty in disclosing, but that it of right belongs (as I 
 have before hinted) to a citizen of Nantz, in France, 
 by whom it was conditionally communicated to my 
 self. The same individual submitted to me, without 
 being at all aware of my intentions a method of con 
 structing balloons from the membrane of a certain 
 animal, through which substance any escape of gas 
 was nearly an impossibility. I found it, however, al 
 together too expensive, and was not sure, upon the 
 whole, whether cambric muslin with a coating of gum 
 caoutchouc, was not equally as good. I mention this 
 
 33 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 circumstance because I think it probable that here 
 after the individual in question may attempt a balloon 
 ascension with the novel gas and material I have 
 spoken of, and I do not wish to deprive him of the 
 honor of a very singular invention. 
 
 11 On the spot which I intended each of the smaller 
 casks to occupy respectively during the inflation of 
 the balloon, I privately dug a small hole; the holes 
 forming in this manner a circle twenty-five feet in 
 diameter. In the center of this circle, being the 
 station designed for the large cask, I also dug a 
 hole of greater depth. In each of the five smaller 
 holes, I deposited a canister containing fifty pounds, 
 and in the larger one a keg holding one hundred and 
 fifty pounds of cannon powder. These the keg and 
 canisters I connected in a proper manner with 
 covered trains; and having let into one of the 
 canisters the end of about four feet of slow-match, I 
 covered up the hole, and placed the cask over it, leav 
 ing the other end of the match protruding about an 
 inch, and barely visible beyond the cask. I then 
 filled up the remaining holes, and placed the barrels 
 over them in their destined situation. 
 
 " Besides the articles above enumerated, I con 
 veyed to the depftt, and there secreted, one of M. 
 Grimm s improvements upon the apparatus for con 
 densation of the atmospheric air. I found this ma 
 chine, however, to require considerable alteration be 
 fore it could be adapted to the purposes to which I 
 intended making it applicable. But, with severe 
 labor and unremitting perseverance, I at length met 
 
 34 
 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 with entire success in all my preparations. My 
 balloon was soon completed. It would contain more 
 than forty thousand cubic feet of gas; would take 
 me up easily, I calculated, with all my implements, 
 and, if I managed rightly, with one hundred and 
 seventy-five pounds of ballast into the bargain. It 
 had received three coats of varnish, and I found the 
 cambric muslin to answer all the purposes of silk it 
 self, being quite as strong and a good deal less ex 
 pensive. 
 
 " Everything being now ready, I exacted from 
 my wife an oath of secrecy in relation to all my 
 actions from the day of my first visit to the book 
 seller s stall; and promising, on my part, to return 
 as soon as circumstances would permit, I gave her 
 what little money I had left, and bade her fare 
 well. Indeed I had no fear on her account. She 
 was what people call a notable woman, and could 
 manage matters in the world without my assistance. 
 I believe, to tell the truth, she always looked upon 
 me as an idle body, a mere makeweight, good for 
 nothing but building castles in the air, and was 
 rather glad to get rid of me. It was a dark night 
 when I bade her good-bye, and taking with me, as 
 aides-de-camp, the three creditors who had given me 
 so much trouble, we carried the balloon, with the 
 car and accoutrements, by a roundabout way, to the 
 station where the other articles were deposited. We 
 there found them all unmolested, and I proceeded 
 immediately to business. 
 
 "It was the first of April. The night, as I said 
 
 35 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 before, was dark; there was not a star to be seen; 
 and a drizzling rain, falling at intervals, rendered us 
 very uncomfortable. But my chief anxiety was con 
 cerning the balloon, which, in spite of the varnish 
 with which it was defended, began to grow rather 
 heavy with the moisture; the powder also liable to 
 damage. I therefore kept my three duns working 
 with great diligence, pounding down ice around the 
 central cask, and stirring the acid in the others. 
 They did not cease, however, importuning me with 
 questions as to what I intended to do with all this 
 apparatus, and expressed much dissatisfaction at the 
 terrible labor I made them undergo. They could not 
 perceive, so they said, what good was likely to re 
 sult from their getting wet to the skin, merely to 
 take a part in such horrible incantations. I began 
 to get uneasy, and worked away with all my might, 
 for I verily believe the idiots supposed that I had 
 entered into a compact with the devil, and that, in 
 short, what I was now doing was nothing better than 
 it should be. I was therefore in great fear of their 
 leaving me altogether. I contrived, however, to 
 pacify them by promises of payment of all scores in 
 full as soon as I could bring the present business to 
 a termination. To these speeches they gave, of 
 course, their own interpretation; fancying, no doubt, 
 that at all events I should come into possession of 
 vast quantities of ready money; and provided I paid 
 them all I owed, and a trifle more, in consideration 
 of their services, I dare say they cared very little 
 what became of either my soul or my carcass. 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 "In about four hours and a half I found the 
 balloon sufficiently inflated. I attached the car, there 
 fore, and put all my implements in it: a telescope; 
 a barometer with some important modifications; a 
 thermometer ; an electrometer ; a compass ; a mag 
 netic needle; a seconds watch; a bell; a speaking- 
 trumpet, etc., etc., etc. ; also a globe of glass, ex 
 hausted of air, and carefully closed with a stopper, 
 not forgetting the condensing apparatus, some 
 unslacked lime, a stick of sealing-wax, a copious 
 supply of water, and a large quantity of provisions, 
 such as pemmican, in which much nutriment is con 
 tained in comparatively little bulk. I also secured in 
 the car a pair of pigeons and a cat. 
 
 "It was now nearly daybreak, and I thought it 
 high time to take my departure. Dropping a lighted 
 cigar on the ground, as if by accident, I took the 
 opportunity, in stooping to pick it up, of igniting 
 privately the piece of slow-match, the end of which, 
 as I said before, protruded a little beyond the lower 
 rim of one of the smaller casks. This manoeuvre 
 was totally unperceived on the part of the three 
 duns; and, jumping into the car, I immediately cut 
 the single cord which held me to earth, and was 
 pleased to find that I shot upward with inconceivable 
 rapidity, carrying with all ease one hundred and 
 seventy-five pounds of leaden ballast, and able to 
 have carried up as many more. As I left the earth, 
 the barometer stood at thirty inches, and the centi 
 grade thermometer at 19. 
 
 "Scarcely, however, had I attained the height of 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 fifty yards, when, roaring and rumbling up after me 
 in the most tumultuous and terrible manner, came 
 so dense a hurricane of fire, and gravel, and burning 
 wood, and blazing metal, and mangled limbs, that 
 my very heart sunk within me, and I fell down in 
 the bottom of the car, trembling with terror. Indeed, 
 I now perceived that I had entirely overdone the 
 business, and that the main consequences of the 
 shock were yet to be experienced. Accordingly, in 
 less than a second, I felt all the blood in my body 
 rushing to my temples, and immediately thereupon, 
 a concussion, which I shall never forget, burst 
 abruptly through the night, and seemed to rip the 
 very firmament asunder. When I afterward had 
 time for reflection, I did not fail to attribute the 
 extreme violence of the explosion, as regarded my 
 self, to its proper cause my situation directly 
 above it, and in the line of its greatest power. But 
 at the time I thought only of preserving my life. 
 The balloon at first collapsed, then furiously ex 
 panded, then whirled round and round with sicken 
 ing velocity, and finally, reeling and staggering like 
 a drunken man, hurled me over the rim of the car, 
 and left me dangling, at a terrific height, 
 with my head downward, and my face out 
 ward, by a piece of slender cord about three 
 feet in length, which hung accidentally through 
 a crevice near the bottom of the wickerwork, 
 and in which, as I fell, my left foot became 
 most providentially entangled. It is impossible . 
 utterly impossible to form any adequate idea of 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 the horror of my situation. I gasped convulsively 
 for breath, a shudder resembling a fit of the ague 
 agitated every nerve and muscle in my frame, I 
 felt my eyes starting from their sockets; a horrible 
 nausea overwhelmed me, and at length I lost all 
 consciousness in a swoon. 
 
 "How long I remained in this state it is im 
 possible to say. It must, however, have been no 
 inconsiderable time, for when I partially recovered 
 the sense of existence, I found the day breaking, the 
 balloon at a prodigious height over a wilderness of 
 ocean, and not a trace of land to be discovered far 
 and wide within the limits of the vast horizon. My 
 sensations, however, upon thus recovering, were by 
 no means so replete with agony as might have 
 anticipated. Indeed, there was much of madness 
 the calm survey which I began to take of my situa 
 tion. I drew up to my eyes each of my hands, one 
 after the other, and wondered what occurrence could 
 have given rise to the swelling of the veins, and the 
 horrible blackness of the finger-nails. I afterward 
 carefully examined my head, shaking it repeatedly, 
 and feeling it with minute attention, until I succeeded 
 in satisfying myself that it was not, as I had more 
 than half suspected, larger than my balloon. Then, 
 in a knowing manner, I felt in both my breeches 
 pockets, and, missing therefrom a set of tablets and 
 a toothpick case, endeavored to account for their 
 disappearance, and, not being able to do so, felt inex 
 pressibly chargrined. It now occurred to me that I 
 suffered great uneasiness in the joint of my left ankle, 
 
 39 
 
 e by 
 been 
 
 3S in 
 
 itna- Xj 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and a dim consciousness of my situation began to 
 glimmer through my mind. But, strange to say! 
 I was neither astonished nor horror-stricken. If I 
 felt any emotion at all, it was a kind of chuckling 
 satisfaction at the cleverness I was about to display 
 in extricating myself from this dilemma; and never, 
 for a moment, did I look upon my ultimate safety 
 as a question susceptible of doubt. For a few min 
 utes I remained wrapped in the profoundest medita 
 tion. I have a distinct recollection of frequently 
 compressing my lips, putting my forefinger to the 
 side of my nose, and making use of other gesticula 
 tions and grimaces common to men who, at ease in 
 their armchairs, meditate upon matters of intricacy 
 or importance. Having, as I thought, sufficiently 
 collected my ideas, I now with great caution and 
 deliberation, put my hands behind my back, and un 
 fastened the large iron buckle which belonged to the 
 waistband of my pantaloons. This buckle had three 
 teeth, which, being somewhat rusty, turned with 
 great difficulty on their axis. I brought them, how 
 ever, after some trouble, at right angles to the body 
 of the buckle, and was glad to find them remain 
 firm in that position. Holding within my teeth the 
 instrument thus obtained, I now proceeded to untie 
 the knot of my cravat. I had to rest several times 
 before I could accomplish this manoeuvre; but it was 
 at length accomplished. To one end of the cravat 
 I then made fast the buckle, and the other end I tied, 
 for greater security, tightly around my wrist. Draw 
 ing now my body upward, with a prodigious ex- 
 
 40 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 ertion of muscular force, I succeeded, at the very first 
 trial, in throwing the buckle over the car, and en 
 tangling it, as I had anticipated, in the circular rim 
 of the wickerwork. 
 
 My body was now inclined toward the side of 
 the car at an angle of about forty-five degrees; but 
 it must not be understood that I was therefore only 
 forty-five degrees below the perpendicular. So far 
 from it, I still lay nearly level with the plane of 
 the horizon; for the change of situation which I had 
 acquired had forced the bottom of the car consid 
 erably outward from my position, which was ac 
 cordingly one of the most imminent peril. It should 
 be remembered, however, that when I fell, in the first 
 instance, from the car, if I had fallen with my face 
 turned toward the balloon, instead of turned out 
 wardly from it, as it actually was ; or if, in the second 
 place, the cord by which I was suspended had chanced 
 to hang over the upper edge, instead of through a 
 crevice near the bottom of the car, I say it may 
 readily be conceived that, in either of these supposed 
 cases, I should have been unable to accomplish even 
 as much as I had now accomplished, and the dis 
 closures now made would have been utterly lost to 
 posterity. I had therefore every reason to be grate 
 ful; although, in point of fact, I was still too stupid 
 to be anything at all, and hung, for perhaps, a quarter 
 of an hour, in that extraordinary manner, without 
 making the slightest further exertion, and in a 
 singularly tranquil state of idiotic enjoyment. But 
 this feeling did not fail to die rapidly away, and 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 thereunto succeeded horror and dismay, and a sense 
 of utter helplessness and ruin. In fact, the blood so 
 long accumulating in the vessels of my head and 
 throat, and which had hitherto buoyed up my spirits 
 with delirium, had now begun to retire within their 
 proper channels, and the distinctness which was thus 
 added to my perception of the danger, merely served 
 to deprive me of the self-possession and courage to 
 encounter it. But this weakness was, luckily for me, 
 of no very long duration. In good time came to my 
 rescue the spirit of despair, and, with frantic cries 
 and struggles, I jerked my way bodily upward, till 
 at length, clutching with a vise-like grip the long- 
 desired rim, I writhed my person over it, and fell 
 headlong and shuddering within the car. 
 
 "It was not until some time afterward that I re 
 covered myself sufficiently to attend to the ordinary 
 cares of the balloon. I then, however, examined it 
 with attention, and found it, to my great relief, un 
 injured. My implements were all safe, and, fortu 
 nately, I had lost neither ballast nor provisions. In 
 deed, I had so well secured them in their places that 
 such an accident was entirely out of the question. 
 Looking at my watch, I found it six o clock. I was 
 still rapidly ascending, and the barometer gave a 
 present altitude of three and three-quarter miles. 
 Immediately beneath me in the ocean, lay a small 
 black object, slightly oblong in shape, seemingly 
 about the size of a domino, and in every respect bear 
 ing a great resemblance to one of those toys. Bring 
 ing my telescope to bear upon it, I plainly discerned 
 
 42 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 it to be a British ninety-four-gun ship, close-hauled, 
 and pitching heavily in the sea with her head to the 
 W. S. W. Besides this ship, I saw nothing but the 
 ocean and the sky, and the sun, which had long 
 arisen. 
 
 "It is now high time that I should explain to your 
 Excellencies the object of my voyage. Your Excel 
 lencies will bear in mind that distressed circum 
 stances in Rotterdam had at length driven me to the 
 resolution of committing suicide. It was not, how 
 ever, that to life itself I had any positive disgust, 
 but that I was harassed beyond endurance by the 
 adventitious miseries attending my situation. In this 
 state of mind, wishing to live, yet wearied with life, 
 the treatise at the stall of the bookseller, backed by 
 the opportune discovery of my cousin of Nantz, 
 opened a resource to my imagination. I then finally 
 made up my mind. I determined to depart, yet live ; 
 to leave the world, yet continue to exist; in short, 
 to drop enigmas, I resolved, let what would ensure, 
 to force a passage, if I could, TO THE MOON. Now, 
 lest I- should be supposed more of a madman than I 
 actually am, I will detail, as well as I am able, the 
 considerations which led me to believe that an 
 achievement of this nature, although without doubt 
 difficult and full of danger, was not absolutely, to a 
 bold spirit, beyond the confines of the possible. 
 
 "The moon s actual distance from the earth was 
 the first thing to be attended to. Now, the mean or 
 average interval between the CENTERS of the two 
 planets is 59.9643 of the. earth s equatorial RADII, or 
 
 43 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 only about 237,000 miles. I say the mean or average 
 interval; but it must be borne in mind that the form 
 of the moon s orbit, being an ellipse of eccentricity 
 amounting to no less than 0.05484 of the major semi- 
 axis of the ellipse itself, and the earth s center being 
 situated in its focus, if I could, in any manner, con 
 trive to meet the moon in its perigee, the above- 
 mentioned distance would be materially diminished. 
 But, to say nothing at present of this possibility, it 
 was very certain that, at all events, from the 237,000 
 miles I would have to deduct the radius of the earth, 
 say 4,000, and the radius of the moon, say 1,080, in 
 all 5,080, leaving an actual interval to be traversed, 
 under average circumstances, of 231,920 miles. Now 
 this, I reflected, was no very extraordinary distance. 
 Traveling on the land has been repeatedly accom 
 plished at the rate of sixty miles per hour; and, in 
 deed, a much greater speed may be anticipated. But 
 even at this velocity, it would take me no more than 
 161 days to reach the surface of the moon. There 
 were, however, many particulars inducing me to be 
 lieve that my average rate of traveling might possibly 
 very much exceed that of sixty miles per hour, and, 
 as these considerations did not fail to make a deep im 
 pression upon my mind, I will mention them more 
 fully hereafter. 
 
 "The next point to be regarded was one of far 
 greater importance. From indications afforded by 
 the barometer, we find that, in ascensions from the 
 surface of the earth we have, at the height of 1,000 
 feet, left below us about one-thirtieth of the entire 
 
 44 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 mass of atmospheric air; that at 10,600 we have 
 ascended through nearly one-third; and at 18,000, 
 which is not far from the elevation of Cotopaxi, we 
 have surmounted one-half the material, or, at all 
 events, one-half the PONDERABLE, body of air in 
 cumbent upon our globe. It is also calculated that 
 at an altitude not exceeding the hundredth part of the 
 earth s diameter, that is, not exceeding eighty miles, 
 the rarefaction would be so excessive that animal 
 life could in no manner be sustained, and, moreover, 
 that the most delicate means we possess of ascertain 
 ing the presence of the atmosphere would be inade 
 quate to assure us of its existence. But I did not fail 
 to perceive that these latter calculations are founded 
 altogether on our experimental knowledge of the 
 properties of air, and the mechanical laws regulating 
 its dilation and compression, in what may be called, 
 comparatively speaking, THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY of 
 the earth itself; and, at the same time, it is taken 
 for granted that animal life is, and must be, 
 essentially INCAPABLE OF MODIFICATION at any given 
 unattainable distance from the surface. Now, all 
 such reasoning and from such DATA must, of course, 
 be simply analogical. The greatest height ever 
 reached by man was that of 25,000 feet, attained in 
 the aeronautic expedition of Messieurs Gay-Lussac 
 and Biot. This is a moderate altitude, even when 
 compared with the eighty miles in question; and I 
 could not help thinking that the subject admitted 
 room for doubt and great latitude for speculation. 
 "But, in point of fact, an ascension being made to 
 
 45 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 any given altitude, the ponderable quantity of air 
 surmounted in any FARTHER ascension is by no 
 means in proportion to the additional height as 
 cended (as may be plainly seen from what has been 
 stated before), but in a RATIO constantly decreas 
 ing. It is therefore evident that, ascend as high as 
 we may, we cannot, literally speaking, arrive at a 
 limit beyond which NO atmosphere is to be found. 
 It MUST EXIST, I argued; although it MAY exist in a 
 state of infinite rarefaction. 
 
 "On the other hand, I was aware that arguments 
 have not been wanting to prove the existence of a 
 real and definite limit to the atmosphere, beyond 
 which there is absolutely no air whatsoever. But a 
 circumstance which has been left out of view by 
 those who contend for such a limit seemed to me, 
 although no positive refutation of their creed, still 
 a point worthy very serious investigation. On com 
 paring the intervals between the successive arrivals 
 of Encke s comet at its perihelion, after giving 
 credit, in the most exact manner, for all the disturb 
 ances due to the attractions of the planets, it appears 
 that the periods are gradually diminishing; that is 
 to say, the major axis of the comet s ellipse is grow 
 ing shorter, in a slow but perfectly regular decrease. 
 Now, this is precisely what ought to be the case, if 
 we suppose a resistance experienced from the comet 
 from an extremely RARE ETHEREAL MEDIUM pervad 
 ing the regions of its orbit. For it is evident that 
 such a medium must, in retarding the comet s 
 velocity, increase its centripetal, by weakening its 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 centrifugal, force. In other words, the sun s attrac 
 tion would be constantly attaining greater power, 
 and the comet would be drawn nearer at every revo 
 lution. 
 
 "Indeed, there is no other way of accounting 
 for the variation in question. But again: The real 
 diameter of the same comet s nebulosity is observed 
 to contract rapidly as it approaches the sun, and 
 dilate with equal rapidity in its departure toward 
 its aphelion. Was I not justifiable in supposing, with 
 M. Valz, that this apparent condensation of volume 
 has its origin in the compression of the same 
 ethereal medium I have spoken of before, and 
 which is dense in proportion to its vicinity 
 to the sun? The lenticular-shaped phenomenon, 
 also, called the zodiacal light, was a matter 
 worthy of attention. This radiance, so apparent 
 in the tropics, and which cannot be mistaken 
 for any meteoric lustre, extends from the horizon 
 obliquely upward, and follows generally the direc 
 tion of the sun s equator. It appeared to me evi 
 dently in the nature of a rare atmosphere extending 
 from the sun outward, beyond the orbit of Venus at 
 least, and I believed infinitely farther.* Indeed, this 
 medium I could not suppose confined to the path of 
 the comet s ellipse, or to the immediate neighbor 
 hood of the sun. It was easy, on the contrary, to 
 imagine it pervading the entire regions of our 
 
 * The zodiacal light is probably what the ancients called 
 Trabes. " Emicant traces quas docos vacant." Pliny, lib. 2, 
 p. 26. 
 
 47 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 planetary system, condensed into what we call 
 atmosphere at the planets themselves, and perhaps 
 at some of them modified by considerations purely 
 geological; that is to say, modified, or varied in its 
 proportions (or absolute nature) by matters vola 
 tilized from the respective orbs. 
 
 "Having adopted this view of the subject, I had 
 little further hesitation. Granting that on my pas 
 sage I should meet with atmosphere ESSENTIALLY the 
 same as at the surface of the earth, I conceived that, 
 by means of the very ingenious apparatus of M. 
 Grimm, I should readily be enabled to condense it 
 in sufficient quantity for the purposes of respiration. 
 This would remove the chief obstacle in a journey 
 to the moon. I had indeed spent some money and 
 great labor in adapting the apparatus to the object 
 intended, and confidently looked forward to its suc 
 cessful application, if I could manage to complete 
 the voyage within any reasonable period. This 
 brings me back to the RATE at which it would be 
 possible to travel. 
 
 "It is true that balloons, in the first stage of 
 their ascensions from the earth, are known to rise 
 with a velocity comparatively moderate. Now, the 
 power of elevation lies altogether in the superior 
 gravity of the atmospheric air compared with the 
 gas in the balloon; and at first sight it does not ap 
 pear probable that, as the balloon acquires altitude, 
 and consequently arrives successively in atmospheric 
 STRATA of densities rapidly diminishing I say, it 
 does not appear at all reasonable that, in this its 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 progress upward, the original velocity should be 
 accelerated. On the other hand, I was not aware 
 that, in any recorded ascension, a DIMINUTION had 
 been proved to be apparent in the absolute rate of 
 ascent; although such should have been the case, if 
 on account of nothing else, on account of the 
 escape of gas through balloons ill constructed, 
 and varnished with no better material than 
 the ordinary varnish. It seemed, therefore, that 
 the effect of such escape was only sufficient to 
 counterbalance the effect of the acceleration attained 
 in the diminishing of the balloon s distance from the 
 gravitating center. I now considered that, provided 
 in my passage I found the MEDIUM I had imagined, 
 and provided it should prove to be ESSENTIALLY what 
 we denominate atmospheric air, it could make com 
 paratively little difference at what extreme state of 
 rarefaction I should discover it, that is to say, in 
 regard to my power of ascending, for the gas in 
 the balloon would not only be itself subject to similar 
 rarefaction (in proportion to the occurrence of which 
 I could suffer an escape of so much as would be 
 requisite to prevent explosion), but, BEING WHAT IT 
 WAS, would, at all events, continue specifically 
 lighter than any compound whatever of mere 
 nitrogen and oxygen. Thus there was a chance in 
 fact there was a strong probability that, at no 
 epoch of my ascent, I should reach a point where the 
 united weights of my immense balloon, the incon 
 ceivably rare gas within it, the car, and its contents 
 should equal the weight of the mass of the surround- 
 
 i4 49 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ing atmosphere displaced; and this will be readily 
 understood as the sole condition upon which my up 
 ward flight would be arrested. But, if this point 
 were even attained, I could dispense with ballast 
 and other weight to the amount of nearly three 
 hundred pounds. In the meantime, the force of 
 gravitation would be constantly diminishing, in pro 
 portion to the squares of the distances, and so, with 
 a velocity prodigiously accelerating, I should at 
 length arrive in those distant regions where the 
 force of the earth s attraction would be superseded 
 by that of the moon. 
 
 "There was another difficulty, however, which 
 occasioned me some little disquietude. It has been 
 observed that, in balloon ascensions to any consider 
 able height, besides the pain attending respiration, 
 great uneasiness is experienced about the head 
 and body, often accompanied with bleeding at 
 the nose and other symptoms of an alarm 
 ing kind, and growing more and more incon 
 venient in proportion to the altitude attained.* 
 This was a reflection of a nature somewhat 
 startling. Was it not probable that these symp 
 toms would increase until terminated by death 
 itself? I finally thought not. Their origin was to 
 be looked for in the progressive removal of the 
 
 * Since the original publication of Hans Pfaall, I find 
 that Mr. Green, of Nassau-balloon notoriety, and other late 
 aeronauts, deny the assertions of Humboldt, in this respect, 
 and speak of a DECREASING inconvenience, precisely in ac 
 cordance with the theory here urged. 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 CUSTOMARY atmospheric pressure upon the surface 
 of the body and consequent distension of the super 
 ficial blood-vessels, not in any positive disorganiza 
 tion of the animal system as in the case of difficulty 
 in breathing, where the atmospheric density is 
 CHEMICALLY INSUFFICIENT for the due renovation of 
 blood in a ventricle of the heart. Unless for default 
 of this renovation, I could see no reason, therefore, 
 why life could not be sustained even in a VACUUM; 
 for the expansion and compression of chest, com 
 monly called breathing, is action purely muscular, 
 and the CAUSE, not the EFFECT, of respiration. In 
 a word, I conceived that, as the body should be 
 come habituated to the want of atmospheric pressure, 
 the sensations of pain would gradually diminish 
 and to endure them while they continued, I relied 
 with confidence upon the iron hardihood of my 
 constitution. 
 
 "Thus, may it please your Excellencies, I have 
 detailed some, though by no means all, the con 
 siderations which led me to form the project of a 
 lunar voyage. I shall now proceed to lay before you 
 the result of an attempt so apparently audacious in 
 conception, and, at all events, so utterly unparalleled 
 in the annals of mankind. 
 
 "Having attained the altitude before mentioned 
 that is to say, three miles and three-quarters 
 I threw out from the car a quantity of feathers, and 
 found that I still ascended with sufficient rapidity; 
 there was, therefore, no necessity for discharging any 
 ballast. I was glad of this, for I wished to retain with 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 me as much weight as I could carry, for the obvious 
 reason that I could not be positive either about the 
 gravitation or the atmospheric density of the moon. 
 I as yet suffered no bodily inconvenience, breathing 
 with great freedom, and feeling no pain whatever in 
 the head. The cat was lying very demurely upon 
 my coat, which I had taken off, and eyeing the 
 pigeons with an air of nonchalance. These latter, 
 being tied by the leg to prevent their escape, were 
 busily employed in picking up some grains of rice 
 scattered for them in the bottom of the car. 
 
 "At twenty minutes past six o clock, the barom 
 eter showed an elevation of 26,400 feet, or five miles 
 to a fraction. The prospect seemed unbounded. In 
 deed, it is very easily calculated by means of 
 spherical geometry how great an extent of the 
 earth s area I beheld. The convex surface of any 
 segment of a sphere is to the entire surface of the 
 sphere itself as the versed sine of the segment to the 
 diameter of the sphere. Now, in my case, the versed 
 sine that is to say, the THICKNESS of the segment 
 beneath me was about equal to my elevation, or 
 the elevation of the point of sight above the sur 
 face. As five miles, then, to eight thousand, would 
 express the proportion of the earth s area seen by me. 
 In other words, I beheld as much as a sixteen- 
 hundredth part of the whole surface of the globe. The 
 sea appeared unruffled as a mirror, although, by 
 means of the telescope, I could perceive it to be in 
 a state of violent agitation. The ship was no longer 
 visible, having drifted away, apparently to the east- 
 
 52 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 ward. I now began to experience, at intervals, 
 severe pain in the head, especially about the ears 
 still, however, breathing with tolerable freedom. 
 The cat and pigeons seemed to suffer no incon 
 venience whatsoever. 
 
 "At twenty minutes before seven, the balloon en 
 tered a long series of dense cloud, which put me to 
 great trouble by damaging my condensing apparatus 
 and wetting me to the skin; this was, to be sure, a 
 singular rencontre, for I had not believed it possible 
 that a cloud of this nature could be sustained at so 
 great an elevation. I thought it best, however, to 
 throw out two five-pound pieces of ballast, reserving 
 still a weight of one hundred and sixty-five pounds. 
 Upon so doing, I soon rose above the difficulty, and 
 perceived immediately that I had obtained a great 
 increase in my rate of ascent. In a few seconds 
 after my leaving the cloud, a flash of vivid lightning 
 shot from one end of it to the other, and caused it 
 to kindle up, throughout its vast extent, like a mass 
 of ignited charcoal. This, it must be remembered, 
 was in the broad light of day. No fancy may picture 
 the sublimity which might have been exhibited by a 
 similar phenomenon taking place amid the darkness 
 of the night. Hell itself might have been found a 
 fitting image. Even as it was, my hair stood on end, 
 while I gazed afar down within the yawning abysses, 
 letting imagination descend and stalk about in the 
 strange vaulted halls and ruddy gulfs and red 
 ghastly chasms of the hideous and unfathomable 
 fire. I had indeed made a narrow escape. Had the 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 balloon remained a very short while longer within 
 the cloud that is to say, had not the inconvenience 
 of getting wet determined me to discharge the ballast 
 my destruction might, and probably would, have 
 been the consequence. Such perils, although little 
 considered, are perhaps the greatest which must be 
 encountered in balloons. I had by this time, how 
 ever, attained too great an elevation to be any longer 
 uneasy on this head. 
 
 "I was now rising rapidly, and by seven o clock, 
 the barometer indicated an altitude of no less than 
 nine miles and a half. I began to find great diffi 
 culty in drawing my breath. My head, too, was ex 
 cessively painful; and, having felt for some time a 
 moisture about my cheeks, I at length discovered it 
 to be blood, which was oozing quite fast from the 
 drums of my ears. My eyes, also, gave me great 
 uneasiness. Upon passing the hand over them they 
 seemed to have protruded from their sockets in no 
 inconsiderable degree ; and all objects in the car, and 
 even the balloon itself, appeared distorted to my 
 vision. These symptoms were more than I had ex 
 pected, and occasioned me some alarm. At this 
 juncture, very imprudently, and without considera 
 tion, I threw out from the car three five-pound pieces 
 of ballast. The accelerated rate of ascent thus ob 
 tained carried me too rapidly, and without suffi 
 cient gradation, into a highly rarefied STRATUM of 
 the atmosphere, and the result had nearly proved 
 fatal to my expedition and to myself. I was suddenly 
 seized with a spasm which lasted for more than five 
 
 54 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 minutes, and even when this, in a measure, ceased, I 
 could catch my breath only at long intervals and in a 
 gasping manner, bleeding all the while copiously at 
 the nose and ears, and even slightly at the eyes. 
 The pigeons appeared distressed in the extreme and 
 struggled to escape; while the cat mewed piteously, 
 and, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, 
 staggered to and fro in the car as if under the in 
 fluence of poison. I now, too late, discovered the great 
 rashness of which I had been guilty in discharging the 
 ballast, and my agitation was excessive. I antic 
 ipated nothing less than death, and death in a few 
 minutes. The physical suffering I underwent con 
 tributed also to render me nearly incapable of mak 
 ing any exertion for the preservation of my life. I 
 had, indeed, little power of reflection left, and the 
 violence of the pain in my head seemed to be greatly 
 on the increase. Thus I found that my senses would 
 shortly give way altogether, and I had already 
 clutched one of the valve ropes with the view of at 
 tempting a descent, when the recollection of the trick 
 I had played the three creditors, and the possible 
 consequences to myself, should I return, operated to 
 deter me for the moment. I lay down in the bottom 
 of the car and endeavored to collect my faculties. In 
 this, I so far succeeded as to determine upon the ex 
 periment of losing blood. Having no lancet, how 
 ever, I was constrained to perform the operation in 
 the best manner I was able, and finally succeeded in 
 opening a vein in my left arm with the blade of my 
 penknife. The blood had hardly commenced flowing 
 
 55 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 when I experienced a sensible relief, and by the time 
 I had lost about half a moderate basinful, most of the 
 worst symptoms had abandoned me entirely. I never 
 theless did not think it expedient to attempt getting 
 on my feet immediately; but, having tied up my arm 
 as well as I could, I lay still for about a quarter of an 
 hour. At the end of this time I arose and found my 
 self freer from absolute PAIN of any kind than I had 
 been during the last hour and a quarter of my as 
 cension. The difficulty of breathing, however, was 
 diminished in a very slight degree, and I found that 
 it would soon be positively necessary to make use of 
 my condenser. In the meantime, looking toward the 
 cat, who was again snugly stowed away upon my 
 coat, I discovered, to my infinite surprise, that she had 
 taken the opportunity of my indisposition to bring 
 into light a litter of three little kittens. This was 
 an addition to the number of passengers on my part 
 altogether unexpected; but I was pleased at the oc 
 currence. It would afford me a chance of bringing 
 to a kind of test the truth of a surmise which, more 
 than anything else, had influenced me in attempting 
 this ascension. I had imagined that the habitual 
 endurance of the atmospheric pressure at the surface 
 of the earth was the cause, or nearly so, of the pain 
 attending animal existence at a distance above the 
 surface. Should the kittens be found to suffer un 
 easiness IN AN EQUAL DEGREE WITH THEIR MOTHER, I 
 
 must consider my theory in fault, but a failure to do 
 so I should look upon as a strong confirmation of my 
 idea. 
 
 56 
 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 "By eight o clock I had actually attained an 
 elevation of seventeen miles above the surface of the 
 earth. Thus it seemed to me evident that my rate of 
 ascent was not only on the increase, but that the 
 progression would have been apparent in a slight de 
 gree even had I not discharged the ballast which I 
 did. The pains in my head and ears returned, at 
 intervals, with violence, and I still continued to bleed 
 occasionally at the nose; but, upon the whole, I suf 
 fered much less than might have been expected. I 
 breathed, however, at every moment with more and 
 more difficulty, and each inhalation was attended 
 with a troublesome spasmodic action of the chest. I 
 now unpacked the condensing apparatus and got it 
 ready for immediate use. 
 
 "The view of the earth, at this period of my 
 ascension, was beautiful indeed. To the westward, 
 the northward, and the southward, as far as I could 
 see, lay a boundless sheet of apparently unruffled 
 ocean, which every moment gained a deeper and 
 deeper tint of blue. At a vast distance to the east 
 ward, although perfectly discernible, extended the 
 island of Great Britain, the entire Atlantic coasts of 
 France and Spain, with a small portion of the north 
 ern part of the continent of Africa. Of individual 
 edifices not a trace could be discovered, and the 
 proudest cities of mankind had utterly faded away 
 from the face of the earth. 
 
 "What mainly astonished me, in the appearance 
 of things below, was the seeming concavity of the 
 surface of the globe. I had, thoughtlessly enough, 
 
 57 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 expected to see its real CONVEXITY become evident as 
 I ascended; but a very little reflection sufficed to ex 
 plain the discrepancy. A line dropped from my 
 position perpendicularly to the earth would have 
 formed the perpendicular of a right-angled triangle, 
 of which the base would have extended from the 
 right angle to the horizon, and the hypothenuse from 
 the horizon to my position. But my height was 
 little or nothing in comparison with my prospect. 
 In other words, the base and hypothenuse of the sup 
 posed triangle would, in my case, have been so long, 
 when compared to the perpendicular, that the two 
 former might have been regarded as nearly parallel. 
 In this manner the horizon of the aeronaut appears 
 always to be UPON A LEVEL with the car. But as 
 the point immediately beneath him seems, and is, at 
 a great distance below him, it seems, of course, also 
 at a great distance below the horizon. Hence the 
 impression of concavity; and this impression must 
 remain until the elevation shall bear so great a pro 
 portion to the prospect that the apparent parallelism 
 of the base and hypothenuse disappears. 
 
 "The pigeons about this time seeming to undergo 
 much suffering, I determined upon giving them their 
 liberty. I first united one of them, a beautiful gray- 
 mottled pigeon, and placed him upon the rim of the 
 wickerwork. He appeared extremely uneasy, look 
 ing anxiously around him, fluttering his wings, and 
 making a loud cooing noise, but could not be per 
 suaded to trust himself from the car. I took him up 
 at last, and threw him to about half a dozen yards 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 from the balloon. He made, however, no attempt to 
 descend as I had expected, but struggled with great 
 vehemence to get back, uttering at the same time 
 very shrill and piercing cries. He at length suc 
 ceeded in regaining his former station on the rim, 
 but had hardly done so when his head dropped upon 
 his breast and he fell dead within the car. The other 
 one did not prove so unfortunate. To prevent his 
 following the example of his companion and accom 
 plishing a return, I threw him downward with all 
 my force, and was pleased to find him continue his 
 descent with great velocity, making use of his wings 
 with ease and in a perfectly natural manner. In a 
 very short time he was out of sight, and I have no 
 doubt he reached home in safety. Puss, who seemed 
 in a great measure recovered from her illness, now 
 made a hearty meal of the dead bird, and then went 
 to sleep with much apparent satisfaction. Her 
 kittens were quite lively, and so far evinced not the 
 slightest sign of any uneasiness. 
 
 "At a quarter past eight, being able no longer to 
 draw breath without the most intolerable pain, I 
 proceeded forthwith to adjust around the car the 
 apparatus belonging to the condenser. This appa 
 ratus will require some little explanation, and your 
 Excellencies will please to bear in mind that my 
 object, in the first place, was to surround myself and 
 car entirely with a barricade against the highly 
 rarefied atmosphere in which I was existing, with the 
 intention of introducing within this barricade, by 
 means of my condenser, a quantity of this same 
 
 59 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 atmosphere sufficiently condensed for the purpos& of 
 respiration. With this object in view I had prepared 
 a very strong, perfectly air-tight but flexible gum- 
 elastic bag. In this bag, which was of sufficient 
 dimensions, the entire car was in a manner placed. 
 That is to say, it (the bag) was drawn over the whole 
 bottom of the car, up its sides, and so on, along the 
 outside of the ropes, to the upper rim or hoop where 
 the network is attached. Having pulled the bag up 
 in this way and formed a complete enclosure on all 
 sides and at bottom, it was now necessary to fasten 
 up its top or mouth by passing its material over the 
 hoop of the network; in other words, between the 
 network and the hoop. But if the network were 
 separated from the hoop to admit this passage, what 
 was to sustain the car in the meantime? Now the 
 network was not permanently fastened to the hoop, 
 but attached by a series of running loops or nooses. 
 I therefore undid only a few of these loops at one 
 time, leaving the car suspended by the remainder. 
 Having thus inserted a portion of the cloth forming 
 the upper part of the bag, I refastened the loops, not 
 to the hoop, for that would have been impossible 
 since the cloth now intervened, but to a series of 
 large buttons affixed to the cloth itself, about three 
 feet below the mouth of the bag; the intervals be 
 tween the buttons having been made to correspond 
 to the intervals between the loops. This done, a few 
 more of the loops were unfastened from the rim, a 
 further portion of the cloth introduced, and the 
 disengaged loops then connected with their proper 
 
 60 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 buttons. In this way it was possible to insert the 
 whole upper part of the bag between the network 
 and the hoop. It is evident that the hoop would not 
 drop down within the car, while the whole weight of 
 the car itself, with all its contents, would be held up 
 merely by the strength of the buttons. This, at first 
 sight, would seem an inadequate dependence; but it 
 was by no means so, for the buttons were not only 
 very strong in themselves, but so close together that 
 a very slight portion of the whole weight was sup 
 ported by any one of them. Indeed, had the car and 
 contents been three times heavier than they were, I 
 should not have been at all uneasy. I now raised up 
 the hoop again within the covering of gum-elastic, 
 and propped it at nearly its former height by means 
 of three light poles prepared for the occasion. This 
 was done, of course, to keep the bag distended at the 
 top, and to preserve the lower part of the network in 
 its proper situation. All that now remained was to 
 fasten up the mouth of the enclosure; and this was 
 readily accomplished by gathering the folds of the 
 material together and twisting them up very tightly 
 on the inside by means of a kind of stationary 
 tourniquet. 
 
 "In the sides of the covering thus adjusted round 
 the car, had been inserted three circular panes of 
 thick but clear glass, through which I could see with 
 out difficulty around me in every horizontal direction. 
 In that portion of the cloth forming the bottom was 
 likewise a fourth window, of the same kind, and 
 corresponding with a small aperture in the floor of 
 
 61 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 the car itself. This enabled me to see perpendicularly 
 down, but, having found it impossible to place any 
 similar contrivance overhead, on account of the pecul 
 iar manner of closing up the opening there and the 
 consequent wrinkles in the cloth, I could expect to 
 see no objects situated directly in my zenith. This, 
 of course, was a matter of little consequence ; for, had 
 I even been able to place a window at top, the balloon 
 itself would have prevented my making any use 
 of it. 
 
 "About a foot below one of the side windows was 
 a circular opening, three inches in diameter, and 
 fitted with a brass rim adapted in its inner edge to 
 the windings of a screw. In this rim was screwed the 
 larger tube of the condenser, the body of the ma 
 chine being, of course, within the chamber of gum- 
 elastic. Through this tube a quantity of the rare 
 atmosphere circumjacent, being drawn by means of 
 a VACUUM created in the body of the machine, was 
 thence discharged, in a state of condensation, to 
 mingle with the thin air already in the chamber. 
 This operation being repeated several times, at length 
 filled the chamber with atmosphere proper for all the 
 purposes of respiration; but in so confined a space it 
 would, in a short time, necessarily become foul and 
 unfit for use from frequent contact with the lungs. 
 It was then ejected by a small valve at the bottom of 
 the car, the dense air readily sinking into the thinner 
 atmosphere below. To avoid the inconvenience of 
 making a total vacuum at any moment within the 
 chamber, this purification was never accomplished all 
 
 6* 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 at once, but in a gradual manner, the valve being 
 opened only for a few seconds, then closed again, 
 until one or two strokes from the pump of the con 
 denser had supplied the place of the atmosphere 
 ejected. For the sake of experiment I had put the 
 cat and kittens in a small basket, and suspended it 
 outside the car to a button at the bottom, close by 
 the valve, through which I could feed them at any 
 moment when necessary. I did this at some little 
 risk, and before closing the mouth of the chamber, by 
 reaching under the car with one of the poles before 
 mentioned, to which a hook had been attached. As 
 soon as dense air was admitted in the chamber, the 
 hoop and poles became unnecessary ; the expansion of 
 the enclosed atmosphere powerfully distending the 
 gum-elastic. 
 
 "By the time I had fully completed these arrange 
 ments and filled the chamber as explained, it wanted 
 only ten minutes of nine o clock. During the whole 
 period of my being thus employed I endured the most 
 terrible distress from difficulty of respiration, and bit 
 terly did I repent the negligence, or rather foolhardi- 
 ness, of which I had been guilty, of putting off to the 
 last moment a matter of so much importance. But 
 having at length accomplished it, I soon began to 
 reap the benefit of my invention. Once again I 
 breathed with perfect freedom and ease and, in 
 deed, why should I not? I was also agreeably sur 
 prised to find myself in a great measure relieved 
 from the violent pains which had hitherto tormented 
 me. A slight headache, accompanied with a sensa- 
 
 63 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 tion of fulness or distension about the wrists, the 
 ankles, and the throat, was nearly all of which I had 
 now to complain. Thus it seemed evident that a 
 greater part of the uneasiness attending the removal 
 of atmospheric pressure had actually WORN OFF, as 
 I had expected, and that much of the pain endured 
 for the last two hours should have been attributed 
 altogether to the effects of a deficient respiration. 
 
 "At twenty minutes before nine o clock that 
 is to say, a short time prior to my closing up the 
 mouth of the chamber, the mercury attained its limit, 
 or ran down, in the barometer, which, as I mentioned 
 before, was one of an extended construction. It then 
 indicated an altitude on my part of 132,000 feet, or 
 five-and-twenty miles, and I consequently surveyed 
 at that time an extent of the earth s area amounting 
 to no less than the three-hundred-and-twentieth part 
 of its entire superficies. At nine o clock I had again 
 lost sight of land to the eastward, but not before 
 I became aware that the balloon was drifting rapidly 
 to the N. N. W. The ocean beneath me still retained 
 its apparent concavity, although my view was often 
 interrupted by the masses of cloud which floated to 
 and fro. 
 
 "At half-past nine I tried the experiment of 
 throwing out a handful of feathers through the valve. 
 They did not float as I had expected; but dropped 
 down perpendicularly, like a bullet, en masse, and 
 with the greatest velocity, being out of sight in a 
 very few seconds. I did not at first know what to 
 make of this extraordinary phenomenon; not being 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 able to believe that my rate of ascent had, of a sudden, 
 met with so prodigious an acceleration. But it soon 
 occurred to me that the atmosphere was now far too 
 rare to sustain even the feathers; that they actually 
 fell, as they appeared to do, with great rapidity ; and 
 that I had been surprised by the united velocities of 
 their descent and my own elevation. 
 
 "By ten o clock I found that I had very little to 
 occupy my immediate attention. Affairs went on 
 swimmingly, and I believed the balloon to be going 
 upward with a speed increasing momently, although 
 I had no longer any means of ascertaining the pro 
 gression of the increase. I suffered no pain or un 
 easiness of any kind, and enjoyed better spirits than 
 I had at any period since my departure from Rot 
 terdam; busying myself now in examining the state 
 of my various apparatus, and now in regenerating 
 the atmosphere within the chamber. This latter point 
 I determined to attend to at regular intervals of 
 forty minutes, more on account of the preservation 
 of my health than from so frequent a renovation be 
 ing absolutely necessary. In the meanwhile I could 
 not help making anticipations. Fancy revelled in the 
 wild and dreamy regions of the moon. Imagination, 
 feeling herself for once unshackled, roamed at will 
 among the ever-changing wonders of a shadowy and 
 unstable land. Now there were hoary and time- 
 honored forests, and craggy precipices, and water 
 falls tumbling with a loud noise into abysses 
 without a bottom. Then I came suddenly into 
 still moonday solitudes, where no wind of heaven 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ever intruded, and where vast meadows of poppies, 
 and slender, lily-looking flowers spread themselves 
 out a weary distance, all silent and motionless 
 forever. Then again I journeyed far down away into 
 another country where it was all one dim and vague 
 lake, with a boundary line of clouds. But fancies 
 cuch as these were not the sole possessors of my 
 brain. Horrors of a nature most stern and most 
 appalling would too frequently obtrude themselves 
 upon my mind, and shake the innermost depths of my 
 soul with the bare supposition of their possibility. 
 Yet I would not suffer my thoughts for any length of 
 time to dwell upon these latter speculations, rightly 
 judging the real and palpable dangers of the voyage 
 sufficient for my undivided attention. 
 
 "At five o clock, p. M., being engaged in regenerat 
 ing the atmosphere within the chamber, I took that 
 opportunity of observing the cat and kittens through 
 the valve. The cat herself appeared to suffer again 
 very much, and I had no hesitation in attributing 
 her uneasiness chiefly to a difficulty in breathing; 
 but my experiment with the kittens had resulted 
 very strangely. I had expected, of course, to see them 
 betray a sense of pain, although in a less degree than 
 their mother; and this would have been sufficient to 
 confirm my opinion concerning the habitual endur 
 ance of atmospheric pressure. But I was not pre 
 pared to find them, upon close examination, evidently 
 enjoying a high degree of health, breathing with the 
 greatest ease and perfect regularity, and evincing 
 not the slightest sign of any uneasiness. I could only 
 
 66 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 account for all this by extending my theory, and 
 supposing that the highly rarefied atmosphere around 
 might perhaps not be, as I had taken for granted, 
 chemically insufficient for the purposes of life, and 
 that a person born in such a MEDIUM might, possibly, 
 be unaware of any inconvenience attending its in 
 halation, while, upon removal to the denser STRATA 
 near the earth, he might endure tortures of a similar 
 nature to those I had so lately experienced. It has 
 since been to me a matter of deep regret that an 
 awkward accident at this time occasioned me the loss 
 of my little family of cats, and deprived me of the 
 insight into this matter which a continued experi 
 ment might have afforded. In passing my hand 
 through the valve, with a cup of water for the old 
 puss, the sleeve of my shirt became entangled in the 
 loop which sustained the basket, and thus, in a mo 
 ment, loosened it from the button. Had the whole 
 actually vanished into air it could not have shot 
 from my sight in a more abrupt and instantaneous 
 manner. Positively, there could not have intervened 
 the tenth part of a second between the disengage 
 ment of the basket and its absolute disappearance 
 with all that it contained. My good wishes followed 
 it to the earth, but of course I had no hope that either 
 cat or kittens would ever live to tell the tale of their 
 misfortune. 
 
 "At six o clock I perceived a great portion of the 
 earth s visible area to the eastward involved in thick 
 shadow, which continued to advance with great ra 
 pidity, until, at five minutes before seven, the whole 
 
 67 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 surface in view was enveloped in the darkness of 
 night. It was not, however, until long after this time 
 that the rays of the setting sun ceased to illumine 
 the balloon; and this circumstance, although of 
 course fully anticipated, did not fail to give me an 
 infinite deal of pleasure. It was evident that, in 
 the morning, I should behold the rising luminary 
 many hours, at least, before the citizens of Rotter 
 dam, in spite of their situation so much farther to 
 the eastward, and thus, day after day, in proportion 
 to the height ascended, would I enjoy the light of 
 the sun for a longer and a longer period. I now 
 determined to keep a journal of my passage, reckon- 
 ing the days from one to twenty-four hours con 
 tinuously, without taking into consideration the in 
 tervals of darkness. 
 
 "At ten o clock, feeling sleepy, I determined to 
 lie down for the rest of the night; but here a diffi 
 culty presented itself, which, obvious as it may ap 
 pear, had escaped my attention up to the very mo 
 ment of which I am now speaking. If I went to 
 sleep as I proposed, how could the atmosphere in the 
 chamber be regenerated in the INTERIM? To breathe 
 it for more than an hour, at the farthest, would be 
 a matter of impossibility; or, if even this term could 
 be extended to an hour and a quarter, the most 
 ruinous consequences might ensue. The considera 
 tion of this dilemma gave me no little disquietude; 
 and it will hardly be believed, that, after the dangers 
 I had undergone, I should look upon this business in 
 so serious a light as to give up all hope of accom- 
 
 68 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS FFAALL 
 
 plishing my ultimate design, and finally make up 
 my mind to the necessity of a descent. But this 
 hesitation was only momentary. I reflected that a 
 man is the veriest slave of custom, and that many 
 points in the routine of his existence are deemed 
 ESSENTIALLY important which are only so AT ALL by 
 his having rendered them habitual. It was very 
 certain that I could not do without sleep; but I 
 might easily bring myself to feel no inconvenience 
 from being awakened at intervals of an hour dur 
 ing the whole period of my repose. It would re 
 quire but five minutes at most to regenerate the at 
 mosphere in the fullest manner and the only real 
 difficulty was to contrive a method of arousing my 
 self at the proper moment for so doing. But this 
 was a question which, I am willing to confess, oc 
 casioned me no little trouble in its solution. To be 
 sure, I had heard of the student who, to prevent 
 his falling asleep over his books, held in one hand a 
 ball of copper, the din of whose descent into a basin 
 of the same metal on the floor beside his chair served 
 effectually to startle him up, if, at any moment, he 
 should be overcome with drowsiness. My own case, 
 however, was very different indeed, and left me no 
 room for any similar idea ; for I did not wish to keep 
 awake, but to be aroused from slumber at regular 
 intervals of time. I at length hit upon the following 
 expedient, which, simple as it may seem, was hailed 
 by me at the moment of discovery as an invention 
 fully equal to that of the telescope, the steam-engine, 
 or the art of printing itself. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 "It is necessary to premise, that the balloon, at 
 the elevation now attained, continued its course up 
 ward with an even and undeviating ascent, and the 
 car consequently followed with a steadiness so per 
 fect that it would have been impossible to detect 
 in it the slightest vacillation. This circumstance 
 favored me greatly in the project I now determined 
 to adopt. My supply of water had been put on board 
 in kegs containing five gallons each, and ranged 
 very securely around the interior of the car. I un 
 fastened one of these, and, taking two ropes, tied 
 them tightly across the rim of the wickerwork from 
 one side to the other, placing them about a foot apart 
 and parallel, so as to form a kind of shelf, upon 
 which I placed the keg, and steadied it in a 
 horizontal position. About eight inches immediately 
 below these ropes, and four feet from the bottom of 
 the car I fastened another shelf but made of thin 
 plank, being the only similar piece of wood I had. 
 Upon this latter shelf, and exactly beneath one of the 
 rims of the keg, a small earthen pitcher was de 
 posited. I now bored a hole in the end of the keg 
 over the pitcher, and fitted in a plug of soft wood, 
 cut in a tapering or conical shape. This plug I 
 pushed in or pulled out, as might happen, until, after 
 a few experiments, it arrived at that exact degree 
 of tightness at which the water, oozing from the hole, 
 and falling into the pitcher below, would fill the 
 latter to the brim in the period of sixty minutes. 
 This, of course, was a matter briefly and easily as 
 certained, by noticing the proportion of the pitcher 
 
 70 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 filled in any given time. Having arranged all this, 
 the rest of the plan is obvious. My bed was so con 
 trived upon the floor of the car as to bring my head, 
 in lying down, immediately below the mouth of the 
 pitcher. It was evident that, at the expiration of an 
 hour, the pitcher, getting full, would be forced to 
 run over, and to run over at the mouth, which was 
 somewhat lower than the rim. It was also evident 
 that the water, thus falling from a height of more 
 than four feet, could not do otherwise than fall upon 
 my face, and that the sure consequence would be 
 to waken me up instantaneously, even from the 
 soundest slumber in the world. 
 
 "It was fully eleven by the time I had completed 
 these arrangements, and I immediately betook my 
 self to bed, with full confidence in the efficiency of 
 my invention. Nor in this matter was I disappointed. 
 Punctually every sixty minutes was I aroused by my 
 trusty chronometer, when, having emptied the pitcher 
 into the hung-hole of the keg, and performed the 
 duties of the condenser, I retired again to bed. These 
 regular interruptions to my slumber caused me even 
 less discomfort than I had anticipated, and when I 
 finally arose for the day it was seven o clock, and the 
 sun had attained many degrees above the line of my 
 horizon. 
 
 " April 3d. I found the balloon at an immense 
 height indeed, and the earth s convexity had now 
 become strikingly manifest. Below me in the ocean 
 lay a cluster of black specks, which undoubtedly 
 were islands. Overhead, the sky was of a jetty black, 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and the stars were brilliantly visible; indeed, they 
 had been so constantly since the first day of ascent. 
 Far away to the northward I perceived a thin, white, 
 and exceedingly brilliant line, or streak, on the edge 
 of the horizon, and I had no hesitation in supposing 
 it to be the southern disk of the ices of the polar 
 sea. My curiosity was greatly excited, for I had 
 hopes of passing on much farther to the north, and 
 might possibly, at some period, find myself placed 
 directly above the pole itself. I now lamented that 
 my great elevation would, in this case, prevent my 
 taking as accurate a survey as I could wish. Much, 
 however, might be ascertained. 
 
 " Nothing else of an extraordinary nature oc 
 curred during the day. My apparatus all continued 
 in good order, and the balloon still ascended without 
 any perceptible vacillation. The cold was intense, 
 and obliged me to wrap up closely in an overcoat. 
 When darkness came over the earth, I betook myself 
 to bed, although it was for many hours afterward 
 broad daylight all around my immediate situation. 
 The water-clock was punctual in its duty, and I slept 
 until next morning soundly, with the exception of 
 the periodical interruption. 
 
 11 April 4th. Arose in good health and spirits, and 
 was astonished at the singular change which had 
 taken place in the appearance of the sea. It had 
 lost, in a great measure, the deep tint of blue it had 
 hitherto worn, being now of a grayish-white, and of 
 a lustre dazzling to the eye. The convexity of the 
 ocean had become so evident that the entire mass of 
 
 72 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 the distant water seemed to be tumbling headlong 
 over the abyss of the horizon, and I found myself 
 listening on tiptoe for the echoes of the mighty 
 cataract. The islands were no longer visible ; whether 
 they had passed down the horizon to the southeast, 
 or whether my increasing elevation had left them out 
 of sight, it is impossible to say. I was inclined, how 
 ever, to the latter opinion. The rim of ice to the 
 northward was growing more and more apparent. 
 Cold by no means so intense. Nothing of importance 
 occurred, and I passed the day in reading, having 
 taken care to supply myself with books. 
 
 "April 5tli. Beheld the singular phenomenon of 
 the sun rising while nearly the whole visible surface 
 of the earth continued to be involved in darkness. 
 In time, however, the light spread itself over all, 
 and I again saw the line of ice to the northward. 
 It was now very distinct, and appeared of a much 
 darker hue than the waters of the ocean. I was evi 
 dently approaching it, and with great rapidity. 
 Fancied I could again distinguish a strip of land to 
 the eastward, and one also to the westward, but could 
 not be certain. Weather moderate. Nothing of any 
 consequence happened during the day. Went early 
 to bed. 
 
 "April 6th. Was surprised at finding the rim of 
 ice at a very moderate distance, and an immense field 
 of the same material stretching away off to the ho 
 rizon in the north. It was evident that, if the 
 balloon held its present course, it would soon arrive 
 above the frozen ocean, and I had now little doubt 
 
 73 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 of ultimately seeing the pole. During the whole of 
 the day I continued to near the ice. Toward night the 
 limits of my horizon very suddenly and materially 
 increased, owing undoubtedly to the earth s form be 
 ing that of an oblate spheroid, and my arriving above 
 the flattened regions in the vicinity of the Arctic 
 circle. When darkness at length overtook me, I went 
 to bed in great anxiety, fearing to pass over the 
 object of so much curiosity when I should have no 
 opportunity of observing it. 
 
 "April 7th. Arose early, and, to my great joy, 
 at length beheld what there could be no hesitation 
 in supposing the northern pole itself. It was there, 
 beyond a doubt, and immediately beneath my feet; 
 but alas ! I had now ascended to so vast a distance 
 that nothing could with accuracy be discerned. In 
 deed, to judge from the progression of the numbers 
 indicating my various altitudes, respectively, at dif 
 ferent periods, between six A. M., on the second of 
 April, and twenty minutes before nine A.M., of the 
 same day (at which time the barometer ran down), 
 it might be fairly inferred that the balloon had now. 
 at four o clock in the morning of April the seventh, 
 reached a height of NOT LESS, certainly, than 7,254 
 miles above the surface of the sea. This elevation 
 may appear immense, but the estimate upon which 
 it is calculated gave a result in all probability far 
 inferior to the truth. At all events I undoubtedly 
 beheld the whole of the earth s major diameter; the 
 entire northern hemisphere lay beneath me like a 
 chart orthographically projected: and the great 
 
 74 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 circle of the equator itself formed the boundary line 
 of my horizon. Your Excellencies may, however, 
 readily imagine that the confined regions hitherto 
 unexplored within the limits of the Arctic circle, al 
 though situated directly beneath me, and therefore 
 seen without any appearance of being foreshort 
 ened, were still, in themselves, comparatively too 
 diminutive, and at too great a distance from the 
 point of sight, to admit of any very accurate ex 
 amination. Nevertheless, what could be seen was of 
 a nature singular and exciting. Northwardly from 
 that huge rim before mentioned, and which, with 
 slight qualification, may be called the limit of human 
 discovery in these regions, one unbroken, or nearly 
 unbroken, sheet of ice continues to extend. In the 
 first few degrees of this, its progress, its surface is 
 very sensibly flattened, farther on depressed into a 
 plane, and finally, becoming NOT A LITTLE CONCAVE, 
 it terminates, at the pole itself, in a circular center, 
 sharply defined, whose apparent diameter subtended 
 at the balloon an angle of about sixty-five seconds, 
 and whose dusky hue, varying in intensity, was, at 
 all times, darker than any other spot upon the visible 
 hemisphere, and occasionally deepened into the most 
 absolute blackness. Further than this, little could 
 be ascertained. By twelve o clock the circular center 
 had materially decreased in circumference, and by 
 seven P. M. I lost sight of it entirely, the balloon pass 
 ing over the western limb of the ice, and floating 
 away rapidly in the direction of the equator. 
 
 11 April 8th. Found a sensible diminution in the 
 
 75 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 earth s apparent diameter, besides a material altera 
 tion in its general color and appearance. The whole 
 visible area partook in different degrees of a tint 
 of pale yellow, and in some portions had acquired a 
 brilliancy even painful to the eye. My view down 
 ward was also considerably impeded by the dense 
 atmosphere in the vicinity of the surface being loaded 
 with clouds, between whose masses I could only now 
 and then obtain a glimpse of the earth itself. This 
 difficulty of direct vision had troubled me more or 
 less for the last forty-eight hours; but my present 
 enormous elevation brought closer together, as it were, 
 the floating bodies of vapor, and the inconvenience 
 became, of course, more and more palpable in pro 
 portion to my ascent. Nevertheless, I could easily 
 perceive that the balloon now hovered above the 
 range of great lakes in the continent of North 
 America, and was holding a course due south, which 
 would soon bring me to the tropics. This circum 
 stance did not fail to give me the most heartfelt 
 satisfaction, and I hailed it as a happy omen of 
 ultimate success. Indeed, the direction I had hitherto 
 taken had filled me with uneasiness; for it was evi 
 dent that, had I continued it much longer, there 
 would have been no possibility of my arriving at 
 the moon at all, whose orbit is inclined to the ecliptic 
 at only the small angle of 5 8 48". Strange as it 
 may seem, it was only at this late period that I be 
 gan to understand the great error I had committed, 
 in not taking my departure from earth at some point 
 
 IN THE PLANE OF THE LUNAR ELLIPSE. 
 
 76 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 "April 9th. To-day the earth s diameter was 
 greatly diminished, and the color of the surface as 
 sumed hourly a deeper tint of yellow. The balloon 
 kept steadily on her course to the southward, and 
 arrived, at nine P. M., over the northern edge of the 
 Mexican Gulf. 
 
 "April 10th. I was suddenly aroused from slum 
 ber about five o clock this morning, by a loud, 
 crackling, and terrific sound, for which I could in no 
 manner account. It was of very brief duration, but, 
 while it lasted, resembled nothing in the world of 
 which I had any previous experience. It is needless 
 to say that I became excessively alarmed, having, in 
 the first instance, attributed the noise to the burst 
 ing of the balloon. I examined all my apparatus, 
 however, with great attention, and could discover 
 nothing out of order. Spent a great part of the day 
 in meditating upon an occurrence so extraordinary, 
 but could find no means whatever of accounting for 
 it. Went to bed dissatisfied and in a state of great 
 anxiety and agitation. 
 
 "April llth. Found a startling diminution in the 
 apparent diameter of the earth, and a considerable 
 increase, now observable for the first time, in that 
 of the moon itself, which wanted only a few days of 
 being full. It now required long and excessive labor 
 to condense within the chamber sufficient atmospheric 
 air for the sustenance of life. 
 
 "April 12th. A singular alteration took place in 
 regard to the direction of the balloon, and, although 
 fully anticipated, afforded me the most unequivocal 
 
 . 
 
 d 
 
 77 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 delight. Having reached, in its former course, about 
 the twentieth parallel of southern latitude, it turned 
 off suddenly, at an acute angle, to the eastward, and 
 thus proceeded throughout the day, keeping nearly, 
 if not altogether, in the exact plane of the lunar 
 ellipse. What was worthy of remark, a very per 
 ceptible vacillation in the car was a consequence of 
 this change of route, a vacillation which prevailed, 
 in a more or less degree, for a period of many 
 hours. 
 
 "April 13th. Was again very much alarmed by 
 a repetition of the loud, crackling noise which terri 
 fied me on the tenth. Thought long upon the sub 
 ject, but was unable to form any satisfactory con 
 clusion. Great decrease in the earth s apparent 
 diameter, which now subtended from the balloon an 
 angle of very little more than twenty-five degrees. 
 The moon could not be seen at all, being nearly in 
 my zenith. I still continued in the plane of the 
 ellipse, but made little progress to the eastward. 
 
 "April 14th. Extremely rapid decrease in the 
 diameter of the earth. To-day I became strongly im 
 pressed with the idea that the balloon was now 
 actually running up the line of apsides to the point 
 of perigee, in other words, holding the direct course 
 which would bring it immediately to the moon in 
 that part of its orbit the nearest to the earth. The 
 moon itself was directly overhead and consequently 
 hidden from my view. Great and long-continued 
 labor necessary for the condensation of the atmos 
 phere. 
 
 78 
 
n 
 
 ADVENTURE ttANS PFAALL 
 
 "April 15th. Not even the outlines of continents 
 and seas could now be traced upon the earth with 
 distinctness. About twelve o clock I became aware, 
 for the third time, of that appalling sound which 
 had so astonished me before. It now, however, con 
 tinued for some moments and gathered intensity as 
 it continued. At length, while stupefied and terror- 
 stricken, I stood in expectation of I knew not what 
 hideous destruction, the car vibrated with excessive 
 violence, and a gigantic and flaming mass of some ma 
 terial which I could not distinguish came with a voice 
 of a thousand thunders, roaring and booming by the 
 balloon. When my fears and astonishment had in 
 some degree subsided, I had little difficulty in sup 
 posing it to be some mighty volcanic fragment 
 ejected from that world to which I was so rapidly 
 approaching, and, in all probability, one of that 
 singular class of substances occasionally picked up 
 on the earth, and termed meteoric stones for want of 
 a better appellation. 
 
 11 April 16th. To-day, looking upward as well as 
 I could, through each of the side windows alternately, 
 I beheld, to my great delight, a very small portion 
 of the moon s disk protruding, as it were, on all 
 sides beyond the huge circumference of the balloon. 
 My agitation was extreme ; for I had now little doubt 
 of soon reaching the end of my perilous voyage. In 
 deed, the labor now required by the condenser had 
 increased to a most oppressive degree, and allowed 
 me scarcely any respite from exertion. Sleep was a 
 matter nearly out of the question. I became quite 
 
 79 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ill, and my frame trembled with exhaustion. It was 
 impossible that human nature could endure this state 
 of intense suffering much longer. During the now 
 brief interval of darkness a meteoric stone again 
 passed in my vicinity, and the frequency of these 
 phenomena began to occasion me much apprehension. 
 "April 17th. This morning proved an epoch in my 
 voyage. It will be remembered that, on the thir 
 teenth, the earth subtended an angular breadth of 
 twenty-five degrees. On the fourteenth this had 
 greatly diminished; on the fifteenth a still more re 
 markable decrease was observable; and, on retiring 
 for the night of the sixteenth, I had noticed an angle 
 of no more than about seven degrees and fifteen 
 minutes. What, therefore, must have been my 
 amazement, on awakening from a brief and disturbed 
 slumber on the morning of this day, the seventeenth, 
 at finding the surface beneath me so suddenly and 
 wonderfully AUGMENTED in volume as to subtend no 
 less than thirty-nine degrees in apparent angular 
 diameter ! I was thunderstruck ! No words can give 
 any adequate idea of the extreme, the absolute horror 
 and astonishment, with which I was seized, possessed, 
 and altogether overwhelmed. My knees tottered 
 beneath me, my teeth chattered, my hair started 
 up on end. The balloon, then, had actually burst! 
 These were the first tumultuous ideas that hurried 
 through my mind : The balloon had positively burst ! 
 -I was falling, falling with the most impetuous, 
 the most unparalleled velocity! To judge by the im 
 mense distance already so quickly passed over, it 
 
 80 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 could not be more than ten minutes, at the farthest, 
 before I should reach the surface of the earth and be 
 hurled into annihilation! 7 But at length reflection 
 came to my relief. I paused; I considered; and I 
 began to doubt. The matter was impossible. I could 
 not in any reason have so rapidly come down. 
 Besides, although I was evidently approaching the 
 surface below me, it was with a speed by no means 
 commensurate with the velocity I had at first con 
 ceived. This consideration served to calm the per 
 turbation of my mind, and I finally succeeded in re 
 garding the phenomenon in its proper point of view. 
 In fact, amazement must have fairly deprived me 
 of my senses when I could not see the vast difference 
 in appearance between the surface below me and the 
 surface of my mother earth. The latter was indeed 
 over my head and completely hidden by the bal 
 loon, while the moon the moon itself in all its 
 glory lay beneath me and at my feet. 
 
 "The stupor and surprise produced in my mind 
 by this extraordinary change in the posture of af 
 fairs, was, perhaps, after all, that part of the ad 
 venture least susceptible of explanation. For the 
 bouleversement in itself was not only natural and 
 inevitable, but had been long actually anticipated as 
 a circumstance to be expected whenever I should ar 
 rive at that exact point of my voyage where the at 
 traction of the planet should be superseded by the 
 attraction of the satellite, or, more precisely, where 
 the gravitation of the balloon toward the earth should 
 be less powerful than its gravitation toward the 
 
 i6 81 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 moon. To be sure, I arose from a sound slumber, 
 with all my senses in confusion, to the contemplation 
 of a very startling phenomenon, and one which, al 
 though expected, was not expected at the moment. 
 The revolution itself must, of course, have taken 
 place in an easy and gradual manner, and it is by no 
 means clear that, had I even been awake at the time 
 of the occurrence, I should have been made aware of 
 it by any internal evidence of an inversion, that is 
 to say, by any inconvenience or disarrangement, 
 either about my person or about my apparatus. 
 
 41 It is almost needless to say that, upon coming 
 to a due sense of my situation, and emerging from 
 the terror which had absorbed every faculty of my 
 soul, my attention was, in the first place, wholly 
 directed to the contemplation of the general physical 
 appearance of the moon. It lay beneath me like 
 a chart, and, although I judged it to be still at no 
 inconsiderable distance, the indentures of its surface 
 were defined to my vision with a most striking and 
 altogether unaccountable distinctness. The entire 
 absence of ocean or sea, and indeed of any lake or 
 river, or body of water whatsoever, struck me, at 
 first glance, as the most extraordinary feature in its 
 geological condition. Yet, strange to say, I beheld 
 vast level regions of a character decidedly alluvial, al 
 though by far the greater portion of the hemisphere 
 in sight was covered with innumerable volcanic 
 mountains, conical in shape, and having more the ap 
 pearance of artificial than of natural protuberances. 
 The highest among them does not exceed three and 
 
 82 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 three-quarter miles in perpendicular elevation; but 
 a map of the volcanic districts of the Campi Phlegrsei 
 would afford to your Excellencies a better idea of 
 their general surface than any unworthy description 
 I might think proper to attempt. The greater part 
 of them were in a state of evident eruption, and gave 
 me fearfully to understand their fury and their 
 power by the repeated thunders of the miscalled 
 meteoric stones, which now rushed upward by the 
 balloon with a frequency more and more appalling. 
 11 April 18th. To-day I found an enormous in 
 crease in the moon s apparent bulk; and the evi 
 dently accelerated velocity of my descent began to 
 fill me with alarm. It will be remembered that, in 
 the earliest stage of my speculations upon the pos 
 sibility of a passage to the moon, the existence in 
 its vicinity of an atmosphere, dense in proportion to 
 the bulk of the planet, had entered largely into my 
 calculations; this, too, in spite of many theories to 
 the contrary and, it may be added, in spite of a 
 general disbelief in the existence of any lunar atmos 
 phere at all. But, in addition to what I have al 
 ready urged in regard to Encke s comet and the 
 zodiacal light, I had been strengthened in my opinion 
 by certain observations of Mr. Schroeter of Lilienthal. 
 He observed the moon when two days and a half 
 old, in the evening soon after sunset, before the dark 
 part was visible, and continued to watch it until 
 it became visible. The two cusps appeared tapering 
 in a very sharp, faint prolongation, each exhibiting 
 its farthest extremity faintly illuminated by the solar 
 
 83 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 rays before any part of the dark hemisphere was 
 visible. Soon afterward, the whole dark limb became 
 illuminated. This prolongation of the cusps beyond 
 the semicircle, I thought, must have arisen from the 
 refraction of the sun s rays by the moon s atmos 
 phere. I computed, also, the height of the atmos 
 phere (which could refract light enough into its dark 
 hemisphere to produce a twilight more luminous than 
 the light reflected from the earth when the moon is 
 about 32 from the new) to be 1,356 Paris feet; in 
 this view I supposed the greatest height capable of 
 refracting the solar ray to be 5,376 feet. My ideas 
 on this topic had also received confirmation by a 
 passage in the eighty-second volume of the Philosoph 
 ical Transactions in which it is stated that, at an 
 occultation of Jupiter s satellites, the third disap 
 peared after having been about one or two seconds 
 of time indistinct, and the fourth became indis 
 cernible near the limb.* 
 
 * Hevelius writes that he has several times found, in 
 skies perfectly clear, when even stars of the sixth and seventh 
 magnitude were conspicuous, that, at the same altitude of 
 the moon, at the same elongation from the earth, and with 
 one and the same excellent telescope, the moon and its 
 maculge did not appear equally lucid at all times. From the 
 circumstances of the observation, it is evident that the cause 
 of this phenomenon is not either in our air, in the tube, in 
 the moon, or in the eye of the spectator, but must be looked 
 for in something (an atmosphere?) existing about the moon. 
 
 Cassini frequently observed Saturn, Jupiter, and the fixed 
 stars, when approaching the moon to occultation, to have their 
 circular figure changed into an oval one; and, in other occulta- 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 "Upon the resistance or, more properly, upon the 
 support of an atmosphere, existing in the state of 
 density imagined, I had, of course, entirely depended 
 for the safety of my ultimate descent. Should I 
 then, after all, prove to have been mistaken, I had 
 in consequence nothing better to expect, as a finale 
 to my adventure, than being dashed "into atoms 
 against the rugged surface of the satellite. And, in 
 deed, I had now every reason to be terrified. My 
 distance from the moon was comparatively trifling, 
 while the labor required by the condenser was 
 diminished not at all, and I could discover no in 
 dication whatever of a decreasing rarity in the air. 
 
 "April 19th. This morning, to my great joy, 
 about nine o clock, the surface of the moon being 
 frightfully near and my apprehensions excited to 
 the utmost, the pump of my condenser at length gave 
 evident tokens of an alteration in the atmosphere. 
 By ten, I had reason to believe its density consider 
 ably increased. By eleven, very little labor was 
 necessary at the apparatus; and at twelve o clock, 
 with some hesitation, I ventured to unscrew the 
 tourniquet, when, finding no inconvenience from 
 having done so, I finally threw open the gum-elastic 
 chamber and unrigged it from around the car. As 
 might have been expected, spasms and violent head 
 ache were the immediate consequences of an experi- 
 
 tions, he found no alteration of figure at all. Hence it might 
 be supposed that at some times, and not at others, there is 
 a dense matter encompassing the moon wherein the rays of 
 the stars are refracted. 
 
 85 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ment so precipitate and full of danger. But these 
 and other difficulties attending respiration, as they 
 were by no means so great as to put me in peril of 
 my life, I determined to endure as I best could, in 
 consideration of my leaving them behind me mo 
 mently in my approach to the denser STRATA near 
 the moon. This approach, however, was still im 
 petuous in the extreme; and it soon became alarm 
 ingly certain that, although I had probably not been 
 deceived in the expectation of an atmosphere dense 
 in proportion to the mass of the satellite, still I had 
 been wrong in supposing this density, even at the 
 surface, at all adequate to the support of the great 
 weight contained in the car of my balloon. Yet 
 this should have been the case, and in an equal de 
 gree as at the surface of the earth, the actual gravity 
 of bodies at either planet supposed in the ratio of the 
 atmospheric condensation. That it WAS NOT the case, 
 however, my precipitous downfall gave testimony 
 enough ; WHY it was not so, can only be explained by 
 a reference to those possible geological disturbances 
 to which I have formerly alluded. At all events I 
 was now close upon the planet, and coming down 
 with the most terrible impetuosity. I lost not a mo 
 ment, accordingly, in throwing overboard first my 
 ballast, then my water-kegs, then my condensing ap 
 paratus and gum-elastic chamber, and finally every 
 article within the car. But it was all to no purpose. 
 I still fell with horrible rapidity, and was now not 
 more than half a mile from the surface. As a last re 
 source, therefore, having got rid of my coat, hat, 
 
 86 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 and boots, I cut loose from the balloon THE CAR 
 ITSELF, which was of no inconsiderable weight, and 
 thus, clinging with both hands to the network, I 
 had barely time to observe that the whole country, 
 as far as the eye could reach, was thickly inter 
 spersed with diminutive habitations, ere I tumbled 
 headlong into the very heart of a fantastical-looking 
 city, and into the middle of a vast crowd of ugly 
 Little people, who none of them uttered a single 
 syllable or gave themselves the least trouble to render 
 me assistance, but stood, like a parcel of idiots, grin 
 ning in a ludicrous manner, and eyeing me and my 
 balloon askant, with their arms set akimbo. I turned 
 from them in contempt, and, gazing upward at the 
 earth so lately left, and left perhaps forever, beheld 
 it like a huge, dull, copper shield, about two degrees 
 in diameter, fixed immovably in the heavens over 
 head, and tipped on one of its edges with a crescent 
 border of the most brilliant gold. No traces of land 
 or water could be discovered, and the whole was 
 clouded with variable spots and belted with tropical 
 and equatorial zones. 
 
 1 Thus, may it please yous Excellencies, after a 
 series of great anxieties, unheard-of dangers, and 
 unparalleled escapes, I had at length, on the nine 
 teenth day of my departure from Rotterdam, arrived 
 in safety at the conclusion of a voyage undoubtedly 
 the most extraordinary and the most momentous ever 
 accomplished, undertaken, or conceived by any 
 denizen of earth. But my adventures yet remain to 
 be related. And indeed your Excellencies may well 
 
 87 
 
 a 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 imagine that, after a residence of five years upon a 
 planet not only deeply interesting in its own peculiar 
 character, but rendered doubly so by its intimate 
 connection, in capacity of satellite, with the world 
 inhabited by man, I may have intelligence for the 
 private ear of the States College of Astronomers of 
 far more importance than the details, however 
 wonderful, of the mere voyage which so happily con 
 cluded. This is, in fact, the case. I have much 
 very much which it would give me the greatest 
 pleasure to communicate. I have much to say of the 
 climate of the planet; of its wonderful alternations 
 of heat and cold; of unmitigated and burning sun 
 shine for one fortnight, and more than polar frigidity 
 for the next; of a constant transfer of moisture, by 
 distillation like that in vacuo, from the point beneath 
 the sun to the point the farthest from it; of a 
 variable zone of running water; of the people them 
 selves ; of their manners, customs, and political in 
 stitutions ; of their peculiar physical construction ; of 
 their ugliness ; of their want of ears, those useless 
 appendages in an atmosphere so peculiarly modified; 
 of their consequent ignorance of the use and prop 
 erties of speech; of their substitute for speech in a 
 singular method of intercommunication; of the in 
 comprehensible connection between each particular 
 individual in the moon with some particular indi 
 vidual on the earth a connection analogus with, 
 and depending upon, that of the orbs of the planet 
 and the satellite, and by means of which the lives 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 and destinies of the inhabitants of the one are inter 
 woven with the lives and destinies of the inhabi 
 tants of the other; and above all, if it so please your 
 Excellencies, above all, of those dark and hideous 
 mysteries which lie in the outer regions of the moon, 
 regions which, owing to the almost miraculous ac 
 cordance of the satellite s rotation on its own axis 
 with its sidereal revolution about the earth, have 
 never yet been turned, and, by God s mercy, never 
 shall be turned, to the scrutiny of the telescopes of 
 man. All this, and more much more would I 
 most willingly detail. But, to be brief, I must have 
 my reward. 
 
 "I am pining for a return to my family and to 
 my home ; and as the price of any further communica 
 tion on my part, in consideration of the light which 
 I have it in my power to throw upon many very 
 important branches of physical and metaphysical 
 science, I must solicit, through the influence of your 
 honorable body, a pardon for the crime of which I 
 have been guilty in the death of the creditors upon 
 my departure from Rotterdam. This, then, is the 
 object of the present paper. Its bearer, an inhabit 
 ant of the moon, whom I have pervailed upon, and 
 properly instructed, to be my messenger to the earth, 
 will await your Excellencies pleasure and return to 
 me with the pardon in question, if it can, in any 
 manner, be obtained. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, etc., your Excellencies 
 very humble servant, HANS PFAALL. : 
 
 89 
 
 ? 7 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Upon finishing the perusal of this very extraordi 
 nary document, Professor Rubadub, it is said, 
 dropped his pipe upon the ground in the extremity 
 of his surprise, and Mynheer Superbus Von Under- 
 duk, having taken off his spectacles, wiped them, and 
 deposited them in his pocket, so far forgot both him 
 self and his dignity as to turn round three times upon 
 his heel in the quintessence of astonishment and ad 
 miration. There was no doubt about the matter 
 the pardon should be obtained. So at least swore, 
 with a round oath, Professor Rubadub, and so finally 
 thought the illustrious Von Underduk, as he took 
 the arm of his brother in science, and without saying 
 a word began to make the best of his way home to 
 deliberate upon the measures to be adopted. Having 
 reached the door, however, of the burgomaster s 
 dwelling, the professor ventured to suggest that as 
 the messenger had thought proper to disappear no 
 doubt frightened to death by the savage appearance 
 of the burghers of Rotterdam the pardon would 
 be of little use, as no one but a man of the moon 
 would undertake a voyage to so vast a distance. To 
 the truth of this observation the burgomaster as 
 sented, and the matter was therefore at an end. Not 
 so, however, rumors and speculations. The letter, 
 having been published, gave rise to a variety of 
 gossip and opinion. Some of the overwise even made 
 themselves ridiculous by decrying the whole busi 
 ness as nothing better than a hoax. But "hoax," 
 with this sort of people is, I believe, a general term 
 
 90 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 for all matters above their comprehension. For my 
 part, I cannot conceive upon what data they have 
 founded such an accusation. Let us see what they 
 say: 
 
 Imprimis. That certain wags in Rotterdam have 
 certain especial antipathies to certain burgomasters 
 and astronomers. 
 
 Secondly. That an odd little dwarf and bottle 
 conjurer, both of whose ears, for some misdemeanor, 
 have been cut off close to his head, has been missing 
 for several days from the neighboring city of Bruges. 
 
 Thirdly. That the newspapers which were stuck 
 all over the little balloon were newspapers of Holland, 
 and therefore could not have been made in the moon. 
 They were dirty papers very dirty and Gluck, 
 the printer, would take his Bible oath to their having 
 been printed in Rotterdam. 
 
 Fourthly. That Hans Pfaall himself, the drunken 
 villain, and the three very idle gentlemen styled his 
 creditors, were all seen, no longer than two or three 
 days ago, in a tippling house in the suburbs, having 
 just returned, with money in their pockets, from a 
 Crip beyond the sea. 
 
 Lastly. That it is an opinion very generally re 
 ceived, or which ought to be generally received, that 
 the College of Astronomers in the city of Rotterdam, 
 as well as all other colleges in all other parts of the 
 vvorld, not to mention colleges and astronomers in 
 general, are, to say the least of the matter, not a whit 
 better, nor greater, nor wiser than they ought to be. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Note. Strictly speaking, there is but little similarity be 
 tween the above sketchy trifle and the celebrated "Moon 
 Story " of Mr. Locke; but as both have the character of 
 hoaxes (although, the one is in a tone of banter, the other 
 of downright earnest), and as both hoaxes are on the same 
 subject, the moon, moreover, as both attempt to give 
 plausibility by scientific detail, the author of Hans Pfaall 
 thinks it necessary to say, IN SELF-DEFENCE, that his own 
 je>, d esprit was published in the Southern Literary Messenger 
 about three weeks before the commencement of Mr. L. s in 
 the New York Sun. Fancying a likeness which, perhaps, does 
 not exist, some of the New York papers copied Hans PfaaU 
 and collated it with the "Moon Hoax," by way of detecting 
 the writer of the one in the writer of the other. 
 
 As many more persons were actually gulled by the "Moon 
 Hoax" than would be willing to acknowledge the fact, it 
 may here afford some little amusement to show why no one 
 should have been deceived to point out those particulars 
 of the story which should have been sufficient to establish 
 its real character. Indeed, however rich the imagination dis 
 played in this ingenious fiction, it wanted much of the force 
 which might have been given it by a more scrupulous atten 
 tion to facts and to general analogy. That the public were 
 misled, even for an instant, merely proves the gross ignorance 
 which is so generally prevalent upon subjects of an astronom 
 ical nature. 
 
 The moon s distance from the earth is, in round numbers, 
 240,000 miles. If we desire to ascertain how near, apparently, 
 a lens would bring the satellite (or any distant object), we of 
 course have but to divide the distance by the magnifying or, 
 more strictly, by the space-penetrating power of the glass. 
 Mr. L. makes his lens have a power of 42,000 times. By this 
 divide 240,000 (the moon s real distance), and we have five 
 miles and five sevenths as the apparent distance. No animal 
 at all could be seen so far; much less the minute points par 
 ticularized in the story. Mr. L. speaks about Sir John Her- 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 schel s perceiving flowers (the Papaver rlioeas, etc.), and even 
 detecting the color and the shape of the eyes of small birds. 
 Shortly before, too, he has himself observed that the lens 
 would not render perceptible objects of less than eighteen 
 inches in diameter; but even this, as I have said, is giving 
 the glass by far too great power. It may be observed, in 
 passing, that this prodigious glass is said to have been moulded 
 at the glass-house of Messrs. Hartley and Grant, in Dumbar 
 ton; but Messrs. H. and Or. s establishment had ceased opera 
 tions for many years previous to the publication of the hoax. 
 
 On page 13, pamphlet edition, speaking of "a hairy veil" 
 over the eyes of a species of bison, the author says: "It im 
 mediately occurred to the acute mind of Dr. Herschel that this 
 was a providential contrivance to protect the eyes of the ani 
 mal from the great extremes of light and darkness to which 
 all the inhabitants of our side of the moon are periodically 
 subjected." But this cannot be thought a very "acute" 
 observation of the Doctor s. The inhabitants of our side of 
 the moon have, evidently, no darkness at all, so there can be 
 nothing of the "extremes" mentioned. In the absence of 
 the sun they have a light from the earth equal to that of thir 
 teen full unclouded moons. 
 
 The topography throughout, even when professing to ac 
 cord with Blunt s Lunar Chart, is entirely at variance with 
 that or any other lunar chart, and even grossly at variance 
 with itself. The points of the compass, too, are in inextricable 
 confusion; the writer appearing to be ignorant that, on a 
 lunar map, these are not in accordance with terrestrial points, 
 the east being to the left, etc. 
 
 Deceived, perhaps, by the vague titles, Mare Nubium, Mare 
 Tranquillitatis, Mare Fcecunditatis, etc., given to the dark 
 spots by former astronomers, Mr. L. has entered into details 
 regarding oceans and other large bodies of water in the moon; 
 whereas there is no astronomical point more positively ascer 
 tained than that no such bodies exist there. In examining 
 the boundary between light and darkness (in the crescent or 
 
 93 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 gibbous moon) where this boundary crosses any of the dark 
 places, the line of division is found to be rough and jagged; 
 but were these dark places liquid it would evidently be even. 
 
 The description of the wings of the man-bat, on page 21, 
 is but a literal copy of Peter Wilkins s account of the wings 
 of his flying islanders. This simple fact should have induced 
 suspicion at least, it might be thought. 
 
 On page 23, we have the following: "What a prodigious 
 influence must our thirteen-times-larger globe have exercised 
 upon this satellite when an embryo in the womb of time, the 
 passive subject of chemical affinity!" This is very fine; but 
 it should be observed that no astronomer would have made 
 such a remark, especially to any Journal of Science; for the 
 earth, in the sense intended, is not only thirteen, but forty- 
 nine times LARGER than the moon. A similar objection applies 
 to the whole of the concluding pages, where, by way of intro 
 duction to some discoveries in Saturn, the philosophical cor 
 respondent enters into a minute schoolboy account of that 
 planet this to the Edinburgh Journal of Science! 
 
 But there is one point in particular which should have be 
 trayed the fiction. Let us imagine the power actually pos 
 sessed of seeing animals upon the moon s surface, what 
 would FIRST arrest the attention of an observer from the 
 earth? Certainly neither their shape, size, nor any other such 
 peculiarity, so soon as their remarkable SITUATION. They 
 would appear to be walking, with heels up and head down, in 
 the manner of flies on a ceiling. The real observer would have 
 uttered an instant ejaculation of surprise, however prepared 
 by previous knowledge, at the singularity of their position; 
 the FICTITIOUS observer has not even mentioned the subject, 
 but speaks of seeing the entire bodies of such creatures, when 
 it is demonstrable that he could have seen only the diameter 
 of their heads! 
 
 It might as well be remarked, in conclusion, that the size, 
 and particularly the powers, of the man-bats (for example, 
 their ability to fly in so rare an atmosphere if, indeed, the 
 
 94 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 moon have any), with most of the other fancies in regard to 
 animal and vegetable existence, are at variance, generally, 
 with all analogical reasoning on these themes; and that 
 analogy here will often amount to conclusive demonstration. 
 It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add that all the sugges 
 tions attributed to Brewster and Herschel, in the beginning of 
 the article, about "a transfusion of artificial light through the 
 focal object of vision," etc., etc., belonging to that species of 
 figurative writing which comes, most properly, under the de 
 nomination of "rigmarole." 
 
 There is a real and very definite limit to optical dis 
 covery among the stars a limit whose nature need only be 
 stated to be understood. If, indeed, the casting of large lenses 
 were all that is required, man s ingenuity would ultimately 
 prove equal to the task, and we might have them of any size 
 demanded. But, unhappily, in proportion to the increase of 
 size in the lens, and, consequently, of space-penetrating power, 
 is the diminution of light from the object by diffusion of its 
 rays. And for this evil there is no remedy within human 
 ability; for an object is seen by means of that light alone 
 which proceeds from itself, whether direct or reflected. 
 Thus the only AETIFICIAL " light which could avail Mr. 
 Locke would be some artificial light which he should be able 
 to throw, not upon the "focal object of vision," but upon 
 the real object to be viewed; to wit, UPON THE MOON. It has 
 been easily calculated that when the light proceeding from a 
 star becomes so diffused as to be as weak as the natural light 
 proceeding from the whole of the stars, in a clear and moon 
 less night, then the star is no longer visible for any practical 
 purpose. 
 
 The Earl of Boss telescope, lately constructed in England, 
 has a SPECULUM with a reflecting surface of 4,071 square 
 inches; the Herschel telescope having one of only 1,811. The 
 metal of the Earl of Boss s is 6 feet diameter; it is 5^ inches 
 thick at the edges, and 5 at the center. The weight is 3 tons. 
 The focal length is 50 feet. 
 
 95 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 I have lately read a singular and somewhat ingenious little 
 book, whose title-page runs thus: "L Homme danes le Lvne, 
 ou le Voyage Chimerique fait au Monde de la Lvne, nouuelle- 
 ment decouuert par Dominique Gonzal^s, Aduanturier Espag- 
 nol, autrem^t dit le Courier volant. Mis en notre langve par 
 J. B. D. a Paris, chez Francois Piot, pres la Fontaine de Saint 
 Benoist. Et chez J. Goignard, au premier pilier de la grand 
 salle du Palais, proche les Consultations, MDCXLVIII." Pp. 
 176. 
 
 The writer professes to have translated his work from the 
 English of one Mr. D Avisson (Davidson?), although there is 
 a terrible ambiguity in the statement. "I en ai eu," says he, 
 "Foriginal de Monsieur D Avisson, me decin des mieux versez 
 qui soient aujourd huy dans le cbnoissance des Belles Lettres, 
 et sur tout de la Philosophic Naturelle. Je lui ai cette obliga 
 tion entre les autres, de m auoir non seulement mis en main 
 ce Livre en aglois, mais encore le Manuscrit du Sieur Thomas 
 D Anan, gentilhomme Eccossois recommandable pour sa vertu, 
 sur la version duquel j advoue que j ay tire* le plan de la 
 mienne." 
 
 After some irrelevant adventures, much in the manner of 
 Gil Bias, and which occupy the first thirty pages, the author 
 relates that, being ill during a sea voyage, the crew abandoned 
 him, together with a negro servant, on the island of St. Helena. 
 To increase the chances of obtaining food, the two separate 
 and live as far apart as possible. This brings about a training 
 of birds to serve the purpose of carrier-pigeons between them. 
 By and by these are taught to carry parcels of some weight, 
 and this weight is gradually increased. At length the idea is 
 entertained of uniting the force of a great number of the birds, 
 with a view to raising the author himself. A machine is con* 
 trived for the purpose, and we have a minute description of 
 it, which is materially helped out by a steel engraving. Here 
 we perceive the Signer Gonzales, with point ruffles and a huge 
 periwig, seated astride something which resembles very closely 
 a broomstick, and borne aloft by a multitude ot wild swans 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 (ganzas) who had strings reaching from their tails to the 
 machine. 
 
 The main event detailed in the Signer s narrative depends 
 upon a very important fact, of which the reader is kept in 
 ignorance until near the end of the book. The ganzas, with 
 which he had become so familiar, were not really denizens of 
 St. Helena, but of the moon. Thence it had been their custom, 
 time out of mind, to migrate annually to some portion of the 
 earth. In proper season, of course, they would return home; 
 and the author, happening, one day, to require their services 
 for a short voyage, is unexpectedly carried straight up, and in 
 a very brief period arrives at the satellite. Here he finds, 
 among other odd things, that the people enjoy extreme happi 
 ness; that they have no law; that they die without pain; that 
 they are from ten to thirty feet in height; that they live five 
 thousand years; that they have an emperor called Irdonozur; 
 and that they can jump sixty feet high, when, being out of the 
 gravitating influence, they fly about with fans. 
 
 I cannot forbear giving a specimen of the general phi 
 losophy of the volume. 
 
 "I must now declare to you," says the Signor Gonzales, 
 "the nature of the place in which I found myself. All the 
 clouds were beneath my feet, or, if you please, spread between 
 me and the earth. As to the stars, since there was no night 
 where I was, they always had the same appearance; not bril 
 liant, as usual, but pale, and very nearly like the moon of a 
 morning. But few of them were visible, and these ten times 
 larger (as well as I could judge) than they seem to the inhab 
 itants of the earth. The moon, which wanted two days of 
 being full, was of a terrible bigness. 
 
 I must not forget here that the stars appeared only on 
 that side of the globe turned toward the moon, and that the 
 closer they were to it the larger they seemed. I have also to 
 inform you that, whether it was calm weather or stormy, I 
 found myself always immediately between the moon and the 
 earth. I was convinced of this for two reasons because my 
 
 97 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 birds always flew in a straight line; and because whenever we 
 attempted to rest, ice were carried insensibly around the globe 
 of the earth. For I admit the opinion of Copernicus, who 
 maintains that it never ceases to revolve from the east to the 
 west, not upon the poles of the Equinoctial, commonly called 
 the poles of the world, but upon those of the Zodiac, a ques 
 tion of which I propose to speak more at length hereafter, 
 when I shall have leisure to refresh my memory in regard to 
 the astrology which I learned at Salamanca when young, and 
 have since forgotten." 
 
 Notwithstanding the blunders italicized, the book is not 
 without some claim to attention, as affording a naive specimen 
 of the current astronomical notions of the time. One of these 
 assumed that the "gravitating power" extended but a short 
 distance from the earth s surface, and, accordingly, we find 
 our voyager "carried insensibly around the globe," etc. 
 
 There have been other "voyages to the moon," but none 
 of higher merit than the one just mentioned. That of Bergerac 
 is utterly meaningless. In the third volume of the American 
 Quarterly Review will be found quite an elaborate criticism 
 upon a certain "Journey" of the kind in question; a criti 
 cism in which it is difficult to say whether the critic most ex 
 poses the stupidity of the book, or his own absurd ignorance 
 of astronomy. I forget the title of the work; but the means 
 of the voyage are more deplorably ill conceived than are even 
 the ganzas of our friend, the Signor Gonzales. The adventurer, 
 in digging the earth, happens to discover a peculiar metal for 
 which the moon has a strong attraction, and straightway con 
 structs of it a box, which, when cast loose from its terrestrial 
 fastenings, flies with him, forthwith, to the satellite. The 
 Flight of Thomas O Rourke is a jeu d esprit not altogether con 
 temptible, and has been translated into German. Thomas, the 
 hero, was, in fact, the gamekeeper of an Irish peer, whose 
 eccentricities gave rise to the tale. The "flight" is made on 
 an eagle s back, from Hungry Hill, a lofty mountain at the 
 end of Bantry Bay. 
 
ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL 
 
 In these various BROCHURES the aim is always satirical; 
 the theme being a description of lunarian customs as compared 
 with ours. In none is there any effort at PLAUSIBILITY in the 
 details of the voyage itself. The writers seem, in each in 
 stance, to be utterly uninformed in respect to astronomy. In 
 Hans Pfaall the design is original, inasmuch as regards an 
 attempt at VERISIMILITUDE, in the application of scientific 
 principles (so far as the whimsical nature of the subject 
 would permit) to the actual passage between the earth and 
 the moon. 
 
 99 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 Qui n a plus qu un moment a vivre 
 N a plus rien a dissimuler. 
 
 QUINAULT Atys. 
 
 > F MY country and of my family I have 
 little to say. Ill usage and length of 
 years have driven me from the one, 
 and estranged me from the other. 
 Hereditary wealth afforded me an ed 
 ucation of no common order, and a contemplative 
 turn of mind enabled me to methodize the stores 
 which early study diligenty garnered up. Beyond all 
 things, the works of the German moralists gave me 
 great delight; not from my ill-advised admiration of 
 their eloquent madness, but from the ease with which 
 my habits of rigid thought enabled me to detect their 
 falsities. I have often been reproached with the 
 aridity of my genius ; a deficiency of imagination has 
 been imputed to me as a crime; and the Pyrrhonism 
 of my opinions has at all times rendered me notori 
 ous. Indeed, a strong relish for physical philosophy 
 has, I fear, tinctured my mind with a very common 
 error of this age I mean the habit of referring 
 occurrences, even the least susceptible of such ref 
 erence, to the principles of that science. Upon the 
 whole, no person could be less liable than myself to 
 
 100 
 
 VOL i 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 be led away from the severe precincts of truth by the 
 ignes fatiii of superstition. I have thought proper 
 to premise thus much, lest the incredible tale I have 
 to tell should be considered rather the raving of a 
 crude imagination than the positive experience of a 
 mind to which the reveries of fancy have been a dead 
 letter and a nullity. 
 
 After many years spent in foreign travel, I sailed 
 in the year 18, from the port of Batavia, in the 
 rich and populous island of Java, on a voyage to 
 the Archipelago Islands. I went as passenger, hav 
 ing no other inducement than a kind of nervous rest 
 lessness which haunted me as a fiend. 
 
 Our vessel was a beautiful ship of about four hun 
 dred tons, copper-fastened, and built at Bombay of 
 Malabar teak. She was freighted with cotton-wool 
 and oil, from the Lachadive Islands. We had also 
 on board coir, jaggeree, ghee, cocoanuts, and a few 
 cases of opium. The stowage was clumsily done, and 
 the vessel consequently crank. 
 
 We got under way with a mere breath of wind, 
 and for many days stood along the eastern coast of 
 Java, without any other incident to beguile the 
 monotony of our course than the occasional meeting 
 with some of the small grabs of the Archipelago to 
 which we were bound. 
 
 One evening, leaning over the taffrail, I observed 
 a very singular isolated cloud, to the N. W. It was 
 remarkable, as well from its color as from its be 
 ing the first we had seen since our departure from 
 Batavia. I watched it attentively until sunset, when 
 
 101 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 it spread all at once to the eastward and westward, 
 girting in the horizon with a narrow strip of vapor, 
 and looking like a long line of low beach. My no 
 tice was soon afterward attracted by the dusky-red 
 appearance of the moon, and the peculiar character 
 of the sea. The latter was undergoing a rapid change, 
 and the water seemed more than usually transparent. 
 Although I could distinctly see the bottom, yet, heav 
 ing the lead, I found the ship in fifteen fathoms. The 
 air now became intolerably hot, and was loaded with 
 spiral exhalations similar to those arising from 
 heated iron. As night came on, every breath of wind 
 died away, and a more entire calm it is impossible 
 to conceive. The flame of a candle burned upon the 
 poop without the least perceptible motion, and a long 
 hair, held between the finger and thumb, hung with 
 out the possibility of detecting a vibration. How 
 ever, as the captain said he could perceive no indica 
 tion of danger, and as we were drifting in bodily 
 to shore, he ordered the sails to be furled, and the 
 anchor let go. No watch was set, and the crew, con 
 sisting principally of Malays, stretched themselves 
 deliberately upon deck. I went below, not without 
 a full presentiment of evil. Indeed, every appearance 
 warranted me in apprehending a simoon. I told the 
 captain of my fears ; but he paid no attention to what 
 I said, and left me without deigning to give a reply. 
 My uneasiness, however, prevented me from sleep 
 ing, and about midnight I went up on deck. As I 
 placed my foot upon the upper step of the companion- 
 ladder, I was startled by a loud, humming noise, like 
 
 102 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 that occasioned by the rapid revolution of a mill- 
 wheel, and before I could ascertain its meaning, I 
 found the ship quivering to its center. In the next 
 instant a wilderness of foam hurled us upon our 
 beam-ends, and, rushing over us fore and aft, swept 
 the entire decks from stem to stern. 
 
 The extreme fury of the blast proved, in a great 
 measure, the salvation of the ship. Although com 
 pletely water-logged, yet, as her masts had gone by 
 the board, she rose, after a minute, heavily from the 
 sea, and staggering awhile beneath the immense pres 
 sure of the tempest, finally righted. 
 
 By what miracle I escaped destruction, it is im 
 possible to say. Stunned by the shock of the water, 
 I found myself, upon recovery, jammed in between 
 the stern-post and rudder. With great difficulty I 
 regained my feet, and, looking dizzily around, was 
 at first struck with the idea of our being among 
 breakers; so terrific, beyond the wildest imagination, 
 was the whirpool of mountainous and foaming ocean 
 within which we were engulfed. After a while I 
 heard the voice of an old Swede, who had shipped 
 with us at the moment of leaving port. I hallooed to 
 him with all my strength, and presently he came reel 
 ing aft. We soon discovered that we were the sole 
 survivors of the accident. All on deck, with the ex 
 ception of ourselves, had been swept overboard; the 
 captain and mates must have perished while they 
 slept, for the cabins were deluged with water. With 
 out assistance we could expect to do little for the 
 security of the ship, and our exertions were at first 
 
 103 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 paralyzed by the momentary expectation of going 
 down. Our cable had, of course, parted like pack 
 thread at the first breath of the hurricane, or we 
 should have been instantaneously overwhelmed. We 
 scudded with frightful velocity before the sea, and 
 the water made clear breaches over us. The frame 
 work of our stern was shattered excessively, and, in 
 almost every respect, we had received considerable 
 injury; but to our extreme joy we found the pumps 
 unchoked, and that we had made no great shifting 
 of our ballast. The main fury of the blast had al 
 ready blown over, and we apprehended little danger 
 from the violence of the wind ; but we looked forward 
 to its total cessation with dismay; well believing 
 that, in our shattered condition, we should in 
 evitably perish in the tremendous swell which would 
 ensue. But this very just apprehension seemed by 
 no means likely to be soon verified. For five en 
 tire days and nights, during which our only sub 
 sistence was a small quantity of jaggeree, procured 
 with great difficulty from the forecastle, the hulk 
 flew at a rate defying computation, before rapidly 
 succeeding flaws of wind, which, without equalling 
 the first violence of the simoon, were still more 
 terrific than any tempest I had before encountered. 
 Our course for the first four days was, with trifling 
 variations, S. E. and by S. ; and we must have run 
 down the coast of New Holland. On the fifth day 
 the cold became extreme, although the wind had 
 hauled round a point more to the northward. The 
 sun arose with a sickly yellow luster, and clambered 
 
 104 
 
MS, FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 a very few degrees above the horizon, emitting no 
 decisive light. There were no clouds apparent, yet 
 the wind was upon the increase, and blew with a fit 
 ful and unsteady fury. About noon, as nearly as we 
 could guess, our attention was again arrested by the 
 appearance of the sun. It gave out no light, properly 
 so called, but a dull and sullen glow without reflec 
 tion, as if all its rays were polarized. Just before 
 sinking within the turgid sea, its central fires sud 
 denly went out, as if hurriedly extinguished by some 
 unaccountable power. It was a dim, silverlike rim, 
 alone, as it rushed down the unfathomable ocean. 
 
 We waited in vain for the arrival of the sixth day 
 that day to me has not yet arrived to the Swede 
 never did arrive. Thenceforward we were enshrouded 
 in pitchy darkness, so that we could not have seen 
 an object at twenty paces from the ship. Eternal 
 night continued to envelop us, all unrelieved by the 
 phosphoric sea-brilliancy to which we had been ac 
 customed in the tropics. We observed, too, that, al 
 though the tempest continued to rage with unabated 
 violence, there was no longer to be discovered the 
 usual appearance of surf, or foam, which had hitherto 
 attended us. All around were horror, and thick 
 gloom, and a black sweltering desert of ebony. 
 Superstitious terror crept by degrees into the spirit 
 of the old Swede, and my own soul was wrapt in 
 silent wonder. We neglected all care of the ship, as 
 worse than useless, and, securing ourselves as well 
 as possible to the stump of the mizzenmast, looked 
 out bitterly into the world of ocean. We had no 
 
 105 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 means of calculating time, nor could we form any 
 guess of our situation. We were, however, well 
 aware of having made farther to the southward than 
 any previous navigators, and felt great amazement 
 at not meeting with the usual impediments of ice. 
 In the meantime every moment threatened to be our 
 last every mountainous billow hurried to over 
 whelm us. The swell surpassed anything I had im 
 agined possible, and that we were not instantly buried 
 is a miracle. My companion spoke of the lightness 
 of our cargo, and reminded me of the excellent 
 qualities of our ship ; but I could not help feeling the 
 utter hopelessness of hope itself, and prepared my 
 self gloomily for that death which I thought nothing 
 could defer beyond an hour, as, with every knot of 
 way the ship made, the swelling of the black, stu 
 pendous seas became more dismally appalling. At 
 times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond 
 the albatross at times became dizzy with the ve 
 locity of our descent into some watery hell, where 
 the air grew stagnant, and no sound disturbed the 
 slumbers of the kraken. 
 
 We were at the bottom of one of these abysses, 
 when a quick scream from my companion broke 
 fearfully upon the night. "See! see!" cried he, 
 shrieking in my ears, "Almighty God! see! see!" 
 As he spoke I became aware of a dull, sullen glare of 
 red light which streamed down the sides of the vast 
 chasm where we lay, and threw a fitful brilliancy 
 upon our deck. Casting my eyes upwards, I be 
 held a spectacle which froze the current of my 
 
 106 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 blood. At a terrific height directly above us, and 
 upon the very verge of the precipitous descent, 
 hovered a gigantic ship of perhaps four thousand 
 tons. Although upreared upon the summit of a wave 
 more than a hundred times her own altitude, her 
 apparent size still exceeded that of any ship of the 
 line or East Indiaman in existence. Her huge hull 
 was of a deep, dingy black, unrelieved by any of the 
 customary carvings of a ship. A single row of brass 
 cannon protruded from her open ports, and dashed 
 from their polished surfaces the fires of innumerable 
 battle-lanterns which swung to and fro about her 
 rigging. But what mainly inspired us with hor 
 ror and astonishment was that she bore up under a 
 press of sail in the very teeth of that supernatural 
 sea, and of that ungovernable hurricane. When we 
 first discovered her, her bows were alone to be seen, 
 as she rose slowly from the dim and horrible gulf 
 beyond her. For a moment of intense terror she 
 paused upon the giddy pinnacle as if in contemplation 
 of her own sublimity, then trembled, and tottered, 
 and came down. 
 
 At this instant, I know not what sudden self- 
 possession came over my spirit. Staggering as far 
 aft as I could, I awaited fearlessly the ruin that was 
 to overwhelm. Our own vessel was at length ceas 
 ing from her struggles, and sinking with her head 
 to the sea. The shock of the descending mass struck 
 her, consequently, in that portion of her frame which 
 was nearly under water, and the inevitable result was 
 
 107 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 to hurl me, with irresistible violence, upon the rigging 
 of the stranger. 
 
 As I fell, the ship hove in stays, and went about; 
 and to the confusion ensuing I attributed my escape 
 from the notice of the crew. With little difficulty I 
 made my way, unperceived, to the main hatchway, 
 which was partially open, and soon found an op 
 portunity of secreting myself in the hold. Why I 
 did so I can hardly tell. An indefinite sense of awe, 
 which at first sight of the navigators of the ship had 
 taken hold of my mind, was perhaps the principle 
 of my concealment. I was unwilling to trust my 
 self with a race of people who. had offered, to the 
 cursory glance I had taken, so many points of vague 
 novelty, doubt, and apprehension. I therefore 
 thought proper to contrive a hiding-place in the hold. 
 This I did by removing a small portion of the shift 
 ing-boards in such a manner as to afford me a con 
 venient retreat between the huge timbers of the ship. 
 
 I had scarcely completed my work, when a foot 
 step in the hold forced me to make use of it. A man 
 passed by my place of concealment with a feeble 
 and unsteady gait. I could not see his face, but had 
 an opportunity of observing his general appearance. 
 There was about it an evidence of great age and 
 infirmity. His knees tottered beneath a load of 
 years, and his entire frame quivered under the 
 burthen. He muttered to himself, in a low, broken 
 tone, some words of a language which I could not un 
 derstand, and groped in a corner among a pile of 
 singular-looking instruments and decayed charts of 
 
 108 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 navigation. His manner was a wild mixture of the 
 peevishness of second childhood and the solemn dig 
 nity of a god. He at length went on deck and I saw 
 
 him no more. 
 
 ***** 
 
 A feeling for which I have no name has taken 
 possession of my soul a sensation which will ad 
 mit of no analysis, to which the lessons of bygone 
 time are inadequate, and for which I fear futurity 
 itself will offer me no key. To a mind constituted 
 like my own the latter consideration is an evil. I 
 shall never I know that I shall never be satisfied 
 with regard to the nature of my conceptions. Yet 
 it is not wonderful that these conceptions are in 
 definite, since they have their origin in sources so 
 utterly novel. A new sense a new entity, is added 
 
 to my soul. 
 
 ***** 
 
 It is long since I first trod the deck of this ter 
 rible ship, and the rays of my destiny are, I 
 think, gathering to a focus. Incomprehensible men! 
 Wrapped up in meditations of a kind which I can 
 not divine, they pass me by unnoticed. Conceal 
 ment is utter folly on my part, for the people will 
 not see. It is but just now that I passed directly be 
 fore the eyes of the mate; it was no long while ago 
 that I ventured into the captain s own private cabin, 
 and took thence the materials with which I write, and 
 have written. I shall from time to time continue this 
 journal. It is true that I may not find an opportunity 
 of transmitting it to the world, but I will not fail to 
 
 109 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 make the endeavor. At the last moment I will en 
 close the MS. in a bottle, and cast it within the 
 
 sea. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 An incident has occurred which has given me new 
 room for meditation. Are such things the operation 
 of ungoverned chance? I had ventured upon deck 
 and thrown myself down, without attracting any 
 notice, among a pile of ratlin-stuff and old sails, in 
 the bottom of the yawl. While musing upon the 
 singularity of my fate, I unwittingly daubed with a 
 tar-brush the edges of a neatly folded studding-saiJ 
 which lay near me on a barrel. The studding-sail 
 is now bent upon the ship, and the thoughtless 
 touches of the brush are spread out into the word 
 DISCOVERY. 
 
 I have made my observations lately upon the 
 structure of the vessel. Although well armed, she 
 is not, I think, a ship of war. Her rigging, build, 
 and general equipment all negative a supposition of 
 this kind. What she is not, I can easily perceive; 
 what she is, I fear it is impossible to say. I know 
 not how it is, but in scrutinizing her strange model 
 and singular cast of spars, her huge size and over 
 grown suits of canvas, her severely simple bow and 
 antiquated stern, there will occasionally flash across 
 my mind a sensation of familiar things, and there 
 is always mixed up with such indistinct shadows of 
 recollection an unaccountable memory of old foreign 
 chronicles and ages long ago. * * * 
 
 I have been looking at the timbers of the ship. 
 
 no 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 She is built of a material to which I am a stranger. 
 There is a peculiar character about the wood which 
 strikes me as rendering it unfit for the purpose to 
 which it has been applied. I mean its extreme 
 porousness, considered independently of the worm- 
 eaten condition which is a consequence of navigation 
 in these seas, and apart from the rottenness at 
 tendant upon age. It will appear, perhaps, an ob 
 servation somewhat overcurious, but this would have 
 every characteristic of Spanish oak, if Spanish oak 
 were distended by any unnatural means. 
 
 In reading the above sentence, a curious apothegm 
 of an old weather-beaten Dutch navigator comes full 
 upon my recollection. "It is as sure," he was wont 
 to say, when any doubt was entertained of his 
 veracity, "as sure as there is a sea where the ship 
 itself will grow in bulk like the living body of the 
 seaman." * * * 
 
 About an hour ago I made bold to thrust myself 
 among a group of the crew. They paid me no man 
 ner of attention, and, although I stood in the very 
 midst of them all, seemed utterly unconscious of my 
 presence. Like the one I had at first seen in the hold, 
 they all bore about them the marks of a hoary old 
 age. Their knees trembled with infirmity; their 
 shoulders were bent double with decrepitude; their 
 shrivelled skins rattled in the wind ; their voices were 
 low, tremulous, and broken ; their eyes glistened with 
 the rheum of years; and their gray hairs streamed 
 terribly in the tempest. Around them, on every part 
 
 II 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 of the deck, lay scattered mathematical instruments 
 of the most quaint and obsolete construction. * * * 
 
 I mentioned, some time ago, the bending of a 
 studding-sail. From that period, the ship, being 
 thrown dead off the wind, has continued her terrific 
 course due south, with every rag of canvas packed 
 upon her, from her truck to her lower studding-sail 
 booms, and rolling every moment her top-gallant 
 yard-arms into the most appalling hell of water 
 which it can enter into the mind of man to imagine. 
 I have just left the deck, where I find it impossible 
 to maintain a footing, although the crew seem to ex 
 perience little inconvenience. It appears to me a 
 miracle of miracles that our enormous bulk is not 
 swallowed up at once and forever. We are surely 
 doomed to hover continually upon the brink of 
 eternity, without taking a final plunge into the 
 abyss. From billows a thousand times more stupen 
 dous than any I have ever seen we glide away with 
 the facility of the arrowy sea-gull; and the colossal 
 waters rear their heads above us like demons of the 
 deep, but like demons confined to simple threats, and 
 forbidden to destroy. I am led to attribute these 
 frequent escapes to the only natural cause which can 
 account for such effect. I must suppose the ship to 
 be within the influence of some strong current or 
 impetuous undertow. * * * 
 
 I have seen the captain face to face, and in his 
 own cabin but, as I expected, he paid me no at 
 tention. Although in his appearance there is, to 
 a casual observer, nothing which might bespeak him 
 
 112 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 more or less than man, still, a feeling of irrepressible 
 reverence and awe mingles with the sensation of 
 wonder with which I regard him. In stature, he is 
 nearly my own height; that is, about five feet eight 
 inches. He is of a well-kint and compact frame of 
 body, neither robust nor remarkable otherwise. But 
 it is the singularity of the expression which reigns 
 upon the face it is the intense, the wonderful, the 
 thrilling evidence of old age so utter, so extreme, 
 which excites within my spirit a sense a sentiment 
 ineffable. His forehead, although little wrinkled, 
 seems to bear upon it the stamp of a myriad of 
 years. His gray hairs are records of the past, and 
 his grayer eyes are sibyls of the future. The cabin 
 floor was thickly strewn with strange, ironclasped 
 folios, and mouldering instruments of science, and 
 obsolete, long-forgotten charts. His head was bowed 
 down upon his hands, and he pored, with a fiery, 
 unquiet eye, over a paper which I took to be a com 
 mission, and which, at all events, bore the signature 
 of a monarch. He murmured to himself as did the 
 first seaman whom I saw in the hold some low, 
 peevish syllables of a foreign tongue; and although 
 the speaker was close at my elbow, his voice seemed 
 to reach my ears from the distance of a mile. * * * 
 The ship and all in it are imbued with the spirit 
 of Eld. The crew glide to and fro like the ghosts 
 of buried centuries; their eyes have an eager and 
 uneasy meaning; and when their figures fall athwart 
 my path, in the wild glare of the battle-lanterns, I 
 feel as I have never felt before, although I have been 
 
 I 8 113 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 all my life a dealer in antiquities, and have imbibed 
 the shadows of fallen columns at Baalbec, and 
 Tadmor, and Persepolis, until my very soul has be 
 come a ruin. * * * 
 
 When I look around me, I feel ashamed of my 
 former apprehension. If I trembled at the blast 
 which has hitherto attended us, shall I not stand 
 aghast at a warring of wind and ocean, to convey 
 any idea of which, the words tornado and simoon 
 are trivial and ineffective? All in the immediate 
 vicinity of the ship is the blackness of eternal night 
 and a chaos of foamless water; but about a league 
 on either side of us may be seen, indistinctly and at 
 intervals, stupendous ramparts of ice, towering away 
 into the desolate sky, and looking like the walls of 
 the universe. * * * 
 
 As I imagined, the ship proves to be in a current, 
 if that appellation can properly be given to a tide 
 which, howling and shrieking by the white ice, thun 
 ders on the southward with a velocity like the 
 headlong dashing of a cataract. * * * 
 
 To conceive the horror of my sensations is, I pre 
 sume, utterly impossible ; yet a curiosity to penetrate 
 the mysteries of these awful regions, predominates 
 even over my despair, and will reconcile me to the 
 most hideous aspect of death. It is evident that we 
 are hurrying onward to some exciting knowledge 
 some never-to-be-imparted secret, whose attainment 
 is destruction. Perhaps this current leads us to the 
 southern pole itself. It must be confessed that a sup- 
 
 114 
 
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE 
 
 position apparently so wild has every probability in 
 its favor. * * * 
 
 The crew pace the deck with unquiet and trem 
 ulous step; but there is upon their countenance an 
 expression more of the eagerness of hope than of 
 the apathy of despair. 
 
 In the meantime the wind is still in our poop, 
 and, as we carry a crowd of canvas, the ship is at 
 times lifted bodily from out the sea! Oh, horror 
 upon horror ! the ice opens suddenly to the right and 
 to the left, and we are whirling dizzily, in immense 
 concentric circles, round and round the borders of a 
 gigantic amphitheatre, the summit of whose walls is 
 lost in the darkness and the distance. But little 
 time will be left me to ponder upon my destiny! 
 The circles rapidly grow small we are plunging 
 madly within the grasp of the whirlpool and amid 
 a roaring, and bellowing, and thundering of ocean 
 and tempest the ship is quivering oh God! and 
 going down ! 
 
 NOTE. The MS. Found in a Bottle was originally 
 published in 1831, and it was not until many years after 
 ward that I became acquainted with the maps of Mercator, 
 in which the ocean is represented as rushing, by four 
 mouths into the (northern) Polar Gulf, to be absorbed into 
 the bowels of the earth; the pole itself being represented by 
 a black rock, towering to a prodigious height. 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 Stay for me there! I will not fail 
 To meet thee in that hollow vale. 
 
 [Exequy on the death of his wife, by Henry King, Bishop of 
 Chwhester. ] 
 
 P|LL-FATED and mysterious man! bewil 
 dered in the brilliancy of thine own 
 imagination, and fallen in the flames 
 j of thine own youth, again in fancy I 
 behold thee ! Once more thy form hath 
 risen before me, not oh! not as thou art in the 
 cold valley and shadow, but as thou SHOULDST BE 
 squandering away a life of magnificent meditation 
 in that city of dim visions, thine own Venice, which 
 is a star-beloved Elysium of the sea, and the wide 
 windows of whose Palladian palaces look down with 
 a deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets of her 
 silent waters. Yes ! I repeat it as thou SHOULDST 
 BE. There are surely other worlds than this other 
 thoughts than the thoughts of the multitude other 
 speculations than the speculations of the sophist. 
 Who then shall call thy conduct into question? who 
 blame thee for thy visionary hours, or denounce 
 those occupations as a wasting away of life, which 
 were but , the overflowings of thine everlasting 
 energies ? 
 
 VOL i 
 
 116 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 It was at Venice, beneath the covered archway 
 there called the Ponte di Sospiri, that I met for the 
 third or fourth time the person of whom I speak. It 
 is with a confused recollection that I bring to mind 
 the circumstances of that meeting. Yet I remem 
 ber ah ! how should I forget ? the deep midnight, 
 the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman, and the 
 Genius of Romance that stalked up and down the 
 narrow canal. 
 
 It was a night of unusual gloom. The great clock 
 of the Piazza had sounded the fifth hour of the 
 Italian evening. The square of the Campanile lay 
 silent and deserted, and the lights in the old Ducal 
 Palace were dying fast away. I was returning home 
 from the Piazzetta by way of the Grand Canal. But 
 as my gondola arrived opposite the mouth of the canal 
 San Marco a female voice from its recesses broke 
 suddenly upon the night in one wild, hysterical, and 
 long-continued shriek. Startled at the sound, I 
 sprang upon my feet, while the gondolier, letting 
 slip his single oar, lost it in the pitchy darkness be 
 yond a chance of recovery, and we were consequently 
 left to the guidance of the current which here sets 
 from the greater into the smaller channel. Like some 
 huge and sable-feathered condor, we were slowly 
 drifting down toward the Bridge of Sighs, when a 
 thousand flambeaux, flashing from the windows and 
 down the staircases of the Ducal Palace, turned all 
 at once that deep gloom into a livid and preternatural 
 day. 
 
 A child, slipping from the arms of its own mother, 
 
 117 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 had fallen from an upper window of the lofty struc 
 ture into the deep and dim canal. The quiet waters 
 had closed placidly over their victim; and, although 
 my own gondola was the only one in sight, many a 
 stout swimmer, already in the stream, was seeking in 
 vain upon the surface the treasure which was to be 
 found, alas! only within the abyss. Upon the broad 
 black marble flagstones at the entrance of the palace, 
 and a few steps above the water, stood a figure 
 which none who then saw can have ever since for 
 gotten. It was the Marchesa Aphrodite the adora 
 tion of all Venice the gayest of the gay the most 
 lovely where all were beautiful but still the young 
 wife of the old and intriguing Mentoni, and the 
 mother of that fair child, her first and only one, who 
 now, deep beneath the murky water, was thinking 
 in bitterness of heart upon her sweet caresses, and ex 
 hausting its little life in struggles to call upon her 
 name. 
 
 She stood alone. Her small bare and silvery feet 
 gleamed in the black mirror of marble beneath her. 
 Her hair, not as yet more than half loosened for the 
 night from its ballroom array, clustered, amid a 
 shower of diamonds, round and round her classical 
 head, in curls like those of the young hyacinth. A 
 snowy-white and gauze-like drapery seemed to be 
 nearly the sole covering to her delicate form; but 
 the midsummer and midnight air was hot, sullen, and 
 still, and no motion in the statue-like form itself 
 stirred even the folds of that raiment of very vapor 
 which hung around it as the heavy marble hangs 
 
 118 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 around the Niobe. Yet, strange to say, her large 
 lustrous eyes were not turned downward upon that 
 grave wherein her brightest hope lay buried, but 
 riveted in a widely different direction! The prison 
 of the Old Republic is, I think, the stateliest build 
 ing in all Venice, but how could that lady gaze so 
 fixedly upon it when beneath her lay stifling her 
 own child ? Yon dark, gloomy niche, too, yawns right 
 opposite her chamber window. What, then, COULD 
 there be in its shadows, in its architecture, in its 
 ivy-wreathed and solemn cornices, that the Marchesa 
 di Mentoni had not wondered at a thousand times 
 before ? Nonsense ! Who does not remember that, at 
 such a time as this, the eye, like a shattered mirror, 
 multiplies the images of its sorrow, and sees in in 
 numerable far-off places the woe which is close at 
 hand? 
 
 Many steps above the Marchesa, and within the 
 arch of the water-gate, stood, in full dress, the satyr- 
 like figure of Mentoni himself. He was occasionally 
 occupied in thrumming a guitar, and seemed ennuye 
 to the very death as at intervals he gave directions 
 for the recovery of his child. Stupefied and aghast, 
 I had myself no power to move from the upright 
 position I had assumed upon first hearing the shriek, 
 and must have presented to the eyes of the agitated 
 group a spectral and ominous appearance, as with 
 pale countenance and rigid limbs I floated down 
 among them in that funereal gondola. 
 
 All efforts proved in vain. Many of the most 
 energetic in the search were relaxing their exertions 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and yielding to a gloomy sorrow. There seemed but 
 little hope for the child; (how much less than for 
 the mother!), but now, from the interior of that 
 dark niche which has been already mentioned as 
 forming a part of the Old Republican prison and as 
 fronting the lattice of the Marchesa, a figure muffled 
 in a cloak stepped out within reach of the light, and, 
 pausing a moment upon the verge of the giddy de 
 scent, plunged headlong into the canal. As, in an 
 instant afterward, he stood with the still living and 
 breathing child within his grasp, upon the marble 
 flagstones by the side of the Marchesa, his cloak, 
 heavy with the drenching water, became unfastened 
 and, falling in folds about his feet, discovered to the 
 wonder-stricken spectators the graceful person of a 
 very young man, with the sound of whose name the 
 greater part of Europe was then ringing. 
 
 No word spoke the deliverer. But the Marchesa! 
 She will now receive her child, she will press it to 
 her heart, she will cling to its little form, and 
 smother it with her caresses. Alas! ANOTHER S arms 
 have taken it from the stranger, ANOTHER S arms 
 have taken it away, and borne it afar off, un 
 noticed, into the palace! And the Marchesa! Her 
 lip her beautiful lip trembles; tears are gathering 
 in her eyes those eyes which, like Pliny s acanthus, 
 are "soft and almost liquid. " Yes! tears are gather 
 ing in those eyes and see ! the entire woman 
 thrills throughout the soul, and the statue has 
 started into life! The pallor of the marble coun 
 tenance, the swelling of the marble bosom, the very 
 
 120 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 purity of the marble feet, we behold suddenly flushed 
 over with a tide of ungovernable crimson; and a 
 slight shudder quivers about her delicate frame as a 
 gentle air at Napoli about the rich silver lilies iri 
 the grass. 
 
 Why SHOULD that lady blush? To this demand 
 there is no answer except that, having left, in the 
 eager haste and terror of a mother s heart, the 
 privacy of her own boudoir, she has neglected to 
 enthral her tiny feet in their slippers and utterly 
 forgotten to throw over her Venetian shoulders that 
 drapery which is their due. What other possible 
 reason could there have been for her so blushing? 
 for the glance of those wild appealing eyes? for the 
 unusual tumult of that throbbing bosom? for the 
 convulsive pressure of that trembling hand ? that 
 hand which fell, as Mentoni turned into the palace, 
 accidentally, upon the hand of the stranger? What 
 reason could there have been for the low the sin 
 gularly low tone of those unmeaning words which 
 the lady uttered hurriedly in bidding him adieu? 
 1 Thou hast conquered," she said, or the murmurs 
 of the water deceived me; "thou hast conquered; 
 one hour after sunrise, we shall meet. So let it 
 
 be!" 
 
 ***** 
 
 The tumult had subsided, the lights had died 
 away within the palace, and the stranger, whom I 
 now recognized, stood alone upon the flags. He 
 shook with inconceivable agitation, and his eye 
 glanced around in search of a gondola. I could not 
 
 121 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 do less than offer him the service of my own; and 
 he accepted the civility. Having obtained an oar at 
 the water-gate, we proceeded together to his resi 
 dence, while he rapidly recovered his self-possession 
 and spoke of our former slight acquaintance in terms 
 of great apparent cordiality. 
 
 There are some subjects upon which I take pleas 
 ure in being minute. The person of the stranger 
 let me call him by this title, who to all the world 
 was still a stranger the person of the stranger is 
 one of these subjects. In height he might have been 
 below rather than above the medium size, although 
 there were moments of intense passion when his 
 frame actually EXPANDED and belied the assertion. 
 The light, almost slender symmetry of his figure 
 promised more of that ready activity which he 
 evinced at the Bridge of Sighs than of that Herculean 
 strength which he has been known to wield without 
 an effort, upon occasions of more dangerous emer 
 gency. With the mouth and chin of a deity sin 
 gular, wild, full, liquid eyes, whose shadows varied 
 from pure hazel to intense and brilliant jet and a 
 profusion of curling, black hair, from which a fore 
 head of unusual breadth gleamed forth at intervals 
 all light and ivory his were features than which I 
 have seen none more classically regular, except, per 
 haps, the marble ones of the Emperor Commodus. Yet 
 his countenance was, nevertheless, one of those which 
 all men have seen at some period of their lives and 
 have never afterward seen again. It had no peculiar, 
 it had no settled predominant expression to be fastened 
 
 122 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 upon the memory; a countenance seen and instantly 
 forgotten, but forgotten with a vague and never-ceas 
 ing desire of recalling it to mind. Not that the spirit 
 of each rapid passion failed, at any time, to throw 
 its own distinct image upon the mirror of that face, 
 but that the mirror, mirror-like, retained no vestige 
 of the passion when the passion had departed. 
 
 Upon leaving him on the night of our adventure 
 he solicited me, in what I thought an urgent man 
 ner, to call upon him VERY early the next morning. 
 Shortly after sunrise I found myself accordingly at 
 his palazzo, one of those huge structures of gloomy, 
 yet fantastic pomp, which tower above the waters of 
 the Grand Canal in the vicinity of the Rialto. I was 
 shown up a broad winding staircase of mosaics into 
 an apartment whose unparalleled splendor burst 
 through the opening door with an actual glare, mak 
 ing me blind and dizzy with luxuriousness. 
 
 I knew my acquaintance to be wealthy. Report 
 had spoken of his possessions in terms which I had 
 even ventured to call terms of ridiculous exaggera 
 tion. But as I gazed about me, I could not bring 
 myself to believe that the wealth of any subject in 
 Europe could have supplied the princely magnificence 
 which burned and blazed around. 
 
 Although, as I say, the sun had arisen, yet the 
 room was still brilliantly lighted up. I judge from 
 this circumstance, as well as from an air of exhaustion 
 in the countenance of my friend, that he had not re 
 tired to bed during the whole of the preceding night. 
 In the architecture and embellishments of the cham- 
 
 123 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ber the evident design had been to dazzle and 
 astound. Little attention had been paid to the decora 
 of what is technically called KEEPING, or to the 
 proprieties of nationality. The eye wandered from 
 object to object and rested upon none, neither the 
 grotesques of the Greek painters, nor the sculptures 
 of the best Italian days, nor the huge carvings of un 
 tutored Egypt. Rich draperies in every part of the 
 room trembled to the vibration of low, melancholy 
 music, whose origin was not to be discovered. The 
 senses were oppressed by mingled and conflicting per 
 fumes, reeking up from strange convolute censers, to 
 gether with multitudinous flaring and flickering 
 tongues of emerald and violet fire. The rays of the 
 newly risen sun poured in upon the whole, through 
 windows formed each of a single pane of crimson- 
 tinted glass. Glancing to and fro in a thousand re 
 flections from curtains which rolled from their 
 cornices like cataracts of molten silver, the beams of 
 natural glory mingled at length fitfully with the 
 artificial light, and lay weltering in subdued masses 
 upon a carpet of rich, liquid-looking cloth of Chili 
 gold. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!" laughed the pro 
 prietor, motioning me to a seat as I entered the 
 room, and throwing himself back at full-length upon 
 an ottoman. "I see/ said he, perceiving that I 
 could not immediately reconcile myself to the Mense- 
 ance of so singular a welcome, "I see you are 
 astonished at my apartment, at my statues, my pic 
 tures, my originality of conception in architecture and 
 
 124 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 upholstery! absolutely drunk, eh, with my magnifi 
 cence? But pardon me, my dear sir (here his tone 
 of voice dropped to the very spirit of cordiality), 
 pardon me for my uncharitable laughter. You ap 
 peared so UTTERLY astonished. Besides, some things 
 are so completely ludicrous that a man MUST laugh 
 or die. To die laughing must be the most glorious 
 of all glorious deaths ! Sir Thomas More. a very 
 fine man was Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More 
 died laughing, you remember. Also in the Absurdities 
 of Ravisius Textor there is a long list of characters 
 who came to the same magnificent end. Do you 
 know, however," continued he, musingly, that at 
 Sparta (which is now Palseochori) at Sparta, I 
 say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of 
 scarcely visible ruins, is a kind of socle, upon which 
 are still legible the letters A AIM. They are un 
 doubtedly part of TEA AIM A. Now, at Sparta were 
 a thousand temples and shrines to a thousand dif 
 ferent divinities. How exceedingly strange that the 
 altar of Laughter should have survived all the 
 others ! But in the present instance, he resumed, 
 with a singular alteration of voice and manner, "I 
 have no right to be merry at your expense. You 
 might well have been amazed. Europe cannot pro 
 duce anything so fine as this, my little regal cab 
 inet. My other apartments are by no means of the 
 same order mere ULTRAS of fashionable insipidity. 
 This is better than fashion, is it not? Yet this has 
 but to be seen to become the rage, that is, with those 
 who could afford it at the cost of their entire patri- 
 
 125 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 mony. I have guarded, however, against any such 
 profanation. With one exception, you are the only 
 human being, besides myself and my VALET, who has 
 been admitted within the mysteries of these imperial 
 precincts since they have been bedizened as you 
 see." 
 
 I bowed in acknowledgment; for the overpower 
 ing sense of splendor and perfume and music, to 
 gether with the unexpected eccentricity of his ad 
 dress and manner, prevented me from expressing, in 
 words, my appreciation of what I might have con 
 strued into a compliment. 
 
 "Here," he resumed, arising and leaning on my 
 arm as he sauntered around the apartment, "here 
 are paintings from the Greeks to Cimabue, and from 
 Cimabue to the present hour. Many are chosen, as 
 you see, with little deference to the opinions of 
 Virtu. They are all, however, fitting tapestry for a 
 chamber such as this. Here, too, are some chefs- 
 d oeuvre of the unknown great; and here, unfinished 
 designs by men, celebrated in their day, whose very 
 names the perspicacity of the academies has left to 
 silence and to me. What think you," said he, turning 
 abruptly as he spoke, "what think you of this 
 Madonna della Pieta?" 
 
 "It is Guide s own!" I said, with all the en 
 thusiasm of my nature, for I had been poring intently 
 over its surpassing loveliness. "It is Guido s own! 
 how COULD you have obtained it? she is undoubtedly 
 in painting what the Venus is in sculpture." 
 
 "Ha!" said he, thoughtfully, "the Venus? the 
 
 126 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 beautiful Venus ? the Venus of the Medici ? she 
 of the diminutive head and the gilded hair? Part of 
 the left arm [here his voice dropped so as to be heard 
 with difficulty] and all the right are restorations, 
 and in the coquetry of that right arm lies, I think, 
 the quintessence of all affectation. Give ME the 
 Canova! The Apollo, too, is a copy there can be 
 no doubt of it blind fool that I am, who cannot 
 behold the boasted inspiration of the Apollo ! I can 
 not help pity me ! I cannot help preferring the 
 Antinous. Was it not Socrates who said that the 
 statuary found his statue in the block of marble? 
 Then Michael Angelo was by no means original in 
 his couplet: 
 
 Non ha 1 ottimo artista alcum concetto 
 Che un marmo solo in se non circonscriva. " 
 
 It has been, or should be remarked, that, in 
 the manner of the true gentleman, we are always 
 aware of a difference from the bearing of the vulgar, 
 without being at once precisely able to determine in 
 what such difference consists. Allowing the remark 
 to have applied in its full force to the oiitward de 
 meanor of my acquaintance, I felt it, on that event 
 ful morning, still more fully applicable to his moral 
 temperament and character. Nor can I better de 
 fine that peculiarity of spirit which seemed to place 
 him so essentially apart from all other human beings 
 than by calling it a HABIT of intense and continual 
 thought, pervading even his most trivial actions, in- 
 
 127 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 trading upon his moments of dalliance, and inter 
 weaving itself with his very flashes of merriment, 
 like adders which writhe from out the eyes of the 
 grinning masks in the cornices around the temples of 
 Persepolis. 
 
 I could not help, however, repeatedly observing, 
 through the mingled tone of levity and solemnity 
 with which he rapidly descanted upon matters of 
 little importance, a certain air of trepidation, a de 
 gree of nervous UNCTION in action and in speech an 
 unquiet excitability of manner which appeared to me 
 at all times unaccountable, and upon some occasions 
 even filled me with alarm. Frequently, too, pausing 
 in the middle of a sentence whose commencement he 
 had apparently forgotten, he seemed to be listening 
 in the deepest attention, as if either in momentary 
 expectation of a visitor, or to sounds which must 
 have had existence in his imagination alone. 
 
 It was during one of these reveries or pauses of 
 apparent abstraction that, in turning over a page of 
 the poet and scholar Politian s beautiful tragedy, the 
 Orfco (the first native Italian tragedy), which lay 
 near me upon an ottoman, I discovered a passage 
 underlined in pencil. It was a passage toward the 
 end of the third act a passage of the most heart- 
 stirring excitement a passage which, although 
 tainted with impurity, no man shall read without a 
 thrill of novel emotion no woman without a sigh. 
 The whole page was blotted with fresh tears; and 
 upon the opposite interleaf were the following Eng 
 lish lines, written in a hand so very different from 
 
 128 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 the peculiar characters of my acquaintance that I 
 had some difficulty in recognizing it as his own : 
 
 Thou wast that all to me, love, 
 
 For which my soul did pine: 
 A green isle in the sea, love, 
 
 A fountain and a shrine 
 All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers; 
 
 And all the flowers were mine. 
 
 Ah, dream too bright to last! 
 
 Ah, starry Hope, that didst arise 
 But to be overcast! 
 
 A voice from out the future cries, 
 "On! on!" but o er the past 
 
 (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies, 
 Mute motionless aghast! 
 
 For alas! alas! with me 
 
 The light of life is o er. 
 "No more no more no more 7 
 
 (Such language holds the solemn sea 
 To the sands upon the shore) 
 
 Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, 
 Or the stricken eagle soar! 
 
 Now all my hours are trances; 
 
 And all my mightly dreams 
 Are where thy gray eye glances, 
 
 And where thy footstep gleams, 
 In what ethereal dances, 
 
 By what Italian streams. 
 
 Alas! for that accursed time 
 
 They bore thee o er the billow, 
 From love to titled age and crime, 
 
 i 9 129 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 And an unholy pillow! 
 From me, and from our misty clime, 
 Where weeps the silver willow! 
 
 That these lines were written in English, a lan 
 guage with which I had not believed their author 
 acquainted, afforded me little matter for surprise. I 
 was too well aware of the extent of his acquirements, 
 and of the singular pleasure he took in concealing 
 them from observation, to be astonished at any 
 similar discovery; but the place of date, I must con 
 fess, occasioned me no little amazement. It had been 
 originally LONDON, and afterward carefully over- 
 scored, not, however, so effectually as to conceal the 
 word from a scrutinizing eye. I say, this occasioned 
 me no little amazement ; for I well remember that, in 
 a former conversation with my friend, I particularly 
 inquired if he had at any time met in London the 
 Marchesa di Mentoni, who for some years previous to 
 her marriage had resided in that city, when his an 
 swer, if I mistake not, gave me to understand that he 
 had never visited the metropolis of Great Britain. I 
 might as well here mention that I have more than once 
 heard, without, of course, giving credit to a report 
 involving so many improbabilities, that the person of 
 whom I speak was, not only by birth, but in educa 
 tion, an ENGLISHMAN. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 " There is one painting/ said he, without being 
 aware of my notice of the tragedy, there is still 
 one painting which you have not seen." And, 
 
 130 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 throwing aside a drapery, he discovered a full-length 
 portrait of the Marchesa Aphrodite. 
 
 Human art could have done no more in the 
 delineation of her superhuman beauty. The same 
 ethereal figure which stood before me the preceding 
 night upon the steps of the Ducal Palace stood before 
 me once again. But in the expression of the coun 
 tenance, which was beaming all over with smiles, 
 there still lurked (incomprehensible anomaly!) that 
 fitful stain of melancholy which will ever be found 
 inseparable from the perfection of the beautiful. Her 
 right arm lay folded over her bosom. With her left 
 she pointed downward to a curiously fashioned vase. 
 One small, fairy foot, alone visible, barely touched 
 the earth; and, scarcely discernible in the brilliant 
 atmosphere which seemed to encircle and enshrine 
 her loveliness, floated a pair of the most delicately 
 imagined wings. My glance fell from the painting 
 to the figure of my friend and the vigorous words of 
 Chapman s Bussy d Ambois quivered instinctively 
 upon my lips : 
 
 is up 
 
 There like a Eoman statue! He will stand 
 Till Death hath made him marble !" 
 
 "Come," he said at length, turning toward a table 
 of richly enamelled and massive silver, upon which 
 were a few goblets fantastically stained, together 
 with two large Etruscan vases, fashioned in the same 
 extraordinary model as that in the foreground of the 
 portrait, and filled with what I supposed to be 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Johannisberger. Come," he said, abruptly, "let us 
 drink! it is early, but let us drink. It is INDEED 
 early," he continued, musingly, as a cherub with a 
 heavy golden hammer made the apartment ring with 
 the first hour after sunrise: "it is indeed early, but 
 what matters it? let us drink! Let us pour out an 
 offering to yon solemn sun which these gaudy lamps 
 and censers are so eager to subdue!" And having 
 made me pledge him in a bumper, he swallowed in 
 rapid succession several goblets of the wine. 
 
 "To dream," he continued, resuming the tone of 
 his desultory conversation, as he held up to the rich 
 light of a censer one of the magnificent vases, "to 
 dream has been the business of my life ; I have there 
 fore framed for myself, as you see, a bower of 
 dreams. In the heart of Venice could I have erected 
 a better? You behold around you, it is true, a 
 medley of architectural embellishments. The chas 
 tity of Ionia is offended by antediluvian devices, and 
 the sphinxes of Egypt are outstretched upon carpets 
 of gold. Yet the effect is incongruous to the timid 
 alone. Proprieties of place, and especially of time, 
 are the bugbears which terrify mankind from the con 
 templation of the magnificent. Once I was myself a 
 decorist; but that sublimation of folly has palled 
 upon my soul. All this is now the fitter for my 
 purpose. Like these arabesque censers, my spirit is 
 writhing in fire, and the delirium of this scene is 
 fashioning me for the wilder visions of that land of 
 real dreams whither I am now rapidly departing." 
 He here paused abruptly, bent his head to his bosom, 
 
 132 
 
THE ASSIGNATION 
 
 and seemed to listen to a sound which I could not 
 hear. At length, erecting his frame, he looked up 
 wards and ejaculated the lines of the Bishop of 
 Chichester : 
 
 "Stay for me there! I will not fail 
 To meet thee in that hollow vale. 
 
 In the next instant, confessing the power of the 
 wine, he threw himself at full length upon an otto 
 man. 
 
 A quick step was now heard upon the staircase, 
 and a loud knock at the door rapidly succeeded. I 
 was hastening to anticipate a second disturbance 
 when a page of Mentoni s household burst into the 
 room and faltered out, in a voice choking with emo 
 tion, the incoherent words : * My mistress ! my 
 mistress ! Poisoned ! poisoned ! Oh, beautiful - 
 oh, beautiful Aphrodite!" 
 
 Bewildered, I flew to the ottoman and endeavored 
 to arouse the sleeper to a sense of the startling in 
 telligence. But his limbs were rigid his lips were 
 livid his lately beaming eyes were riveted in death. 
 I staggered back toward the table, my hand fell upon 
 a cracked and blackened goblet, and a consciousness 
 of the entire and terrible truth flashed suddenly over 
 my soul. 
 
MORELLA 
 
 AUTO 7)a(? aur6 /j.s& aurou, jaovoetdes as} <5i>. 
 Itself, by itself solely, one everlastingly, and single. 
 
 PLATO Sympos. 
 
 ITH a feeling of deep yet most singular 
 
 \ A / affection I regarded my friend Morella. 
 
 y y Thrown by accident into her society 
 
 many years ago, my soul, from our 
 
 first meeting, burned with fires it had 
 
 never before known; but the fires were not of Eros, 
 
 and bitter and tormenting to my spirit was the 
 
 gradual conviction that I could in no manner define 
 
 their unusual meaning, or regulate their vague in 
 
 tensity. Yet we met; and fate bound us together at 
 
 the altar; and I never spoke of passion, nor thought 
 
 of love. She, however, shunned society, and, attaching 
 
 herself to me alone, rendered me happy. It is a hap 
 
 piness to wonder; it is a happiness to dream. 
 
 Morella s erudition was profound. As I hope to 
 live, her talents were of no common order her 
 powers of mind were gigantic. I felt this, and, in 
 many matters, became her pupil. I soon, however, 
 found that, perhaps on account of her Presburg 
 education, she placed before me a number of those 
 mystical writings which are usually considered the 
 
 Vol. 1 
 
 34 
 
MO RELLA 
 
 mere dross of the early German literature. These, 
 for what reason I could not imagine, were her favorite 
 and constant study and that, in process of time, 
 they became my own, should be attributed to the 
 simple but effectual influence of habit and example. 
 
 In all this, if I err not, my reason had little to 
 do. My convictions, or I forget myself, were in no 
 manner acted upon by the ideal, nor was any tincture 
 of the mysticism which I read, to be discovered, un 
 less I am greatly mistaken, either in my deeds or in 
 my thoughts. Persuaded of this, I abandoned my 
 self implicitly to the guidance of my wife, and entered 
 with an unflinching heart into the intricacies of her 
 studies. And then then, when, poring over for 
 bidden pages, I felt a forbidden spirit enkindling 
 within me would Morella place her cold hand upon 
 my own, and rake up from the ashes of a dead 
 philosophy some low, singular words, whose strange 
 meaning burned themselves in upon my memory. 
 And then, hour after hour would I linger by her side, 
 and dwell upon the music of her voice until, at 
 length, its melody was tainted with terror, and there 
 fell a shadow upon my soul and I grew pale and 
 shuddered inwardly at those too unearthly tones. 
 And thus, joy suddenly faded into horror, and the 
 most beautiful became the most hideous, as Hinnon 
 became Ge-Henna. 
 
 It is unnecessary to state the exact character of 
 those disquisitions which, growing out of the volumes 
 I have mentioned, formed, for so long a time, almost 
 
 135 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 the sole conversation of Morella and myself. By the 
 learned in what might be termed theological morality 
 they will be readily conceived, and by the unlearned 
 they would, at all events, be little understood. The 
 wild Pantheism of Fichte ; the modified UaX^ysveffta 
 of Pythagoreans; and, above all, the doctrines of 
 Identity as urged by Schelling, were generally the 
 points of discussion presenting the most of beauty to 
 the imaginative Morella. That identity which is 
 termed personal, Mr. Locke, I think, truly defines to 
 consist in the saneness of a rational being. And 
 since by PERSON we understand an intelligent essence 
 having reason, and since there is a consciousness 
 which always accompanies thinking, it is this which 
 makes us all to be that which we call OURSELVES 
 thereby distinguishing us from other beings that 
 think, and giving us our personal identity. But the 
 principium individuationis the notion of that iden 
 tity WHICH AT DEATH IS OR IS NOT LOST FOREVER 
 
 was to me, at all times, a consideration of intense 
 interest; not more from the perplexing and exciting 
 nature of its consequences, than from the marked 
 and agitated manner in which Morella mentioned 
 them. 
 
 But, indeed, the time had now arrived when the 
 mystery of my wife s manner oppressed me as a 
 spell. I could no longer bear the touch of her wan 
 fingers, nor the low tone of her musical language, 
 nor the lustre of her melancholy eyes. And she 
 knew all this, but did not upbraid; she seemed 
 
MORELLA 
 
 conscious of my weakness or my folly, and, smiling, 
 called it Fate. She seemed also conscious of a cause, 
 to me unknown, for the gradual alienation of my 
 regard; but she gave me no hint or token of its 
 nature. Yet was she woman, and pined away daily. 
 In time, the crimson spot settled steadily upon the 
 cheek, and the blue veins upon the pale forehead 
 became prominent; and, one instant, my nature 
 melted into pity, but, in the next, I met the glance 
 of her meaning eyes, and then my soul sickened and 
 became giddy with the giddiness of one who gazes 
 downward into some dreary and unfathomable abyss. 
 
 Shall I then say that I longed with an earnest 
 and consuming desire for the moment of Morella s 
 decease? I did; but the fragile spirit clung to its 
 tenement of clay for many days for many weeks 
 and irksome months until my tortured nerves ob 
 tained the mastery over my mind, and I grew furious 
 through delay, and, with the heart of a fiend, cursed 
 the days, and the hours, and the bitter moments, 
 which seemed to lengthen and lengthen as her gentle 
 life declined like shadows in the dying of the day. 
 
 But one autumnal evening, when the winds lay 
 still in heaven, Morella called me to her bedside. 
 There was a dim mist over all the earth, and a warm 
 glow upon the waters, and, amid the rich October 
 leaves of the forest, a rainbow from the firmament 
 had surely fallen. 
 
 "It is a day of days," she said, as I approached; 
 "a day of all days either to live or die. It is a 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 fair day for the sons of earth and life ah, more 
 fair for the daughters of heaven and death!" 
 
 I kissed her forehead and she continued: 
 
 "I am dying, yet shall I live." 
 
 "Morella!" 
 
 "The days have never been when thou couldst 
 love me but her whom in life thou didst abhor, 
 in death thou shalt adore." 
 
 "Morella!" 
 
 "I repeat that I am dying. But within me is a 
 pledge of that affection ah, how little ! which 
 thou didst feel for me, Morella. And when my 
 spirit departs shall the child live thy child and 
 mine, Morella s. But thy days shall be days of 
 sorrow that sorrow which is the most lasting of 
 impressions, as the cypress is the most enduring of 
 trees. For the hours of thy happiness are over; and 
 joy is not gathered twice in a life, as the roses of 
 Paestum twice in a year. Thou shalt no longer, then, 
 play the Teian with time, but, being ignorant of the 
 myrtle and the vine, thou shalt bear about with thee 
 thy shroud on the earth, as do the Moslemin at 
 Mecca." 
 
 "Morella!" I cried, "Morella! how knowest thou 
 this ? "- - But she turned away her face upon the pil 
 low, and, a slight tremor coming over her limbs, she 
 thus died, and I heard her voice no more. 
 
 Yet, as she had foretold, her child to which in 
 dying she had given birth, which breathed not until 
 the mother breathed no more her child, a daugh 
 ter, lived. And she grew strangely in stature and 
 
MORELLA 
 
 intellect, and was the perfect resemblance of her who 
 had departed, and I loved her with a love more 
 fervent than I had believed it possible to feel for any 
 denizen of earth. 
 
 But, ere long, the heaven of this pure affection 
 became darkened, and gloom, and horror, and grief, 
 swept over it in clouds. I said the child grew 
 strangely in stature and intelligence. Strange, in 
 deed, was her rapid increase in bodily size but 
 terrible, oh! terrible were the tumultuous thoughts 
 which crowded upon me while watching the develop 
 ment of her mental being! Could it be otherwise, 
 when I daily discovered in the conceptions of the 
 child the adult powers and faculties of the woman? 
 -when the lessons of experience fell from the lips 
 of infancy? and when the wisdom or the passions of 
 maturity I found hourly gleaming from its full and 
 speculative eye ? When, I say, all this became evident 
 to my appalled senses when I could no longer hide 
 it from my soul, nor throw it off from those percep 
 tions which trembled to receive it is it to be won 
 dered at that suspicions, of a nature fearful 
 and exciting, crept in upon my spirit, or that my 
 thoughts fell back aghast upon the wild tales and 
 thrilling theories of the entombed Morella? I 
 snatched from the scrutiny of the world a being 
 whom destiny compelled me to adore, and in the 
 rigorous seclusion of my home, watched with an 
 agonizing anxiety over all which concerned the be 
 loved. 
 
 And, as years rolled away, and I gazed, day after 
 
 J9 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 day, upon her holy, and mild, and eloquent face, 
 and pored over her maturing form, day after day 
 did I discover new points of resemblance in the child 
 to her mother, the melancholy and the dead. And, 
 hourly, grew darker these shadows of similitude, 
 and more full, and more definite, and more perplex 
 ing, and more hideously terrible in their aspect. For 
 that her smile was like her mother s I could bear, 
 but then I shuddered at its too perfect IDENTITY - 
 that her eyes were like Morella s I could endure; but 
 then they too often looked down into the depths of 
 my soul with Morella s own intense and bewildering 
 meaning. And in the contour of the high forehead, 
 and in the ringlets of the silken hair, and in the wan 
 fingers which buried themselves therein, and in the 
 sad, musical tones of her speech, and above all oh ! 
 above all in the phrases and expressions of the 
 dead on the lips of the loved and the living, I 
 found food for consuming thought and horror for 
 a worm that WOULD not die. 
 
 Thus passed away two lustra of her life, and, as 
 yet, my daughter remained nameless upon the earth. 
 "My child," and "my love" were the designations 
 usually prompted by a father s affection, and the 
 rigid seclusion of her days precluded all other inter 
 course. Morella s name died with her at her death. 
 Of the mother I had never spoken to the daughter ; 
 it was impossible to speak. Indeed, during the brief 
 period of her existence, the latter had received no 
 impressions from the outer world, save such as might 
 have been afforded by the narrow limits of h<sr 
 
 140 
 
MORELLA 
 
 privacy. But at length the ceremony of baptism 
 presented to my mind, in its unnerved and agitated 
 condition, a present deliverance from the terrors of 
 my destiny. And at the baptismal fount I hesitated 
 for a name. And many titles of the wise and beauti 
 ful, of old and modern times, of my own and foreign 
 lands, came thronging to my lips, with many, many 
 fair titles of the gentle, and the happy, and the good. 
 What prompted me, then, to disturb the memory of 
 the buried dead? "What demon urged me to breathe 
 that sound, which, in its very recollection, was wont 
 to make ebb the purple blood in torrents from the 
 temples to the heart? What fiend spoke from the 
 recesses of my soul, when, amid those dim aisles, and 
 in the .silence of the night, I whispered within the 
 ears of the holy man the syllables Morella ? What 
 more than fiend convulsed the features of my child, 
 and overspread them with hues of death, as starting 
 at that scarcely audible sound, she turned her glassy 
 eyes from the earth to heaven, and, falling prostrate 
 on the black slabs of our ancestral vault, responded 
 -"I am here!" 
 
 Distinct, coldly, calmly distinct, fell those few 
 simple sounds within my ear, and thence, like molten 
 lead, rolled hissingly into my brain. Years years 
 may pass away, but the memory of that epoch 
 never ! Nor was I indeed ignorant of the flowers and 
 the vine; but the hemlock and the cypress over 
 shadowed me night and day. And I kept no reckon 
 ing of time or place, and the stars of my fate faded 
 from heaven, and therefore the earth grew dark, and 
 
 141 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 its figures passed by me, like flitting shadows, and 
 among them all I beheld only Morella. The winds 
 of the firmament breathed but one sound within my 
 ears, and the ripples upon the sea murmured ever 
 more Morella. But she died; and with my own 
 hands I bore her to the tomb; and I laughed with a 
 long and bitter laugh as I found no traces of the 
 first, in the charnel where I laid the second, Morella. 
 
 O 
 
 142 
 
BON-BON 
 
 Quand un bon vin meuble mon estomac, 
 
 Je suis plus savant que Balzac, 
 
 Plus sage que Pibrac; 
 
 Mon bras seul faisant 1 attaque 
 
 De la nation Cossaque, 
 
 La mettroit au sac; 
 
 De Charon je passerois le lac 
 
 En dormant dans son bac; 
 
 J irois au fier Eac, 
 
 Sans que mon co3ur fit tic ni tac, 
 
 Presenter du tabac. 
 
 French Vaudeville. 
 
 HAT Pierre Bon-Bon was a restaurateur 
 of uncommon qualifications, no man 
 who, during the reign of , fre 
 quented the little cafe in the cul-de- 
 sac Le Febvre at Kouen, will, I imag 
 ine, feel himself at liberty to dispute. That Pierre 
 Bon-Bon was, in an equal degree, skilled in the 
 philosophy of that period is, I presume, still more 
 especially undeniable. His pates a la fois were be 
 yond doubt immaculate; but what pen can do justice 
 to his essays sur la nature; his thoughts sur Vdme; 
 his observations sur V esprit f If his omelettes if 
 his fricandeaux were inestimable, what litterateur of 
 that day would not have given twice as much for an 
 "Idee de Bon-Bon" as for all the trash of all the 
 "Idees" of all the rest of the SAVANTS? Bon-Bon 
 had ransacked libraries which no other man had 
 
 143 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ransacked had read more than any other would 
 have entertained a notion of reading had under 
 stood more than any other would have conceived the 
 possibility of understanding; and although, while he 
 flourished, there were not wanting some authors at 
 Rouen to assert that " his dicta evinced neither the 
 purity of the Academy nor the depth of the Lyceum/ 
 although, mark me, his doctrines were by no means 
 very generally comprehended, still it did not follow 
 that they were difficult of comprehension. It was, 
 I think, on account of their self-evidency that many 
 persons were led to consider them abstruse. It is 
 to Bon-Bon but let this go no farther it is to 
 Bon-Bon that Kant himself is mainly indebted for his 
 metaphysics. The former was indeed not a Platonist, 
 nor, strictly speaking, an Aristotelian nor did he, 
 like the modern Leibnitz, waste those precious hours 
 which might be employed in the invention of a 
 fricassee or, facili gradu, the analysis of a sensation, 
 in frivolous attempts at reconciling the obstinate 
 oils and waters of ethical discussion. Not at all. 
 Bon-Bon was Ionic; Bon-Bon was equally Italic. 
 He reasoned a priori; he reasoned a posteriori. His 
 ideas were innate, or otherwise. He believed in 
 George of Trebizond; be believed in Bossarion. Bon- 
 Bon was emphatically a Bon-Bonist. 
 
 I have spoken of the philosopher in his capacity 
 of restaurateur. I would not, however, have any 
 friend of mine imagine that, in fulfilling his hered 
 itary duties in that line, our hero wanted a proper 
 estimation of their dignity and importance. Far 
 
 144 
 
BON-BON 
 
 from it. It was impossible to say in which branch 
 of his profession he took the greater pride. In his 
 opinion the powers of the intellect held intimate 
 connection with the capabilities of the stomach. I 
 am not sure, indeed, that he greatly disagreed with 
 the Chinese, who hold that the soul lies in the abdo 
 men. The Greeks at all events were right, he thought, 
 who employed the same word for the mind and the 
 diaphragm.* By this I do not mean to insinuate a 
 charge of gluttony, or indeed any other serious charge 
 to the prejudice of the metaphysician. If Pierre Bon- 
 Bon had his failings, and what great man has not 
 a thousand? if Pierre Bon-Bon, I say, had his fail 
 ings, they were failings of very little importance 
 faults indeed which, in other tempers, have often 
 been looked upon rather in the light of virtues. As 
 regards one of these foibles, I should not even have 
 mentioned it in this history but for the remarkable 
 prominency, the extreme alto relievo, in which it 
 jutted out from the plane of his general disposition. 
 He could never let slip an opportunity of making a 
 bargain. 
 
 Not that he was avaricious no. It was by no 
 means necessary to the satisfaction of the philosopher 
 that the bargain should be to his own proper advan 
 tage. Provided a trade could be effected a trade 
 of any kind, upon any terms, or under any circum 
 stances a triumphant smile was seen for many days 
 thereafter to enlighten his countenance, and a know- 
 
 I 10 145 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ing wink of the eye to give evidence of his sagacity. 
 
 At any epoch it would not be very wonderful if 
 a humor so peculiar as the one I have just mentioned 
 should elicit attention and remark. At the epoch of 
 our narrative, had this peculiarity NOT attracted 
 observation, there would have been room for wonder 
 indeed. It was soon reported that, upon all occa 
 sions of the kind, the smile of Bon-Bon was found 
 to differ widely from the downright grin with which 
 he would laugh at his own jokes or welcome an ac 
 quaintance. Hints were thrown out of an exciting 
 nature; stories were told of perilous bargains made 
 in a hurry and repented of at leisure; and instances 
 were adduced of unaccountable capacities, vague 
 longings, and unnatural inclinations implanted by the 
 author of all evil for wise purposes of his own. 
 
 The philosopher had other weaknesses, but they 
 are scarcely worthy our serious examination. For 
 example, there are few men of extraordinary pro 
 fundity who are found wanting in an inclination for 
 the bottle. Whether this inclination be an exciting 
 cause, or rather a valid proof, of such profundity, it 
 is a nice thing to say. Bon-Bon, as far as I can 
 learn, did not think the subject adapted to minute 
 investigation; nor do I. Yet in the indulgence of a 
 propensity so truly classical, it is not to be supposed 
 that the restaurateur would lose sight of that intui 
 tive discrimination which was wont to characterize, 
 at one and the same time, his essais and his omelettes. 
 In his seclusions the Vin de Bourgogne had its 
 allotted hour, and there were appropriate moments 
 
 146 
 
BON-BON 
 
 for the Cotes du Rhone. With him Sauterne was to 
 Medoc what Catullus was to Homer. He would sport 
 with a syllogism in sipping St. Peray, but unravel an 
 argument over Clos de Vougeot, and upset a theory 
 in a torrent of Chambertin. Well had it been if the 
 same quick sense of propriety had attended him in the 
 peddling propensity to which I have formerly al 
 luded ; but this was by no means the case. Indeed, to 
 say the truth, THAT trait of mind in the philosophic 
 Bon-Bon DID begin at length to assume a character 
 of strange intensity and mysticism, and appeared 
 deeply tinctured with the diablerie of his favorite 
 German studies. 
 
 To enter the little cafe in the cul-de-sac Le Febvre 
 was, at the period of our tale, to enter the sanctum 
 of a man of genius. Bon-Bon was a man of genius. 
 There was not a sous-cuisinier in Rouen, who could 
 not have told you that Bon-Bon was a man of genius. 
 His very cat knew it, and forbore to whisk her tail 
 in the presence of the man of genius. His large 
 Water-dog was acquainted with the fact, and upon the 
 approach of his master betrayed his sense of in 
 feriority by a sanctity of deportment, a debasement 
 of the ears, and a dropping of the lower jaw not al 
 together unworthy of a dog. It is, however, true 
 that much of this habitual respect might have been 
 attributed to the personal appearance of the meta 
 physician. A distinguished exterior will, I am con 
 strained to say, have its way even with a beast; and 
 I am willing to allow much in the outward man of 
 the restaurateur calculated to impress the imagina- 
 
 147 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 tion of the quadruped. There is a peculiar majesty 
 about the atmosphere of the little great (if I may be 
 permitted so equivocal an expression), which mere 
 physical bulk alone will be found at all times in 
 efficient in creating. If, however, Bon-Bon was 
 barely three feet in height, and if his head was 
 diminutively small, still it was impossible to behold 
 the rotundity of his stomach without a sense of 
 magnificence nearly bordering upon the sublime. In 
 its size both dogs and men must have seen a type of his 
 acquirements; in its immensity, a fitting habitation 
 for his immortal soul. 
 
 I might here if it so pleased me dilate upon 
 the matter of habiliment, and other mere circum 
 stances of the external metaphysician. I might hint 
 that the hair of our hero was worn short, combed 
 smoothly over his forehead, and surmounted by a 
 conical-shaped white flannel cap and tassels ; that his 
 pea-green jerkin was not after the fashion of those 
 worn by the common class of restaurateurs at that 
 day; that the sleeves were something fuller than the 
 reigning costume permitted that the cuffs were 
 turned up, not as usual in that barbarous period, 
 with cloth of the same quality and color as the gar 
 ment, but faced in a more fanciful manner with the 
 party-colored velvet of Genoa; that his slippers were 
 of a bright purple, curiously filigreed, and might 
 have been manufactured in Japan but for the exqui 
 site pointing of the toes and the brilliant tints of 
 the binding and embroidery; that his breeches were 
 of the yellow satin-like material called aimaUe;, that 
 
 148 
 
BON-BON 
 
 his sky-blue cloak, resembling in form a dressing- 
 wrapper, and richly bestudded all over with crimson 
 devices, floated cavalierly upon his shoulders like a 
 mist of the morning; and that his tout ensemble gave 
 rise to the remarkable words of the Benevenuta, 
 Improvisatrice of Florence, that "it was difficult to 
 say whether Pierre Bon-Bon was indeed a bird of 
 paradise, or the rather a very paradise of perfection." 
 I might, I say, expatiate upon all these points if I 
 pleased, but I forbear: merely personal details may 
 be left to historical novelists; they are beneath the 
 moral dignity of matter-of-fact. 
 
 I have said that "to enter the cafe in the cul-de-sac 
 Le Febvre was to enter the SANCTUM of a man of 
 genius;" but then it was only the man of genius 
 who could duly estimate the merits of the sanctum. 
 A sign, consisting of a vast folio, swung before the 
 entrance. On one side of the volume was painted a 
 bottle; on the reverse a pate. On the back were 
 visible in large letters "CEuvres de Bon-Bon." Thus 
 was delicately shadowed forth the twofold occupa 
 tion of the proprietor. 
 
 Upon stepping over the threshold, the whole in 
 terior of the building presented itself to view. A 
 long, low-pitched room, of antique construction, was 
 indeed all the accommodation afforded by the cafe. 
 In a corner of the apartment stood the bed of the 
 metaphysician. An array of curtains, together with 
 a canopy a la Orecque gave it an air at once classic 
 and comfortable. In the corner diagonally opposite 
 appeared, in direct family communion, the properties 
 
 149 
 
 O 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 of the kitchen and the UUiotheque. A dish of 
 polemics stood peacefully upon the dresser. Here 
 lay an ovenful of the latest ethics, there a kettle of 
 duodecimo melanges. Volumes of German morality 
 were hand and glove with the gridiron; a toasting- 
 fork might be discovered by the side of Eusebius; 
 Plato reclined at his ease in the frying-pan; and 
 contemporary manuscripts were filed away upon the 
 spit. 
 
 In other respects the Cafe de Bon-Bon might be 
 said to differ little from the usual restaurants of the 
 period. A large fireplace yawned opposite the door. 
 On the right of the fireplace an open cupboard dis 
 played a formidable array of labelled bottles. 
 
 It was here, about twelve o clock one night, dur 
 ing the severe winter of , that Pierre Bon-Bon, 
 after having listened for some time to the comments 
 of his neighbors upon his singular propensity, 
 that Pierre Bon-Bon, I say, having turned them all 
 out of his house, locked the door upon them with an 
 oath and betook himself in no very pacific mood to 
 the comforts of a leather-bottomed armchair and a 
 fire of blazing fagots. 
 
 It was one of those terrific nights which are only 
 met with once or twice during a century. It snowed 
 r j fiercely, and the house tottered to its center with the 
 floods of wind that, rushing through the crannies of 
 the wall, and pouring impetuously down the chimney, 
 shook awfully the curtains of the philosopher s bed 
 and disorganized the economy of his pate pans and 
 papers. The huge folio sign that swung without, ex- 
 
 150 
 
BON-BON 
 
 posed to the fury of the tempest, creaked ominously, 
 and gave out a moaning sound from its stanchions of 
 solid oak. 
 
 It was in no placid temper, I say, that the meta 
 physician drew up his chair to its customary station 
 by the hearth. Many circumstances of a perplexing 
 nature had occurred during the day to disturb the 
 serenity of his meditations. In attempting des ceufs 
 a la Princesse he had unfortunately perpetrated an 
 omelette a la Reine; the discovery of a principle in 
 ethics had been frustrated by the overturning of a 
 stew; and last, not least, he had been thwarted in 
 one of those admirable bargains which he at all times 
 took such especial delight in bringing to a successful 
 termination. But in the chafing of his mind at these 
 unaccountable vicissitudes there did not fail to be 
 mingled some degree of that nervous anxiety which 
 the fury of a boisterous night it so well calculated 
 to produce. Whistling to his more immediate vicinity 
 the large black water-dog we have spoken of before, 
 and settling himself uneasily in his chair, he could 
 not help casting a wary and unquiet eye toward those 
 distant recesses of the apartment whose inexorable 
 shadows not even the red firelight itself could more 
 than partially succeed in overcoming. Having com 
 pleted a scrutiny whose exact purpose was perhaps 
 unintelligible to himself, he drew close to his seat a 
 small table covered with books and papers, and soon 
 became absorbed in the task of retouching a vo 
 luminous manuscript intended for publication on the 
 morrow. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 He had been thus occupied for some minutes, when 
 "I am in no hurry, Monsieur Bon-Bon," suddenly 
 whispered a whining voice in the apartment. 
 
 "The devil! " ejaculated our hero, starting to his 
 feet, overturning the table at his side, and staring 
 around him in astonishment. 
 
 "Very true," calmly replied the voice. 
 
 Very true ! what is very true ? How came you 
 here?" vociferated the metaphysician, as his eye fell 
 upon something which lay stretched at full length 
 upon the bed. 
 
 "I was saying," said the intruder, without at 
 tending to the interrogatories, "I was saying that 
 I am not at all pushed for time, that the business 
 upon which I took the liberty of calling is of no 
 pressing importance, in short, that I can very well 
 wait until you have finished your exposition. 
 
 : My exposition! there now! how do YOU 
 know? How came YOU to understand that I was 
 writing an exposition? Good God!" 
 
 1 1 Hush ! replied the figure, in a shrill undertone ; 
 and, arising quickly from the bed, he made a single 
 step toward our hero, while an iron lamp that de 
 pended overhead swung convulsively back from his 
 approach. 
 
 The philosopher s amazement did not prevent a 
 narrow scrutiny of the stranger s dress and appear 
 ance. The outlines of his figure, exceedingly lean, 
 but much above the common height, were rendered 
 minutely distinct by means of a faded suit of black 
 cloth which fitted tight to the skin, but was other- 
 
 152 
 

 
 BON-BON 
 
 wise cut very much in the style of a century ago. 
 These garments had evidently been intended for a 
 much shorter person than their present owner. His an 
 kles and wrists were left naked for several inches. In 
 his shoes, however, a pair of very brilliant buckles gave 
 the lie to the extreme poverty implied by the other 
 portions of his dress. His head was bare and entirely 
 bald, with the exception of the hinder part, from 
 which depended a queue of considerable length. A 
 pair of green spectacles, with side glasses, protected 
 his eyes from the influence of the light, and at the 
 same time prevented our hero from ascertaining 
 either their color or their conformation. About the 
 entire person there was no evidence of a shirt; but 
 a white cravat, of filthy appearance, was tied with 
 extreme precision around the throat, and the ends, 
 hanging down formally side by side, gave (although 
 I dare say unintentionally) the idea of an ecclesiastic. 
 Indeed, many other points both in his appearance and 
 demeanor might have very well sustained a concep 
 tion of that nature. Over his left ear he carried, after 
 the fashion of a modern clerk, an instrument resem 
 bling the stylus of ancients. In a breast-pocket of his 
 coat appeared conspicuously a small black volume 
 fastened with clasps of steel. This book, whether 
 accidentally or not, was so turned outwardly from 
 the person as to discover the words "Rituel Cath- 
 olique" in white letters upon the back. His entire 
 physiognomy was interestingly saturnine, even ca 
 daverously pale. The forehead was lofty, and deeply 
 furrowed with the ridges of contemplation. The 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 corners of the mouth were drawn down into an ex 
 pression of the most submissive humility. There was 
 also a clasping of the hands as he stepped toward our 
 hero, a deep sigh, and altogether a look of such utter 
 sanctity as could not have failed to be unequivocally 
 prepossessing. Every shadow of anger faded from 
 the countenance of the metaphysician, as, having 
 completed a satisfactory survey of his visitor s per 
 son, he shook him cordially by the hand and con 
 ducted him to a seat. 
 
 There would, however, be a radical error in at 
 tributing this instantaneous transition of feeling in 
 the philosopher to any one of those causes which 
 might naturally be supposed to have had an in 
 fluence. Indeed, Pierre Bon-Bon, from what I have 
 been able to understand of his disposition, was of 
 all men the least likely to be imposed upon by any 
 speciousness of exterior deportment. It was impos 
 sible that so accurate an observer of men and things 
 should have failed to discover, upon the moment, 
 the real character of the personage who had thus 
 intruded upon his hospitality. To say no more, the 
 conformation of his visitor s feet was sufficiently re 
 markable he maintained lightly upon his head an 
 inordinately tall hat there was a tremulous swell 
 ing about the hinder part of his breeches and the 
 vibration of his coat-tail was a palpable fact. Judge 
 then, with what feelings of satisfaction our hero 
 found himself thrown thus at once into the society 
 of a person for whom he had at all times entertained 
 the most unqualified respect. He was, however, too 
 
 154 
 
BON-BON 
 
 much of the diplomatist to let escape him any intima 
 tion of his suspicions in regard to the true state of af 
 fairs. It was not his cue to appear at all conscious 
 of the high honor he thus unexpectedly enjoyed; 
 but, by leading his guest into conversation, to elicit 
 some important ethical ideas, which might, in ob 
 taining a place in his contemplated publication, en 
 lighten the human race, and at the same time im 
 mortalize himself ideas which, I should have added, 
 his visitor s great age and well-known proficiency 
 in the science of morals might very well have en 
 abled him to afford. 
 
 Actuated by these enlightened views, our hero 
 bade the gentleman sit down, while he himself took 
 occasion to throw some fagots upon the fire and place 
 upon the now re-established table some bottles of 
 Mousseux. Having quickly completed these opera 
 tions, he drew his chair vis-d-vis to his companion s, 
 and waited until the latter should open the conversa 
 tion. But plans even the most skilfully matured are 
 often thwarted in the outset of their application, and 
 the restaurateur found himself nonplussed by the very 
 first words of his vistor s speech. 
 
 "I see you know me, Bon-Bon, " said he; "ha! 
 ha ! ha ! he ! he ! he ! hi ! hi ! hi ! ho ! ho ! ho ! 
 hu! hu! hu!" and the Devil, dropping at once the 
 sanctity of his demeanor, opened to its fullest ex 
 tent a mouth from ear to ear, so as to display a set 
 of jagged and fang-like teeth, and, throwing back 
 his head, laughed long, loudly, wickedly, and up 
 roariously, while the black dog, crouching down upon 
 
 155 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 his haunches, joined lustily in the chorus, and the 
 tabby cat, flying off at a tangent, stood up on end 
 and shrieked in the farthest corner of the apart 
 ment. 
 
 Not so the philosopher: he was too much a man 
 of the world to either laugh like the dog, or by 
 shrieks to betray the indecorous trepidation of the 
 cat. It must be confessed he felt a little astonish 
 ment to see the white letters which formed the 
 words "Rituel Catliolique" on the book in his guest s 
 pocket, momently changing both their color and 
 their import, and in a few seconds, in place of the 
 original title, the words "Regitre des Condamnes" 
 blaze forth in characters of red. This startling cir 
 cumstance, when Bon-Bon replied to his visitor s re 
 mark, imparted to his manner an air of embarrass 
 ment, which probably might not otherwise have been 
 observed. 
 
 "Why, sir," said the philosopher, "why, sir, to 
 speak sincerely, I believe you are upon my word 
 
 the d dest that is to say, I think I imagine 
 
 I have some faint some VERY faint idea of the 
 remarkable honor 
 
 " Oh ! ah ! yes ! very well ! interrupted 
 His Majesty; "say no more; I see how it is." And 
 hereupon, taking off his green spectacles, he wiped 
 the glasses carefully with the sleeve of his coat, and 
 deposited them in his pocket. 
 
 If Bon-Bon had been astonished at the incident of 
 the book, his amazement was now much increased by 
 the spectacle which here presented itself to view. In 
 
 
BON-BON 
 
 raising his eyes, with a strong feeling of curiosity to 
 ascertain the color of his guest s, he found them by 
 no means black, as he had anticipated, nor gray, as 
 might have been imagined, nor indeed yellow, nor 
 red, nor purple, nor white, nor green, nor any other 
 color in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, 
 or in the waters under the earth. In short, Pierre 
 Bon-Bon not only saw plainly that His Majesty had 
 no eyes whatsoever, but could discover no indications 
 of their having existed at any previous period, for 
 the space where eyes should naturally have been, was, 
 I am constrained to say, simply a dead level of flesh. 
 
 It was not in the nature of the metaphysician to 
 forbear making some inquiry into the sources of so 
 strange a phenomenon ; and the reply of His Majesty 
 was at once prompt, dignified, and satisfactory. 
 
 Eyes! my dear Bon-Bon, eyes! did you say? 
 oh ! ah ! I perceive ! The ridiculous prints, eh, 
 which are in circulation have given you a false idea 
 of my personal appearance ? Eyes ! true. Eyes, 
 Pierre Bon-Bon, are very well in their proper place 
 THAT, you would say, is the head? Right the 
 head of a worm. To YOU, likewise, these optics are 
 indispensable, yet I will convince you that my vision 
 is more penetrating than your own. There is a cat I 
 see in the corner a pretty cat ; look at her, observe 
 her well. Now, Bon-Bon, do you behold the thoughts 
 the thoughts, I say, the ideas, the reflections, which 
 are being engendered in her pericranium? There it 
 is, now you do not! She is thinking we admire 
 the length of her tail and the profundity of her 
 
 1*7 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 mind. She has just concluded that I am the most 
 distinguished of ecclesiastics, and that you are the 
 most superficial of metaphysicians. Thus you see I 
 am not altogether blind; but to one of my profession 
 the eyes you speak of would be merely an incum- 
 brance, liable at any time to be put out by a toast 
 ing-iron or a pitchfork. To you, I allow, these optical 
 affairs are indispensable. Endeavor, Bon-Bon, to use 
 them well; MY vision is the soul." 
 
 Hereupon the guest helped himself to the wine 
 upon the table, and, pouring out a bumper for Bon- 
 Bon, requested him to drink it without scruple and 
 make himself perfectly at home. 
 
 "A clever book that of yours, Pierre," resumed 
 His Majesty, tapping our friend knowingly upon the 
 shoulder, as the latter put down his glass after a 
 thorough compliance with his visitor s injunction. 
 "A clever book that of yours, upon my honor. It s 
 a work after my own heart. Your arrangement of 
 the matter, I think, however, might be improved, and 
 many of your notions remind me of Aristotle. That 
 philosopher was one of my most intimate acquaint 
 ances. I liked him as much for his terrible ill-temper 
 as for his happy knack at making a blunder. There 
 is only one solid truth in all that he has written, and 
 for that I gave him the hint out of pure compassion 
 for his absurdity. I suppose, Pierre Bon-Bon, you 
 very well know to what divine moral truth I am 
 alluding?" 
 
 "Cannot say that I- " 
 
 "Indeed! why it was I who told Aristotle that by 
 
 158 
 
BON-BON 
 
 sneezing, men expelled superfluous ideas through the 
 proboscis/ 7 
 
 Which is hiccup ! undoubtedly the case, 
 said the metaphysician, while he poured out for him 
 self another bumper of Mousseux, and offered his 
 snuff-box to the fingers of his visitor. 
 
 " There was Plato, too/ 7 continued His Majesty, 
 modestly declining the snuff-box and the compliment 
 it implied there was Plato, too, for whom I at one 
 time felt all the affection of a friend. You knew 
 Plato, Bon-Bon ? ah, no, I beg a thousand pardons ! 
 He met me at Athens one day in the Parthenon, and 
 told me he was distressed for an idea. I bade him 
 write down that 6 vou? !<mv abtts. He said that 
 he would do so, and went home, while I stepped over 
 to the pyramids. But my conscience smote me for 
 having uttered a truth, even to aid a friend, and, 
 hastening back to Athens, I arrived behind the phi 
 losopher s chair as he was inditing the avMs. 
 
 Giving the lambda a fillip with my finger, I 
 turned it upside down. So the sentence now reads 
 6 vou$ Iffnv aSAd?, and is, your perceive, the fund 
 amental doctrine in his metaphysics." 
 
 Were you ever at Rome ? asked the restaurateur, 
 as he finished his second bottle of Mousseux and 
 drew from the closet a large supply of Chambertin. 
 
 "But once, Monsieur Bon-Bon, but once. There 
 was a time * said the Devil, as if reciting some pass 
 age from a book "there was a time when occurred 
 fvn anarchy of five years, during which the republic, 
 bereft of all its officers, had no magistracy besides 
 
 159 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 the tribunes of the people, and these were not legally 
 vested with any degree of executive power, at that 
 time, Monsieur Bon-Bon ; at that time only I was in 
 Rome, and I have no earthly acquaintance, con 
 sequently, with any of its philosophy. * 
 
 "What do you think of what do you think of 
 hiccup ! Epicurus ? 
 
 "What do I think of whom?" said the Devil, in 
 astonishment; "you surely do not mean to find any 
 fault with Epicurus ! What do I think of Epicurus ! 
 Do you mean me, sir ? / am Epicurus ! I am the 
 same philosopher who wrote each of the three hun 
 dred treatises commemorated by Diogenes Laertes/ 
 
 "That s a lie!" said the metaphysician, for the 
 
 wine had gotten a little into his head. 
 
 1 * Very well ! very well, sir ! very well, in 
 deed, sir!" said His Majesty, apparently much 
 flattered. 
 
 "That s a lie!" repeated the restaurateur, dogmat 
 ically; "that s a -hiccup! a lie!" 
 
 "Well, well, have it your own way!" said the 
 Devil, pacifically, and Bon-Bon, having beaten His 
 Majesty at an argument, thought it his duty to con 
 clude a second bottle of Chambertin. 
 
 "As I was saying," resumed the visitor "as I 
 was observing a little while ago, there are some very 
 outre notions in that book of yours, Monsieur Bon- 
 
 * Us e crivaient sur la philosophic [Cicero, Lucretius, 
 Seneca], mais c e tait la philosophie grecque. CONDOBCET. 
 
 160 
 
 
BON-BON 
 
 Bon. What, for instance, do you mean by all that 
 humbug about the soul? Pray, sir, what is the 
 soul?" 
 
 The hiccup! soul," replied the metaphysi 
 cian, referring to his MS., "is undoubtedly " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 "Indubitably " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 "Indisputably " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 "Evidently " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 " Incontrovertibly " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 "Hiccup! " 
 
 "No, sir!" 
 
 "And beyond all question, a " 
 
 "No, sir, the soul is no such thing!" (Here the 
 philosopher, looking daggers, took occasion to make 
 an end, upon the spot, of his third bottle of Chain- 
 bertin.) 
 
 Then hiccup ! pray, sir, what what is 
 it?" 
 
 "That is neither here nor there, Monsieur Bon- 
 Bon, " replied His Majesty, musingly. "I have 
 tasted that is to say, I have known some very bad 
 souls, and some too pretty good ones." Here he 
 smacked his lips, and, having unconsciously let fall 
 his hand upon the volume in his pocket, was seized 
 with a violent fit of sneezing. 
 
 He continued: 
 
 I ii 161 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 11 There was the soul of Cratinus passable; Aris 
 tophanes racy ; Plato exquisite not YOUR Plato, 
 but Plato the comic poet; your Plato would have 
 turned the stomach of Cerberus faugh ! Then let 
 me see! there were Nsevius, and Andronieus, and 
 Plautus, and Terentius. Then there were Lucilius, 
 and Catullus, and Naso, and Quintius Flaccus, 
 dear Quinty ! as I called him when he sung a seculare 
 for my amusement, while I toasted him, in pure good 
 humor, on a fork. But they want FLAVOR, these 
 Romans. One fat Greek is worth a dozen of them, 
 and, besides, will KEEP, which cannot be said of a 
 Quirite. Let us taste your Sauterne." 
 
 Bon-Bon had by this time made up his mind to 
 the nil admirari, and endeavored to hand down the 
 bottles in question. He was, however, conscious of 
 a strange sound in the room like the wagging of a 
 tail. Of this, although extremely indecent in His 
 Majesty, the philosopher took no notice, simply kick 
 ing the dog, and requesting him to be quiet. The 
 vistor continued: 
 
 1 l l found that Horace tasted very much like Aris 
 totle ; you know I am fond of variety. Terentius 
 I could not have told from Menander. Naso, to my 
 astonishment, was Nicander in disguise. Virgilius 
 had a strong twang of Theocritus. Martial put me 
 much in mind of Archiloehus, and Titus Livius was 
 positively Polybius and none other." 
 
 " Hiccup!" here replied Bon-Bon, and His Maj 
 esty proceeded: 
 
 "But if I have a penchant, Monsieur Bon-Bon 
 
 162 
 
BON-BON 
 
 if I HAVE a PENCHANT, it is for a philosopher. Yet, 
 let me tell you, sir, it is not every dev I mean it 
 is not every gentleman who knows how to CHOOSE 
 a philosopher. Long ones are NOT good ; and the best, 
 if not carefully shelled, are apt to be a little rancid 
 on account of the gall." 
 
 Shelled!" 
 
 "I mean taken out of the carcass." 
 
 What do you think of a hiccup ! physi 
 cian?" 
 
 "DON T mention them! ugh! ugh!" (Here His 
 Majesty retched violently.) "I never tasted but one 
 that rascal Hippocrates ! smelt of asaf oetida 
 Ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! caught a wretched cold washing 
 him in the Styx, and after all he gave me the cholera 
 morbus." 
 
 The hiccup ! wretch ! ejaculated Bon-Bon, 
 "the hiccup ! abortion of a pill-box ! "- and the 
 philosopher dropped a tear. 
 
 "After all," continued the visitor, "after all, if a 
 dev if a gentleman wishes to LIVE, he must have 
 more talents than one or two ; and with us a fat face 
 is an evidence of diplomacy. 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 "Why we are sometimes exceedingly pushed for 
 provisions. You must know that, in a climate so 
 sultry as mine, it is frequently impossible to keep a 
 spirit alive for more than two or three hours; and 
 after death, unless pickled immediately (and a 
 pickled spirit is NOT good), they will smell you 
 understand, eh? Putrefaction is always to be ap- 
 
 163 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 prehended when the souls are consigned to us in 
 the usual way." 
 
 "Hiccup! hiccup! good God! how DO you 
 manage ?" 
 
 Here the iron lamp commenced swinging with re 
 doubled violence, and the Devil half started from his 
 seat; however, with a slight sigh, he recovered his 
 composure, merely saying to our hero in a low tone, 
 "I tell you what, Pierre Bon-Bon, we must have no 
 more swearing." 
 
 The host swallowed another bumper, by way of 
 denoting thorough comprehension and acquiescence, 
 and the visitor continued : 
 
 " Why, there are SEVERAL ways of managing. The 
 most of us starve: some put up with the pickle: for 
 my part I purchase my spirits vivent corpore, in which 
 case I find they keep very well." 
 
 "But the body ! hiccup ! the body!" 
 
 "The body, the body well, what of the body? 
 oh ! ah ! I perceive. Why, sir, the body is not AT ALL 
 affected by the transaction. I have made innumer 
 able purchases of the kind in my day, and the parties 
 never experienced any inconvenience. There were 
 Cain, and Nimrod, and Nero, and Caligula, and 
 Dionysius, and Pisistratus, and and a thousand 
 others, who never knew what it was to have a soul 
 during the latter part of their lives; yet, sir, these 
 
 men adorned society. Why, is n t there A , now, 
 
 whom you know as well as I? Is he not in possession 
 of all his faculties, mental and corporeal? Who 
 writes a keener epigram? Who reasons more wittily? 
 
 164 
 
 *** 
 
BON-BON 
 
 Who but stay ! I have his agreement in my pocket- 
 book. " 
 
 Thus saying, he produced a red leather wallet and 
 took from it a number of papers. Upon some of these 
 Bon-Bon caught a glimpse of the letters "Machi- 
 Maza -- Robesp"- - with the words "Caligula, 
 George, Elizabeth." His Majesty selected a narrow 
 slip of parchment, and from it read aloud the follow 
 ing words : 
 
 "In consideration of certain mental endowments 
 which it is unnecessary to specify, and in further con 
 sideration of one thousand louis d or, I, being aged 
 one year and one month, do hereby make over to the 
 bearer of this agreement all my right, title, and 
 appurtenance in the shadow called my soul. (Signed) 
 
 A "* (Here His Majesty repeated a name 
 
 which I do not feel myself justified in indicating 
 more unequivocally.) 
 
 "A clever fellow that," resumed he; "but, like 
 you, Monsieur Bon-Bon, he was mistaken about the 
 soul. The soul a shadow, truly ! The soul a shadow ! 
 Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he! hu! hu! hu! Only 
 think of a fricasseed shadow!" 
 
 "ONLY think hiccup! of a fricasseed shadow!" 
 exclaimed our hero, whose faculties were becoming 
 much illuminated by the profundity of His Majesty s 
 discourse. 
 
 "Only think of a hiccup ! fricasseed shadow ! ! 
 Now, damme ! hiccup ! humph ! If I would have 
 
 Query- Arouet ? 
 
 165 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 been such a hiccup ! nincompoop ! MY soul, 
 Mr. humph!" 
 
 "YouR soul, Monsieur Bon-Bon?" 
 
 "Yes, sir hiccup! MY soul is " 
 
 "What, sir?" 
 
 "No shadow, damme!" 
 
 "Did you mean to say " 
 
 "Yes, sir, MY soul is hiccup ! humph ! yes, 
 sir." 
 
 "Did you not intend to assert " 
 
 "MY soul is hiccup! peculiarly qualified for 
 hiccup ! a " 
 
 " What, sir?" 
 
 "Stew." 
 
 "Ha!" 
 
 "Soufflee." 
 
 "Eh!" 
 
 "Fricassee!" 
 
 "Indeed!" 
 
 "Ragout and fricandeau and see here, my good 
 fellow! I ll let you have it hiccup! a bargain." 
 Here the philosopher slapped His Majesty upon the 
 back. 
 
 "Couldn t think of such a thing," said the latter 
 calmly, at the same time rising from his seat. The 
 metaphysician stared. 
 
 "Am supplied at present," said His Majesty. 
 
 "Hic-cup! e-h?" said the philosopher. 
 
 "Have no funds on hand." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Besides, very unhandsome in me " 
 
 166 
 
BON-BON 
 
 "Sir!" 
 
 "To take advantage of -- " 
 
 "Hic-cup!" 
 
 "Your present disgusting and ungentlemanly 
 situation. 
 
 Here the visitor bowed and withdrew in what 
 manner could not precisely be ascertained but in 
 a well-concerted effort to discharge a bottle at "the 
 villain," the slender chain was severed that depended 
 from the ceiling, and the metaphysician prostrated 
 by the downfall of the lamp. 
 

 LIONIZING 
 
 all people went 
 
 Upon their ten toes in wild wonderment. 
 
 BISHOP HALL Satires. 
 
 AM that is to say, I was a great 
 man; but I am neither the author of 
 
 I 
 
 Junius nor the man in the mask; for 
 my name, I believe, is Robert Jones, 
 and I was born somewhere in the city 
 of Fum-Fudge. 
 
 The first action of my life was the taking hold of 
 my nose with both hands. My mother saw this and 
 called me a genius my father wept for joy and 
 presented me with a treatise on Nosology. This I 
 mastered before I was breeched. 
 
 I now began to feel my way in the science, and 
 soon came to understand that, provided a man had 
 a nose sufficiently conspicuous, he might, by merely 
 following it, arrive at a Lionship. But my attention 
 was not confined to theories alone. Every morning I 
 gave my proboscis a couple of pulls and swallowed 
 a half dozen of drams. 
 
 When I came of age my father asked me, one day, 
 if I would step with him into his study. 
 
 1 68 
 
LIONIZING 
 
 "My son," said he, when we were seated, "what 
 is the chief end of your existence ? 
 
 "My father," I answered, "it is the study of Nos 
 ology." 
 
 "And what, Robert," he inquired, "is Nosology?" 
 
 "Sir," I said, "it is the science of Noses." 
 
 "And can you tell me," he demanded, "what is 
 the meaning of a nose ? 
 
 "A nose, my father," I replied, greatly softened, 
 "has been variously defined by about a thousand dif 
 ferent authors." [Here I pulled out my watch.] 
 "It is now noon, or thereabouts, we shall have time 
 enough to get through with them all before midnight. 
 To commence then: The nose, according to Bartho- 
 linus, is that protuberance that bump that ex 
 crescence that " 
 
 "Will do, Robert," interrupted the good old 
 gentleman. "I am thunderstruck at the extent of 
 your information I am positively upon my soul." 
 [Here he closed his eyes and placed his hand upon 
 his heart.] "Come here!" [Here he took me by 
 the arm.] "Your education may now be considered 
 as finished; it is high time you should scuffle for 
 yourself, and you cannot do a better thing than 
 merely follow your nose so so so [Here 
 he kicked me down stairs and out of the door.] 
 "so get out of my house, and God bless you!" 
 
 As I felt within me the divine afflatus, I considered 
 this accident rather fortunate than otherwise. I re 
 solved to be guided by the paternal advice. I deter 
 mined to follow my nose. I gave it a pull or two 
 
 169 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 upon the spot, and wrote a pamphlet on Nosology 
 forthwith. 
 
 All Fum-Fudge was in an uproar. 
 
 Wonderful genius ! said the Quarterly. 
 
 11 Superb physiologist !" said the Westminster. 
 
 "Clever fellow!" said the Foreign. 
 
 "Fine writer!" said the Edinburgh. 
 
 "Profound thinker!" said the Dublin. 
 
 "Great man!" said Bentley. 
 
 "Divine soul!" said Fraser. 
 
 "One of us!" said Blackwood. 
 
 "Who can he be?" said Mrs. Bas-Bleu. 
 
 "What can he be?" said big Miss Bas-Bleu. 
 
 "Where can he be?" said little Miss Bas-Bleu. 
 But I paid these people no attention whatever I 
 just stepped into the shop of an artist. 
 
 The Duchess of Bless-my-Soul was sitting for her 
 portrait; the Marquis of So-and-So was holding the 
 Duchess s poodle; the Earl of This-and-That was flirt 
 ing with her salts ; and his Royal Highness of Touch- 
 me-Not was leaning upon the back of her chair. 
 
 I approached the artist and turned up my nose. 
 
 "Oh, beautiful!" sighed her Grace. 
 
 "Oh my!" lisped the Marquis. 
 
 "Oh, shocking!" groaned the Earl. 
 
 "Oh, abominable!" growled his Royal Highness. 
 
 "What will you take for it?" asked the artist. 
 
 "For his NOSE!" shouted her Grace. 
 
 "A thousand pounds," said I, sitting down. 
 
 "A thousand pounds?" inquired the artist, mus 
 ingly. 
 
 170 
 
LIONIZING 
 
 "A thousand pounds," said I. 
 
 "Beautiful!" said he, entranced. 
 
 "A thousand pounds," said I. 
 
 "Do you warrant it?" he asked, turning the nose 
 to the light. 
 
 "I do," said I, blowing it well. 
 
 "Is it quite original?" he inquired, touching it 
 with reverence. 
 
 "Humph!" said I, twisting it to one side. 
 
 "Has no copy been taken?" he demanded, survey 
 ing it through a microscope. 
 
 "None," said I, turning it up. 
 
 "Admirable!" he ejaculated, thrown quite off his 
 guard by the beauty of the manreuvre. 
 
 "A thousand pounds," said I. 
 
 "A thousand pounds?" said he. 
 
 "Precisely," said I. 
 
 "A thousand pounds?" said he. 
 
 "Just so," said I. 
 
 "You shall have them," said he. "What a piece 
 of virtti!" So he drew me a check upon the spot, 
 and took a sketch of my nose. I engaged rooms in 
 Jermyn Street, and sent her Majesty the ninety-ninth 
 edition of the Nosology, with a portrait of the pro 
 boscis. That sad little rake, the Prince of Wales, 
 invited me to dinner. 
 
 We were all lions and recherches. 
 
 There was a modern Platonist. He quoted Por 
 phyry, lamblicus, Plotinus, Proclus, Hierocles, Maxi- 
 mus Tyrius, and Syrianus. 
 
 There was a human-perfectibility man. He quoted 
 
 171 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Turgot, Price, Priestley, Condorcet, De Stael, and the 
 "Ambitious Student in Ill-Health." 
 
 There was Sir Positive Paradox. He observed 
 that all fools were philosophers, and that all phi 
 losophers were fools. 
 
 There was ^Estheticus Ethix. He spoke of fire, 
 unity, and atoms ; bi-part and pre-existent soul ; affin 
 ity and discord; primitive intelligence and homoo- 
 meria. 
 
 There was Theologos Theology. He talked of 
 Eusebius and Arianus; heresy and the Council of 
 Nice; Puseyism and consubstantialism ; Homoousion 
 and Homooiousion. 
 
 There was Fricassee from the Rocher de Cancale. 
 He mentioned Muriton of red tongue; cauliflowers 
 with veloute sauce ; veal a la St. Menehoult ; marinade 
 a la St. Florentin; and orange jellies en mosaique. 
 
 There was Bibulus Bumper. He touched upon 
 Latour and Marcobriinnen ; upon Mousseux and 
 Chambertin; upon Richebourg and St. George; upon 
 Haubrion, Leoville, and Medoc; upon Barac and 
 Preignac; upon Graves, upon Sauterne, upon Lafitte, 
 and upon St. Peray. He shook his head at Clos de 
 Vougeot, and told, with his eyes shut, the difference 
 between sherry and amontillado. 
 
 There was Signer Tintontintino from Florence. 
 He discoursed of Cimabue, Arpino, Carpaccio, and 
 Agostino of the gloom of Caravaggio, of the 
 amenity of Albani, of the colors of Titian, of the 
 frows of Rubens, and of the waggeries of Jan Steen. 
 
 There was the President of the Fum-Fudge Univer- 
 
 172 
 
LIONIZING 
 
 sity. He was of opinion that the moon was called 
 Bendis in Thrace, Bubastis in Egypt, Dian in Rome, 
 and Artemis in Greece. 
 
 There was a Grand Turk from Stamboul. He 
 could not help thinking that the angels were horses, 
 cocks, and bulls; that somebody in the sixth heaven 
 had seventy thousand heads; and that the earth was 
 supported by a sky-blue cow with an incalculable 
 number of green horns. 
 
 There was Delphinus Polyglott. t He told us what 
 had become of the eighty-three lost tragedies of 
 JEschylus ; of the fifty-four orations of Isaeus ; of the 
 three hundred and ninety-one speeches of Lysias; of 
 the hundred and eighty treatises of Theophrastus ; of 
 the eighth book of the conic sections of Apollonius ; 
 of Pindar s hymns and dithyrambics ; and of the five- 
 and-forty tragedies of Homer Junior. 
 
 There was Ferdinand Fitz-Fossillus Feltspar. He 
 informed us all about internal fires and tertiary 
 formations; about aeriforms, fluidiforms, and solidi- 
 forms; about quartz and marl; about schist and 
 schorl; about gypsum and trap; about talc and calc; 
 about blende and horn-blende; about mica-slate and 
 pudding-stone; about cyanite and lepidolite; about 
 haematite and tremolite; about antimony and 
 chalcedony; about manganese and whatever you 
 please. 
 
 There was myself. I spoke of myself ; of my 
 self, of myself, of myself ; of Nosology, of my 
 pamphlet, and of myself. I turned up my nose, and 
 I spoke of myself. 
 
 173 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 " Marvelous clever man!" said the Prince. 
 
 Superb ! said his guests ; and next morning her 
 Grace of Bless-my-Soul paid me a visit. 
 
 "Will you go to Almack s, pretty creature?" she 
 said, tapping me under the chin. 
 
 "Upon honor," said I. 
 
 "Nose and all?" she asked. 
 
 "As I live, "I replied. 
 
 "Here then is a card, my life. Shall I say you 
 will be there?" 
 
 "Dear Duchess, with all my heart." 
 
 1 Pshaw, no ! but with all your nose ? 
 
 "Every bit of it, my love," said I; so I gave it 
 a twist or two, and found myself at Almack s. 
 
 The rooms were crowded to suffocation. 
 
 "He is coming," said somebody on the staircase. 
 
 "He is coming!" said somebody farther up. 
 
 "He is coming!" said somebody farther still. 
 
 "He is come!" exclaimed the Duchess. "He is 
 come, the little love!" And, seizing me firmly by 
 both hands, she kissed me thrice upon the nose. 
 
 A marked sensation immediately ensued. 
 
 "Dfavolo!" cried Count Capricornutti. 
 
 "Dios guarda!" muttered Don Stiletto. 
 
 "Mille tonnerrcs!" ejaculated the Prince de Gre- 
 nouille. 
 
 "Tausend Teufel!" growled the Elector of Blud- 
 dennuff. 
 
 It was not to be borne. I grew angry. I turned 
 short upon Bluddennuff. 
 
 "Sir!" said I to him, "you are a baboon." 
 
 174 
 
LIONIZING 
 
 "Sir," he replied, after a pause, "Donner und 
 Blitzen!" 
 
 This was all that could be desired. We exchanged 
 cards. At Chalk-Farm, the next morning, I shot off 
 his nose and then called upon my friends. 
 
 "Bete!" said the first. 
 
 "Fool!" said the second. 
 
 "Dolt!" said the third. 
 
 "Ass!" said the fourth. 
 
 "Ninny!" said the fifth. 
 
 "Noodle!" said the sixth. 
 
 "Be off !" said the seventh. 
 
 At all this I felt mortified, and so called upon my 
 father. 
 
 "Father/ 1 I asked, "what is the chief end of my 
 existence ? 
 
 "My son," he replied, "it is still the study of 
 Nosology; but in hitting the Elector upon the nose 
 you have overshot your mark. You have a fine nose, 
 it is true; but then Bluddennuff has none. You are 
 damned, and he has become the hero of the day. I 
 grant you that in Fum-Fudge the greatness of a lion 
 is in proportion to the size of his proboscis ; but, good 
 heavens! there is no competing with a lion who has 
 no proboscis at all." 
 
 175 
 
THE DUG DE L OMELETTE 
 
 And stepped at once into a cooler clime. COWPER. 
 
 EATS fell by a criticism. Who was it 
 died of L Andromache f * Ignoble souls ! 
 De L Omelette perished of an ortolan. 
 L histoire en est breve. Assist me, 
 Spirit of Apicius! 
 
 A golden cage bore the little winged wanderer, 
 enamored, melting, indolent, to the Chaussee d Antin, 
 from its home in far Peru. From its queenly pos 
 sessor, La Bellissima, to the Due De L Omelette, six 
 peers of the empire conveyed the happy bird. 
 
 That night the Due was to sup alone. In the 
 privacy of his bureau he reclined languidly on that 
 ottoman for which he sacrificed his loyalty in out 
 bidding his king, the notorious ottoman of Cadet. 
 He buries his face in the pillow. The clock 
 strikes ! Unable to restrain his feelings his Grace 
 swallows an olive. At this moment the door gently 
 
 * Montfleury. The author of the Parnasse Keforme makes 
 him speak in Hades: "L homme done qui voudrait savoir ce 
 dont je suis mort, qu il ne demande pas si ce fut de fievre 
 ou de podagre ou d autre chose mais qu il entende que ce 
 fut de L Andromaque." 
 
 176 
 

 
 THE DUG DE L OMELETTE 
 
 opens to the sound of soft music, and lo! the most 
 delicate of birds is before the most enamored of men ! 
 But what inexpressible dismay now overshadows the 
 countenance of the Due? "Horreur! chien! 
 Baptiste! Voiseau! ah, *bon Dieu! cet oiseau modeste 
 que tu as deshaUUe de ses plumes, et que tu as servi 
 sans papier!" It is superfluous to say more: the 
 Due expired in a paroxysm of disgust. * * * 
 
 4 Ha! ha! ha!" said his Grace on the third day 
 after his decease. 
 
 "He! he! he!" replied the Devil faintly, drawing 
 himself up with an air of hauteur. 
 
 "Why, surely you are not serious," retorted De 
 L Omelette. "I have sinned c est vrai but, my 
 good sir, consider ! you have no actual intention 
 of putting such such barbarous threats into 
 execution. 
 
 "No WHAT?" said his Majesty; "come, sir, 
 strip!" 
 
 "Strip, indeed! very pretty, i faith! no, sir, I 
 shall NOT strip. Who are you, pray, that I, Due De 
 L Omelette, Prince de Foie-Gras, just come of age, 
 author of the Mazurkiad, and Member of the Acad 
 emy, should divest myself at your bidding of the 
 sweetest pantaloons ever made by Bourdon, the 
 daintiest robe-de-chambre ever put together by Rom- 
 bert, to say nothing of the taking my hair out of 
 paper, not to mention the trouble I should have in 
 drawing off my gloves?" 
 
 "Who am I? ah, true! I am Baal-Zebub, 
 Prince of the Fly. I took thee, just now, from a rose- 
 
 I 12 177 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 wood coffin inlaid with ivory. Thou wast curiously 
 scented and labelled as per invoice. Belial sent thee, 
 my Inspector of Cemeteries. The pantaloons, which 
 thou sayest were made by Bourdon, are an excellent 
 pair of linen drawers, and thy robe-de-chambre is a 
 shroud of no scanty dimensions. 
 
 "Sir!" replied the Due, "I am not to be insulted 
 with impunity! Sir! I shall take the earliest oppor 
 tunity of avenging this insult! Sir! you shall hear 
 from me! In the meantime au revoir!" and the 
 Due was bowing himself out of the Satanic presence 
 when he was interrupted and brought back by a 
 gentleman-in-waiting. Hereupon his Grace rubbed 
 his eyes, yawned, shrugged his shoulders, reflected. 
 Having become satisfied of his identity, he took a 
 bird s-eye view of his whereabouts. 
 
 The apartment was superb. Even De L Omelette 
 pronounced in Men comme il faut. It was not its 
 length nor its breadth, but its height ah, that was 
 appalling ! There was no ceiling, certainly none, 
 but a dense, whirling mass of fiery-colored clouds. 
 His Grace s brain reeled as he glanced upward. 
 Prom above hung a chain of an unknown blood-red 
 metal, its upper end lost, like the city of Boston, 
 parmi les nues. From its nether extremity swung a 
 large cresset. The Due knew it to be a ruby; but 
 from it there poured a light so intense, so still, so 
 terrible, Persia never worshipped such, Gheber never 
 imagined such, Mussulman never dreamed of such 
 when, drugged with opium, he has tottered to a bed 
 of poppies, his back to the flowers, and his face to the 
 
 178 
 
THE DUG DE L OMELETTE 
 
 god Apollo. The Due muttered a slight oath, de 
 cidedly approbatory. 
 
 The corners of the room were rounded into niches. 
 Three of these were filled with statues of gigantic 
 proportions. Their beauty was Grecian, their de 
 formity Egyptian, their tout ensemble French. In the 
 fourth niche the statue was veiled; it was not 
 colossal. But then there was a taper ankle, a 
 sandalled foot. De L Omelette pressed his hand 
 upon his heart, closed his eyes, raised them, and 
 caught His Satanic Majesty in a blush. 
 
 But the paintings ! Kupris ! Astarte ! Astoreth ! 
 a thousand and the same! And Rafaello has be 
 held them! Yes, Rafaello has been here; for did he 
 
 not paint the ? and was he not consequently 
 
 damned? The paintings! the paintings! luxury! 
 O love! Who, gazing on those forbidden beauties, 
 shall have eyes for the dainty devices of the golden 
 frames that besprinkled like stars the hyacinth and 
 the porphyry walls? 
 
 But the Due s heart is fainting within him. He 
 is not, however, as you suppose, dizzy with magnifi 
 cence, nor drunk with the ecstatic breath of those 
 innumerable censers. C 9 est vrai que de toutes ces 
 choses il a pense beaucoup mais! The Due De 
 L Omelette is terror-stricken; for, through the lurid 
 vista which a single uncurtained window is afford 
 ing, lo! gleams the most ghastly of all fires! 
 
 Le peuvre Due! He could not help imagining that 
 the glorious, the voluptuous, the never-dying melo 
 dies which pervaded that hall, as they passed, 
 
 179 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 filtered and transmuted, through the alchemy of the 
 enchanted window-panes, were the wailings and the 
 howlings of the hopeless and the damned! And 
 there, too ! there ! upon the ottoman ! who 
 could he be ? he, the petit-maUre no, the Deity 
 who sat as if carved in marble, et qui sourit, with 
 his pale countenance, si amerementf 
 
 Mais il faut agir that is to say, a Frenchman 
 never faints outright. Besides, his Grace hated a 
 scene De L Omelette is himself again. There were 
 some foils upon a table, some points also. The Due 
 
 had studied under B ; il avait tue ses six hommes. 
 
 Now, then, il pent s echapper. He measures two 
 points, and, with a grace inimitable, offers his Maj 
 esty the choice. Horreur! his Majesty does not 
 fence ! 
 
 Mais il joue! how happy a thought! but his 
 Grace had always an excellent memory. He had 
 dipped in the Diable of the Abbe Gualtier. Therein 
 it is said "que le Diable n ose pas refuser un jeu 
 d ecarte." 
 
 But the chances the chances! True desper 
 ate; but scarcely more desperate than the Due. Be 
 sides, was he not in the secret? had he not skimmed 
 over Pierre Le Brunf was he not a member of the 
 Club Vingt-un? "Si je perds" said he, "je serai 
 deux fois perdu I shall be doubly damned voild 
 tout! (Here his Grace shrugged his shoulders.) 
 Si je gagne, je reviendrai a mes ortolans que les 
 cartes soient preparees!" 
 
 His Grace was all care, all attention his Maj- 
 
 180 
 
THE DUG DE L OMELETTE 
 
 esty, all confidence. A spectator would have thought 
 of Francis and Charles. His Grace thought of his 
 game. His Majesty did not think; he shuffled. The 
 Due cut. 
 
 The cards are dealt. The trump is turned it 
 is it is the king ! No ! it was the queen. His 
 Majesty cursed her masculine habiliments. De 
 L Omelette placed his hand upon his heart. 
 
 They play. The Due counts. The hand is out. 
 His Majesty counts heavily, smiles, and is taking 
 wine. The Due slips a card. 
 
 "C est a vous a faire," said his Majesty, cutting. 
 His Grace bowed, dealt, and arose from the table en 
 presentant le Roi. 
 
 His Majesty looked chagrined. 
 
 Had Alexander not been Alexander, he would 
 have been Diogenes; and the Due assured his antag 
 onist in taking leave, ll qm s 1 il n y eut ete De L Ome- 
 lette il n aurait point d objection d etre le DiaUe." 
 
 182 
 
SHADOW: A PARABLE 
 
 Yea! though I walk through the valley of the shadow. 
 
 Psalm of David. 
 
 B WHO read are still among the living; 
 ^y but I who write shall have long since 
 
 gone my way into the region of shad 
 ows. For indeed strange things shall 
 happen, and secret things be known, 
 and many centuries shall pass away ere these me 
 morials be seen of men. And, when seen, there will 
 be some to disbelieve, and some to doubt, and yet 
 a few who will find much to ponder upon in the 
 characters here graven with a stylus of iron. 
 
 The year had been a year of terror, and of feel 
 ings more intense than terror, for which there is no 
 name upon the earth. For many prodigies and signs 
 had taken place, and far and wide, over sea and land, 
 the black wings of the pestilence were spread abroad. 
 To those, nevertheless, cunning in the stars, it was 
 not unknown that the heavens wore an aspect of ill ; 
 and to me, the Greek Oinos, among others, it was 
 evident that now had arrived the alternation of that 
 seven hundred and ninety-fourth year when, at the 
 entrance of Aries, the planet Jupiter is conjoined 
 with the red ring of the terrible Baturnus. The 
 
 182 
 
SHADOW: A PARABLE 
 
 peculiar spirit of the skies, if I mistake not greatly, 
 made itself manifest, not only in the physical orb 
 of the earth, but in the souls, imaginations, and 
 meditations of mankind. 
 
 Over some flasks of the red Chian wine, within 
 the walls of a noble hall, in a dim city called 
 Ptolemais, we sat, at night, a company of seven. 
 And to our chamber there was no entrance save by a 
 lofty door of brass: and the door was fashioned by 
 the artisan Corinnos, and being of rare workmanship, 
 was fastened from within. Black draperies, likewise, 
 in the gloomy room, shut out from our view the 
 moon, the lurid stars, and the peopleless streets; but 
 the boding and the memory of Evil, they would not 
 be so excluded. There were things around us and 
 about of which I can render no distinct account 
 things material and spiritual: heaviness in the at 
 mosphere, a sense of suffocation, anxiety, and, above 
 all, that terrible state of existence which the nervous 
 experience when the senses are keenly living and 
 awake, and meanwhile the powers of thought lie 
 dormant. A dead weight hung upon us. It hung 
 upon our limbs, upon the household furniture, upon 
 the goblets from which we drank, and all things 
 were depressed and borne down thereby all things 
 save only the flames of the seven iron lamps which 
 illumined our revel. Uprearing themselves in tall, 
 slender lines of light, they thus remained burning 
 all pallid and motionless; and in the mirror which 
 their luster formed upon the round table of ebony 
 at which we sat, each of us there assembled beheld 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 the pallor of his own countenance, and the unquiet 
 glare in the downcast eyes of his companions. Yet 
 we laughed and were merry in our proper way, which 
 was hysterical; and sang the songs of Anacreon, 
 which are madness; and drank deeply, although the 
 purple wine reminded us of blood. For there was 
 yet another tenant of our chamber in the person of 
 young Zoilus. Dead, and at full length he lay, 
 enshrouded; the genius and the demon of the scene. 
 Alas! he bore no portion in our mirth, save that his 
 countenance, distorted with the plague, and his eyes, 
 in which death had but half extinguished the fire 
 of the pestilence, seemed to take such interest in our 
 merriment as the dead may haply take in the merri 
 ment of those who are to die. But although I, Oinos, 
 felt that the eyes of the departed were upon me, still 
 I forced myself not to perceive the bitterness of their 
 expression, and, gazing down steadily into the depths 
 of the ebony mirror, sang with a loud and sonorous 
 voice the songs of the son of Teios. But gradually 
 my songs they ceased, and their echoes, rolling afar 
 off among the sable draperies of the chamber, be 
 came weak and undistinguishable, and so faded away. 
 And lo ! from among those sable draperies where 
 the sounds of the song departed, there came forth 
 a dark and undefined shadow a shadow such as 
 the moon, when low in heaven, might fashion from 
 the figure of a man: but it was the shadow neither 
 of man nor of God, nor of any familiar thing. And, 
 quivering, awhile among the draperies of the room, 
 it at length rested in full view upon the surface of 
 
 184 
 
SHADOW: A PARABLE 
 
 the door of brass. But the shadow was vague, and 
 formless, and indefinite, and was the shadow neither 
 of man nor God neither god of Greece, nor god 
 of Chaldaea, nor any Egyptian god. And the shadow 
 rested upon the brazen doorway and under the arch 
 of the entablature of the door, and moved not, nor 
 spoke any word, but there became stationary and re 
 mained. And the door whereupon the shadow rested 
 was, if I remember aright, over against the feet of 
 the young Zoilus enshrouded. But we, the seven 
 there assembled, having seen the shadow as it came 
 out from among the draperies, dared not steadily be 
 hold it, but cast down our eyes and gazed continually 
 into the depths of the mirror of ebony. And at 
 length I, Oinos, speaking some low words, demanded 
 of the shadow its dwelling and its appellation. And 
 the shadow answered, "I am SHADOW, and my 
 dwelling is near to the Catacombs of Ptolemais, and 
 hard by those dim plains of Helusion which border 
 upon the foul Charonian canal." And then did we, 
 the seven, start from our seats in horror and stand 
 trembling, and shuddering, and aghast, for the tones 
 in the voice of the shadow were not the tones of any 
 one being, but of a multitude of beings, and, varying 
 in their cadences from syllable to syllable, fell duskily 
 upon our ears in the well-remembered and familiar 
 accents of many thousand departed friends. 
 
 .85 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 A TALE NEITHER IN NOR OUT OF "BLACK. 
 WOOD" 
 
 O breathe not, etc. 
 
 MOORE S Melodies. 
 
 . HE most notorious ill-fortune must, in the 
 
 end, yield to the untiring courage of 
 
 philosophy as the most stubborn city 
 
 to the ceaseless vigilance of an enemy. 
 
 Salmanezer, as we have it in the holy 
 
 writings, lay three years before Samaria; yet it fell. 
 
 Sardanapalus (see Diodorus) maintained himself 
 
 seven in Nineveh; but to no purpose. Troy expired 
 
 at the close of the second lustrum; and Azoth, as 
 
 Aristaeus declares upon his honor as a gentleman, 
 
 opened at last her gates to Psammiticus, after having 
 
 barred them for the fifth part of a century. . . . 
 
 "Thou wretch! thou vixen! thou shrew!" said I 
 
 to my wife on the morning after our wedding, "thou 
 
 witch! thou hag! thou whipper-snapper! thou sink 
 
 of iniquity ! thou fiery-faced quintessence of all that 
 
 is abominable ! thou thou " here standing 
 
 upon tiptoe, seizing her by the throat, and placing 
 
 my mouth close to her ear, I was preparing to launch 
 
 ValL I 
 
 1 86 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 forth a new and more decided epithet of opprobrium, 
 which should not fail, if ejaculated, to convince her 
 of her insignificance, when, to my extreme horror and 
 astonishment, I discovered that I HAD LOST MY 
 
 BREATH. 
 
 The phrases, "I am out of breath," "I have lost 
 my breath," etc., are often enough repeated in com 
 mon conversation; but it had never occurred to me 
 that the terrible accident of which I speak could 
 bona fide and actually happen! Imagine that is, 
 if you have a fanciful turn imagine, I say, my 
 wonder, my consternation, my despair! 
 
 There is a good genius, however, which has never 
 entirely deserted me. In my most ungovernable 
 moods I still retain a sense of propriety, "et le chemin 
 des passions me conduit," as Lord Edouard in the 
 Julie says it did him ll d la philosophic veritable." 
 
 Although I could not at first precisely ascertain 
 to what degree the occurrence had affected me, I de 
 termined at all events to conceal the matter from my 
 wife until further experience should discover to me 
 the extent of this my unheard-of calamity. Altering 
 my countenance, therefore, in a moment, from its 
 bepuffed and distorted appearance to an expression 
 of arch and coquettish benignity, I gave my lady a 
 pat on the one cheek and a kiss on the other, and 
 without saying one syllable (Furies! I could not,) 
 left her astonished at my drollery as I pirouetted out 
 of the room in a pas de zephyr. 
 
 Behold me, then, safely ensconced in my private 
 boudoir, a fearful instance of the ill consequences 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 attending upon irascibility; alive, with the qualifi 
 cations of the dead; dead, with the propensities of 
 the living; an anomaly on the face of the earth, be 
 ing very calm, yet breathless. 
 
 Yes! breathless. I am serious in asserting that 
 my breath was entirely gone. I could not have 
 stirred with it a feather if my life had been at issue, 
 or sullied even the delicacy of a mirror. Hard fate! 
 yet there was some alleviation to the first over 
 whelming paroxysm of my sorrow. I found upon 
 trial that the powers of utterance which, upon my 
 inability to proceed in the conversation with my wife, 
 I then concluded to be totally destroyed, were in 
 fact only partially impeded, and I discovered that 
 had I, at that interesting crisis, dropped my voice to 
 a singularly deep guttural, I might still have con 
 tinued to her the communication of my sentiments ; 
 this pitch of voice (the guttural) depending, I find, 
 not upon the current of the breath, but upon a cer 
 tain spasmodic action of the muscles of the throat. 
 
 Throwing myself upon a chair I remained for 
 some time absorbed in meditation. My reflections, 
 be sure, were of no consolatory kind. A thousand 
 vague and lachrymatory fancies took possession of 
 my soul, and even the idea of suicide flitted across 
 my brain ; but it is a trait in the perversity of human 
 nature to reject the obvious and the ready for the 
 far-distant and equivocal. Thus I shuddered at self- 
 murder as the most decided of atrocities, while the 
 tabby-cat purred strenuously upon the rug and the 
 very water-dog wheezed assiduously under the table, 
 
 1 88 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 each taking to itself much merit for the strength of 
 its lungs, and all obviously done in derision of my 
 own pulmonary incapacity. 
 
 Oppressed with a tumult of vague hopes and fears 
 I at length heard the footsteps of my wife descend 
 ing the staircase. Being now assured of her absence 
 I returned with a palpitating heart to the scene of 
 my disaster. 
 
 Carefully locking the door on the inside I com 
 menced a vigorous search. It was possible, I thought, 
 that concealed in some obscure corner or lurking in 
 some closet or drawer might be found the lost object 
 of my inquiry. It might have a vapory it might 
 even have a tangible form. Most philosophers, upon 
 many points of philosophy, are still very unphil- 
 osophical. William Godwin, however, says in his 
 Mandeville that "invisible things are the only real 
 ities," and this, all will allow, is a case in point. I 
 would have the judicious reader pause before accus 
 ing such asseverations of an undue quantum of 
 absurdity. Anaxagoras, it will be remembered, 
 maintained that snow is black, and this I have since 
 found to be the case. 
 
 Long and earnestly did I continue the investiga 
 tion: but the contemptible reward of my industry 
 and perseverance proved to be only a set of false 
 teeth, two pairs of hips, an eye, and a number of 
 billets-doux from Mr. Windenough to my wife. I 
 might as well here observe that this confirmation of 
 my lady s partiality for Mr. W. occasioned me little 
 uneasiness. That Mrs. Lackobreath should admire 
 
 .89 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 anything so dissimilar to myself was a natural and 
 necessary evil. I am, it is well known, of a robust 
 and corpulent appearance, and at the same time some 
 what diminutive in stature. What wonder, then, 
 that the lath-like tenuity of my acquaintance and 
 his altitude, which has grown into a proverb, should 
 have met with all due estimation in the eyes of Mrs. 
 Lackobreath. But to return. 
 
 My exertions, as I have before said, proved fruit 
 less. Closet after closet, drawer after drawer, corner 
 after corner, were scrutinized to no purpose. At one 
 time, however, I thought myself sure of my prize, 
 having, in rummaging a dressing-case, accidentally 
 demolished a bottle of Grandjean s oil of archangels, 
 which, as an agreeable perfume, I here take the 
 liberty of recommending. 
 
 With a heavy heart I returned to my boudoir, 
 there to ponder upon some method of eluding my 
 wife s penetration until I could make arrangements 
 prior to my leaving the country, for to this I had 
 already made up my mind. In a foreign climate, be 
 ing unknown, I might, with some probability of suc 
 cess, endeavor to conceal my unhappy calamity, a 
 calamity calculated, even more than beggary, to 
 estrange the affections of the multitude and to draw 
 down upon the wretch the well-merited indignation 
 of the virtuous and the happy. I was not long in 
 hesitation. Being naturally quick, I committed to 
 memory the entire tragedy of Metamora. I had the 
 good fortune to recollect that in the accentuation of 
 this drama, or at least such portion of it as is allotted 
 
 190 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 to the hero, the tones of voice in which I found my 
 self deficient were altogether unnecessary, and that 
 the deep guttural was expected to reign monoto 
 nously throughout. 
 
 I practised for some time by the borders of a 
 well-frequented marsh; herein, however, having no 
 reference to a similar proceeding of Demosthenes, 
 but from a design peculiarly and conscientiously 
 my own. Thus armed at all points I determined to 
 make my wife believe that I was suddenly smitten 
 with a passion for the stage. In this I succeeded to 
 a miracle ; and to every question or suggestion found 
 myself at liberty to reply in my most frog-like and 
 sepulchral tones with some passage from the tragedy, 
 any portion of which, as I soon took great pleasure 
 in observing, would apply equally well to any par 
 ticular subject. It is not to be supposed, however, 
 that in the delivery of such passages I was found 
 at all deficient in the looking asquint, the showing 
 my teeth, the working my knees, the shuffling my 
 feet, or in any of those unmentionable graces which 
 are now justly considered the characteristics of a pop 
 ular performer. To be sure, they spoke of confin 
 ing me in a strait- jacket; but, good God! they never 
 suspected me of having lost my breath. 
 
 Having at length put my affairs in order, I took 
 my seat very early one morning in the mail stage 
 for , giving it to be understood among my ac 
 quaintances that business of the last importance re 
 quired my immediate personal attendance in that 
 city. 
 
 191 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and plunging with all my might and making the 
 most furious contortions, for the operations of the 
 surgeon had, in a measure, restored me to the posses 
 sion of my faculties. All, however, was attributed 
 to the effects of a new galvanic battery, wherewith 
 the apothecary, who is really a man of information, 
 performed several curious experiments, in which, 
 from my personal share in their fulfilment, I could 
 not help feeling deeply interested. It was a source 
 of mortification to me, nevertheless, that, although 
 I made several attempts at conversation, my powers 
 of speech were so entirely in abeyance that I could 
 not even open my mouth; much less, then, make 
 reply to some ingenious but fanciful theories, of 
 which, under other circumstances, my minute ac 
 quaintance with the Hippocratian pathology would 
 have afforded me a ready confutation. 
 
 Not being able to arrive at a conclusion, the prac 
 titioners remanded me for further examination. I 
 was taken up into a garret; and, the surgeon s lady 
 having accommodated me with drawers and stock 
 ings, the surgeon himself fastened my hands and tied 
 up my jaws with a pocket-handkerchief then 
 bolted the door on the outside as he hurried to his 
 dinner, leaving me alone to silence and to meditation. 
 
 I now discovered to my extreme delight that I 
 could have spoken had not my mouth been tied up 
 with the pocket-handkerchief. Consoling myself with 
 this reflection I was mentally repeating some pass 
 ages of the Omnipresence of the Deity, as is my cus 
 tom before resigning myself to sleep, when two cats, 
 
 194 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 of a greedy and vituperative turn, entering at a hole 
 in the wall, leaped up with a flourish a la Catalani, 
 and, alighting opposite one another on my visage, 
 betook themselves to indecorous contention for the 
 paltry consideration of my nose. 
 
 But, as the loss of his ears proved the means of 
 elevating to the throne of Cyrus, the Magian, or 
 Mige-Gush of Persia, and as the cutting off of his 
 nose gave Zopyrus possession of Babylon, so the loss 
 of a few ounces of my countenance proved the salva 
 tion of my body. Aroused by the pain, and burning 
 with indignation, I burst, at a single effort, the fast 
 enings and the bandage. Stalking across the room 
 I cast a glance of contempt at the belligerents, and 
 throwing open the sash, to their extreme horror and 
 disappointment, precipitated myself very dexterously 
 from the window. 
 
 The mail-robber W , to whom I bore a singu 
 lar resemblance, was at this moment passing from 
 the city jail to the scaffold erected for his execution 
 in the suburbs. His extreme infirmity and long-con 
 tinued ill-health, had obtained him the privilege of 
 remaining unmanacled; and, habited in his gallows 
 costume, one very similar to my own he lay at 
 full length in the bottom of the hangman s cart 
 (which happened to be under the windows of the 
 surgeon at the moment of my precipitation) without 
 any other guard than the driver, who was asleep, and 
 two recruits of the sixth infantry, who were drunk. 
 
 As ill-luck would have it, I alit upon my feet 
 within the vehicle. W , who was an acute fellow, 
 
 195 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and plunging with all my might and making the 
 most furious contortions, for the operations of the 
 surgeon had, in a measure, restored me to the posses 
 sion of my faculties. All, however, was attributed 
 to the effects of a new galvanic battery, wherewith 
 the apothecary, who is really a man of information, 
 performed several curious experiments, in which, 
 from my personal share in their fulfilment, I could 
 not help feeling deeply interested. It was a source 
 of mortification to me, nevertheless, that, although 
 I made several attempts at conversation, my powers 
 of speech were so entirely in abeyance that I could 
 not even open my mouth; much less, then, make 
 reply to some ingenious but fanciful theories, of 
 which, under other circumstances, my minute ac 
 quaintance with the Hippocratian pathology would 
 have afforded me a ready confutation. 
 
 Not being able to arrive at a conclusion, the prac 
 titioners remanded me for further examination. I 
 was taken up into a garret; and, the surgeon s lady 
 having accommodated me with drawers and stock 
 ings, the surgeon himself fastened my hands and tied 
 up my jaws with a pocket-handkerchief then 
 bolted the door on the outside as he hurried to his 
 dinner, leaving me alone to silence and to meditation. 
 
 I now discovered to my extreme delight that I 
 could have spoken had not my mouth been tied up 
 with the pocket-handkerchief. Consoling myself with 
 this reflection I was mentally repeating some pass 
 ages of the Omnipresence of the Deity, as is my cus 
 tom before resigning myself to sleep, when two cats, 
 
 194 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 of a greedy and vituperative turn, entering at a hole 
 in the wall, leaped up with a flourish a la Catalani, 
 and, alighting opposite one another on my visage, 
 betook themselves to indecorous contention for the 
 paltry consideration of my nose. 
 
 But, as the loss of his ears proved the means of 
 elevating to the throne of Cyrus, the Magian, or 
 Mige-Gush of Persia, and as the cutting off of his 
 nose gave Zopyrus possession of Babylon, so the loss 
 of a few ounces of my countenance proved the salva 
 tion of my body. Aroused by the pain, and burning 
 with indignation, I burst, at a single effort, the fast 
 enings and the bandage. Stalking across the room 
 I cast a glance of contempt at the belligerents, and 
 throwing open the sash, to their extreme horror and 
 disappointment, precipitated myself very dexterously 
 from the window. 
 
 The mail-robber W , to whom I bore a singu 
 lar resemblance, was at this moment passing from 
 the city jail to the scaffold erected for his execution 
 in the suburbs. His extreme infirmity and long-con 
 tinued ill-health, had obtained him the privilege of 
 remaining unmanacled; and, habited in his gallows 
 costume, one very similar to my own he lay at 
 full length in the bottom of the hangman s cart 
 (which happened to be under the windows of the 
 surgeon at the moment of my precipitation) without 
 any other guard than the driver, who was asleep, and 
 two recruits of the sixth infantry, who were drunk. 
 
 As ill-luck would have it, I alit upon my feet 
 within the vehicle. W , who was an acute fellow, 
 
 195 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 perceived his opportunity. Leaping up immediately, 
 he bolted out behind, and turning down an alley was 
 out of sight in the twinkling of an eye. The recruits, 
 aroused by the bustle, could not exactly comprehend 
 the merits of the transaction. Seeing, however, a 
 man, the precise counterpart of the felon, standing 
 upright in the cart before their eyes, they were of 
 
 the opinion that the rascal (meaning W ) was 
 
 after making his escape (so they expressed them 
 selves), and, having communicated this opinion to 
 one another, they took each a dram and then knocked 
 me down with the butt-ends of their muskets. 
 
 It was not long ere we arrived at the place of 
 destination. Of course nothing could be said in my 
 defence. Hanging was my inevitable fate. I re 
 signed myself thereto with a feeling half stupid, half 
 acrimonious. Being little of a cynic, I had all the 
 sentiments of a dog. The hangman, however, ad 
 justed the noose about my neck. The drop fell. 
 
 I forbear to depict my sensations upon the gal 
 lows; although here, undoubtedly, I could speak to 
 the point, and it is a topic upon which nothing has 
 been well said. In fact, to write upon such a theme 
 it is necessary to have been hanged. Every author 
 should confine himself to matters of experience. Thus 
 Mark Antony composed a treatise upon getting 
 drunk. 
 
 I may just mention, however, that die I did not. 
 My body WAS, but I had no breath TO BE, suspended ; 
 and but for the knot under my left ear (which had 
 the feel of a military stock) I daresay that I should 
 
 I9 6 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 have experienced very little inconvenience. As for 
 the jerk given to my neck upon the falling of the 
 drop, it merely proved a corrective to the twist 
 afforded me by the fat gentleman in the coach. 
 
 For good reasons, however, I did my best to give 
 the crowd the worth of their trouble. My con 
 vulsions were said to be extraordinary. My spasms 
 it would have been difficult to beat. The populace 
 encored. Several gentlemen swooned; and a multi 
 tude of ladies were carried home in hysterics. Pinxit 
 availed himself of the opportunity to retouch, from 
 a sketch taken upon the spot, his admirable paint 
 ing of the Marsyas Flayed Alive. 
 
 When I had afforded sufficient amusement, it was 
 thought proper to remove my body from the gallows ; 
 this the more especially as the real culprit had in 
 the meantime been retaken and recognized, a fact 
 which I was so unlucky as not to know. 
 
 Much sympathy was, of course, exercised in my 
 behalf, and as no one made claim to my corpse it was 
 ordered that I should be interred in a public vault. 
 
 Here, after due interval, I was deposited. The 
 sexton departed, and I was left alone. A line of 
 Marston s Malcontent 
 
 Death s a good fellow and keeps open house 
 
 struck me at that moment as a palpable lie. 
 
 I knocked off, however, the lid of my coffin and 
 stepped out. The place was dreadfully dreary and 
 damp and I became troubled with ennui. By way of 
 
 197 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 amusement, I felt my way among the numerous coffins 
 ranged in order around. I lifted them down, one by 
 one, and breaking open their lids, busied myself in 
 speculations about the mortality within. 
 
 "This/ I soliloquized, tumbling over a carcass, 
 puffy, bloated, and rotund "this has been, no doubt, 
 in every sense of the word, an unhappy, an un 
 fortunate man. It has been his terrible lot not to 
 walk, but to waddle; to pass through life not like 
 a human being, but like an elephant ; not like a man, 
 but like a rhinoceros. 
 
 "His attempts at getting on have been mere abor 
 tions, and his circumgyratory proceedings a palpable 
 failure. Taking a step forward, it has been his mis 
 fortune to take two toward the right, and three to 
 ward the left. His studies have been confined to the 
 poetry of Crabbe. He can have no idea of the wonder 
 of a pirouette. To him a pas de papillon has been an 
 abstract conception. He has never ascended the 
 summit of a hill. He has never viewed from any 
 steeple the glories of a metropolis. Heat has been his 
 mortal enemy. In the dog-days his days have been 
 the days of a dog. Therein he has dreamed of 
 flames and suffocation, of mountains upon mountains, 
 of Pelion upon Ossa. He was short of breath to 
 say all in a word, he was short of breath. He thought 
 it extravagant to play upon wind-instruments. He 
 was the inventor of self-moving fans, wind-sails, and 
 ventilators. He patronized Du Pont the bellows- 
 maker, and died miserably in attempting to smoke a 
 cigar. His was a case in which I feel a deep interest, 
 
 198 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 a lot in which I sincerely sympathize. 
 
 "But here," said I, "here," and I dragged spite 
 fully from its receptacle a gaunt, tall, and peculiar- 
 looking form, whose remarkable appearance struck me 
 with a sense of unwelcome familiarity, "here is a 
 wretch entitled to no earthly commiseration." Thus 
 saying, in order to obtain a more distinct view of my 
 subject, I applied my thumb and forefinger to its nose, 
 and, causing it to assume a sitting position upon the 
 ground, held it thus, at the length of my arm, while 
 I continued my soliloquy. 
 
 "Entitled," I repeated, "to no earthly commis 
 eration. Who, indeed, would think of compassiona 
 ting a shadow ? Besides, has he not had his full share 
 of the blessings of mortality? He was the origina 
 tor of tall monuments, shot-towers, lighting-rods, 
 Lombardy poplars. His treatise upon Shades and 
 Shadoivs has immortalized him. He edited with 
 distinguished ability the last edition of South on the 
 Bones. He went early to college and studied pneu 
 matics. He then came home, talked eternally, and 
 played upon the French horn. He patronized the bag 
 pipes. Captain Barclay, who walked against Time, 
 would not walk against him. Windham and Allbreath 
 were his favorite writers; his favorite artist, Phiz. 
 He died gloriously while inhaling gas levique flatu 
 corrumpitur, like the fama pudicitiae in Hieronymus.* 
 He was indubitably a " 
 
 * Tenera res in feminis fama pudicitiw est, et quasi ftos 
 pulcherrimus, cito ad levem marcescit auram, levique flatu 
 corrumpitur, maxime, etc. Hieronymus ad Salvinam. 
 
 199 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 t ^ 
 
 How CAN you ? how CAN you ? inter 
 rupted the object of my animadversions, gasping for 
 breath, and tearing off, with a desperate exertion, the 
 bandage around its jaws, "how can you, Mr. Lacko- 
 breath, be so infernally cruel as to pinch me in that 
 manner by the nose? Did you not see how they had 
 fastened up my mouth? and you MUST know, if you 
 know anything, how vast a superfluity of breath I 
 have to dispose of! If you do NOT know, however, 
 sit down and you shall see. In my situation it is 
 really a great relief to be able to open one s mouth, 
 to be able to expatiate, to be able to communicate 
 with a person like yourself, who do not think your 
 self called upon at every period to interrupt the 
 thread of a gentleman s discourse. Interruptions are 
 annoying and should undoubtedly be abolished 
 don t you think so ? no reply, I beg you, one person 
 is enough to be speaking at a time. I shall be done 
 by-and-by, and then you may begin. How the devil, 
 sir, did you get into this place ? not a word I 
 beseech you been here some time myself terrible 
 accident ! heard of it, I suppose ? awful calamity ! 
 walking under your windows some short while 
 ago about the time you were stage-struck hor 
 rible occurrence! heard of catching one s breath, 
 eh ? hold your tongue I tell you ! I caught some 
 body else s ! had always too much of my own 
 met Blab at the corner of the street wouldn t give 
 me a chance for a word couldn t get in a syllable 
 edgeways attacked, consequently, with epilepsis 
 Blab made his escape damn all fools ! they took 
 
 200 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 me up for dead, and put me in this place pretty 
 doings all of them ! heard all you said about me 
 every word a lie horrible ! wonderful ! out 
 rageous ! hideous ! incomprehensible ! et cetera, 
 et cetera, et cetera, et cetera " 
 
 It is impossible to conceive my astonishment at 
 so unexpected a discourse, or the joy with which I 
 became gradually convinced that the breath so for 
 tunately caught by the gentleman (whom I soon 
 recognized as my neighbor Windenough) was, in 
 fact, the identical expiration mislaid by myself in 
 the conversation with my wife. Time, place, and 
 circumstance rendered it a matter beyond question. 
 I did not, however, immediately release my hold upon 
 Mr. W. s proboscis, not, at least, during the long 
 period in which the inventor of Lombardy poplars 
 continued to favor me with his explanations. 
 
 In this respect I was actuated by that habitual 
 prudence which has ever been my predominating 
 trait. I reflected that many difficulties might still lie 
 in the path of my preservation which only extreme 
 exertion on my part would be able to surmount. 
 Many persons, I considered, are prone to estimate 
 commodities in their possession, however valueless to 
 the then proprietor, however troublesome or dis 
 tressing, in direct ratio with the advantages to be 
 derived by others from their attainment or by them 
 selves from their abandonment. Might not this be 
 the case with Mr. Windenough? In displaying 
 anxiety for the breath of which he was at present 
 so willing to get rid, might I not lay myself open 
 
 201 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 to the exactions of his avarice ? There are scoundrels 
 in this world, I remembered with a sigh, who will not 
 scruple to take unfair opportunities with even a next- 
 door neighbor, and (this remark is from Epictetus) 
 it is precisely at that time when men are most anxious 
 to throw off the burden of their own calamities that 
 they feel the least desirous of relieving them in 
 others. 
 
 Upon considerations similar to these, and still re 
 taining my grasp upon the nose of Mr. W., I accord 
 ingly thought proper to model my reply. 
 
 1 Monster!" I began in a tone of the deepest 
 indignation, " monster and double-winded idiot! dost 
 THOU, whom for thine iniquities it has pleased Heaven 
 to accurse with a twofold respiration dost THOU, I 
 say, presume to address me in the familiar language 
 of an old acquaintance? I lie, forsooth! and hold 
 my tongue, to be sure ! pretty conversation, in 
 deed, to a gentleman with a single breath ! all 
 this, too, when I have it in my power to relieve the 
 calamity under which thou dost so justly suffer, to 
 curtail the superfluities of thine unhappy respira 
 tion/ 
 
 Like Brutus, I paused for a reply, with which, like 
 a tornado, Mr. Windenough immediately over 
 whelmed me. Protestation followed upon protesta 
 tion and apology upon apology. There were no terms 
 with which he was unwilling to comply, and there 
 were none of which I failed to take the fullest ad 
 vantage. 
 
 Preliminaries being at length arranged, my ac- 
 
 202 
 
LOSS OF BREATH 
 
 quaintance delivered me the respiration; for which 
 (having carefully examined it) I gave him afterward 
 a receipt. 
 
 I am aware that by many I shall be held to blame 
 for speaking in a manner so cursory of a transaction 
 so impalpable. It will be thought that I should have 
 entered more minutely into the details of an occur 
 rence by which and this is very true much new 
 light might be thrown upon a highly interesting 
 branch of physical philosophy. 
 
 To all this I am sorry that I cannot reply. A hint 
 is the only answer which I am permitted to make. 
 There were CIRCUMSTANCES but I think it much 
 safer upon consideration to say as little as possible 
 about an affair so delicate so DELICATE, I repeat, 
 and at the time involving the interests of a third 
 party whose sulphurous resentment I have not the 
 least desire, at this moment, of incurring. 
 
 We were not long after this necessary arrange 
 ment in effecting an escape from the dungeons of the 
 sepulchre. The united strength of our resuscitated 
 voices was soon sufficiently apparent. Scissors, the 
 Whig editor, republished a treatise upon "the nature 
 and origin of subterranean noises. " A reply, re 
 joinder, confutation, and justification followed in the 
 columns of a Democratic gazette. It was not until 
 the opening of the vault to decide the controversy 
 that the appearance of Mr. Windenough and myself 
 proved both parties to have been decidedly in the 
 wrong. 
 
 I cannot conclude these details of some very 
 
 203 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 singular passages in a life at all times sufficiently 
 eventful, without again recalling to the attention of 
 the reader the merits of that indiscriminate philoso 
 phy which is a sure and ready shield against those 
 shafts of calamity which can neither be seen, felt, 
 nor fully understood. It was in the spirit of this 
 wisdom that, among the ancient Hebrews, it was be 
 lieved the gates of heaven would be inevitably opened 
 to that sinner or saint who, with good lungs and 
 implicit confidence, should vociferate the word 
 "AMEN!" It was in the spirit of this wisdom that, 
 when a great plague raged at Athens, and every 
 means had been in vain attempted for its removal, 
 Epimenides, as Laertius relates, in his second book 
 of that philosopher, advised the erection of a shrine 
 and temple "to the proper God." 
 
 LYTTLETON BARRY. 
 
 
 204 
 

 KING PEST 
 
 A TALE CONTAINING AN ALLEGORY 
 
 The gods do bear and well allow in kings 
 The things which they abhor in rascal routes. 
 
 BUCKHURST S Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex. 
 
 A 
 
 BOUT twelve o clock, one night in the 
 month of October, and during the 
 chivalrous reign of the third Edward, 
 
 two seamen belonging to the crew of 
 
 the Free and Easy a trading schooner 
 plying between Sluys and the Thames, and then at 
 anchor in that river, were much astonished to find 
 themselves seated in the tap-room of an ale-house in 
 the parish of St. Andrews, London, which ale-house 
 bore for sign the portraiture of a " Jolly Tar." 
 
 The room, although ill-contrived, smoke-blackened, 
 low-pitched, and in every other respect agreeing with 
 the general character of such places at the period 
 was, nevertheless, in the opinion of the grotesque 
 groups scattered here and there within it, sufficiently 
 well adapted to its purpose. 
 
 Of these groups our two seamen formed, I think, 
 the most interesting, if not the most conspicuous. 
 
 The one who appeared to be the elder, and whom 
 his companion addressed by the characteristic ap 
 pellation of "Legs," was at the same time much the 
 taller of the two. He might have measured six feet 
 
 205 
 
S " 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 and a half, and an habitual stoop in the shoulders 
 seemed to have been the necessary consequence of an 
 altitude so enormous. Superfluities in height were, 
 however, more than accounted for by deficiencies in 
 other respects. He was exceedingly thin ; and might, 
 as his associates asserted, have answered, when drunk, 
 for a pennant at the mast-head, or, when sober, have 
 served for a jib-boom. But these jests, and others of 
 a similar nature, had evidently produced, at no time y 
 any effect upon the cachinnatory muscles of the tar. 
 With high cheek-bones, a large hawk-nose, retreating 
 chin, fallen under- jaw, and huge protruding white 
 eyes, the expression of his countenance, although 
 tinged with a species of dogged indifference to mat 
 ters and things in general, was not the less utterly 
 solemn and serious beyond all attempts at imitation 
 or description. 
 
 The younger seaman was, in all outward appear 
 ance, the converse of his companion. His stature 
 could not have exceeded four feet. A pair of stumpy 
 bow-legs supported his squat, unwieldly figure, while 
 his unusually short and thick arms, with no ordinary 
 fists at their extremities, swung off dangling from 
 his sides like the fins of a sea-turtle. Small eyes, of 
 no particular color, twinkled far back in his head. 
 His nose remained buried in the mass of flesh which 
 enveloped his round, full, and purple face; and his 
 thick upper-lip rested upon the still thicker one 
 beneath with an air of complacent self-satisfaction, 
 much heightened by the owner s habit of licking them 
 at intervals. He evidently regarded his tall shipmate 
 
 206 
 
 
KING PEST 
 
 with a feeling half- wondrous, half-quizzical; and 
 stared up occasionally in his face as the red setting 
 sun stares up at the crags of Ben Nevis. 
 
 Various and eventful, however, had been the pere 
 grinations of the worthy couple in and about the dif 
 ferent tap-houses of the neighborhood during the 
 earlier hours of the night. Funds even the most 
 ample are not always everlasting: and it was with 
 empty pockets our friends had ventured upon the 
 present hostelrie. 
 
 At the precise period, then, when this history 
 properly commences, Legs and his fellow, Hugh Tar 
 paulin, sat, each with both elbows resting upon the 
 large oaken table in the middle of the floor, and with 
 a hand upon either cheek. They were eyeing, from 
 behind a huge flagon of unpaid-for "humming stuff," 
 the portentous words, "No Chalk, " which to their 
 indignation and astonishment were scored over the 
 doorway by means of that very mineral whose pres 
 ence they purported to deny. Not that the gift of 
 deciphering written characters a gift among the 
 commonalty of that day considered little less caba- 
 listical than the art of inditing could, in strict 
 justice, have been laid to the charge of either disciple 
 of the sea ; but there was, to say the truth, a certain 
 twist in the formation of the letters an indescrib 
 able lee-lurch about the whole which foreboded, in 
 the opinion of both seamen, a long run of dirty 
 weather; and determined them at once, in the 
 allegorical words of Legs himself, to "pump ship, 
 clew up all sail, and scud before the wind." 
 
 207 
 
 \ 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Having accordingly disposed of what remained of 
 the ale, and looped up the points of their short doub 
 lets, they finallj made a bolt for the street. Although 
 Tarpaulin rolled twice into the fireplace, mistaking it 
 for the door, yet their escape was at length happily 
 effected, and half after twelve o clock found our 
 heroes ripe for mischief and running for life down a 
 dark alley in the direction of St. Andrew s Stair, 
 hotly pursued by the landlady of the "Jolly Tar." 
 
 At the epoch of this eventful tale, and periodically 
 for many years before and after, all England, but 
 more especially the metropolis, resounded with the 
 fearful cry of "Plague!" The city was in a great 
 measure depopulated, and in those horrible regions, 
 in the vicinity of the Thames, where, amid the dark, 
 narrow, and filthy lanes and alleys, the Demon of 
 Disease was supposed to have had his nativity, Awe, 
 Terror, and Superstition were alone to be found 
 stalking abroad. 
 
 By authority of the king such districts were placed 
 UNDER BAN, and all persons forbidden, under pain of 
 death, to intrude upon their dismal solitude. Yet 
 neither the mandate of the monarch, nor the huge 
 barriers erected at the entrances of the streets, nor 
 the prospect of that loathsome death which, with al 
 most absolute certainty, overwhelmed the wretch 
 whom no peril could deter from the adventure, pre 
 vented the unfurnished and untenanted dwellings 
 from being stripped by the hand of nightly rapine 
 of every article, such as iron, brass, or lead-work. 
 
 208 
 
KING PEST 
 
 which could in any manner be turned to a profitable 
 account. 
 
 Above all, it was usually found, upon the annual 
 winter opening of the barriers, that locks, bolts, and 
 secret cellars had proved but slender protection to 
 those rich stores of wines and liquors which, in con 
 sideration of the risk and trouble of removal, many 
 of the numerous dealers having shops in the neighbor 
 hood had consented to trust, during the period of 
 exile, to so insufficient a security. 
 
 But there were very few of the terror-stricken 
 people who attributed these doings to the agency of 
 human hands. Pest-spirits, plague-goblins, and fever- 
 demons were the popular imps of mischief; and tales 
 so blood-chilling were hourly told, that the whole mass 
 of forbidden buildings was at length enveloped in 
 terror as in a shroud, and the plunderer himself was 
 often scared away by the horrors his own depreda 
 tions had created; leaving the entire vast circuit of 
 prohibited district to gloom, silence, pestilence, and 
 death. 
 
 It was by one of the terrific barriers already men 
 tioned, and which indicated the region beyond to be 
 under the pest-ban, that, in scrambling down an alley, 
 Legs and the worthy Hugh Tarpaulin found their 
 progress suddenly impeded. To return was out of 
 the question, and no time was to be lost, as their 
 pursuers were close upon their heels. With thorough 
 bred seamen to clamber up the roughly fashioned 
 plank-work was a trifle; and, maddened with the 
 twofold excitement of exercise and liquor, they leaped 
 
 114 209 
 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 unhesitatingly down within the enclosure, and, hold 
 ing on their drunken course with shouts and yellings, 
 were soon bewildered in its noisome and intricate re 
 cesses. 
 
 Had they not, indeed, been intoxicated beyond 
 moral sense their reeling footsteps must have been 
 palsied by the horrors of their situation. The air 
 was cold and misty. The paving-stones, loosened from 
 their beds, lay in wild disorder amid the tall, rank 
 grass which sprang up around the feet and ankles. 
 Fallen houses choked up the streets. The most fetid 
 and poisonous smells everywhere prevailed ; and 
 by the aid of that ghastly light which, even at mid 
 night, never fails to emanate from a vapory and 
 pestilential atmosphere, might be discerned lying in 
 the by-paths and alleys, or rotting in the windowless 
 habitations, the carcass of many a nocturnal plunderer 
 arrested by the hand of the plague in the very per 
 petration of his robbery. 
 
 But it lay not in the power of images, or sensa 
 tions, or impediments such as these to stay the course 
 of men who, naturally brave, and at that time, es 
 pecially, brimful of courage and of "humming stuff," 
 would have reeled, as straight as their condition 
 might have permitted, undauntedly into the very 
 jaws of death. Onward still onward, stalked the 
 grim Legs, making the desolate solemnity echo and 
 re-echo with yells like the terrific war-whoop of the 
 Indian; and onward, still onward, rolled the dumpy 
 Tarpaulin, hanging on to the doublet of his more 
 active companion, and far surpassing the latter ? s most 
 
 210 
 
KING PEST 
 
 strenuous exertions in the way of vocal Inusic by 
 bull-roarings in basso from the profundity of his 
 stentorian lungs. 
 
 They had now evidently reached the stronghold 
 of the pestilence. Their way at every step or plunge 
 grew more noisome and more horrible the paths 
 more narrow and more intricate. Huge stones and 
 beams falling momently from the decaying roofs 
 above them gave evidence, by their sullen and heavy 
 descent, of the vast height of the surrounding houses ; 
 and while actual exertion became necessary to force 
 a passage through frequent heaps of rubbish, it was 
 by no means seldom that the hand fell upon a skeleton 
 or rested upon a more fleshy corpse. 
 
 Suddenly, as the seamen stumbled against the en 
 trance of a tall and ghastly-looking building, a yell 
 more than usually shrill from the throat of the ex 
 cited Legs was replied to from within, in a rapid 
 succession of wild, laughter-like, and fiendish shrieks. 
 Nothing daunted at sounds which, of such a nature, 
 at such a time, and in such a place, might have 
 curdled the very blood in hearts less irrevocably on 
 fire, the drunken couple rushed headlong against the 
 door, burst it open, and staggered into the midst of 
 things with a volley of curses. 
 
 The room within which they found themselves 
 proved to be the shop of an undertaker; but an open 
 trap-door in a corner of the floor near the entrance 
 looked down upon a long range of wine-cellars, whose 
 depths the occasional sound of bursting bottles pro 
 claimed to be well stored with their appropriate con- 
 
 211 
 
O 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 tents. In the middle of the room stood a table, In 
 the center of which, again, arose a huge tub of what 
 appeared to be punch. Bottles of various wines and 
 cordials, together with jugs, pitchers, and flagons of 
 every shape and quality, were scattered profusely 
 upon the board. Around it, upon coffin-tressels, was 
 seated a company of six. This company I will en 
 deavor to delineate one by one. 
 
 Fronting the entrance, and elevated a little above 
 his companions, sat a personage who appeared to be 
 the president of tne table. His stature was gaunt 
 and tall, and Legs was confounded to behold in him 
 a figure more emaciated than himself. His face was 
 as yellow as saffron but no feature excepting one 
 alone was sufficiently marked to merit a particular 
 description. This one consisted in a forehead so un 
 usually and hideously lofty as to have the appearance 
 of a bonnet or crown of flesh superadded upon the 
 natural head. His mouth was puckered and dimpled 
 into an expression of ghastly affability, and his eyes, 
 as indeed the eyes of all at table, were glazed over 
 with the fumes of intoxication. This gentleman was 
 clothed from head to foot in a richly embroidered 
 black silk-velvet pall, wrapped negligently around 
 his form after the fashion of a Spanish cloak. His 
 head was stuck full of sable hearse-plumes, which he 
 nodded to and fro with a jaunty and knowing air, 
 and in his right hand he held a huge human thigh 
 bone, with which he appeared to have been just 
 knocking down some member of the company for a 
 song. 
 
 212 
 
KING PEST 
 
 Opposite him, and with her back to the door, was 
 a lady of no whit the less extraordinary character. 
 Although quite as tall as the person just described, 
 she had no right to complain of his unnatural 
 emaciation. She was evidently in the last stage of a 
 dropsy; and her figure resembled nearly that of the 
 huge puncheon of October beer which stood, with the 
 head driven in, close by her side, in a corner of the 
 chamber. Her face was exceedingly round, red, and 
 full; and the same peculiarity, or rather want of 
 peculiarity, attached itself to her countenance which 
 I before mentioned in the case of the president 
 that is to say, only one feature of her face was suf 
 ficiently distinguished to need a separate character 
 ization; indeed, the acute Tarpaulin immediately 
 observed that the same remark might have applied 
 to each individual person of the party, every one of 
 whom seemed to possess a monopoly of some par 
 ticular portion of physiognomy. With the lady in 
 question this portion proved to be the mouth. Com 
 mencing at the right ear it swept with a terrific 
 chasm to the left, the short pendants which she wore 
 in either auricle continually bobbing into the aperture. 
 She made, however, every exertion to keep her mouth 
 closed and look dignified, in a dress consisting of a 
 newly starched and ironed shroud coming up close 
 under her chin, with a crimpled ruffle of cambric 
 muslin. 
 
 At her right hand sat a diminutive young lady 
 whom she appeared to patronize. This delicate 
 little creature, in the trembling of her wasted fingers, 
 
 213 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 in the livid hue of her lips, and in the slight hectic 
 spot which tinged her otherwise leaden complexion, 
 gave evident indications of a galloping consumption. 
 An air of extreme haut ton, however, pervaded her 
 whole appearance; she wore, in a graceful and 
 degagc manner, a large and beautiful winding-sheet 
 of the finest India lawn; her hair hung in ringlets 
 over her neck ; a soft smile played about her mouth ; 
 but her nose, extremely long, thin, sinuous, flexible, 
 and pimpled, hung down far below her under-lip, 
 and, in spite of the delicate manner in which she 
 .now and then moved it to one side or the other with 
 her tongue, gave to her countenance a somewhat 
 equivocal expression. 
 
 Over against her, and upon the left of the drop 
 sical lady, was seated a little puffy, wheezing, and 
 gouty old man, whose cheeks reposed upon the 
 shoulders of their owner like two huge bladders of 
 Oporto wine. With his arms folded, and with one 
 bandaged leg deposited upon the table, he seemed 
 to think himself entitled to some consideration. He 
 evidently prided himself much upon every inch of 
 his personal appearance, but took more especial de 
 light in calling attention to its gaudy-colored sur- 
 tout. This, to say the truth, must have cost him no 
 little money, and was made to fit him exceedingly 
 well being fashioned from one of the curiously 
 embroidered silken covers appertaining to those 
 glorious escutcheons which, in England and else 
 where, are customarily hung up in some conspicuous 
 place upon the dwellings of departed aristocracy. 
 
 214 
 
KING PEST 
 
 Next to him, and at the right hand of the presi 
 dent, was a gentleman in long white hose and cotton 
 drawers. His frame shook, in a ridiculous manner, 
 with a fit of what Tarpaulin called "the horrors." 
 His jaws, which had been newly shaved, were 
 tightly tied up by a bandage of muslin; and his 
 arms being fastened in a similar way at the wrists 
 prevented him from helping himself too freely to the 
 liquors upon the table ; a precaution rendered neces 
 sary, in the opinion of Legs, by the peculiarly 
 sottish and wine-bibbing cast of his visage. A pair 
 of prodigious ears, nevertheless, which it was no 
 doubt found impossible to confine, towered away into 
 the atmosphere of the apartment and were occa 
 sionally pricked up in a spasm at the sound of the 
 drawing of a cork. 
 
 Fronting him, sixthly and lastly, was situated a 
 singularly stiff -looking personage, who, being afflicted 
 with paralysis, must, to speak seriously, have felt 
 very ill at ease in his unaccommodating habiliments. 
 He was habited, somewhat uniquely, in a new and 
 handsome mahogany coffin. Its top or head-piece 
 pressed upon the skull of the wearer and extended 
 over it in the fashion of a hood, giving to the entire 
 face an air of indescribable interest. Armholes had 
 been cut in the sides for the sake not more of elegance 
 than of convenience ; but the dress, nevertheless, pre 
 vented its proprietor from sitting as erect as his 
 associates ; and as he lay reclining against his tressel, 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees, a pair of huge goggle 
 
 215 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 eyes rolled up their awful whites toward the ceiling 
 in absolute amazement at their own enormity. 
 
 Before each of the party lay a portion of a skull, 
 which was used as a drinking-cup. Overhead was 
 suspended a human skeleton by means of a rope tied 
 round one of the legs and fastened to a ring in the 
 ceiling. The other limb, confined by no such fetter, 
 stuck off from the body at right angles, causing the 
 whole loose and rattling frame to dangle and twirl 
 about at the caprice of every occasional puff of wind 
 which found its way into the apartment. In the cra 
 nium of this hideous thing lay a quantity of ignited 
 charcoal, which threw a fitful but vivid light over the 
 entire scene ; while coffins and other wares appertain 
 ing to the shop of an undertaker were piled high up 
 around the room and against the windows, prevent 
 ing any ray from escaping into the street. 
 
 At sight of this extraordinary assembly and of 
 their still more extraordinary paraphernalia, our two 
 seamen did not conduct themselves with that degree 
 of decorum which might have been expected. Legs, 
 leaning against the wall near which he happened to 
 be standing, dropped his lower jaw still lower than 
 usual, and spread open his eyes to their fullest ex 
 tent; while Hugh Tarpaulin, stooping down so as 
 to bring his nose upon a level with the table, and 
 spreading out a palm upon either knee, burst into a 
 long, loud, and obstreperous roar of very ill-timed 
 and immoderate laughter. 
 
 "Without, however, taking offence at behavior so 
 
 216 
 
KING PEST 
 
 excessively rude, the tall president smiled very 
 graciously upon the intruders nodded to them in a 
 dignified manner with his head of sable plumes 
 and, arising, took each by an arm and led him to a 
 seat which some others of the company had placed 
 in the meantime for his accommodation. Legs to 
 all this offered not the slightest resistance, but sat 
 down as he was directed; while the gallant Hugh, 
 removing his coffin-tressel from its station near the 
 head of the table to the vicinity of the little con 
 sumptive lady in the winding-sheet, plumped down 
 by her side in high glee, and, pouring out a skull 
 of red wine, quaffed it to their better acquaintance. 
 But at this presumption the stiff gentleman in the 
 coffin seemed exceedingly nettled; and serious con 
 sequences might have ensued had not the president, 
 rapping upon the table with his truncheon, diverted 
 the atention of all present to the following speech: 
 11 It becomes our duty upon the present happy 
 
 occasion 
 
 1 1 
 
 Avast there!" interrupted Legs, looking very 
 serious, "avast there a bit, I say, and tell us who 
 the devil ye all are, and what business ye have here, 
 rigged off like the foul fiends, and swilling the snug 
 blue ruin stowed away for the winter by my honest 
 shipmate, Will Wimble the undertaker!" 
 
 At this unpardonable piece of ill-breeding, all the 
 original company half started to their feet and uttered 
 the same rapid succession of wild, fiendish shrieks 
 which had before caught the attention of the seamen. 
 The president, however, was the first to recover his 
 
 217 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 composure, and at length, turning to Legs with great 
 dignity, recommenced : 
 
 "Most willingly will we gratify any reasonable 
 curiosity on the part of guests so illustrious, un 
 bidden though they be. Know then that in these 
 dominions I am monarch, and here rule with un 
 divided empire under the title of King Pest the 
 First/ 
 
 "This apartment, which you no doubt profanely 
 suppose to be the shop of Will Wimble the under 
 taker, a man whom we know not, and whose 
 plebeian appellation has never before this night 
 thwarted our royal ears, this apartment, I say, is 
 the dais-chamber of our palace, devoted to the 
 
 . 
 
 councils of our kingdom and to other sacred and 
 lofty purposes. 
 
 "The noble lady who sits opposite is Queen Pest, 
 our Serene Consort. The other exalted personages 
 whom you behold are all of our family, and wear the 
 insignia of the blood royal under the respective titles 
 of His Grace the Arch-Duke Pest-If erous, His 
 Grace the Duke Pest-Ilential, His Grace the Duke 
 Tern-Pest, and Her Serene Highness the Arch- 
 Duchess Ana-Pest. 
 
 "As regards," continued he, "your demand of 
 the business upon which we sit here in council, we 
 might be pardoned for replying that it concerns, and 
 concerns ALONE, our own private and regal interest, 
 and is in no manner important to any other than 
 ourself. But in consideration of those rights to 
 which as guests and strangers you may feel your- 
 
 218 
 
KING PEST 
 
 selves entitled, we will futhermore explain that we 
 are here this night, prepared by deep research and 
 accurate investigation, to examine, analyze, and 
 thoroughly determine the indefinable spirit the 
 incomprehensible qualities and nature of those 
 inestimable treasures of the palate, the wines, ales, 
 and liquors of this goodly metropolis; by so doing 
 to advance not more our own designs than the true 
 welfare of that unearthly sovereign whose reign is 
 over us all, whose dominions are unlimited, and 
 whose name is Death/ : 
 
 " "Whose name is Davy Jones!" ejaculated 
 Tarpaulin, helping the lady by his side to a skull 
 of liquor, and pouring out a second for himself. 
 
 " Profane varlet!" said the president, now turning 
 his attention to the worthy Hugh, " profane and exe 
 crable wretch! we have said, that in consideration of 
 those rights which, even in thy filthy person, we feel 
 no inclination to violate, we have condescended to 
 make reply to thy rude and unreasonable inquiries. 
 We nevertheless, for your unhallowed intrusion upon 
 our councils, believe it our duty to mulct thee and thy 
 companion in each a gallon of blackstrap, having im 
 bibed which to the prosperity of our kingdom, at a 
 single draught, and upon your bended knees, ye shall 
 be forthwith free either to proceed upon your way or 
 remain and be admitted to the privileges of our table, 
 according to your respective and individual pleas 
 ures." 
 
 "It would be a matter of utter impossibility/ 
 replied Legs, whom the assumptions and dignity of 
 
 219 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 King Pest the First had evidently inspired with some 
 feelings of respect, and who arose and steadied him 
 self by the table as he spoke, "it would, please your 
 Majesty, be a matter of utter impossibility to stow 
 away in my hold even one-fourth of that same liquor 
 which your Majesty has just mentioned. To say 
 nothing of the stuffs placed on board in the forenoon 
 by way of ballast, and not to mention the various 
 ales and liquors shipped this evening at various sea 
 ports, I have, at present, a full cargo of humming 
 stuff taken in and duly paid for at the sign of the 
 Jolly Tar. You will therefore, please your Majesty, 
 be so good as to take the will for the deed for by 
 no manner of means either can I or will I swallow 
 another drop least of all a drop of that villaiious 
 bilge- water that answers to the name of black 
 strap/ " 
 
 "Belay that!" interrupted Tarpaulin, astonished 
 not more at the length of his companion s speech 
 than at the nature of his refusal, "Belay that you 
 lubber! and I say, Legs, none of your palaver. MY 
 hull is still light, although I confess you yourself se?rn 
 to be a little top-heavy; and as far as the matter of 
 your share of the cargo, why, rather than raise a 
 squall I would find stowage-room for it myself, 
 but " 
 
 "This proceeding," interposed the president, "is 
 by no means in accordance with the terms of the 
 mulct or sentence, which is in its nature Median, 
 and not to be altered or recalled. The conditions we 
 have imposed must be fulfilled to the letter, and thaf 
 
 220 
 
KING PEST 
 
 without a moment s hesitation, in failure of which 
 fulfilment we decree that you do here be tied neck 
 and heels together and duly drowned as rebels in yon 
 hogshead of October beer!" 
 
 "A sentence! a sentence! a righteous and 
 just sentence ! a glorious decree ! a most worthy 
 and upright and holy condemnation!" shouted the 
 Pest family all together. The King elevated his 
 forehead into innumerable wrinkles; the gouty little 
 old man puffed like a pair of bellows ; the lady of the 
 winding-sheet waved her nose to and fro ; the gentle- 
 man in the cotton drawers pricked up his ears; she 
 of the shroud gasped like a dying fish ; and he of the 
 coffin looked stiff and rolled up his eyes. 
 
 "Ugh! ugh! ugh!" chuckled Tarpaulin, without 
 heeding the general excitation, ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! 
 ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! I was say 
 ing," said he, "I was saying when Mr. King Pest 
 poked in his marlin-spike, that as for the matter of 
 two or three gallons more or less of blackstrap, it 
 was a trifle to a tight sea-boat like myself not over- 
 stowed; but when it comes to drinking the health of 
 the Devil ( whom God assoilzie !) and going down upon 
 my marrow-bones to His ill-favored Majesty there, 
 whom I know, as well as I know myself to be a 
 sinner, to be nobody in the whole world but Tim 
 Hurlygurly the stage player! why! it s quite an 
 other guess sort of a thing, and utterly and alto 
 gether past my comprehension." 
 
 He was not allowed to finish this speech in tran- 
 
 21 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 quillity. At the name of Tim Hurlygurly the whole 
 assembly leaped from their seats. 
 
 "Treason!" shouted His Majesty King Pest the 
 First. 
 
 "Treason!" said the little man with the gout. 
 
 "Treason!" screamed the Arch-Duchess Ana-Pest. 
 
 "Treason!" muttered the gentleman with his jaws 
 tied up. 
 
 "Treason!" growled he of the coffin. 
 
 "Treason! treason!" shrieked Her majesty of the 
 mouth ; and, seizing by the hinder part of his breeches 
 the unfortunate Tarpaulin, who had just commenced 
 pouring out for himself a skull of liquor, she lifted 
 him high into the air and let him fall without cere 
 mony into the huge open puncheon of his beloved ale. 
 Bobbing up and down for a few seconds, like an 
 apple in a bowl of toddy, he at length finally dis 
 appeared amid the whirlpool of foam which, in the 
 already effervescent liquor, his struggles easily suc 
 ceeded in creating. 
 
 Not tamely, however, did the tall seaman behold 
 the discomfiture of his companion. Jostling King 
 Pest through the open trap, the valiant Legs slammed 
 the door down upon him with an oath and strode 
 toward the center of the room. Here, tearing down 
 the skeleton which swung over the table, he laid it 
 about him with so much energy and good-will that, 
 as the last glimpses of light died away within the 
 apartment, he succeeded in knocking out the brains 
 of the little gentleman with the gout. Rushing then 
 with all his force against the fatal hogshead full of 
 
 222 
 
KING PEST 
 
 October ale and Hugh Tarpaulin he rolled it over and 
 over in an instant. Out poured a deluge of liquor 
 so fierce so impetuous so overwhelming that 
 the room was flooded from wall to wall; the loaded 
 table was overturned, the tressels were thrown upon 
 their backs, the tub of punch into the fireplace, and 
 the ladies into hysterics. Piles of death-furniture 
 floundered about. Jugs, pitchers, and carboys 
 mingled promiscuously in the melee, and wicker 
 flagons encountered desperately with bottles of junk. 
 The man with the horrors was drowned upon the 
 spot, the little stiff gentleman floated off in his 
 coffin, and the victorious Legs, seizing by the waist the 
 fat lady in the shroud, rushed out with her into the 
 street and made a bee-line for the Free and Easy, 
 followed under easy sail by the redoubtable Hugh 
 Tarpaulin, who, having sneezed three or four times, 
 panted and puffed after him with the Arch-Duchess 
 Ana-Pest. 
 
 
 223 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 Pestis eram vivus moriens tua mors ero. 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 H 
 
 ORROB and fatality have been stalking 
 abroad in all ages. Why then give a 
 date to the story I have to tell? Let 
 it suffice to say that at the period of 
 which I speak there existed, in the 
 interior of Hungary, a settled although hidden be 
 lief in the doctrines of the Metempsychosis. Of the 
 doctrines themselves, that is, of their falsity or of 
 their probability, I say nothing. I assert, however, 
 that much of our incredulity (as La Bruyere says of 
 all our unhappiness), li ment de ne pouvoir etre seuls." * 
 But there were some points in the Hungarian 
 superstition which were fast verging to absurdity. 
 They the Hungarians differed very essentially 
 from their Eastern authorities. For example: "The 
 soul," said the former (I give the words of an acute 
 and intelligent Parisian), "ne demeure qu une seule 
 fois dans un corps sensible: an reste un cheval, un 
 
 * Mercier, in L An deux mille qiiatre cents qua ran te, seri 
 ously maintains the doctrines of the Metempsychosis, and 
 J. D Israeli says that "no system is so simple and so little 
 repugnant to the understanding." Colonel Ethan Allen, the 
 " Green Mountain Boy," is also said to have been a serious 
 metempsychosist. 
 
 224 
 Vol. t 
 

 METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 chien, un homme meme, n est que la ressemUance peu 
 tangible de ces animaux." 
 
 The families of Berlifitzing and Metzengerstein 
 had been at variance for centuries. Never before 
 were two houses so illustrious mutually embittered by 
 hostility so deadly. The origin of this enmity seems 
 to be found in the words of an ancient prophecy: 
 "A lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the 
 rider over his horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein 
 shall triumph over the immortality of Berlifitzing." 
 
 To be sure the words themselves had little or no 
 meaning. But more trivial causes have given rise 
 and that no long while ago to consequences equally 
 eventful. Besides, the estates, which were contig 
 uous, had long exercised a rival influence in the af 
 fairs of a busy government. Moreover, near neigh 
 bors are seldom friends; and the inhabitants of the 
 Castle Berlifitzing might look from their lofty 
 buttresses into the very windows of the Palace 
 Metzengerstein. Least of all had the more than 
 feudal magnificence, thus discovered, a tendency to 
 allay the irritable feelings of the less ancient and 
 less wealthy Berlifitzings. What wonder, then, that 
 the words, however silly, of that prediction, should 
 have succeeded in setting and keeping at variance 
 two families already predisposed to quarrel by every 
 instigation of hereditary jealousy? The prophecy 
 seemed to imply, if it implied anything, a final tri 
 umph on the part of the already more powerful 
 house ; and was, of course, remembered with the more 
 fitter animosity by the weaker and less influential. 
 
 II5 225 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Wilhelm, Count Berlifitzing, although loftily de 
 scended, was, at the epoch of this narrative an in 
 firm and doting old man, remarkable for nothing but 
 an inordinate and inveterate personal antipathy to 
 the family of his rival, and so passionate a love of 
 horses and of hunting that neither bodily infirmity, 
 great age, nor mental incapacity prevented his daily 
 participation in the dangers of the chase. 
 
 Frederick, Baron Metzengerstein, was, on the 
 other hand, not yet of age. His father, the Minister 
 
 G , died young. His mother, the Lady Mary, 
 
 followed him quickly. Frederick was at that time in 
 his eighteenth year. In a city eighteen years are no 
 long period; but in a wilderness, in so magnificent 
 a wilderness as that old principality, the pendulum 
 vibrates with a deeper meaning. 
 
 From some peculiar circumstances attending the 
 administration of his father, the young Baron, at the 
 decease of the former, entered immediately upon his 
 vast possessions. Such estates were seldom held be 
 fore by a nobleman of Hungary. His castles were 
 without number. The chief in point of splendor and 
 extent was the Palace Metzengerstein. The boundary 
 line of his dominions was never clearly defined; but 
 his principal park embraced a circuit of fifty miles. 
 
 Upon the succession of a proprietor so young, with 
 a character so well known, to a fortune so un 
 paralleled, little speculation was afloat in regard to 
 his probable course of conduct. And, indeed, for the 
 space of three days the behavior of the heir out- 
 Heroded Herod, and fairly surpassed the expecta- 
 
 226 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 tions of his most enthusiastic admirers. Shameful 
 debaucheries, flagrant treacheries, unheard-of atroci 
 ties, gave his trembling vassals quickly to understand 
 that no servile submission on their part no 
 punctilios of conscience on his own were thence 
 forward to prove any security against the remorse 
 less fangs of a petty Caligula. On the night of the 
 fourth day the stables of the Castle Berlifitzing were 
 discovered to be on fire; and the unanimous opinipn 
 of the neighborhood added the crime of the incendiary 
 to the already hideous list of the Baron s misde 
 meanors and enormities. 
 
 But during the tumult occasioned by this oc 
 currence the young nobleman himself sat apparently 
 buried in meditation, in a vast and desolate upper 
 apartment of the family palace of Metzengerstein. 
 The rich although faded tapestry hangings which 
 swung gloomily upon the walls represented the 
 shadowy and majestic forms of a thousand illustrious 
 ancestors. HERE, rich-ermined priests and pontifical 
 dignitaries, familiarly seated with the autocrat and 
 the sovereign, put a veto on the wishes of a temporal 
 king or restrained with the fiat of papal supremacy 
 the rebellious sceptre of the arch-enemy. THERE the 
 dark, tall statures of the Princes Metzengerstein, 
 their muscular war-coursers plunging over the car 
 casses of fallen foes, startled the steadiest nerves 
 with their vigorous expression; and HERE, again, the 
 voluptuous and swan-like figures of the dames of 
 days gone by floated away in the mazes of an unreal 
 dance to the strains of imaginary melody. 
 
 227 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 But as the Baron listened, or affected to listen, 
 to the gradually increasing uproar in the stables of 
 Berlifitzing, or perhaps pondered upon some more 
 novel, some more decided act of audacity, his eyes 
 were turned unwittingly to the figure of an enormous 
 and unnaturally colored horse, represented in the 
 tapestry as belonging to a Saracen ancestor of the 
 family of his rival. The horse itself, in the fore 
 ground of the design, stood motionless and statue- 
 like, while farther back its discomfited rider perished 
 by the dagger of a Metzengerstein. 
 
 On Frederick s lip arose a fiendish expression, as 
 he became aware of the direction which his glance 
 had, without his consciousness, assumed. Yet he did 
 not remove it. On the contrary, he could by no 
 means account for the overwhelming anxiety which 
 appeared falling like a pall upon his senses. It was 
 with difficulty that he reconciled his dreamy and 
 incoherent feelings with the certainty of being awake. 
 The longer he gazed, the more absorbing became the 
 spell, the more impossible did it appear that he could 
 ever withdraw his glance from the fascination of that 
 tapestry. But the tumult without, becoming suddenly 
 more violent, with a compulsory exertion he diverted 
 his attention to the glare of ruddy light thrown full 
 by the flaming stables upon the windows of the 
 apartment. 
 
 The action, however, was but momentary; his 
 gaze returned mechanically to the wall. To his ex 
 treme horror and astonishment the head of the 
 gigantic steed had, in the meantime, altered its 
 
 228 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 position. The neck of the animal, before arched, as 
 if in compassion, over the prostrate body of its lord, 
 was now extended, at full length, in the direction of 
 the Baron. The eyes, before invisible, now wore an 
 energetic and human expression, while they gleamed 
 with a fiery and unusual red; and the distended lips 
 of the apparently enraged horse left in full view his 
 sepulchral and disgusting teeth. 
 
 Stupefied with terror the young nobleman tottered 
 to the door. As he threw it open a flash of red light, 
 streaming far into the chamber, flung his shadow with 
 a clear outline against the quivering tapestry; and 
 he shuddered to perceive that shadow as he 
 staggered awhile upon the threshold assuming the 
 exact position, and precisely filling up the contour, 
 of the relentless and triumphant murder of the 
 Saracen Berlifitzing. 
 
 To lighten the depression of his spirits the Baron 
 hurried into the open air. At the principal gate of 
 the palace he encountered three equerries. With 
 much difficulty, and at the imminent peril of their 
 lives, they were restraining the convulsive plunges of 
 a gigantic and fiery-colored horse. 
 
 "Whose horse? Where did you get him?" de 
 manded the youth, in a querulous and husky tone, as 
 he became instantly aware that the mysterious steed 
 in the tapestried chamber was the very counterpart 
 of the furious animal before his eyes. 
 
 "He is your own property, sire/ replied one of 
 the equerries, "at least he is claimed by no other 
 owner. We caught him flying, all smoking and foam- 
 
 22Q 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ing with rage, from the burning stables of the Castle 
 Berlifitzing. Supposing him to have belonged to the 
 old Count s stud of foreign horses, we led him back 
 as an estray. But the grooms there disclaim any 
 title to the creature; which is strange, since he bears 
 evident marks of having made a narrow escape from 
 the flames." 
 
 "The letters W. V. B. are also branded very 
 distinctly on his forehead, " interrupted a second 
 equerry; "I supposed them, of course, to be the ini 
 tials of William Von Berlifitzing but all at the 
 castle are positive in denying any knowledge of the 
 horse." 
 
 "Extremely singular! " said the young Baron, 
 
 Owith a musing air, and apparently unconscious of the 
 meaning of his words. "He is, as you say, a remark 
 able horse, a prodigious horse! although, as you very 
 justly observe, of a suspicious and untractable charac 
 ter; let him be mine, however," he added, after a 
 pause, "perhaps a rider like Frederick of Metzenger- 
 stein may tame even the devil from the stables of 
 Berlifitzing." 
 
 * You are mistaken, my lord ; the horse, as I think 
 we mentioned, is NOT from the stables of the Count. 
 If such had been the case, we know our duty better 
 than to bring him into the presence of a noble of 
 your family. 
 
 "True! " observed the Baron, drily; and at that 
 instant a page of the bedchamber came from the pal 
 ace with a heightened color and a precipitate step. 
 He whispered into his master s ear an account of the 
 
 230 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 sudden disappearance of a small portion of the tap 
 estry in an apartment which he designated, entering, 
 at the same time, into particulars of a minute and 
 circumstantial character; but from the low tone of 
 voice in which these latter were communicated noth 
 ing escaped to gratify the excited curiosity of the 
 equerries. 
 
 The young Frederick, during the conference, 
 seemed agitated by a variety of emotions. He soon, 
 however, recovered his composure, and an expression 
 of determined malignancy settled upon his counte 
 nance as he gave peremptory orders that the apart 
 ment in question should be immediately locked up 
 and the key placed in his own possession. 
 
 "Have you heard of the unhappy death of the old 
 hunter, Berlifitzing? " said one of his vassals to the 
 Baron, as, after the departure of the page, the huge 
 steed which that nobleman had adopted as his own 
 plunged and curveted with redoubled fury down the 
 long avenue which extended from the palace to the 
 stables of Metzengerstein. 
 
 "No! " said the Baron, turning abruptly toward 
 the speaker; " dead! say you? " 
 
 "It is indeed true, my lord; and, to the noble of 
 your name, will be, I imagine, no unwelcome intelli 
 gence." 
 
 A rapid smile shot over the countenance of this lis 
 tener. "How died he?" 
 
 "In his rash exertions to rescue a favorite portion 
 of the hunting stud, he has himself perished miserably 
 in the flames. 
 
 231 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 "I__ n __d e e d !" ejaculated the Baron, as 
 if slowly and deliberately impressed with the truth 
 of some exciting idea. 
 
 "Indeed," repeated the vassal. 
 
 "Shocking!" said the youth, calmly, and turned 
 quietly into the palace. 
 
 From this date a marked alteration took place in 
 the outward demeanor of the dissolute young Baron 
 Frederick Von Metzengerstein. Indeed, his behavior 
 disappointed every expectation and proved little in 
 accordance with the views of many a manoauvring 
 mamma; while his habits and manner still less than 
 formerly offered anything congenial with those of the 
 neighboring aristocracy. He was never to be seen 
 beyond the limits of his own domain, and, in his 
 wide and social world, was utterly companionless, 
 unless, indeed, that unnatural, impetuous, and fiery- 
 colored horse which he henceforward continually 
 bestrode had any mysterious right to the title of his 
 friend. 
 
 Numerous invitations on the part of the neigbor- 
 hood for a long time, however, periodically came in. 
 "Will the Baron honor our festivals with his pres 
 ence? ""Will the Baron join us in a hunting of 
 the boar? " "Metzengerstein does not hunt," 
 "Metzengerstein will not attend," were the haughty 
 and laconic answers. 
 
 These repeated insults were not to be endured by 
 an imperious nobility. Such invitations became less 
 cordial, less frequent; in time they ceased altogether. 
 The widow of the unfortunate Count Berlifitzing was 
 
 232 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 even heard to express a hope "that the Baron might 
 be at home when he did not wish to be at home, since 
 he disdained the company of his equals ; and ride when 
 he did not wish to ride, since he preferred the society 
 of a horse." This, to be sure, was a very silly ex 
 plosion of hereditary pique; and merely proved how 
 singularly unmeaning our sayings are apt to become, 
 when we desire to be unusually energetic. 
 
 The charitable, nevertheless, attributed the altera 
 tion in the conduct of the young nobleman to the 
 natural sorrow of a son for the untimely loss of his 
 parents, forgetting, however, his atrocious and reck 
 less behavior during the short period immediately 
 succeeding that bereavement. Some there were, in 
 deed, who suggested a too haughty idea of self- 
 consequence and dignity. Others again (among whom 
 may be mentioned the family physician), did not 
 hesitate in speaking of morbid melancholy and hered 
 itary ill-health ; while dark hints of a more equivocal 
 nature were current among the multitude. 
 
 Indeed, the Baron s perverse attachment to his 
 lately acquired charger an attachment which 
 seemed to attain new strength from every fresh ex 
 ample of the animal s ferocious and demon-like 
 propensities at length became, in the eyes of all 
 reasonable men, a hideous and unnatural fervor. 
 In the glare of noon, at the dead hour of night, in 
 sickness or in health, in calm or in tempest, the young 
 Metzengerstein seemed riveted to the saddle of that 
 colossal horse, whose intractable audacities so well 
 accorded with his own spirit. 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 There were circumstances, moreover, which, 
 coupled with late events, gave an unearthly and 
 portentous character to the mania of the rider and to 
 the capabilities of the steed. The space passed over 
 in a single leap had been accurately measured and 
 was found to exceed, by an astounding difference, the 
 wildest expectations of the most imaginative. The 
 Baron, besides, had no particular NAME for the animal, 
 although all the rest in his collection were distin 
 guished by characteristic appellations. His stable, 
 too, was appointed at a distance from the rest; and 
 with regard to grooming and other necessary offices, 
 none but the owner in person had ventured to officiate 
 or even to enter the enclosure of that horse s partic 
 ular stall. It was also to be observed that, although 
 the three grooms who had caught the steed as he fled 
 from the conflagration at Berlifitzing had succeeded 
 in arresting his course by means of a chain-bridle and 
 noose, yet not one of the three could with any cer 
 tainty affirm that he had, during the dangerous strug 
 gle or at any period thereafter, actually placed his 
 hand upon the body of the beast. Instances of pecu 
 liar intelligence in the demeanor of a noble and high- 
 spirited horse are not to be supposed capable of excit 
 ing unreasonable attention, but there were certain 
 circumstances which intruded themselves perforce 
 upon the most sceptical and phlegmatic; and it is 
 said there were times when the animal caused the 
 gaping crowd who stood around to recoil in horror 
 from the deep and impressive meaning of his terrible 
 stamp times when the young Metzengerstein turned 
 
 234 
 
METZENGERSTEIN 
 
 pale and shrunk away from the rapid and searching 
 expression of his human-looking eye. 
 
 Among all the retinue of the Baron, however, none 
 were found to doubt the ardor of that extraordinary 
 affection which existed on the part of the young noble 
 man for the fiery qualities of his horse ; at least, none 
 but an insignificant and misshapen little page, whose 
 deformities were in everybody s way, and whose opin 
 ions were of the least possible importance. He (if his 
 ideas were worth mentioning at all) had the effrontery 
 to assert that his master never vaulted into the saddle 
 without an unaccountable and almost imperceptible 
 shudder; and that, upon his return from every long- 
 continued and habitual ride an expression of tri 
 umphant malignity distorted every muscle in his 
 countenance. 
 
 One tempestuous night, Metzengerstein, awaking 
 from a heavy slumber, descended like a maniac from 
 his chamber, and, mounting in hot haste, bounded 
 away into the mazes of the forest. An occurrence so 
 common attracted no particular attention, but his re 
 turn was looked for with intense anxiety on the part 
 of his domestics, when, after some hours absence, the 
 stupendous and magnificent battlements of the Palace 
 Metzengerstein were discovered crackling and rocking 
 to their very foundation under the influence of a dense 
 and livid mass of ungovernable fire. 
 
 As the flames, when first seen, had already made so 
 terrible a progress that all efforts to save any portion 
 of the building were evidently futile, the astonished 
 neighborhood stood idly around in silent if not pa- 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 thetic wonder. But a new and fearful object soon 
 riveted the attention of the multitude, and proved 
 how much more intense is the excitement wrought in 
 the feelings of a crowd by the contemplation of hu 
 man agony than that brought about by the most ap 
 palling spectacles of inanimate matter. 
 
 Upon the long avenue of aged oaks which led from 
 the forest to the main entrance of the Palace Met- 
 zengerstein, a steed, bearing an unbonneted and 
 disordered rider, was seen leaping with an impetuosity 
 which outstripped the very Demon of the Tempest. 
 
 The career of the horseman was indisputably, on 
 his own part, uncontrollable. The agony of his counte 
 nance, the convulsive struggle of his frame, gave evi 
 dence of superhuman exertion: but no sound save a 
 solitary shriek escaped from his lacerated lips, which 
 were bitten through and through in the intensity of 
 terror. One instant and the clattering of hoofs re 
 sounded sharply and shrilly above the roaring of the 
 flames and the shrieking of the winds; another, and, 
 clearing at a single plunge the gateway and the moat, 
 the steed bounded far up the tottering staircases of the 
 palace, and with its rider disappeared amid the whirl 
 wind of chaotic fire. 
 
 The fury of the tempest immediately died away 
 and a dead calm sullenly succeeded. A white flame 
 still enveloped the building like a shroud, and, stream 
 ing far away into the quiet atmosphere, shot forth a 
 glare of preternatural light; while a cloud of smoke 
 settled heavily over the battlements in the distinct 
 colossal figure of A HORSE. 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 What say of it? What say of CONSCIENCE grim, 
 That sceptre in my path? 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN s Pharronida. 
 
 ET me call myself, for the present, William 
 Wilson. The fair page now lying be- 
 . fore me need not be sullied with my 
 
 real appellation. This has been already 
 too much an object for the scorn, for 
 the horror of the detestation, of my race. To the utter 
 most regions of the globe have not the indignant winds 
 bruited its unparalleled infamy? Oh, outcast of all 
 outcasts most abandoned! to the earth art thou not 
 forever dead ? to its honors, to its flowers, to its golden 
 aspirations? and a cloud, dense, dismal, and limit 
 less, does it not hang eternally between thy hopes 
 and heaven? 
 
 I would not, it I could, here or to-day, embody a 
 record of my later years of unspeakable misery, and 
 unpardonable crime. This epoch, these later years, 
 took unto themselves a sudden elevation in turpitude, 
 whose origin alone it is my present purpose to assign. 
 Men usually grow base by degrees. From me, in an 
 instant, all virtue dropped bodily, as a mantle. From 
 
 237 
 

 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 comparatively trival wickedness I passed, with the 
 stride of a giant, into more than the enormities of 
 an Elah-Gabalus. What chance, what one event, 
 brought this evil thing to pass, bear with me while I 
 relate. Death approaches; and the shadow which 
 foreruns him has thrown a softening influence over 
 my spirit. I long, in passing through the dim valley, 
 for the sympathy I had nearly said for the pity 
 of my fellow-men. I would fain have them believe that 
 I have been, in some measure, the slave of circum 
 stances beyond human control. I would wish them 
 to seek out for me, in the details I am about to give, 
 some little oasis of FATALITY amid a wilderness of 
 error. I would have them allow what they cannot 
 refrain from allowing that, although temptation 
 may have erewhile existed as great, man was never 
 THUS, at least, tempted before, certainly, never THUS 
 fell. And is it therefore that he has never thus suf 
 fered? Have I not, indeed, been living in a dream? 
 And am I not now dying a victim to the horror and 
 the mystery of the wildest of all sublunary visions? 
 I am the descendant of a race whose imaginative 
 and easily excitable temperament has at all times 
 rendered them remarkable; and, in my earliest in 
 fancy, I gave evidence of having fully inherited the 
 family character. As I advanced in years it was more 
 strongly developed; becoming, for many reasons, a 
 cause of serious disquietude to my friends, and of 
 positive injury to myself. I grew self-willed, addicted 
 to the wildest caprices, and a prey to the most un 
 governable passions. Weak-minded and beset with 
 
 238 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 constitutional infirmities akin to my own, my parents 
 could do but little to check the evil propensities which 
 distinguished me. Some feeble and ill-directed efforts 
 resulted in complete failure on their part, and, of 
 course, in total triumph on mine. Thenceforward 
 my voice was a household law; and at an age when 
 few children have abandoned their leading-strings, 
 I was left to the guidance of my own will, and be 
 came, in all but my name, the master of my own 
 actions. 
 
 My earliest recollections of a school-life are con 
 nected with a large, rambling, Elizabethan house in 
 a misty-looking village of England, where were a vast 
 number of gigantic and gnarled trees, and where all 
 the houses were excessively ancient. In truth, it was 
 a dream-like and spirit-soothing place, that venerable 
 old town. At this moment, in fancy, I feel the re 
 freshing chilliness of its deeply-shadowed avenues, 
 inhale the fragrance of its thousand shrubberies, and 
 thrill anew with undefinable delight at the deep hollow 
 note of the church-bell, breaking, each hour, with 
 sullen and sudden roar, upon the stillness of the 
 dusky atmosphere in which the fretted Gothic steeple 
 lay imbedded and asleep. 
 
 It gives me, perhaps, as much of pleasure as I can 
 now in any manner experience, to dwell upon minute 
 recollections of the school and its concerns. Steeped 
 in misery as I am misery, alas! only too real I 
 shall be pardoned for seeking relief, however slight 
 and temporary, in the weakness of a few rambling 
 details. These, moreover, utterly trivial, and even 
 
 239 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ridiculous in themselves, assume, to my fancy, ad 
 ventitious importance, as connected with a period and 
 a locality when and where I recognize the first 
 ambiguous monitions of the destiny which afterward 
 so fully overshadowed me. Let me then remember. 
 
 The house, I have said, was old and irregular. The 
 grounds were extensive, and a high and solid brick 
 wall, topped with a bed of mortar and broken glass, 
 encompassed the whole. This prison-like rampart 
 formed the limit of our domain; beyond it we saw 
 but thrice a week: once every Saturday afternoon, 
 when, attended by two ushers, we were permitted to 
 take brief walks in a body through some of the neigh 
 boring fields, and twice during Sunday, when we were 
 paraded in the same formal manner to the morning 
 and evening service in the one church of the village. 
 Of this church the principal of our school was pastor. 
 With how deep a spirit of wonder and perplexity was 
 I wont to regard him from our remote pew in the gal 
 lery, as, with step solemn and slow, he ascended the 
 pulpit! This reverend man, with countenance so de 
 murely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically 
 flowing, with wig so minutely powdered, so rigid and 
 so vast, could this be he who, of late, with sour 
 visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule 
 in hand, the Draconian Laws of the academy? Oh, 
 gigantic paradox, too utterly monstrous for solution! 
 
 At an angle of the ponderous wall frowned a more 
 ponderous gate. It was riveted and studded with iron 
 bolts, and surmounted with jagged iron spikes. What 
 impressions of deep awe did it inspire! It was never 
 
 240 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 opened save for the three periodical egressions and 
 ingressions already mentioned; then, in every creak 
 of its mighty hinges, we found a plentitude of mystery, 
 a world of matter for solemn remark, or for more 
 solemn meditation. 
 
 The extensive enclosure was irregular in form, hav 
 ing many capacious recesses. Of these, three or four 
 of the largest constituted the play-ground. It was 
 level, and covered with fine hard gravel. I well re 
 member it had no trees, nor benches, nor anything 
 similar within it. Of course, it was in the rear of the 
 house. In front lay a small parterre, planted with 
 box and other shrubs ; but through this sacred division 
 we passed only upon rare occasions indeed, such as 
 a first advent to school or final departure thence, or, 
 perhaps, when a parent or friend having called for us, 
 we joyfully took our way home for the Christmas or 
 Midsummer holidays. 
 
 But the house! how quaint an old building was 
 this ! to me how veritably a palace of enchantment ! 
 There was really no end to its windings, to its in 
 comprehensible subdivisions. It was difficult, at any 
 given time, to say with certainty upon which of its 
 two stories one happened to be. From each room to 
 every other there were sure to be found three or four 
 steps either in ascent or descent. Then the lateral 
 branches were innumerable, inconceivable, and so 
 returning in upon themselves that our most exact 
 ideas in regard to the whole mansion were not very 
 far different from those with which we pondered upon 
 infinity. During the five years of my residence here 
 
 I 16 241 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 I was never able to ascertain with precision in what 
 remote locality lay the little sleeping apartment 
 assigned to myself and some eighteen or twenty other 
 scholars. 
 
 The school -room was the largest in the house I 
 could not help thinking, in the world. It was very 
 long, narrow, and dismally low, with pointed Gothic 
 windows and a ceiling of oak. In a remote and terror- 
 inspiring angle was a square enclosure of eight or 
 ten feet, comprising the sanctum, " during hours/ of 
 our principal, the Reverend Dr. Bransby. It was a 
 solid structure, with massy door, sooner than open 
 which in the absence of the "Dominie," we would 
 all have willingly perished by the peine forte et dure. 
 In other angles were two other similar boxes, far less 
 reverenced, indeed, but still greatly matters of awe. 
 One of these was the pulpit of the "classical" usher, 
 one of the "English and mathematical." Inter 
 spersed about the room, crossing and recrossing in 
 endless irregularity, were innumerable benches and 
 desks, black, ancient, and time-worn, piled desper 
 ately with much bethumbed books, and so beseamed 
 with initial letters, names at full length, grotesque 
 figures, and other multiplied efforts of the knife, as to 
 have entirely lost what little of original form might 
 have been their portion in days long departed. A 
 huge bucket with water stood at one extremity of 
 the room, and a clock of stupendous dimensions at 
 the other. 
 
 Encompassed by the massy walls of this venerable 
 academy, I passed, yet not in tedium of disgust, the 
 
 242 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 years of the third lustrum of my life. The teeming 
 brain of childhood requires no external world of 
 incident to occupy or amuse it; and the apparently 
 dismal monotony of a school was replete with more 
 intense excitement than my riper youth has derived 
 from luxury, or my full manhood from crime. Yet I 
 must believe that my first mental development had 
 in it much of the uncommon, even much of the outre. 
 Upon mankind at large the events of every early 
 existence rarely leave in mature age any definite im 
 pression. All is gray shadow, a weak and irregular 
 remembrance, an indistinct regathering of feeble 
 pleasures and phantasmagoric pains. With me this 
 is not so. In childhood, I must have felt with the 
 
 energy of a man what I now find stamped upon 
 
 memory in lines as vivid, as deep, and as durable as 
 the exergues of the Carthaginian medals. 
 
 Yet in fact in the fact of the world s view 
 how little was there to remember! The morning s 
 awakening, the nightly summons to bed ; the connings, 
 the recitations; the periodical half -holidays and per 
 ambulations; the play-ground, with its broils, its 
 pastimes, its intrigues, these, by a mental sorcery 
 long forgotten, were made to involve a wilderness of 
 sensation, a world of rich incident, an universe of 
 varied emotion, of excitement the most passionate and 
 spirit-stirring. "0/t, le "bon temps, que ce siecle de fer! " 
 
 In truth, the ardor, the enthusiasm, and imperious- 
 ness of my disposition soon rendered me a marked 
 character among my schoolmates, and by slow but 
 natural gradations gave me an ascendency over all 
 
 243 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 not greatly older than myself; over all, with a single 
 exception. This exception was found in the person of 
 a scholar, who, although no relation, bore the same 
 Christian and surname as myself, a circumstance, in 
 fact, little remarkable; for, notwithstanding a noble 
 descent, mine was one of those every-day appellations 
 which seem, by prescriptive right, to have been, time 
 out of mind, the common property of the mob. In 
 this narrative I have therefore designated myself as 
 William Wilson, a fictitious title not very dissimilar 
 to the real. My namesake alone, of those who in 
 school phraseology constituted "our set/ presumed 
 to compete with me in the studies of the class, in the 
 sports and broils of the play-ground ; to refuse implicit 
 belief in my assertions, and submission to my will; 
 indeed, to interfere with my arbitrary dictation in 
 any respect whatsoever. If there is on earth a su 
 preme and unqualified despotism, it is the despotism 
 of a master-mind in boyhood over the less energetic 
 spirits of its companions. 
 
 Wilson s rebellion was to me a source of the great 
 est embarrassment; the more so as, in spite of the 
 bravado with which in public I made a point of 
 
 \treating him and his pretensions, I secretly felt that 
 I feared him, and could not help thinking the equality 
 which he maintained so easily with myself a proof 
 of his true superiority ; since not to be overcome cost 
 me a perpetual struggle. Yet this superiority, even 
 this equality, was in truth acknowledged by no one 
 but myself; our associates, by some unaccountable 
 blindness, seemed not even to suspect it. Indeed, his 
 
 244 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 competition, his resistance, and especially his imper 
 tinent and dogged interference with my purposes, 
 were not more pointed than private. He appeared to 
 be destitute alike of the ambition which urged, and of 
 the passionate energy of mind which enabled, me to 
 excel. In his rivalry he might have been supposed 
 actuated solely by a whimsical desire to thwart, 
 astonish, or mortify myself ; although there were times 
 when I could not help observing, with a feeling made 
 up of wonder, abasement, and pique, that he mingled 
 with his injuries, his insults, or his contradictions, a 
 certain most inappropriate, and assuredly most un 
 welcome AFFECTIONATENESS of manner. I could only 
 conceive this singular behavior to arise from a con 
 summate self-conceit assuming the vulgar airs of 
 patronage and protection. 
 
 Perhaps it was this latter trait in Wilson s conduct, 
 conjoined with our identity of name, and the mere 
 accident of our having entered the school upon the 
 same day, which set afloat the notion that we were 
 brothers, among the senior classes of the academy. 
 These do not usually inquire with much strictness 
 into the affairs of their juniors. I have before said, 
 or should have said, that Wilson was not, in a most 
 remote degree, connected with my family. But as 
 suredly if we HAD been brothers we must have been 
 twins; for, after leaving Dr. Bransby s, I casually 
 learned that my namesake was born on the nineteenth 
 of January, 1813, and this is a somewhat remarkable 
 coincidence j for the day is precisely that of my own 
 nativity. 
 
 245 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 It may seem strange that, in spite of the continual 
 anxiety occasioned me by the rivalry of Wilson, and 
 tiis intolerable spirit of contradiction, I could not bring 
 myself to hate him altogether. We had, to be sure, 
 nearly every day a quarrel in which, yielding me 
 publicly the palm of victory, he, in some manner, 
 contrived to make me feel that it was he who had 
 deserved it; yet a sense of pride on my part, and a 
 veritable dignity on his own, kept us always upon 
 what are called "speaking terms, " while there were 
 many points of strong congeniality in our tempers, 
 operating to awake in me a sentiment which our posi 
 tion alone, perhaps, prevented from ripening into 
 friendship. It is difficult, indeed, to define, or even 
 to describe, my real feelings towards him. They 
 formed a motley and heterogeneous admixture : some 
 petulant animosity, which was not yet hatred, some 
 esteem, more respect, much fear, with a world of un 
 easy curiosity. To the moralist it will be necessary 
 to say, in addition, that Wilson and myself were the 
 most inseparable of companions. 
 
 It was no doubt the anomalous state of affairs ex 
 isting between us which turned all my attacks upon 
 him (and there were many, either open or covert) 
 into the channel of banter or practical joke (giving 
 pain while assuming the aspect of mere fun) rather 
 than into a more serious and determined hostility. 
 But my endeavors on this head were by no means 
 uniformly successful, even when my plans were the 
 most wittily concocted; for my namesake had much 
 about him, in character, of that unassuming and quiet 
 
 246 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 austerity which, while enjoying the poignancy of its 
 own jokes, has no heel of Achilles in itself, and abso 
 lutely refuses to be laughed at. I could find, indeed, 
 but one vulnerable point, and that, lying in a personal 
 peculiarity, arising, perhaps, from constitutional 
 disease, would have been spared by any antagonist 
 less at his wit s end than myself: my rival had a 
 weakness in the faucial or guttural organs, which 
 precluded him from raising his voice at any time 
 ABOVE A VERY LOW WHISPER. Of this defect I did not 
 fail to take what poor advantage lay in my power. 
 
 Wilson s retaliations in kind were many; and there 
 was one form of his practical wit that disturbed me 
 beyond measure. How his sagacity first discovered at 
 all that so petty a thing would vex me, is a question 
 I never could solve ; but having discovered, he habitu 
 ally practised the annoyance. I had always felt 
 aversion to my uncourtly patronymic, and its very 
 common, if not plebian praenomen. The words were 
 venom in my ears ; and when, upon the day of my 
 arrival, a second William Wilson came also to the 
 academy, I felt angry with him for bearing the name, 
 and doubly disgusted with the name, because a 
 stranger bore it, who would be the cause of its two 
 fold repetition, who would be constantly in my pres 
 ence, and whose concerns, in the ordinary routine of 
 the school business, must inevitably, on account of 
 the detestable coincidence, be often confounded with 
 my own. 
 
 The feeling of vexation thus engendered grew 
 stronger with every circumstance tending to show 
 
 247 
 
 Jl 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 resemblance, moral or physical, between my rival and 
 myself. I had not then discovered the remarkable 
 fact that we were of the same age ; but I saw that we 
 were of the same height, and I perceived that we were 
 even singularly alike in general contour of person 
 and outline of feature. I was galled, too, by the rumor 
 touching a relationship which had grown current in 
 the upper forms. In a word, nothing could more 
 seriously disturb me (although I scrupulously con 
 cealed such disturbance) than any allusion to a simi 
 larity of mind, person, or condition existing between 
 us. But, in truth, I had no reason to believe that 
 (with the exception of the matter of relationship, and 
 in the case of Wilson himself) this similarity had 
 ever been made a subject of comment, or even ob 
 served at all by our schoolfellows. That HE observed 
 it in all its bearings, and as fixedly as I, was apparent ; 
 but that he could discover in such circumstances so 
 fruitful a field of annoyance can only be attributed, 
 as I said before, to his more than ordinary penetra^ 
 tion. 
 
 His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of my 
 self, lay both in words and in actions; and most 
 admirably did he play his part. My dress it was an 
 easy matter to copy; my gait and general manner 
 were, without difficulty, appropriated; in spite of his 
 constitutional defect, even my voice did not escape 
 him. My louder tones were, of course, unattempted, 
 but then the key, it was identical ; and his singular 
 whisper, it grew the very echo of my own. 
 
 248 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 How greatly this most exquisite portraiture 
 harassed me (for it could not justly be termed a 
 caricature), I will not now venture to describe. I 
 had but one consolation : in the fact that the imita 
 tion, apparently, was noticed by myself alone, and 
 that I had to endure only the knowing and strangely 
 sarcastic smiles of my namesake himself. Satisfied 
 with having produced in my bosom the intended 
 effect, he seemed to chuckle in secret over the sting 
 he had inflicted, and was characteristically disregard- 
 ful of the public applause which the success of his 
 witty endeavors might have so easily elicited. That 
 the school, indeed, did not feel his design, perceive 
 its accomplishment, and participate in his sneer, was, 
 for many anxious months, a riddle I could not resolve 
 Perhaps the GRADATION of his copy rendered it not 
 readily perceptible; or, more possibly, I owed my 
 security to the masterly air of the copyist, who, 
 disdaining the letter (which in a painting is all the 
 obtuse can see), gave but the full spirit of his original 
 for my individual contemplation and chagrin. 
 
 I have already more than once spoken of the dis 
 gusting air of patronage which he assumed toward 
 me, and of his frequent officious interference with my 
 will. This interference often took the ungracious 
 character of advice; advice not openly given, but 
 hinted or insinuated. I received it with a repugnance 
 which gained strength as I grew in years. Yet, at 
 this distant day, let me do him the simple justice to 
 acknowledge that I can recall no occasion when the 
 suggestions of my rival were on the side of those 
 
 249 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 errors or follies so usual to his immature age and 
 seeming inexperience; that his moral sense, at least, 
 if not his general talents and worldly wisdom, was far 
 keener than my own; and that I might to-day have 
 been a better and thus a happier man, had I less fre 
 quently rejected the counsels embodied in those mean 
 ing whispers which I then but too cordially hated and 
 too bitterly despised. 
 
 As it was, I at length grew restive in the extreme 
 under his distasteful supervision, and daily resented 
 more and more openly what I considered his intoler 
 able arrogance. I have said that, in the first years of 
 our connection as schoolmates, my feelings in regard 
 to him might have been easily ripened into friendship ; 
 but, in the latter months of my residence at the 
 academy, although the intrusion of his ordinary 
 manner had, beyond doubt, in some measure, abated, 
 my sentiments, in nearly similar proportion, partook 
 very much of positive hatred. Upon one occasion he 
 saw this, I think, and afterward avoided, or made a 
 show of avoiding, me. 
 
 It was about the same period, if I remember 
 aright, that, in an altercation of violence with him, 
 in which he was more than usually thrown off his 
 guard, and spoke and acted with an openness of 
 demeanor rather foreign to his nature, I discovered, 
 or fancied I discovered, in his accent, in his air, and 
 general appearance, a something which first startled 
 and then deeply interested me, by bringing to mind 
 dim visions of my earliest infancy wild, confused, 
 and thronging memories of a time when memory her- 
 
 250 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 self was yet unborn. I cannot better describe the 
 sensation which oppressed me than by saying that I 
 could with difficulty shake off the belief of my having 
 been acquainted with the being who stood before me at 
 some epoch very long ago, some point of the past 
 even infinitely remote. The delusion, however, faded 
 rapidly as it came; and I mention it at all but to 
 define the day of the last conversation I there held 
 with my singular namesake. 
 
 The huge old house, with its countless subdi 
 visions, had several large chambers coimTQimicating 
 with each other, where slept the greater number of 
 the students. There were, however (as must neces 
 sarily happen in a building so awkwardly planned), 
 many little nooks or recesses, the odds and ends of 
 the structure ; and these the economic ingenuity of Dr. 
 Bransby had also fitted up as dormitories; although, 
 being the merest closets, they were capable of accom 
 modating but a single individual. One of these small 
 apartments was occupied by Wilson. 
 
 One night, about the close of my fifth year at the 
 school, and immediately after the altercation just 
 mentioned, finding every one wrapped in sleep, I arose 
 from bed, and, lamp in hand, stole, through a wilder 
 ness of narrow passages, from my own bedroom to 
 that of my rival. I had long been plotting one of 
 those ill-natured pieces of practical wit at his ex 
 pense in which I had hitherto been so uniformly un 
 successful. It was my intention, now, to put my 
 scheme in operation and I resolved to make him feel 
 the whole extent of the malice with which I was 
 
 251 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 imbued. Having reached his closet, I noiselessly 
 entered, leaving the lamp, with a shade over it, on 
 the outside. I advanced a step and listened to the 
 sound of his tranquil breathing. Assured of his be 
 ing asleep, I returned, took the light, and with it 
 again approached the bed. Close curtains were 
 around it, which, in the prosecution of my plan, 
 I slowly and quietly withdrew, when the bright rays 
 fell vividly upon the sleeper, and my eyes at the same 
 moment upon his countenance. I looked; and a 
 numbness, an iciness of feeling, instantly pervaded 
 my frame. My breast heaved, my knees tottered, my 
 whole spirit became possessed with an objectless yet 
 intolerable horror. Gasping for breath, I lowered the 
 lamp in still nearer proximity to the face. Were these, 
 THESE the lineaments of William Wilson? I saw, in 
 deed, that they were his, but I shook as if with a fit 
 of the ague in fancying they were not. What WAS 
 there about them to confound me in this manner? 1 
 gazed, while my brain reeled with a multitude of 
 incoherent thoughts. Not thus he appeared as 
 suredly not THUS in the vivacity of his waking 
 hours. The same name ! the same contour of person ! 
 the same day of arrival at the academy ! And then his 
 clogged and meaningless imitation of my gait, my 
 voice, my habits, and my manner! Was it, in truth, 
 within the bounds of human possibility, THAT WHAT I 
 NOW SAW was the result, merely, of the habitual prac 
 tice of this sarcastic imitation? Awe-stricken, and 
 with a creeping shudder, I extinguished the lamp, 
 passed silently from the chamber, and left at once 
 
 252 
 
WI LLI AM WILSON 
 
 the halls of that old academy, never to enter them 
 again. 
 
 After a lapse of some months, spent at home in 
 mere idleness, I found myself a student at Eton. The 
 brief interval had been sufficient to enfeeble my re 
 membrance of the events at Dr. Bransby s, or at least 
 to effect a material change in the nature of the feelings 
 with which I remembered them. The truth, the 
 tragedy, of the drama was no more. I could now 
 find room to doubt the evidence of my senses; and 
 seldom called up the subject at all but with wonder at 
 the extent of human credulity, and a smile at the 
 vivid force of the imagination which I hereditarily 
 possessed. Neither was this species of scepticism 
 likely to be diminished by the character of the life I 
 led at Eton. The vortex of thoughtless folly into 
 which I there so immediately and so recklessly 
 plunged, washed away all but the froth of my past 
 hours, engulfed at once every solid or serious im 
 pression, and left to memory only the veriest levities 
 of a former existence. 
 
 I do not wish, however, to trace the course of my 
 miserable profligacy here a profligacy which set at 
 defiance the laws, while it eluded the vigilance, of the 
 institution. Three years of folly, passed without profit, 
 had but given me rooted habits of vice, and added, 
 in a somewhat unusual degree, to my bodily stature, 
 when, after a week of soulless dissipation, I invited a 
 small party of the most dissolute students to a secret 
 carousal in my chambers. We met at a late hour of 
 the night; for our debaucheries were to be faithfully 
 
 253 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 protracted until morning. The wine flowed freely, 
 and there were not wanting other and perhaps more 
 dangerous seductions; so that the gray dawn had 
 already faintly appeared in the east while our delir 
 ious extravagance was at its height. Madly flushed 
 with cards and intoxication, I was in the act of insist 
 ing upon a toast of more than wonted profanity, when 
 my attention was suddenly diverted by the violent, al 
 though partial, unclosing of the door of the apart 
 ment, and by the eager voice of a servant from with 
 out. He said that some person, apparently in great 
 haste, demanded to speak with me in the hall. 
 
 Wildly excited with wine, the unexpected interrup 
 tion rather delighted than surprised me. I staggered 
 forward at once, and a few steps brought me to the 
 vestibule of the building. In this low and small room 
 there hung no lamp ; and now no light at all was 
 admitted, save that of the exceedingly feeble dawn 
 whjch made its way through the semi-circular window. 
 As I put my foot over the threshold, I became aware 
 of the figure of a youth about my own height, and 
 habited in a white kerseymere morning frock, cut in 
 
 Sthe novel fashion of the one I myself wore at the 
 moment. This the faint light enabled me to perceive ; 
 but the features of his face I could not distinguish. 
 Upon my entering, he strode hurriedly up to me and, 
 seizing me by the arm with a gesture of petulant 
 impatience, whispered the words "William Wilson" 
 in my ear. 
 
 I grew perfectly sober in an instant. 
 
 There was that in the manner of the stranger, and 
 
 254 
 
.0 
 
 WI LLI AM WILSON 
 
 in the tremulous shake of his uplifted finger, as he 
 held it between my eyes and the light, which filled me 
 with unqualified amazement; but it was not this 
 which had so violently moved me. It was the preg 
 nancy of solemn admonition in the singular, low, hiss 
 ing utterance; and, above all, it was the character, 
 the tone, the key, of those few, simple, and familiar, 
 yet whispered syllables, which came with a thousand 
 thronging memories of by-gone days, and struck upon 
 my soul with the shock of a galvanic battery. Ere I 
 could recover the use of my senses, he was gone. 
 
 Although this event failed not of a vivid effect 
 upon my disordered imagination, yet was it evanescent 
 as vivid. For some weeks, indeed, I busied myself in 
 earnest enquiry, or was wrapped in a cloud of morbid 
 speculation. I did not pretend to disguise from my 
 perception the identity of the singular individual who 
 thus perseveringly interfered with my affairs, and 
 harassed me with his insinuated counsel. But who 
 and what was this Wilson? and whence came he? 
 and what were his purposes? Upon neither of these 
 points could I be satisfied, merely ascertaining, in 
 regard to him, that a sudden accident in his family 
 had caused his removal from Dr. Bransby s academy 
 on the afternoon of the day in which I myself had 
 eloped. But in a brief period I ceased to think upon 
 the subject, my attention being all absorbed in a con 
 templated departure for Oxford. Thither I soon went, 
 the uncalculating vanity of my parents furnishing me 
 with an outfit and annual establishment which would 
 enable me to indulge at will in the luxury already so 
 
 255 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 dear to my heart, to vie in profuseness of expendi 
 ture with the haughtiest heirs of the wealthiest 
 earldoms in Great Britain. 
 
 Excited by such appliances to vice, my constitu 
 tional temperament broke forth with redoubled ardor, 
 and I spurned even the common restraints of decency 
 in the mad infatuation of my revels. But it were 
 absurd to pause in the detail of my extravagance. 
 Let it suffice, that among spendthrifts I out-Heroded 
 Herod, and that, giving name to a multitude of novel 
 follies, I added no brief appendix to the long cata 
 logue of vices then usual in the most dissolute uni 
 versity of Europe. 
 
 It could hardly be credited, however, that I had, 
 even here, so utterly fallen from the gentlemanly 
 estate as to seek acquaintance with the vilest arts of 
 the gambler by profession, and, having become an 
 adept in his despicable science, to practice it habitu 
 ally as a means of increasing my already enormous in 
 come at the expense of the weak-minded among my 
 fellow-collegians. Such, nevertheless, was the fact. 
 And the very enormity of this offence against all 
 manly and honorable sentiment proved, beyond doubt, 
 the main if not the sole reason of the impunity with 
 which it was committed. Who, indeed, among my 
 most abandoned associates, would not rather have 
 disputed the clearest evidence of his senses than have 
 suspected of such courses the gay, the frank, the 
 generous William Wilson, the noblest and most liberal 
 commoner at Oxford him whose follies (said his 
 parasites) were but the follies of youth and unbridled 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 fancy, whose errors but inimitable whim, whose 
 darkest vice but a careless and dashing extravagance ? 
 
 I had been now two years successfully busied in 
 this way, when there came to the university a young 
 parvenu nobleman, Glendinning, rich, said report, as 
 Herodes Atticus; his riches, too, as easily acquired. 
 I soon found him of weak intellect, and, of course, 
 marked him as a fitting subject for my skill. I fre 
 quently engaged him in play, and contrived, with the 
 gambler s usual art, to let him win considerable sums, 
 the more effectually to entangle him in my snares. 
 At length, my schemes being ripe, I met him (with 
 the full intention that this meeting should be final 
 and decisive) at the chambers of a fellow-commoner 
 (Mr. Preston), equally intimate with both, but who, 
 to do him justice, entertained not even a remote sus 
 picion of my design. To give to this a better coloring, 
 I had contrived to have assembled a party of some 
 eight or ten, and was solicitously careful that the 
 introduction of cards should appear accidental, 
 and originate in the proposal of my contemplated 
 dupe himself. To be brief upon a vile topic, none 
 of the low finesse was omitted, so customary upon 
 similar occasions that it is a just matter for won 
 der how any are still found so besotted as to fall its 
 victim. 
 
 We had protracted our sitting far into the night, 
 and I had "at length effected the manoeuvre of getting 
 Glendinning as my sole antagonist. The game, too, 
 was my favorite ecarte. The rest of the company, 
 interested in the extent of our play, had abandoned 
 
 117 257 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 their own cards and were standing around us as 
 spectators. The parvenu, who had been induced by 
 my artifices in the early part of the evening to drink 
 deeply, now shuffled, dealt, or played with a wild 
 nervousness of manner for which his intoxication, I 
 thought, might partially, but could not altogether, 
 account. In a very short period he had become my 
 debtor to a large amount, when, having taken a long 
 draught of port, he did precisely what I had been 
 cooly anticipating : he proposed to double our already 
 extravagant stakes. With a well-feigned show of re 
 luctance, and not until after my repeated refusal had 
 seduced him into some angry words which gave a color 
 of pique to my compliance, did I finally comply. The 
 result, of course, did but prove how entirely the prey 
 was in my toils: in less than an hour he had quad 
 rupled his debt. For some time his countenance had 
 been losing the florid tinge lent it by the wine; but 
 now, to my astonishment, I perceived that it had 
 grown to a pallor truly fearful. I say, to my astonish 
 ment. Glendinning has been represented to my eager 
 inquiries as immeasurably wealthy; and the sums 
 which he had as yet lost, although in themselves vast, 
 could not, I supposed, very seriously annoy, much less 
 so violently affect him. That he was overcome by 
 the wine just swallowed, was the idea which most 
 readily presented itself; and, rather with a view to 
 the preservation of my own character in the eyes of 
 my associates than from any less interested motive, 
 I was about to insist, peremptorily, upon a discon 
 tinuance of the play when some expressions at my 
 
 258 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 elbow from among the company, and an ejaculation 
 evincing utter despair on the part of Glendinning, 
 gave me to understand that I had effected his total 
 ruin under circumstances which, rendering him an 
 object for the pity of all, should have protected him 
 from the ill offices even of a fiend. 
 
 What now might have been my conduct it is dif 
 ficult to say. The pitiable condition of my dupe had 
 thrown an air of embarrassed gloom over all; and, 
 for some moments a profound silence was maintained, 
 during which I could not help feeling my cheeks 
 tingle with the many burning glances of scorn or 
 reproach cast upon me by the less abandoned of the 
 party. I will even own that an intolerable weight 
 of anxiety was for a brief instant lifted from my 
 bosom by the sudden and extraordinary interruption 
 which ensued. The wide, heavy folding doors of the 
 apartment were all at once thrown open, to their full 
 extent, with a vigorous and rushing impetuosity 
 that extinguished, as if by magic, every candle in the 
 room. Their light, in dying, enabled us to just per 
 ceive that a stranger had entered, about my own 
 height, and closely muffled in a cloak. The darkness, 
 however, was not total ; and we could only FEEL that 
 he was standing in our midst. Before any one of us 
 could recover from the extreme astonishment into 
 which this rudeness had thrown all, we heard the 
 voice of the intruder. 
 
 "Gentleman," he said, in a low, distinct, and 
 never-to-be-forgotten WHISPER, which thrilled to the 
 very marrow of my bones; " Gentlemen, I make no 
 
 259 
 
 1 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 apology for this behavior, because in thus behaving 
 I am fulfilling a duty. You are, beyond a doubt, 
 uninformed of the true character of the person who 
 has to-night won at ecarte a large sum of money from 
 Lord Glendinning. I will therefore put you upon an 
 expeditious and decisive plan of obtaining this very 
 necessary information. Please to examine, at your 
 leisure, the inner linings of the cuff of his left sleeve 
 and the several little packages which may be found in 
 the somewhat capacious pockets of his embroidered 
 morning wrapper/* 
 
 While he spoke, so profound was the stillness that 
 one might have heard a pin drop on the floor. In 
 ceasing, he departed at once, and as abruptly as he 
 had entered. Can I shall I describe my sensa 
 tions? Must I say that I felt all the horrors of the 
 damned? Most assuredly, I had little time for reflec 
 tion. Many hands roughly seized me upon the spot, 
 and lights were immediately procured. A search en 
 sued. In the lining of my sleeve were found all the 
 court cards essential in ecarte, and in the pockets of 
 my wrapper a number of packs, fac-similes of those 
 used at our sittings, with the single exception that 
 mine were of the species called, technically, arrondis, 
 the honors being slightly convex at the ends, the lower 
 cards slightly convex at the sides. In this disposition, 
 the dupe who cuts, as customary, at the length of the 
 pack, will invariably find that he cuts his antagonist 
 an honor; while the gambler, cutting at the breadth, 
 will, as certainly, cut nothing for his victim which 
 may count in the records of the game. 
 
 260 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 Any burst of indignation -upon this discovery 
 would have affected me less than the silent contempt 
 or the sarcastic composure with which it was received. 
 
 "Mr. Wilson/ said our host, stooping to remove 
 from beneath his feet an exceedingly luxurious cloak 
 of rare furs, "Mr. Wilson, this is your property." 
 (The weather was cold; and, upon quitting my own 
 room, I had thrown a cloak over my dressing wrapper, 
 putting it off upon reaching the scene of play.) "I 
 presume it is supererogatory to seek here (eyeing the 
 folds of the garment with a bitter smile) for any 
 further evidence of your skill. Indeed, we have had 
 enough. You will see the necessity, I hope, of quit 
 ting Oxford at all events, of quitting instantly my 
 chambers." 
 
 Abased, humbled to the dust as I then was, it is 
 probable that I should have resented this galling lan 
 guage by immediate personal violence, had not my 
 whole attention been at the moment arrested by a 
 fact of the most startling character. The cloak which 
 I had worn was of a rare description of fur ; how rare, 
 how extravagantly costly, I shall not venture to say. 
 Its fashion, too, was of my own fantastic invention; 
 for I was fastidious to an absurd degree of coxcombry, 
 in matters of this frivolous nature. When, therefore, 
 Mr. Preston reached me that which he had picked up 
 upon the floor, and near the folding doors of the apart 
 ment, it was with an astonishment nearly bordering 
 upon terror that I perceived my own already hanging 
 on my arm (where I had no doubt unwittingly placed 
 
 261 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 it), and that the one presented me was but its exact 
 counterpart in every, in even the minutest possible 
 particular. The singular being who had so disas 
 trously exposed me had been muffled, I remembered, 
 in a cloak; and none had been worn at all by any of 
 the members of our party, with the exception of 
 myself. Eetaining some presence of mind, I took the 
 one offered me by Preston ; placed it, unnoticed, over 
 my own; left the apartment with a resolute scowl 
 of defiance; and, next morning ere dawn of day 
 commenced a hurried journey from Oxford to the 
 continent, in a perfect agony of horror and of shame. 
 
 I fled in vain. My evil destiny pursued me as if in 
 exultation, and proved, indeed, that the exercise of its 
 mysterious dominion had as yet only begun. Scarcely 
 had I set foot in Paris, ere I had fresh evidence of the 
 destestable interest taken by this Wilson in my con 
 cerns. Years flew, while I experienced no relief. 
 Villain! At Rome, with how untimely, yet with how 
 spectral an officiousness, stepped he in between me 
 and my ambition! at Vienna, too, at Berlin, and at 
 Moscow! Where, in truth, had I NOT bitter cause to 
 curse him within my heart? From his inscrutable 
 tyranny did I at length flee, panic-stricken, as from a 
 pestilence ; and to the very ends of the earth I fled in 
 vain. 
 
 And again, and again, in secret communion with 
 my own spirit, would I demand the questions : * Who 
 is he? whence came he? and what are his objects? " 
 But no answer was there found. And now I scruti- 
 
 262 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 nized, with a minute scrutiny, the forms and the 
 methods and the leading traits of his impertinent 
 supervision. But even here there was very little upon 
 which to base a conjecture. It was noticeable, indeed, 
 that in no one of the multiplied instances in which 
 he had of late crossed my path had he so crossed it 
 except to frustrate those schemes, or to disturb those 
 actions, which, if fully carried out, might have re 
 sulted in bitter mischief. Poor justification this, in 
 truth, for an authority so imperiously assumed ! Poor 
 indemnity for natural rights of self -agency so pertina 
 ciously, so insultingly denied ! 
 
 I had also been forced to notice that my tormentor, 
 for a very long period of time (while scrupulously and 
 with miraculous dexterity maintaining his whim of 
 an identity of apparel with myself), had so contrived 
 it, in the execution of his varied interference with my 
 will, that I saw not, at any moment, the features of 
 his face. Be Wilson what he might, this, at least, was 
 but the veriest of affectation or of folly. Could he, for 
 an instant, have supposed that, in my admonisher at 
 Eton, in the destroyer of my honor at Oxford, in 
 him who thwarted my ambition at Rome, my revenge 
 at Paris, my passionate love at Naples, or what he 
 falsely termed my avarice in Egypt, that in this, 
 my arch-enemy and evil genius, I could fail to recog 
 nize the William Wilson of my school-boy days: the 
 namesake, the companion, the rival, the hated and 
 dreaded rival at Dr. Bransby s? Impossible! But 
 let me hasten to the last eventful scene of the drama. 
 
 263 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Thus far I had succumbed supinely to this imper 
 ious domination. The sentiment of deep awe with 
 which I habitually regarded the elevated character, 
 the majestic wisdom, the apparent omnipresence and 
 omnipotence of Wilson, added to a feeling of even 
 terror, with which certain other traits in his nature 
 and assumptions inspired me, had operated, hitherto, 
 to impress me with an idea of my own utter weakness 
 and helplessness, and to suggest an implicit, although 
 bitterly reluctant, submission to his arbitrary will. 
 But, of late days, I had given myself up entirely to 
 wine ; and its maddening influence upon my hereditary 
 temper rendered me more and more impatient of con 
 trol. I began to murmur, to hesitate, to resist. And 
 was it only fancy which induced me to believe that, 
 with the increase of my own firmness, that of my 
 tormentor underwent a proportional diminution? Be 
 this as it may, I now began to feel the inspiration 
 of a burning hope, and at length nurtured in my 
 secret thoughts a stern and desperate resolution that 
 I would submit no longer to be enslaved. 
 
 It was at Rome, during the Carnival of 18 , 
 that I attended a masquerade in the palazzo of the 
 Neapolitan Duke Di Broglio. I had indulged more 
 freely than usual in the excesses of the wine-table; 
 and now the suffocating atmosphere of the crowded 
 rooms irritated me beyond endurance. The difficulty, 
 too, of forcing my way through the mazes of the 
 company contributed not a little to the ruffling of my 
 temper; for I was anxiously seeking (let me not say 
 
 264 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 with what unworthy motive) the young, the gay, the 
 beautiful wife of the aged and doting Di Broglio. 
 With a too unscrupulous confidence, she had pre 
 viously communicated to me the secret of the costume 
 in which she would be habited, and now, having caught 
 a glimpse of her person, I was hurrying to make my 
 way into her presence. At this moment I felt a light 
 hand placed upon my shoulder, and that ever-remem 
 bered, low, damnable WHISPER within my ear. 
 
 In an absolute frenzy, of wrath, I turned at once 
 upon him who had thus interrupted me, and seized 
 him violently by the collar. He was attired, as I had 
 expected, in a costume altogether similar to my own ; 
 wearing a Spanish cloak of blue velvet, begirt about 
 the waist with a crimson belt sustaining a rapier. A 
 mask of black silk entirely covered his face. 
 
 " Scoundrel ! I said, in a voice husky with rage, 
 while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to 
 my fury; "scoundrel! impostor! accursed villain! 
 you shall not, you SHALL NOT dog me unto death! 
 Follow me, or I stab you where you stand ! and I 
 broke my way from the ball-room into a small ante 
 chamber adjoining, dragging him unresistingly with 
 me as I went. 
 
 Upon entering, I thrust him furiously from me. 
 He staggered against the wall, while I closed the door 
 with an oath, and commanded him to draw. He 
 hesitated but for an instant; then, with a slight sigh, 
 drew in silence, and put himself upon his defence. 
 
 The contest was brief indeed. I was frantic with 
 
 265 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 every species of wild excitement, and felt within my 
 single arm the energy and power of a multitude. In 
 a few seconds I forced him with sheer strength against 
 the wainscoting, and thus, getting him at mercy, 
 plunged my sword with brute ferocity repeatedly 
 through and through his bosom. 
 
 At that instant some person tried the latch of the 
 door. I hastened to prevent an intrusion, and then 
 immediately returned to my dying antagonist. But 
 what human language can adequately portray THAT 
 astonishment, THAT horror, which possessed me at the 
 spectacle then presented to view? The brief moment 
 in which I averted my eyes had been sufficient to 
 produce, apparently, a material change in the ar 
 rangements at the upper or farther end of the room. 
 A large mirror so at first it seemed to me in my 
 confusion now stood where none had been percepti 
 ble before; and as I stepped up to it in extremity of 
 terror, mine own image, but with features all pale and 
 dabbled with blood, advanced to meet me with a feeble 
 and tottering gait. 
 
 Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my 
 antagonist, it was Wilson, who then stood before me 
 in the agonies of his dissolution. His masks and cloak 
 lay, where he had thrown them, upon the floor. Not 
 a thread in all his raiment, not a line in all the 
 marked and singular lineaments of his face which 
 was not, even in the most absolute indentity, MINE 
 OWN! 
 
 It was Wilson ; but he spoke n o longer in a whisper, 
 
 266 
 
WILLIAM WILSON 
 
 and I could have fancied that I myself was speaking 
 while he said : 
 
 "You have conquered, and I yield. Yet hence 
 forward art thou also dead dead to the World, to 
 Heaven, and to hope! In me didst thou exist, and, 
 in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, 
 how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." 
 
 
 267 
 
A TALE OF JERUSALEM 
 
 Intonsos rigidam in frontem descendere canos 
 Passus erat. 
 
 LUCAN De Catone. 
 
 a bristly bore. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 L 
 
 us hurry to the walls," said Abel- 
 Phittim to Buzi-Ben-Levi and Simeon 
 the Pharisee, on the tenth day of the 
 month Thammuz, in the year of the 
 world three thousand nine hundred and 
 forty-one; "let us hasten to the ramparts adjoining 
 the gate of Benjamin, which is in the city of David, 
 and overlooking the camp of the uncircumcised ; for 
 it is the last hour of the fourth watch, being sun 
 rise ; and the idolaters, in fulfilment of the promise of 
 Pompey, should be awaiting^ us with the lambs for the 
 sacrifices." 
 
 Simeon, Abel-Phittim, and Buzi-Ben-Levi were the 
 Gizbarim, or sub-collectors of the offering in the holy 
 city of Jerusalem. 
 
 "Verily," replied the Pharisee, "let us hasten: for 
 this generosity in the heathen is unwonted, and 
 fickle-mindedness has ever been an attribute of the 
 worshippers of Baal." 
 
 * That they are fickle-minded and treacherous is as 
 true as the Pentateuch," said Buzi-Ben-Levi, "but 
 
 268 
 
 
 l, I 
 
A TALE OF JERUSALEM 
 
 that is only toward the people of Adonai. When was 
 it ever known that the Ammonites proved wanting to 
 their own interests? Methinks it is no great stretch 
 of generosity to allow us lambs for the altar of the 
 Lord, receiving in lieu thereof thirty silver shekels 
 per head!" 
 
 Thou forgettest, however, Ben-Levi," replied 
 Abel-Phittim, "that the Roman Pompey, who is now 
 impiously besieging the city of the Most High, has no 
 assurity that we apply not the lambs thus purchased 
 for the altar to the sustenance of the body rather than 
 of the spirit." 
 
 "Now, by the five corners of my beard!" shouted 
 the Pharisee, who belonged to the sect called "The 
 Dashers" (that little knot of saints whose manner of 
 DASHING and lacerating the feet against the pavement 
 was long a thorn and a reproach to less zealous devo 
 tees, a stumbling-block to less gifted perambulators), 
 "by the five corners of that beard which, as a 
 priest, I am forbidden te shave ! have we lived to 
 see the day when a blaspheming and idolatrous up 
 start of Rome shall accuse us of appropriating to the 
 appetites of the flesh the most holy and consecrated 
 elements? Have we lived to see the day when " 
 
 "Let us not question the motives of the Philistine," 
 interrupted Abel-Phittim, for to-day we profit for the 
 first time by his avarice or by his generosity; but 
 rather let us hurry to the ramparts, lest offerings 
 should be wanting for that altar whose fire the rains 
 of heaven cannot extinguish and whose pillars of 
 smoke no tempest can turn aside." 
 
 209 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 That part of the city to which our worthy Gizbarim 
 now hastened, and which bore the name of its archi 
 tect, King David, was esteemed the most strongly 
 fortified district of Jerusalem, being situated upon 
 the steep and lofty hill of Zion. Here, a broad, deep, 
 circumvallatory trench, hewn from the solid rock, was 
 defended by a wall of great strength erected upon 
 its inner edge. This wall was adorned at regular in 
 terspaces by square towers of white marble ; the lowest 
 sixty, and the highest one hundred and twenty cubits 
 in height. But, in the vicinity of the gate of 
 Benjamin, the wall arose by no means from the margin 
 of the fosse. On the contrary, between the level of 
 the ditch and the basement of the rampart sprang up 
 a perpendicular cliff of two hundred and fifty cubits, 
 forming part of the precipitous Mount Moriah. So 
 that when Simeon and his associates arrived on the 
 summit of the tower called Adoni-Bezek, the loftiest 
 of all the turrets around about Jerusalem, and the 
 usual place of conference with the besieging army, 
 they looked down upon the camp of the enemy from 
 an eminence excelling by many feet that of the Pyra 
 mid of Cheops, and by several, that of the temple of 
 Belus. 
 
 "Verily," sighed the Pharisee, as he peered dizzily 
 over the precipice, "the uncircumcised are as the 
 sands by the seashore, as the locusts in the wilder 
 ness ! The valley of the King hath become the valley 
 of Adommin." 
 
 "And yet," added Ben-Levi, "thou canst not 
 
 270 
 
A TALE OF JERUSALEM 
 
 point me out a Philistine no, not one from Aleph 
 to Tau, from the wilderness to the battlements, who 
 seemeth any bigger than the letter Jod!" 
 
 "Lower away the basket with the shekels of 
 silver!" here shouted a Roman soldier in a hoarse, 
 rough voice which appeared to issue from the regions 
 of Pluto; "lower away the basket with the accursed 
 coin which it has broken the jaw of a noble Roman to 
 pronounce! Is it thus you evince your gratitude to 
 our master Pompeius, who, in his condescension, has 
 thought fit to listen to your idolatrous importunities? 
 The god Phoebus, who is a true god, has been charioted 
 for an hour, and were you not to be on the ramparts 
 by sunrise? ^Edepol! do you think that we, the 
 conquerors of the world, have nothing better to do 
 than stand waiting by the walls of every kennel to 
 traffic with the dogs of the earth? Lower away, I 
 say, and see that your trumpery be bright in color 
 and just in weight!" 
 
 "El Elohim!" ejaculated the Pharisee, as the dis 
 cordant tones of the centurion rattled up the crags of 
 the precipice and fainted away against the temple, 
 "El Elohim! WHO is the god Phoebus? WHOM doth 
 the blasphemer invoke? Thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi, who 
 art read in the laws of the Gentiles and hast so 
 journed among them who dabble with the Teraphim, 
 is it Nergal of whom the idolater speaketh? or 
 Ashimah? or Nibhaz? or Tartak? or Adramalech? or 
 Anamalech? or Succoth-Benith ? or Dagon? or Belial? 
 or Baal-Perith? or Baal-Peor? or Baal-Zebub? 
 
 271 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 " Verily it is neither but beware how thou 
 lettest the rope slip too rapidly through thy fingers; 
 for should the wickerwork chance to hang on the pro 
 jection of yonder crag there will be a woful outpour 
 ing of the holy things of the sanctuary." 
 
 By the assistance of some rudely constructed ma 
 chinery, the heavily laden basket was now carefully 
 lowered down among the multitude; and from the 
 giddy pinnacle, the Romans were seen gathering con 
 fusedly round it; but, owing to the vast height and 
 the prevalence of a fog no distinct view of their 
 operations could be obtained. 
 
 Half an hour had already elapsed. 
 
 "We shall be too late!" sighed the Pharisee, as 
 at the expiration of this period he looked over into 
 the abyss; "we shall be too late! we shall be turned 
 out of office by the Katholim." 
 
 "No more," responded Abel-Phittim,- * * no more 
 shall we feast upon the fat of the land; no longer 
 shall our beards be odorous with frankincense, our 
 loins girded up with fine linen from the Temple." 
 
 "Raca!" swore Ben-Levi, "Raca! do they mean to 
 defraud us of the purchase money? or, Holy Moses! 
 are they weighing the shekels of the tabernacle?" 
 
 "They have given the signal at last!" cried the 
 Pharisee, "they have given the signal at last! Pull 
 away, Abel-Phittim ! and thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi, pull 
 away! for verily the Philistines have either still hold 
 upon the basket or the Lord hath softened their hearts 
 to place therein a beast of good weight!" And the 
 
 272 
 
A TALE OF JERUSALEM 
 
 Gizbarim pulled away, while their burthen swung 
 
 heavily upward through the still increasing mist. 
 
 # * * * * 
 
 "Booshoh he!"- as, at the conclusion of an hour, 
 some object at the extremity of the rope became indis 
 tinctly visible; "Booshoh he!" was the exclamation 
 which burst from the lips of Ben-Levi. 
 
 "Booshoh he! for shame! it is a ram from the 
 thickets of Engedi and as rugged as the valley of 
 Jehosaphat !" 
 
 11 It is the firstling of the flock," said Abel-Phittim ; 
 I know him by the bleating of his lips and the inno 
 cent folding of his limbs. His eyes are more beautiful 
 than the jewels of the Pectoral, and his flesh is like 
 the honey of Hebron." 
 
 "It is a fatted calf from the pastures of Bashan," 
 said the Pharisee; "the heathen have dealt wonder 
 fully with us ! let us raise up our voices in a psalm ! 
 let us give thanks on the shawm and on the psaltery, 
 on the harp and on the huggab, on the cythern and 
 on the sackbut ! 
 
 It was not until the basket had arrived within a 
 few feet of the Gizbarim that a low grunt betrayed to 
 their perception a HOG of no common size. 
 
 "Now El Emanu!" slowly, and with upturned 
 eyes ejaculated the trio, as, letting go their hold, 
 the emancipated porker tumbled headlong among 
 the Philistines, "El Emanu! God be with us! IT is 
 
 THE UNUTTERABLE FLESH!" 
 
 I 1 8 27? 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 THE HOMO-CAMELOPARD. 
 
 Chacun a ses vertus. CRBILLON ? S Xerxes. 
 
 A 
 
 NTIOCHUS EPIPHANES is very generally 
 looked upon as the Gog of the prophet 
 Ezekiel. This honor is, however, more 
 
 I properly attributable to Cambyses, the 
 
 son of Cyrus. And, indeed, the char 
 acter of the Syrian monarch does by no means stand 
 in need of any adventitious embellishment. His ac 
 cession to the throne, or rather his usurpation of the 
 sovereignty, a hundred and seventy-one years be 
 fore the coming of Christ ; his attempt to plunder the 
 temple of Diana at Ephesus; his implacable hostility 
 to the Jews; his pollution of the Holy of Holies; 
 and his miserable death at Tab a after a tumultuous 
 reign of eleven years, are circumstances of a prom 
 inent kind, and therefore more generally noticed by 
 the historians of his time than the impious, dastardly, 
 cruel, silly, and whimsical achievements which make 
 
 up the sum total of his private life and reputation. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Let us suppose, gentle reader, that it is now the 
 year of the world three thousand eight hundred and 
 thirty, and let us, for a few minutes, imagine ourselves 
 at that most grotesque habitation of man, the remark- 
 
 274 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 able city of Antioch. To be sure there were, in Syria 
 and other countries sixteen cities of that appellation 
 besides the one to which I more particularly allude. 
 But ours is that which went by the name of Antiochia 
 Epidaphne, from its vicinity to the little village of 
 Daphne, where stood a temple to that divinity. It 
 was built (although about this matter there is some 
 dispute) by Seleucus Nicator, the first king of the 
 country after Alexander the Great, in memory of his 
 father Antiochus, and became immediately the resi 
 dence of the Syrian monarchy. In the nourishing 
 times of the Roman Empire it was the ordinary 
 station of the prefect of the eastern provinces; and 
 many of the emperors of the queen city (among 
 whom may be mentioned, especially, Verus and 
 Valens) spent here the greater part of their time. But 
 I perceive we have arrived at the city itself. Let us 
 ascend this battlement and throw our eyes upon the 
 town and neighboring country. 
 
 "What broad and rapid river is that which forces 
 its way, with innumerable falls, through the mountain 
 ous wilderness, and finally through the wilderness of 
 buildings ? 
 
 That is the Orontes, and it is the only water in 
 sight, with the exception of the Mediterranean, which 
 stretches like a broad mirror, about twelve miles off 
 to the southward. Every one has seen the Mediter 
 ranean; but, let me tell you, there are few who have 
 had a peep at Antioch. By few, I mean few who, like 
 you and me, have had at the same time the advantages 
 of a modern education. Therefore, cease to regard 
 
 275 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 that sea and give your whole attention to the mass of 
 houses that lie beneath us. You will remember that 
 it is now the year of the world three thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty. Were it later (for example, were 
 it the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty- 
 five), we should be deprived of this extraordinary 
 spectacle. In the nineteenth century Antioch is 
 that is to say, Antioch WILL BE in a lamentable 
 state of decay. It will have been by that time totally 
 destroyed, at three different periods, by three suc 
 cessive earthquakes. Indeed, to say the truth, what 
 little of its former self may then remain will be 
 found in so desolate and ruinous a state that the 
 Patriarch shall have removed his residence to Damas 
 cus. This is well. I see you profit by my advice, 
 and are making the most of your time in inspect 
 ing the premises in 
 
 satisfying your eyes 
 
 With the memorials and the things of fame 
 That do renown this city. 
 
 I beg pardon; I had forgotten that Shakespeare 
 will not flourish for seventeen hundred and fifty years 
 to come. But does not the appearance of Epidaphne 
 justify me in calling it grotesque? 
 
 "It is well fortified; and in this respect is as much 
 indebted to nature as to art." 
 
 Very true. 
 
 "There are a prodigious number of stately 
 palaces." 
 
 276 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 There are. 
 
 "And the numerous temples, sumptuous and mag 
 nificent, may bear comparison with the most lauded 
 of antiquity." 
 
 All this I must acknowledge. Still there is an infin 
 ity of mud huts and abominable hovels. We cannot 
 help perceiving abundance of filth in every kennel, and 
 were it not for the overpowering fumes of idolatrous 
 incense I have no doubt we should find a most intoler 
 able stench. Did you ever behold streets so insuffer 
 ably narrow or houses so miraculously tall? What a 
 gloom their shadows cast upon the ground ! It is well 
 the swinging lamps in those endless colonnades are 
 kept burning throughout the day ; we should otherwise 
 have the darkness of Egypt in the time of her desola 
 tion. 
 
 "It is certainly a strange place ! What is the mean 
 ing of yonder singular building 1 See ! it towers 
 above all others and lies to the eastward of what I 
 take to be the royal palace!" 
 
 That is the new Temple of the Sun, who is adored 
 in Syria under the title of Elah Gabalah. Hereafter a 
 very notorious Roman Emperor will institute this wor 
 ship in Rome and thence derive a cognomen, Helio- 
 gabalus. I daresay you would like to take a peep at 
 the divinity of the temple. You need not look up at 
 the heavens ; his Sunship is not there at least not 
 the Sunship adored by the Syrians. THAT deity will 
 be found in the interior of yonder building. He is wor 
 shipped under the figure of a large stone pillar termi- 
 
 277 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 nating at the summit in a cone or PYRAMID, whereby is 
 denoted fire. 
 
 Hark! behold! who CAN those ridiculous 
 beings be, half-naked, with their faces painted, shout 
 ing and gesticulating to the rabble?" 
 
 Some few are mountebanks. Others more particu 
 larly belong to the race of philosophers. The greatest 
 portion, however those especially who belabor the 
 populace with clubs are the principal courtiers of 
 the palace, executing, as in duty bound, some laudable 
 comicality of the king s. 
 
 "But what have we here? Heavens! the town is 
 swarming with wild beasts ! How terrible a spectacle ! 
 how dangerous a peculiarity!" 
 
 Terrible, if you please ; but not in the least degree 
 dangerous. Each animal, if you will take the pains to 
 observe, is following, very quietly, in the wake of its 
 master. Some few, to be sure, are led with a rope 
 about the neck, but these are chiefly the lesser or timid 
 species. The lion, the tiger, and the leopard are en 
 tirely without restraint. They have been trained with 
 out difficulty to their present profession, and attend 
 upon their respective owners in the capacity of valets- 
 de-chambre. It is true, there are occasions when nature 
 asserts her violated dominion ; but then the devouring 
 of a man-at-arms or the throttling of a consecrated 
 bull is a circumstance of too little moment to be more 
 than hinte^i at in Epidaphne. 
 
 "But what extraordinary tumult do J hear? 
 Surely this is a loud noise even for Antioch ! It argues 
 some commotion of unusual interest." 
 
 278 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 Yes undoubtedly. The king has ordered some 
 novel spectacle, some gladiatorial exhibition at the 
 hippodrome, or perhaps the massacre of the Scythian 
 prisoners, or the conflagration of his new palace, or 
 the tearing down of a handsome temple, or, indeed, a 
 bon-fire of a few Jews. The uproa*r increases. Shouts 
 of laughter ascend the skies. The air becomes dis 
 sonant with wind instruments, and horrible with the 
 clamor of a million throats. Let us descend, for the 
 love of fun, and see what is going on ! This way. Be 
 careful ! Here we are in the principal street, which is 
 called the street of Timarchus. The sea of people is 
 coming this way, and we shall find a difficulty in stem 
 ming the tide. They are pouring through the alley 
 of Heraclides, which leads directly from the palace; 
 therefore the king is most probably among the rioters. 
 Yes, I hear the shouts of the herald proclaiming his 
 approach in the pompous phraseology of the East. We 
 shall have a glimpse of his person as he passes by the 
 temple of Ashimah. Let us ensconce ourselves in the 
 vestibule of the sanctuary; he will be here anon. In 
 the meantime let us survey this image. What is it? 
 Oh ! it is the god Ashimah, in proper person. You per 
 ceive, however, that he is neither a lamb, nor a goat, 
 nor a satyr; neither has he much resemblance to the 
 Pan of the Arcadians. Yet all these appearances have 
 been given I beg pardon, WILL be given by 
 the learned of future ages, to the Ashimah of the Syr 
 ians. Put on your spectacles and tell me what it is. 
 What is it? 
 
 "Bless me! it is an ape!" 
 
 279 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 True! a baboon; but by no means the less a deity. 
 His name is a derivation of the Greek Simla what 
 great fools are antiquarians ! But see ! see ! yonder 
 scampers a ragged little urchin. Where is he going? 
 What is he bawling about? What does he say? Oh! 
 he says the king is coming in triumph; that he is 
 dressed in state; that he has just finished putting to 
 death, with his own hand, a thousand chained Israelit- 
 ish prisoners ! For this exploit the ragamuffin is laud 
 ing him to the skies! Hark! here comes a troop of 
 a similar description. They have made a Latin hymn 
 upon the valor of the king and are singing it as they 
 go: 
 
 Mille, mille, mille, 
 
 Mille, mille, mille, 
 
 Decollavimus, unus homo! 
 
 Mille, mille, mille, mille, decollavimus! 
 
 Mille, mille, mille, 
 
 Vivat qui mille mille occidit! 
 
 Tantum vini habet nemo 
 
 Quantum fudit sanguinis! * 
 
 Which may be thus paraphrased: 
 
 A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, 
 A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, 
 We, with one warrior, have slain! 
 A thousand, a thousand, a thousand, a thousand. 
 
 
 * Flavius Vopiscus says that the hymn here introduced 
 was sung by the rabble upon the occasion of Aurelian, in 
 the Sarmatic war, having slain, with his own hand, nine 
 hundred and fifty of the enemy. 
 
 280 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 Sing a thousand over again! 
 
 Soho! let us sing 
 
 Long life to our king, 
 Who knocked over a thousand so fine! 
 
 Soho ! let us roar, 
 
 He has given us more 
 
 Eed gallons of gore 
 Than all Syria can furnish of wine! 
 
 "Do you hear that flourish of trumpets?" 
 
 Yes, the king is coming! See! the people are 
 aghast with admiration and lift up their eyes to the 
 heavens in reverence! He comes! he is coming! 
 there he is ! 
 
 "Who? where? the king? I do not behold him, 
 cannot say that I perceive him." 
 
 Then you must be blind. 
 
 "Very possible. Still I see nothing but a tumultu 
 ous mob of idiots and madmen, who are busy in pros 
 trating themselves before a gigantic camelopard and 
 endeavoring to obtain a kiss of the animal s hoofs. 
 See ! the beast has very justly kicked one of the rabble 
 over and another and another and another. 
 Indeed, I cannot help admiring the animal for the 
 excellent use he is making of his feet. 
 
 Rabble, indeed! Why, these are the noble and 
 free citizens of Epidaphne ! Beast, did you say ? take 
 care that you are not overheard. Do you not per 
 ceive that the animal has the visage of a man? Why, 
 my dear sir, that camelopard is no other than Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes Antiochus the Illustrious, King of 
 
 281 
 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Syria, and the most potent of all the autocrats of the 
 East! It is true that he is entitled, at times, Antio- 
 chus Epimanes, Antiochus the madman, but that 
 is because all people have not the capacity to appre 
 ciate his merits. It is also certain that he is at pres 
 ent ensconced in the hide of a beast, and is doing his 
 best to play the part of a camelopard ; but this is done 
 for the better sustaining his dignity as king. Be 
 sides, the monarch is of gigantic statue, and the dress 
 is therefore neither unbecoming nor overlarge. We 
 may, however, presume he would not have adopted 
 it but for some occasion of especial state. Such, you 
 will allow, is the massacre of a thousand Jews. With 
 how superior a dignity the monarch perambulates on 
 all fours ! His tail, you perceive, is held aloft by his 
 two principal concubines, Elline and Argelais; and 
 his whole appearance would be infinitely prepossessing 
 were it not for the protuberance of his eyes, which will 
 certainly start out of his head, and the queer color 
 of his face, which has become nondescript from the 
 quantity of wine he has swallowed. Let us follow 
 him to the hippodrome, whither he is proceeding, and 
 listen to the song of triumph which he is commencing : 
 
 Who is king but Epiphanes? 
 
 Say do you know? 
 Who is king but Epiphanes? 
 
 Bravo ! bravo ! 
 There is none but Epiphanes, 
 
 No there is none: 
 So tear down the temples, 
 
 And put out the sun! 
 
 282 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 Well and strenuously sung! The populace are 
 hailing him "Prince of Poets," as well as "Glory 
 of the East," "Delight of the Universe," and "Most 
 Eemarkable of Camelopards." They have encored 
 his effusion, and do you hear ? he is singing it 
 over again. When he arrives at the hippodrome he 
 will be crowned with the poetic wreath, in anticipa 
 tion of his victory at the approaching Olympics. 
 
 "But, good Jupiter! what is the matter in the 
 crowd behind us?" 
 
 Behind us, did you say ? oh ! ah ! I perceive. 
 My friend, it is well that you spoke in time. Let us get 
 into a place of safety as soon as possible ! Here ! 
 let us conceal ourselves in the arch of this aqueduct 
 and I will inform you presently of the origin of the 
 commotion. It has turned out as I have been anticipa 
 ting. The singular appearance of the camelopard with 
 the head of a man has, it seems, -given offence to the 
 notions of propriety entertained in general by the 
 wild animals domesticated in the city. A mutiny 
 has been the result; and, as is usual upon such occa 
 sions, all human efforts will be of no avail in quelling 
 the mob. Several of the Syrians have lately been 
 devoured; but the general voice of the four-footed 
 patriots seems to be for eating up the camelopard. 
 "The Prince of Poets," therefore, is upon his hinder 
 legs running for his life. His courtiers have left him 
 in the lurch, and his concubines have followed so ex 
 cellent an example. "Delight of the Universe," thou 
 art in a sad predicament! "Glory of the East," thou 
 art in danger of mastication ! Therefore never regard 
 
 283 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 so piteously thy tail ; it will undoubtedly be draggled 
 in the mud, and for this there is no help. Look not 
 behind thee, then, at its unavoidable degradation; 
 but take courage, ply thy legs with vigor, and scud for 
 the hippodrome ! Remember that thou art Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, Antiochus the Illustrious! also "Prince 
 of Poets/ "Glory of the East," "Delight of the Uni 
 verse," and "Most Remarkable of Camelopards ! " 
 Heavens! what a power of speed thou art displaying! 
 What a capacity for leg-bail thou art developing! 
 Run, Prince ! Bravo, Epiphanes ! Well done, 
 Camelopard ! Glorious Antiochus ! He runs ! he 
 leaps ! he flies ! Like an arrow from a catapult he ap 
 proaches the hippodrome ! He leaps ! he shrieks ! he is 
 there! This is well; for hadst thou, "Glory of the 
 East," been half a second longer in reaching the 
 gates of the ampitheatre, there is not a bear s cub 
 in Epidaphne that would have had a nibble at thy 
 carcass. Let us be off, let us take our departure! 
 for we shall find our delicate modern ears unable to 
 endure the vast uproar which is about to commence 
 in celebration of the king s escape! Listen! it has 
 already commenced. See, the whole town is topsy 
 turvy. 
 
 Surely this is the most populous city of the East ! 
 What a wilderness of people! What a jumble of all 
 ranks and ages! What a multiplicity of sects and 
 nations! what a variety of costumes! what a Babel 
 of languages! what a screaming of beasts! what a 
 tinkling of instruments! what a parcel of philos 
 ophers ! 
 
 
FOUR BEASTS IN ONE 
 
 Come, let us be off. 
 
 Stay a moment ! I see a vast hubbub in the hip 
 podrome; what is the meaning of it, I beseech you!" 
 
 That ? oh, nothing ! The noble and free citizens 
 of Epidaphne being, as they declare, well satisfied 
 of the faith, valor, wisdom, and divinity of their king, 
 and having, moreover, been eye-witnesses of his late 
 superhuman agility, do think it no more than their 
 duty to invest his brows (in addition to the poetic 
 crown) with the wreath of victory in the foot-race; 
 a wreath which it is evident he MUST obtain at the 
 celebration of the next Olympiad, and which, there 
 fore, they now give him in advance. 
 
 285 
 
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE 
 OF USHER 
 
 Son cceur est un luth suspendu; 
 Sitot qu on le touche il rsonne. 
 
 DE BERANGER. 
 
 CURING the whole of a dull, dark, and 
 A soundless day in the autumn of the 
 1 year, when the clouds hung oppressively 
 low in the heavens, I had been passing 
 alone, on horseback, through a singu 
 larly dreary tract of country, and at length found 
 myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within 
 view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not 
 how it was, but, with the first glimpse of the building, 
 a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I 
 say insufferable ; for the feeling was unrelieved by any 
 of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment 
 with which the mind usually receives even the sternest 
 natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked 
 upon the scene before me upon the mere house, and 
 the simple landscape features of the domain, upon 
 the bleak walls, upon the vacant eye-like windows, 
 upon a few rank sedges, and upon a few white trunks 
 of decayed trees, with an utter depression of soul 
 which I can compare to no earthly sensation more 
 properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon 
 opium, the bitter lapse into every-day life, the hideous 
 
 286 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a 
 sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed 
 dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagi 
 nation could torture into aught of the sublime. What 
 was it, I paused to think, what was it that so unnerved 
 me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It 
 was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple 
 with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as 
 I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the 
 unsatisfactory conclusion that while beyond doubt 
 there are combinations of very simple natural objects 
 which have the power of thus affecting us, still the 
 analysis of this power lies among considerations be 
 yond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a 
 mere different arrangement of the particulars of the 
 scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient 
 to modify, or perhaps to annihilate, its capacity for 
 sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I 
 reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black 
 and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwell 
 ing, and gazed down, but with a shudder even more 
 thrilling than before, upon the remodelled and in 
 verted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree- 
 stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows. 
 
 Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now 
 proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its pro 
 prietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of my boon 
 companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed 
 since our last meeting. A letter, however, had lately 
 reached me in a distant part of the country, a letter 
 from him, which, in its wildly importunate nature, 
 
 287 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 had admitted of no other than a personal reply. The 
 MS. gave evidence of nervous agitation. The writer 
 spoke of acute bodily illness, of a mental disorder 
 which oppressed him, and of an earnest desire to see 
 me, as his best and indeed his only personal friend, 
 with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my 
 society, some alleviation of his maLady. It was the 
 manner in which all this, and much more, was said, 
 it was the apparent HEART that went with his request, 
 which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I 
 accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered 
 a very singular summons. 
 
 Although as boys we had been even intimate asso 
 ciates, yet I really knew little of my friend. His 
 reserve had been always excessive and habitual. I 
 was aware, however, that his very ancient family 
 had been noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sen 
 sibility of temperament, displaying itself , through long 
 ages, in many works of exalted art, and manifested, of 
 late, in repeated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusive 
 charity, as well as in a passionate devotion to the in 
 tricacies, perhaps even more than to the orthodox and 
 easily recognizable beauties, of musical science. I had 
 
 J T 
 
 learned, too, the very remarkable fact that the stem 
 of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put 
 forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other 
 words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of 
 descent, and had always, with very trifling and very 
 temporary variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, 
 I considered, while running over in thought the per 
 fect keeping of the character of the premises with the 
 
 288 
 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 accredited character of the people, and while spec 
 ulating upon the possible influence which the one, in 
 the long lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon 
 the other it was this deficiency, perhaps, of collat 
 eral issue, and the consequent undeviating transmis 
 sion, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, 
 which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge 
 the original title of the estate in the quaint and equiv 
 ocal appellation of the " House of Usher," an ap 
 pellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the 
 peasantry who used it, both the family and the family 
 mansion. 
 
 I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat 
 childish experiment, that of looking down within 
 the tarn, had been to deepen the first singular impres 
 sion. There can be no doubt that the consciousness 
 of the rapid increase of my superstition (for why 
 should I not so term it?) served mainly to accelerate 
 the increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the 
 paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a 
 basis. And it might have been for this reason only, 
 that, when I again uplifted my eyes to the house 
 itself, from its image in the pool, there grew in my 
 mind a strange fancy, a fancy so ridiculous, indeed, 
 that I but mention it to show the vivid force of the 
 sensations which oppressed me. I had so worked upon 
 my imagination as really to believe that about 
 the whole mansion and domain there hung an 
 atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their imme 
 diate vicinity, an atmosphere which had no affinity 
 with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up 
 
 119 289 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the 
 silent tarn, a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, slug 
 gish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. 
 
 Shaking off from my spirit what MUST have been a 
 dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the 
 building. Its principal feature seemed to be that of 
 an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had 
 been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole ex 
 terior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the 
 eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary 
 dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; 
 and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between 
 its still perfect adaptation of parts and the crumbling 
 condition of the individual stones. In this there was 
 much that reminded me of the specious totality of old 
 woodwork which has rotted for long years in some 
 neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath 
 of the external air. Beyond this indication of exten 
 sive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of 
 instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing ob 
 server might have discovered a barely perceptible 
 fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building 
 in front,made its way down the wall in a zigzag 
 direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters 
 of the tarn. 
 
 Noticing these things, I rode over a short causeway 
 to the house. A servant in waiting took my horse, 
 and I entered the Gothic archway of the hall. A 
 valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in 
 silence, through many dark and intricate passages 
 in my progress, to the STUDIO of his master. Much 
 
 290 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 that I encountered on the way contributed, I know 
 not how, to heighten the vague sentiments of which 
 I have already spoken. While the objects around 
 me while the carvings of the ceilings, the sombre 
 tapestries of the walls, the even blackness of the 
 floors, and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies 
 which rattled as I strode, were but matters to which, 
 or to such as which, I had been accustomed from my 
 infancy, while I hesitated not to acknowledge how 
 familiar was all this, I still wondered to find how 
 unfamiliar were the fancies which ordinary images 
 were stirring up. On one of the staircases I met the 
 physician of the family. His countenance, I thought, 
 wore a mingled expression of low cunning and per 
 plexity. He accosted me with trepidation and passed 
 on. The valet now threw open a door and ushered 
 me into the presence of his master. 
 
 The room in which I found myself was very large 
 and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and 
 pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black 
 oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from 
 within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made 
 their way through the trellised panes, and served to 
 render sufficiently distinct the more prominent ob 
 jects around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to 
 reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the re 
 cesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark dra 
 peries hung upon the wall. The general furniture 
 was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many 
 books and musical instruments lay scattered about, 
 but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that 
 
 291 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, 
 deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and per 
 vaded all. 
 
 Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a sofa on 
 which he had been lying at full length, and greeted 
 me with a vivacious warmth which had much in it, I 
 at first thought, of an over-done cordiality, of the 
 constrained effort of the ennuye man of the world. 
 A glance, however, at his countenance convinced me 
 of his perfect sincerity. We sat down ; and for some 
 moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him with 
 a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had 
 never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, 
 as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that 
 I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan 
 being before me with the companion of my early 
 boyhood. Yet the character of his face had been at all 
 times remarkable. A cadaverousness of complexion; 
 an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison ; 
 lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpass 
 ingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew 
 model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar 
 formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its 
 want of prominence, of a want of moral energy ; hair 
 of a more than web-like softness and tenuity, these 
 features, with an inordinate expansion above the re 
 gions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance 
 not easily to be forgotten. And now in the mere exag 
 geration of the prevailing character of these features, 
 and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay 
 so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke. 
 
 292 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now 
 miraculous luster of the eye, above all things startled 
 and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been 
 suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gos 
 samer texture, it floated rather than fell about the 
 face, I could not, even with effort, connect its Ara 
 besque expression with any idea of simple humanity. 
 
 In the manner of my friend I was at once struck 
 with an incoherence, an inconsistency; and I soon 
 found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile 
 struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy, an ex 
 cessive nervous agitation. For something of this 
 nature I had indeed been prepared, no less by his 
 letter than by reminiscences of certain boyish traits, 
 and by conclusions deduced from his peculiar physical 
 conformation and temperament. His action was alter 
 nately vivacious and sullen. His voice varied rapidly 
 from a tremulous indecision (when the animal spirits 
 seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of 
 energetic concision, that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, 
 and hollow-sounding enunciation, that leaden, self- 
 balanced, and perfectly modulated guttural utterance, 
 which may be observed in the lost drunkard, or the 
 irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of 
 his most intense excitement. 
 
 It was thus that he spoke of the object of my visit, 
 of his earnest desire to see me, and of the solace he 
 expected me to afford him. He entered, at some 
 length, into what he conceived to be the nature of his 
 malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and family 
 evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy ; 
 
 293 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which 
 would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself 
 in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as he 
 detailed them, interested and bewildered me; al 
 though, perhaps, the terms and the general manner 
 of their narration had their weight. He suffered 
 much from a morbid acuteners of the senses ; the most 
 insipid food was alone endurable ; he could wear only 
 garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers 
 were oppressive ; his eyes were tortured by even a 
 faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and 
 these from stringed instruments, which did not in 
 spire him with horror. 
 
 To an anomalous species of terror I found him a 
 bounden slave. "I shall perish," said he, "I MUST 
 perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not 
 otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the 
 future, not in themselves, but in their results. I 
 shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, 
 incident, which may operate upon this intolerable 
 agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of 
 danger, except in its absolute effect, in terror. In 
 this unnerved, in this pitiable, condition I feel that 
 the period will sooner or later arrive when I must 
 abandon life and reason together, in some struggle 
 with the grim phantasm, FEAR. 
 
 I learned, moreover, at intervals, and through 
 broken and equivocal hints, another singular feature 
 of this mental condition. He was enchained by certain 
 superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling 
 which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he 
 
 294 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 had never ventured forth; in regard to an influence 
 \vhose supposititious force was conveyed in terms too 
 shadowy here to be re-stated, an influence which some 
 peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his 
 family mansion had, by dint of long sufferance, he 
 said, obtained over his spirit, an effect which the 
 physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim 
 tarn into which they had all looked down, had, at 
 length, brought about upon the morale of his existence. 
 He admitted, however, although with hesitation, 
 that much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted 
 him could be traced to a more natural and far more 
 palpable origin: to the severe and long continued ill 
 ness, indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution, 
 of a tenderly beloved sister, his sole companion for 
 long years, his last and only relative on earth. "Her 
 decease," he said, with a bitterness which I can never 
 forget, "would leave him (him, the hopeless and the 
 frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers." 
 While he spoke, the Lady Madeline (for so was she 
 called) passed through a remote portion of the apart 
 ment, and, without having noticed my presence, dis 
 appeared. I regarded her with an utter astonishment 
 not unmingled with dread; and yet I found it impos 
 sible to account for such feelings. A sensation of 
 stupor oppressed me as my eyes followed her retreat 
 ing steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, 
 my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the counte 
 nance of the brother; but he had buried his face in 
 his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more 
 
 295 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated 
 fingers, through which trickled many passionate tears. 
 
 The disease of the Lady Madeline had long baffled 
 the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a 
 gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent 
 although transient affections of a partially cataleptical 
 character were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she 
 had steadily borne up against the pressure of her 
 malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bed; 
 but on the closing in of the evening of my arrival at 
 the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at 
 night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating 
 power of the destroyer; and I learned that the 
 glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus 
 probably be the last I should obtain, that the lady, at 
 least while living, would be seen by me no more. 
 
 For several days ensuing, her name was unmen- 
 tioned by either Usher or myself; and during this 
 period I was busied in earnest endeavors to alleviate 
 the melancholy of my friend. We painted and read 
 together, or I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild 
 improvisations of his speaking guitar. And thus, as a 
 closer and still closer intimacy admitted me more un 
 reservedly into the recesses of his spirit, the more 
 bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempt at 
 cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inher 
 ent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects 
 of the moral and physical universe in one unceasing 
 radiation of gloom. 
 
 I shall ever bear about me a memory of the many 
 solemn hours I thus spent alone with the master of 
 
 296 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 the House of Usher. Yet I should fail in any attempt 
 to convey an idea of the exact character of the studies, 
 or of the occupations, in which he involved me, or 
 led me the way. An excited and highly distempered 
 ideality threw a sulphureous luster over all. His long 
 improvised dirges will ring forever in my ears. 
 Among other things, I hold painfully in mind a cer 
 tain singular perversion and amplification of the 
 wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber. From the 
 paintings over which his elaborate fancy brooded, and 
 which grew, touch by touch, into vaguenesses at which 
 I shuddered the more thrillingly, because I shuddered 
 knowing not why from these paintings (vivid as 
 their images now are before me) I would in vain 
 endeavor to educe more than a small portion which 
 should lie within the compass of merely written 
 words. By the utter simplicity, by the nakedness of 
 his designs, he arrested and overawed attention. If 
 ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Rod 
 erick Usher. For me, at least, in the circumstances 
 then surrounding me, there arose out of the pure 
 abstractions which the hypochondriac contrived to 
 throw upon his canvas, an intensity of intolerable 
 awe, no shadow of which felt I ever yet in the contem 
 plation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete 
 reveries of Fuseli. 
 
 One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my 
 friend, partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of ab 
 straction, may be shadowed forth, although feebly, 
 in words. A small picture presented the interior of 
 an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, 
 
 297 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 with low walls, smooth, white, and without inter 
 ruption or device. Certain accessory points of the 
 design served well to convey the idea that this exca 
 vation lay at an exceeding depth below the surface of 
 the earth. No outlet was observed in any portion 
 of its vast extent, and no torch or other artificial 
 source of light was discernible ; yet a flood of intense 
 rays rolled throughout, and bathed the whole in a 
 ghastly and inappropriate splendor. 
 
 I have just spoken of that morbid condition of 
 the auditory nerve which rendered all music intoler 
 able to the sufferer, with the exception of certain 
 effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps, the 
 narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon 
 the guitar, which gave birth, in great measure, to the 
 fantastic character of his performances. But the 
 fervid facility of his impromptus could not be so 
 accounted for. They must have been, and were, in 
 the notes, as well as in the words of his wild fantasias 
 (for he not unfrequently accompanied himself with 
 rhymed verbal impro visions) the result of that in 
 tense mental collectedness and concentration to 
 which I have previously alluded as observable only in 
 particular moments of the highest artificial excite 
 ment. The words of one of these rhapsodies I have 
 easily remembered. I was, perhaps, the more forcibly 
 impressed with it as he gave it, because, in the under 
 or mystic current of its meaning, I fancied that I 
 perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness 
 on the part of Usher, of the tottering of his lofty 
 reason upon her throne. The verses, which were 
 
 298 
 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 entitled "The Haunted Palace/ 7 ran very nearly, 
 if not accurately, thus: 
 
 In the greenest of our valleys 
 
 By good angels tenanted, 
 Once a fair and stately palace 
 
 Radiant palace reared its head. 
 In the monarch Thought s dominion 
 
 It stood there! 
 Never seraph spread a pinion 
 
 Over fabric half so fair. 
 
 II 
 
 Banners yellow, glorious, golden, 
 
 On its roof did float and flow 
 (This, all this, was in the olden 
 
 Time long ago), 
 And every gentle air that dallied, 
 
 In that sweet day, 
 Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, 
 
 A winged odor went away. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Wanderers in that happy valley 
 
 Through two luminous windows saw 
 Spirits moving musically 
 
 To a lute s well-tuned law, 
 Bound about a throne where, sitting 
 
 (Porphyrogene ! ) 
 In state his glory well befitting, 
 
 The ruler of the realm was seen. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 IV 
 
 And all with pearl and ruby glowing 
 
 Was the fair palace door, 
 Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, 
 
 And sparkling evermore, 
 A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty 
 
 Was but to sing, 
 In voices of surpassing beauty, 
 
 The wit and wisdom of their king. 
 
 But evil things, in robes of sorrow, 
 
 Assailed the monarch s high estate. 
 (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow 
 
 Shall dawn upon him, desolate!) 
 And, round about his home, the glory 
 
 That blushed and bloomed 
 Is but a dim-remembered story 
 
 Of the old time entombed. 
 
 VI 
 
 And travelers now, within that valley, 
 
 Through the red-litten windows see 
 Vast forms that move fantastically 
 
 To a discordant melody, 
 While, like a rapid ghastly river, 
 
 Through the pale door 
 A hideous throng rush out forever, 
 
 And laugh but smile no more. 
 
 I well remember that suggestions arising from this 
 ballad led us into a train of thought wherein 
 there became manifest an opinion of Usher s, which 
 
 300 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 I mention not so much on account of its novelty (for 
 other men * have thought thus), as on account of the 
 pertinacity with which he maintained it. This opin 
 ion, in its general form, was that of the sentience of 
 all vegetable things. But, in his disordered fancy, 
 the idea had assumed a more daring character, and 
 trespassed, under certain conditions, upon the king 
 dom of inorganization. I lack words to express the 
 full extent, or the earnest ABANDON, of his persuasion. 
 The belief, however, was connected (as I have pre 
 viously hinted) with the gray stones of the home of 
 his forefathers. The conditions of the sentience had 
 been here, he imagined, fulfilled in the method of 
 collocation of these stones, in the order of their ar 
 rangement, as well as in that of the many fungi which 
 overspread them, and of the decayed trees which 
 stood around; above all, in the long undisturbed en 
 durance of this arrangement, and in its reduplication 
 in the still waters of the tarn. Its evidence, the 
 evidence of the sentience, was to be seen, he said 
 (and I here started as he spoke), in the gradual yet 
 certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own 
 about the waters and the walls. The result was dis 
 coverable, he added, in that silent yet importunate 
 and terrible influence which for centuries had 
 moulded the destinies of his family, and which made 
 him what I now saw him, what he was. Such opinions 
 need no comment, and I will make none. 
 
 * Watson, Dr. Percival, Spallanzani, and especially the 
 Bishop of Landaff. See Chemical Essays, vol. v. 
 
 301 
 
I 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Our books the books which, for years, had 
 formed no small portion of the mental existence of 
 the invalid were, as might be supposed, in strict 
 keeping with this character of phantasm. We pored 
 together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse 
 of Gresset; the Belphegor of Machiavelli; the Heaven 
 and Hell of Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage of 
 Nicholas Klimm, by Holberg; the Chiromancy of 
 Kobert Flud, of Jean D Indagine, and of De la 
 Chambre ; the Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck ; 
 and the City of the Sun of Campanella. One favorite 
 volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium 
 Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne ; 
 and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the 
 old African Satyrs and (Egipans, over which Usher 
 would sit dreaming for hours. His chief delight, how 
 ever, was found in the perusal of an exceedingly rare 
 and curious book in quarto Gothic, the manual of a 
 forgotten church, the Vigilice Mortuorum secundum 
 Chorum Ecclesice Maguntinw. 
 
 I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this 
 work, and of its probable influence upon the hypo 
 chondriac, when, one evening, having informed me 
 abruptly that the Lady Madeline was no more, he 
 stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a 
 fortnight (previously to its final interment) in one 
 of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the 
 building. The worldly reason, however, assigned 
 for this singular proceeding, was one which I did 
 not feel at liberty to dispute. The brother had been 
 led to this resolution (so he told me) by consideration 
 
 302 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 of the unusual character of the malady of the de 
 ceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on 
 the part of her medical men, and of the remote and 
 exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family. 
 I will not deny that, when I called to mind the sinister 
 countenance of the person whom I met upon the 
 staircase on the day of my arrival at the house, I 
 had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best 
 but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural 
 precaution. 
 
 At the request of Usher, I personally aided him 
 in the arrangements for the temporary entombment. 
 The body having been encoffined, we two alone bore 
 it to its rest. The vault in which we placed it (and 
 which had been so long unopened that our torches, 
 half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us 
 little opportunity for investigation) was small, damp, 
 and entirely without means of admission for light; 
 lying, at great depth, immediately beneath that por 
 tion of the building in which was my own sleeping 
 apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote 
 feudal times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, 
 and, in later days, as a place of deposit for powder, 
 or some other highly combustible substance, as a 
 portion of its floor and the whole interior of a long 
 archway through which we reached it were carefully 
 sheathed with copper. The door, of massive iron, had 
 been, also, similarly protected. Its immense weight 
 caused an unusually sharp grating sound, as it moved 
 upon its hinges. 
 
 Having deposited our mournful burden upon tres- 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 sels within this region of horror, we partially turned 
 aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked 
 upon the face of the tenant. A striking similitude 
 between the brother and sister now first arrested my 
 attention ; and Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, 
 murmured out some few words from which I learned 
 that the deceased and himself had been twins, and 
 that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had 
 always existed between them. Our glances, however, 
 rested not long upon the dead, for we could not regard 
 her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed 
 the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual 
 in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, 
 the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the 
 face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the 
 lip which is so terrible in death. We replaced and 
 screwed down the lid, and, having secured the door 
 of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely 
 less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of the 
 house. 
 
 And now, some days of bitter grief having 
 elapsed, an observable change came over the features 
 of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary 
 manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations 
 were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from 
 chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and 
 objectless step. The pallor of his countenance had 
 assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue, but the 
 luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out. The 
 once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no 
 more j and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, 
 
 204 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 habitually characterized his utterance. There were 
 times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agi 
 tated mind was laboring with some oppressive secret, 
 to divulge which he struggled for the necessary 
 courage. At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all 
 into the mere inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I 
 beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in 
 an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listen 
 ing to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that 
 his condition terrified, that it infected me. I felt 
 creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the 
 wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive 
 superstitions. 
 
 It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the 
 night of the seventh or eighth day after the placing 
 of the Lady Madeline within the donjon that I exper 
 ienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep came 
 not near my couch, while the hours waned and waned 
 away. I struggled to reason off the nervousness 
 which had dominion over me. I endeavored to be 
 lieve that much, if not all, of what I felt was due to 
 the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture 
 of the room of the dark and tattered draperies 
 which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising 
 tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, 
 and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the 
 bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An irrepressible 
 tremor gradually pervaded my frame ; and, at length, 
 there sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly 
 causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a gasp and a 
 struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows, and, 
 
 120 305 
 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 peering earnestly within the intense darkness of the 
 chamber, hearkened (I know not why, except that an 
 instinctive spirit prompted me) to certain low and in 
 definite sounds which came, through the pauses of the 
 storm, at long intervals, I knew not whence. Over 
 powered by an intense sentiment of horror, unac 
 countable yet unendurable, I threw on my clothes 
 with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more 
 during the night), and endeavored to arouse myself 
 from the pitiable condition into which I had fallen 
 by pacing rapidly to and fro through the apartment. 
 
 I had taken but a few turns in this manner when 
 a light step on an adjoining staircase arrested my 
 attention. I presently recognized it as that of Usher. 
 In an instant afterward he rapped, with a gentle 
 touch, at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His 
 countenance was, as usual, cadaverously wan, but 
 moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in his 
 eyes, an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole de 
 meanor. His air appalled me; but anything was 
 preferable to the solitude which I had so long en 
 dured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief. 
 
 "And you have not seen it?" he said, abruptly, 
 after having stared about him for some moments in 
 silence; "you have not then seen it? but, stay! you 
 shall." Thus speaking, and having carefully shaded 
 his lamp, he hurried to one of the casements, and 
 threw it freely open to the storm. 
 
 The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly 
 lifted us from our feet. It was, indeed, a tempes 
 tuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly sin- 
 
 306 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 gular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had 
 apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for 
 there were frequent and violent alterations in the 
 direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of 
 the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the 
 turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving 
 the lifelike velocity with which they flew careering 
 from all points against each other, without passing 
 away in the distance. I say that even their exceed 
 ing density did not prevent our perceiving this; yet 
 we had no glimpse of the moon or stars, nor was 
 there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the 
 under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, 
 as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around 
 us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly 
 luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation 
 which hung about and enshrouded the mansion. 
 
 "You must not, you shall not behold this! " said 
 I, shuddering, to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle 
 violence, from the window to a seat. " These appear 
 ances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phe 
 nomena, not uncommon; or it may be that they have 
 their ghastly origin in the rank miasma of the tarn. 
 Let us close this casement; the air is chilling and 
 dangerous to your frame. Here is one of your favor 
 ite romances. I will read, and you shall listen ; and 
 so we will pass away this terrible night together. " 
 
 The antique volume which I had taken up was the 
 Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot Canning, but I had called 
 it a favorite of Usher s more in sad jest than in earn 
 est; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and 
 
 307 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 unimaginative prolixity which could have had in 
 terest for the lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend. 
 It was, however, the only book immediately at hand; 
 and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement 
 which now agitated the hypochondriac might find 
 relief (for the history of mental disorder is full of 
 similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of the 
 folly which I should read. Could I have judged, 
 indeed, by the wild overstrained air of vivacity with 
 which he hearkened, or apparently hearkened, to the 
 words of the tale, I might well have congratulated 
 myself upon the success of my design. 
 
 I had arrived at that well-known portion of the 
 story where Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having 
 sought in vain for peaceable admission into the dwell 
 ing of the hermit, proceeds to make good an entrance 
 by force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of 
 the narrative run thus : 
 
 "And Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty 
 heart, and who was now mighty withal, on account 
 of the powerfulness of the wine which he had 
 drunken, waited no longer to hold parley with the 
 hermit, who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and malice- 
 ful turn, but, feeling the rain upon his shoulders, and 
 fearing the rising of the tempest, uplifted his mace 
 outright, and, with blows, made quickly room in the 
 plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand; and 
 now pulling therewith sturdily, he so cracked, and 
 ripped, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the 
 dry and hollow-sounding wood alarumed and rever 
 berated throughout the forest/ 
 
 508 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 At the termination of this sentence I started and, 
 for a moment, paused; for it appeared to me (al 
 though I at once concluded that my excited fancy 
 had deceived me) it appeared to me that, from some 
 very remote portion of the mansion, there came, indis 
 tinctly to my ears, what might have been, in its exact 
 similarity of character, the echo (but a stifled and dull 
 one, certainly) of the very cracking and ripping 
 sound which Sir Launcelot had so particularly 
 described. It was, beyond doubt, the coincidence 
 alone which had arrested my attention ; for, amid the 
 rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordi 
 nary commingled noises of the still increasing storm, 
 the sound, in itself, had nothing, surely, which should 
 have interested or disturbed me. I continued the 
 story : 
 
 "But the good champion Ethelred, now entering 
 within the door, was sore enraged and amazed to 
 perceive no signal of the maliceful hermit ; but, in the 
 stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious 
 demeanor, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard 
 before a palace of gold, with a floor of silver; and 
 upon the wall there hung a shield of shining brass 
 with this legend enwritten: 
 
 Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin; 
 Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win. 
 
 And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon 
 the head of the dragon, which fell before him, and 
 gave up his pesty breath, with a shriek so horrid and 
 
 309 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had fain 
 to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful 
 noise of it, the like whereof was never before heard." 
 
 Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a 
 feeling of wild amazement; for there could be no 
 doubt whatever that, in this instance, I did actually 
 hear (although from what direction it proceeded I 
 found it impossible to say) a low and apparently 
 distant, but harsli, protracted, and most unusual 
 screaming or grating sound, the exact counterpart of 
 what my fancy had already conjured up for the 
 dragon s unnatural shriek as described by the ro 
 mancer. 
 
 Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occur 
 rence of this second and most extraordinary coinci 
 dence, by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which 
 wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still 
 retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid excit 
 ing, by any observation, the sensitive nervousness of 
 my companion. I was by no means certain that he 
 had noticed the sounds in question ; although, assur 
 edly, a strange alteration had, during the last few 
 minutes, taken place in his demeanor. From a posi 
 tion fronting my own, he had gradually brought 
 round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door 
 of the chamber; and thus I could but partially per 
 ceive his features, although I saw that his lips trem 
 bled as if he were murmuring inaudibly. His head 
 had dropped upon his breast, yet I knew that he was 
 not asleep, from the wide and rigid opening of the 
 eye as I caught a glance of it in "profile. The motion 
 
 310 
 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 of his body, too, was at variance with this idea, for 
 he rocked from side to side with a gentle yet constant 
 and uniform sway. Having rapidly taken notice 
 of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir Launcelot, 
 which thus proceeded: 
 
 "And now, the champion, having escaped from 
 the terrible fury of the dragon, bethinking himself 
 of the brazen shield, and of the breaking up of the 
 enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass 
 from out of the way before him, and approached 
 valorously over the silver pavement of the castle to 
 where- the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth 
 tarried not his full coming, but fell down at his 
 feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and 
 terrible ringing sound." 
 
 No sooner had these syllables passed my lips than, 
 as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, 
 fallen heavily upon a floor of silver, I became aware 
 of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous, yet 
 apparently muffled, reverberation. Completely un 
 nerved, f leaped to my feet; but the measured rock 
 ing movement of Usher was undisturbed. I rushed 
 to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent 
 fixedly before him, and throughout his whole coun 
 tenance there reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I 
 placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a 
 strong shudder over his whole person, a sickly smile 
 quivered about his lips, and I saw that he spoke in 
 a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if uncon 
 scious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I 
 at length drank in the hideous import of his words. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 1 t 
 
 
 : Not hear it? yes, I hear it, and HAVE heard 
 it. Long long long many minutes, many 
 hours, many days, have I heard it, yet I dared not 
 oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am ! I dared 
 not, I DARED not speak ! WE HAVE PUT HER LIVING 
 IN THE TOMB ! Said I not that my senses were acute ? 
 I NOW tell you that I heard her first feeble movements 
 in the hollow coffin. I heard them, many, many days 
 ago, yet I dared not, I DARED NOT SPEAK! And now 
 to-night Ethelred ha! ha! the breaking of 
 the hermit s door, and the death-cry of the dragon, 
 and the clangor of the shield, say, rather, the 
 rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron 
 hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the 
 coppered archway of the vault! Oh! whither shall I 
 fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying 
 to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her 
 footstep on the stair ? Do I not distinguish that heavy 
 and horrible beating of her heart? Madman!" 
 here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked 
 out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving 
 up his soul Madman ! I tell you that she now 
 stands without the door." 
 
 As if in superhuman energy of his utterance there 
 had been found the potency of a spell, the huge 
 antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw 
 slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and 
 ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust, but 
 then without those doors there DID stand the lofty 
 and enshrouded figure of the Lady Madeline of Usher. 
 There was blood upon her white robes, and the 
 
 312 
 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER 
 
 evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion 
 of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained 
 trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold ; 
 then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward 
 upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and 
 now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a 
 corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated. 
 From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled 
 aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath 
 as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Sud 
 denly there shot along the path a wild light, and I 
 turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have 
 issued ; for the vast house and its shadows were alone 
 behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, 
 and blood-red moon, which now shone vividly through 
 that once barely discernible fissure, of which I have 
 before spoken as extending from the roof of the 
 building, in a zigzag direction, to the base. While 
 I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened, there came a 
 fierce breath of the whirlwind, the entire orb 
 of the satellite burst at once upon my sight, my 
 brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing 
 asunder, there was a long tumultuous shouting sound 
 like the voice of a thousand waters, and the deep 
 and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently 
 over the fragments of the " HOUSE OF USHER. " 
 
 313 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 A TALE OF THE LATE BUGABOO AND 
 KICKAPOO CAMPAIGN 
 
 Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez-vous en eau! 
 La moitie de ma vie a mis Vautre au tombeau. 
 
 COBNEILLE. 
 
 i 
 
 CANNOT just now remember when or where 
 I first made the acquaintance of that 
 truly fine-looking fellow, Brevet Brig 
 adier-General John A. B. C. Smith. 
 Some one DID introduce me to the 
 gentleman, I am sure at some public meeting, I 
 know very well, held about something of great impor 
 tance, no doubt, at some place or other, I feel con 
 vinced, whose name I have unaccountably forgotten. 
 The truth is that the introduction was attended, upon 
 my part, with a degree of anxious embarrassment 
 which operated to prevent any definite impressions 
 of either time or place. I am constitutionally nerv 
 ous; this, with me, is a family failing, and I can t 
 help it. In especial, the slightest appearance of mys 
 tery, of any point I cannot exactly comprehend, puts 
 me at once into a pitiable state of agitation. 
 
 There was something, as it were, remarkable 
 yes, REMARKABLE, although this is but a feeble term 
 to express my full meaning about the entire individ- 
 
 3M 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 uality of the personage in question. He was, perhaps, 
 six feet in height, and of a presence singularly com 
 manding. There was an air distingue pervading the 
 whole man, which spoke of high breeding, and hinted 
 at high birth. Upon this topic, the topic of Smith s 
 personal appearance, I have a kind of melancholy 
 satisfaction in being minute. His head of hair would 
 have done honor to a Brutus ; nothing could be more 
 richly flowing, or possess a brighter gloss. It was of 
 a jetty black ; which was also the color, or more prop 
 erly the no color, of his unimaginable whiskers. 
 You perceive I cannot speak of these latter with 
 out enthusiasm; it is not too much to say that they 
 were the handsomest pair of whiskers under the sun. 
 At all events, they encircled, and at times partially 
 overshadowed, a mouth utterly unequalled. Here 
 were the most entirely even, and the most brilliantly 
 white of all conceivable teeth. From between them, 
 upon every proper occasion, issued a voice of sur 
 passing clearness, melody, and strength. In the 
 matter of eyes, also, my acquaintance was pre-emi 
 nently endowed. Either one of such a pair was worth 
 a couple of the ordinary ocular organs. They were of 
 a deep hazel, exceedingly large and lustrous; and 
 there was perceptible about them, ever and anon, just 
 that amount of interesting obliquity which gives preg 
 nancy to expression. 
 
 The bust of the General was unquestionably the 
 finest bust I ever saw. For your life you could not 
 have found fault with its wonderful proportion. This 
 rare peculiarity set off to great advantage a pair of 
 
 315 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 shoulders which would have called up a blush of 
 conscious inferiority into the countenance of the 
 marble Apollo. I have a passion for fine shoulders, 
 and may say that I never beheld them in per 
 fection before. The arms altogether were admirably 
 modelled. Nor were the lower limbs less superb. 
 These were, indeed, the ne plus ultra of good legs. 
 Every connoisseur in such matters admitted the legs 
 to be good. There was neither too much flesh nor 
 too little, neither rudeness nor fragility. I could 
 not imgaine a more graceful curve than that of the 
 os femoris, and there was just that due gentle prom 
 inence in the rear of the fibula which goes to the con 
 formation of a properly proportioned calf. I wish 
 to God my young and talented friend Chiponchipino, 
 the sculptor, had but seen the legs of Brevet Brigadier- 
 General John A. B. C. Smith. 
 
 But although men so absolutely fine-looking are 
 neither as plenty as reasons or blackberries, still I 
 could not bring myself to believe that THE REMARK 
 ABLE something to which I alluded just now that 
 the odd air of je ne sals quoi which hung about my new 
 acquaintance, lay altogether, or indeed at all, in 
 the supreme excellence of his bodily endowments. 
 Perhaps it might be traced to the manner; yet here 
 again I could not pretend to be positive. There was 
 a primness, not to say stiffness, in his carriage; a 
 degree of measured and, if I may so express it, of rec 
 tangular precision attending his every movement, 
 which, observed in a more diminutive figure, would 
 have had the least little savor in the world of affecta- 
 
 3.6 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 tion, pomposity, or constraint, but which, noticed in 
 a gentleman of his undoubted dimensions, was readily 
 placed to the account of reserve, hauteur-, of a com 
 mendable sense, in short, of what is due to the dignity 
 of colossal proportion. 
 
 The kind friend who presented me to General 
 Smith whispered in my ear some few words of com 
 ment upon the man. He was a REMARKABLE man, a 
 VERY remarkable man; indeed, one of the most re 
 markable men of the age. He was an especial favorite, 
 too, with the ladies, chiefly on account of his high 
 reputation for courage. 
 
 "In THAT point he is unrivalled; indeed, he is a 
 perfect desperado, a downright fire-eater, and no 
 mistake, * said my friend, here dropping his voice 
 excessively low, and thrilling me with the mystery 
 of his tone. 
 
 "A downright fire-eater, and NO mistake. Showed 
 THAT, I should say, to some purpose, in the late tre 
 mendous swamp-fight, away down South, with the 
 Bugaboo and Kickapoo Indians. [Here my friend 
 opened his eyes to some extent.] Bless my soul! 
 blood and thunder, and all that! PRODIGIES of valor! 
 heard of him, of course ? you know he s the man - 
 
 "Man alive, how DO you do? why, how ARE ye? 
 VERY glad to see ye, indeed!" here interrupted the 
 General himself, seizing my companion by the hand 
 as he drew near, and bowing stiffly but profoundly as 
 I was presented. I then thought (and I think so still) 
 that I never heard a clearer nor a stronger voice, nor 
 beheld a finer set of teeth : but I MUST say that I was 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 sorry for the interruption Just at that moment, as, 
 owing to the whispers and insinuations aforesaid, my 
 interest had been greatly excited in the hero of the 
 Bugaboo and Kickapoo campaign. 
 
 However, the delightfully luminous conversation 
 of Brevet Brigadier-General John A. B. C. Smith soon 
 completely dissipated this chagrin. My friend leaving 
 us immediately, we had quite a long tete-a-tete; and I 
 was not only pleased but really instructed. I never 
 heard a more fluent talker, or a man of greater gen 
 eral information. With becoming modesty, he for 
 bore, nevertheless, to touch upon the theme I had 
 just then most at heart: I mean the mysterious cir 
 cumstances attending the Bugaboo War; and, on my 
 own part, what I conceive to be a proper sense of 
 delicacy forbade me to broach the subject; although, 
 in truth, I was exceedingly tempted to do so. I 
 perceived, too, that the gallant soldier preferred 
 topics of philosophical interest, and that he delighted, 
 especially, in commenting upon the rapid march of 
 mechanical invention. Indeed, lead him where I 
 would, this was a point to which he invariably came 
 back. 
 
 "There is nothing at all like it," he would say; 
 "we are a wonderful people, and live in a wonderful 
 age. Parachutes and railroads, man-traps and spring- 
 guns! Our steamboats are upon every sea, and the 
 Nassau balloon packet is about to run regular trips 
 (fare either way only twenty pounds sterling) be 
 tween London and Timbuctoo. And who shall calcu 
 late the immense influence upon social life, upon arts, 
 
 318 
 
^>>o 
 
 THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 upon commerce, upon literature, which will be the 
 immediate result of the great principles of electro 
 magnetics ! Nor is this all, let me assure you ! There 
 is really no end to the march of invention. ; The 
 most wonderful, the most ingenious, and let me add, 
 Mr. Mr. Thompson, I believe, is your name let 
 me add, I say, the most USEFUL, the most truly 
 USEFUL, mechanical contrivances are daily spring 
 ing up like mushrooms, if I may so express myself, 
 or, more figuratively, like ah grasshoppers 
 like grasshoppers, Mr. Thompson about us and ah 
 ah ah around us ! 
 
 Thompson, to be sure, is not my name ; but it is 
 needless to say that I left General Smith with a 
 heightened interest in the man, with an exalted 
 opinion of his conversational powers, and a deep 
 sense of the valuable privileges we enjoy in living in 
 this age of mechanical invention. My curiosity, how 
 ever, had not been altogether satisfied, and I resolved 
 to prosecute immediate inquiry among my acquaint 
 ances touching the Brevet Brigadier-General himself, 
 and particularly respecting the tremendous events 
 quorum pars magna fuit, during the Bugaboo and 
 Kickapoo campaign. 
 
 The first opportunity which presented itself, and 
 which (horresco referens) I did not in the least scruple 
 to seize, occurred at the Church of the Reverend 
 Doctor Drummummupp, where I found myself es 
 tablished, one Sunday, just at sermon time, not only 
 in the pew, but by the side of that worthy and com 
 municative little friend of mine, Miss Tabitha T. 
 
 319 
 

 / 
 
 O 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Thus seated, I congratulated myself, and with much 
 reason, upon the very nattering state of affairs. If 
 any person knew anything about Brevet Brigadier- 
 General John A. B. C. Smith, that person, it was clear 
 to me, was Miss Tabitha T. We telegraphed a few 
 signals and then commenced, sotto voce, a brisk 
 tete-a-tete. 
 
 " Smith I" said she, in reply to my very earnest 
 inquiry; "Smith! why, not General A. B. C. ? Bless 
 me, I thought you KNEW all about HIM! This is a 
 wonderfully inventive age ! Horrid affair that ! a 
 bloody set of wretches, those Kickapoos ! fought like 
 a hero prodigies of valor immortal renown. 
 Smith ! Brevet Brigadier-General John A. B. C. ! 
 why, you know he s the man " 
 
 "Man," here broke in Doctor Drummummupp, at 
 the top of his voice, and with a thump that came near 
 knocking the pulpit about our ears, "man that is 
 born of a woman hath but a short time to live; he 
 cometh up and is cut down like a flower !" I started 
 to the extremity of the pew, and perceived by the 
 animated looks of the divine that the wrath which 
 had nearly proved fatal to the pulpit had been excited 
 by the whispers of the lady and myself. There was 
 no help for it ; so I submitted with a good grace, and 
 listened, in all the martyrdom of dignified silence, to 
 the balance of that very capital discourse. 
 
 Next evening found me a somewhat late visitor 
 at the Rantipole Theatre, where I felt sure of satisfy 
 ing my curiosity at once, by merely stepping into 
 the box of those exquisite specimens of affability and 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 omniscience, the Misses Arabella and Miranda Cogno 
 scenti. That fine tragedian, Climax, was doing lago 
 to a very crowded house, and I experienced some 
 little difficulty in making my wishes understood; es 
 pecially as our box was next the slips, and completely 
 overlooked the stage. 
 
 " Smith!" said Miss Arabella, as she at length 
 comprehended the purport of my query; "Smith! 
 why, not General John A. B. C.?" 
 
 "Smith!" inquired Miranda, musingly. "God 
 bless me, did you ever behold a finer figure?" 
 
 "Never, madam, but DO tell me " 
 
 "Or so inimitable grace?" 
 
 "Never, upon my word! But pray, inform 
 me " 
 
 "Or so just an appreciation of stage effect?" 
 
 "Madam!" 
 
 "Or a more delicate sense of the true beauties 
 of Shakespeare? Be so good as to look at that leg!" 
 
 "The devil!" and I turned again to her sister. 
 
 "Smith!" said she, "why, not General John A. 
 B. C.? Horrid affair that, wasn t it? great 
 wretches, those Bugaboos savage, and so on but 
 we live in a wonderfully inventive age! Smith! 
 Oh yes ! great man ! perfect desperado ! immor 
 tal renown ! prodigies of valor ! NEVER HEARD ! 
 (This was given in a scream.) "Bless my soul! 
 why he s the man *" 
 
 mandragora 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world 
 
 I 21 321 
 
 
 

 EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 
 "Which thou owedst yesterday! " 
 
 here roared out Climax just in my ear, and shaking 
 his fist in my face all the time in a way that I couldn t 
 stand, and I wouldn t. I left the Misses Cognoscenti 
 immediately, went behind the scenes forthwith, and 
 gave the beggarly scoundrel such a thrashing as I 
 trust he will remember till the day of his death. 
 
 At the soiree of the lovely widow, Mrs. Kathleen 
 Trump, I was confident that I should meet with 
 no similiar disappointment. Accordingly, I was no 
 sooner seated at the card-table, with my pretty hostess 
 for a vis-a-vis, than I propounded those questions the 
 solution of which had become a matter so essential 
 to my peace. 
 
 " Smith!" said my partner, "why, not General 
 John A. B. C.? Horrid affair that, wasn t it? dia 
 monds did you say? -terrible wretches, those Kicka- 
 poos ! we are playing whist, if you please, Mr. Tattle 
 
 however, this is the age of invention, most cer 
 tainly THE age, one may say THE age par excellence 
 
 speak French ? oh, quite a hero perfect desper 
 ado! NO HEARTS, Mr. Tattle? I don t believe it 
 immortal renown and all that prodigies of valor! 
 NEVER HEARD ! ! why, bless me, he s the man 
 
 "Mann! CAPTAIN Mann!" here screamed some 
 little feminine interloper from the farthest corner of 
 the room. "Are you talking about Captain Mann 
 and the duel ? oh, I MUST hear do tell go on, 
 Mrs. Trump! do now go on!" And go on Mrs. 
 
 322 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 Trump did all about a certain Captain Mann, 
 who was either shot or hung, or should have been 
 both shot and hung. Yes! Mrs. Trump, she went 
 on, and I I went off. There was no chance of 
 hearing anything further that evening in regard to 
 Brevet Brigadier-General John A. B. C. Smith. 
 
 Still I consoled myself with the reflection that the 
 tide of ill-luck would not run against me forever, and 
 so determined to make a bold push for information 
 at the rout of that bewitching little angel, the grace 
 ful Mrs. Pirouette. 
 
 " Smith!" said Mrs. P., as we twirled about to 
 gether in a pas de zephyr, t Smith ! why, not General 
 John A. B. C. ? Dreadful business that of the Buga 
 boos, wasn t it? dreadful creatures, those Indians! 
 DO turn out your toes ! I really am ashamed of you 
 man of great courage, poor fellow ! but this is 
 a wonderful age for invention Oh, dear me, I m 
 out of breath quite a desperado prodigies of 
 valor NEVER HEARD ! can t believe it I shall 
 have to sit down and enlighten you Smith ! why 
 he s the man 
 
 Man-Fred, I tell you!" here bawled out Miss 
 Bas-Bleu, as I led Mrs. Pirouette to a seat. "Did 
 ever anybody hear the like? It s ~NLan-Frcd, I say, 
 and not at all by any means Wan-Friday. " Here 
 Miss Bas-Bleu beckoned to me in a very peremptory 
 manner; and I was obliged, will I nill I, to leave 
 Mrs. P. for the purpose of deciding a dispute touch 
 ing the title of a certain poetical drama of Lord 
 Byron s. Although I pronounced, with great prompt- 
 
 323 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 ness, that the true title was Man-Friday, and not by 
 any means Man-Fred, yet when I returned to seek 
 Mrs. Pirouette she was not to be discovered, and I 
 made my retreat from the house in a very bitter spirit 
 of animosity against the whole race of the Bas-Bleus. 
 
 Matters had now assumed a really serious aspect, 
 and I resolved to call at once upon my particular 
 friend, Theodore Sinivate; for I knew that here at 
 least I should get something like definite informa 
 tion. 
 
 Smith ! said he, in his well-known peculiar way 
 of drawling out his syllables ; * Smith ! why, not 
 General John A. B. C.? Savage affair that with the 
 Kickapo-o-o-os, wasn t it? Say, don t you think so? 
 perfect despera-a-ado great pity, pon my 
 honor! wonderfully inventive age! pro-o-odigies 
 of valor ! By the by, did you ever hear about Captain 
 Ma-a-a-a-n?" 
 
 11 Captain Mann be d d!" said I; "please to go 
 on with your story." 
 
 Hem ! oh well ! quite la meme cho-o-ose, as we 
 say in France. Smith, eh? Brigadier-General John 
 A B C. ? I say" (here Mr. S* thought proper 
 to put his finger to the side of his nose) "I say, 
 you don t mean to insinuate now, really and truly, 
 and conscientiously, that you don t know all about 
 that affair of Smith s as well as I do, eh? Smith? 
 John A B C.? Why, bless me, he s the 
 ma-a-an " 
 
 "Mr. Sinivate," said I, imploringly, "is he the 
 man in the mask ? 
 
 324 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 "No-o-o!" said he, looking wise, "nor the man in 
 the mo-o-on." 
 
 This reply I considered a pointed and positive 
 insult, and so left the house at once in high dudgeon, 
 with a firm resolve to call my friend, Mr. Sinivate, 
 to a speedy account for his ungentlemanly conduct 
 and ill-breeding. 
 
 In the meantime, however, I had no notion of being 
 thwarted touching the information I desired. There 
 was one resource left me yet. I would go to the 
 fountain-head. I would call forthwith upon the Gen 
 eral himself, and demand, in explicit terms, a solu 
 tion of his abominable piece of mystery. Here, at 
 least, there should be no chance of equivocation. I 
 would be plain, positive, peremptory ; as short as pie 
 crust, as concise as Tacitus or Montesquieu. 
 
 It was early when I called, and the General was 
 dressing, but I pleaded urgent business, and was 
 shown at once into his bedroom by an old negro valet, 
 who remained in attendance during my visit. As I 
 entered the chamber, I looked about, of course, for the 
 occupant, but did not immediately perceive him. 
 There was a large and exceedingly odd-looking 
 bundle of something which lay close by my feet on 
 the floor, and, as I was not in the best humor in the 
 world, I gave it a kick out of the way. 
 
 "Hem! ahem! rather civil that, I should say!" 
 said the bundle, in one of the smallest, and alto 
 gether the funniest little voices, between a squeak 
 and a whistle, that I ever heard in all the days of 
 my existence. 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 "Ahem! rather civil that, I should observe." 
 
 I fairly shouted with terror, and made off, at a 
 tangent, into the farthest extremity of the room. 
 
 "God bless me, my dear fellow!" here again 
 whistled the bundle, * * what what what why, 
 what is the matter? I really believe you don t know 
 me at all." 
 
 What COULD I say to all this? what COULD I? I 
 staggered into an armchair, and, with staring eyes 
 and open mouth, awaited the solution of the wonder. 
 
 "Strange you shouldn t know me, though, isn t 
 it?" presently re-squeaked the nondescript, which I 
 now perceived was performing upon the floor some 
 inexplicable evolution, very analogous to the drawing 
 on of a stocking. There was only a single leg, how 
 ever, apparent. 
 
 "Strange you shouldn t know me though, isn t 
 it? Pompey, bring me that leg!" Here Pompey 
 handed the bundle a very capital cork leg, already 
 dressed, which it screwed on in a trice ; and then it 
 stood up before my eyes. 
 
 "And a bloody action it was," continued the 
 thing, as if in a soliloquy; "but then one mustn t 
 fight with the Bugaboos and Kickapoos, and think of 
 coming off with a mere scratch. Pompey, I ll thank 
 you now for that arm. Thomas" (turning to me) "is 
 decidedly the best hand at a cork leg; but if you 
 should ever want an arm, my dear fellow, you must 
 really let me recommend you to Bishop." Here 
 Pompey screwed on an arm. 
 
 "We had rather hot work of it, that you may say. 
 
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP 
 
 Now, you dog, slip on my shoulders and bosom. 
 Pettit makes the best shoulders, but for a bosom you 
 will have to go to Ducrow." 
 
 "Bosom!" said I. 
 
 "Pompey, will you never be ready with that wig? 
 Scalping is a rough process, after all; but then you 
 can procure such a capital scratch at De L Orme s." 
 
 "Scratch!" 
 
 "Now, you nigger, my teeth! For a good set of 
 these you had better go to Parmly s at once; high 
 prices, but excellent work. I swallowed some very 
 capital articles, though, when the big Bugaboo ram 
 med me down with the butt end of his rifle. 
 
 Butt end ! ram down ! ! my eye ! ! " 
 
 "Oh, yes, by the by, my eye! Here, Pompey, 
 you scamp, screw it in! Those Kickapoos are not 
 so very slow at a gouge, he s a belied man, 
 that Dr. Williams, after all; you can t imagine how 
 well I see with the eyes of his make. 
 
 I now began very clearly to perceive that the 
 object before me was nothing more or less than my 
 new acquaintance, Brevet Brigadier-General John A. 
 B. C. Smith. The manipulations of Pompey had 
 made, I must confess, a very striking difference in 
 the personal appearance of the man. The voice, 
 however, still puzzled me no little; but even this 
 apparent mystery was speedily cleared up. 
 
 "Pompey, you black rascal," squeaked the Gen 
 eral, "I really do believe you would let me go with 
 out my palate." 
 
 Hereupon the negro, grumbling out an apology, 
 
 327 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE 
 
 went up to his master, opened his mouth with the 
 knowing air of a horse^jockey, and adjusted therein 
 a somewhat singular-looking machine, in a very dex 
 terous manner, that I could not altogether compre 
 hend. The alteration, however, in the entire expres 
 sion of the General s countenance was instantaneous 
 and surprising. When he again spoke, his voice had 
 resumed all that rich melody and strength which I 
 had noticed upon our original introduction. 
 
 D n the vagabonds! " said he, in so clear a 
 tone that I positively started at the change. " D n 
 the vagabonds! they not only knocked in the roof 
 of my mouth, but took the trouble to cut off at least 
 seven-eighths of my tongue. There isn t Bonfanti s 
 equal, however, in America, for really good articles 
 of this description. I can recommend you to him 
 with confidence" (here the General bowed), "and 
 assure you that I have the greatest pleasure in so 
 doing. 
 
 I acknowledged his kindness in my best manner, 
 and took leave of him at once, with a perfect under 
 standing of the true state of affairs, with a full com 
 prehension of the mystery which had troubled me 
 so long. It was evident. It was a clear case. Brevet 
 Brigadier-General John A. B. C. Smith was the man 
 
 Was THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. 
 
 328 
 

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