26 The Necromancer continued. caufe two of them are converfe, which Ptolemy fays never kill, except it is to the weft; and I hope that he does not think the body of Jupiter will do it; and as for the femiquartile of Mars, I can affure him that will not, although he made it do it in the nativity of John Gordon, Vol.ii. p. 148, and that violent ly too, without the affiftance or help of any other ray whatever to fall in with it. But if we allow the femiquartile of Saturn or Mars to kill in one nativiey, it fhould have fomething like the fame effect in another; and if that be allowed, then I believe there is but few of us fhould live to the years of maturity for if a femiquartile will kill, I am fure a fefquiquadrate has a right to claim the fame honour of kicking up our heels: if this be granted, then we should be fhort lived metals indeed; for there is but few born, but what pafs fome of thofe rays long before they arrive at the age of twenty -years. But if the time that he has given fhould be true in that child's nativity, though I am rather inclined to think it is not, because the pofition is fo very violent, I think the native muft have died before this time; but I will not be too pofitive, because I have of times found that Jupiter, although under the Sun beams, has kept off the evil intended by Saturn, and Venus that of Mars. But that there is direction that will kill about the time he has predicted, is moft certain, which are the Sun to the rapt parallel of Saturn; to the rapt parallel of Mercury, and to the paral lel of Saturn in mundo, d. d. and the parallel of Mercury in mundo d. d. and to both their parallèls by converse motion, and converfe to the fquare of Mars in mundo. Thus you fee there is feven directions to the giver of life, befides thofe cal-' culated by W. E. and they all malevolent and evil, and far more likely to give death than thofe done by our Lambeth correfpondent, according to my judgment. But, perhaps, this may give fome people difguft, and provoke them to an ill opinion of me, thinking that I have done this out of a capricious humour; but I affure them it is no fuch thing, but merely in vindication of myself, and the refpect I have to truth. H. D. High-Holborn, Auguft, 5th, 1793. THE NECROMANCER. (Continued from Page 498.) "SINCE his death the manor hcufe has always been untenantable. Many who have foolishly attempted to fleep in it have paid for their temerity with their lives. Nay, I know it to be a fact, that feveral who have flept in my houfe, and who on hearing the noife, of his approach, have been daring enough to look out at window, have been punished with a fwelled face, or even a particular caft in their eye, if not with a total deprivation of fight, for their rash curiofity." With thefe words our landlord con Walk to the Haunted Cafie. venture to lay the laft farthing I'm worth in the world, that you laugh on the other fide of your mouth by to morrow morning, provided you have heart fufficient to ftay here over night." "That you fhall foon fee, was the lieutenant's reply-Not only here, my good friend, but in the very castle it felf, and were it haunted with a whole legion of devils, were it the very palace and Pandemonium of Beelzebub! will I pafs the enfuing.night. Thefe gentlemen, I make no doubt, addreffing his discourse to the count and my felf, will gladly favour me with their company." My young nobleman was a man of honour, Not to accept this challenge would have appeared to him an inde. lible ftain upon his character. His affent, therefore, was quickly given. For my part, I ftarted a thousand ob jections, and representing to the lieutenant the danger we might expose our felves to, uncertain as we were what kind of fpirits we should have to deal with, left no argument untried to dif. fuade him from his project; but the lieutenant cutting me fhort: "I am a foldier, and wear a fword; and for gentlemen of our profeffion, ghofts of every defcription, both with bodies and without, have always the moft prodigious respect!" In fhort, I plainly faw that by pretendingto affert my magisterial authority over the count, I fhould only render myfelf ridiculous without effecting my purpose; for fo refolutely bent was he upon accompanying the lieutenant at all events, that I am convinced he would have gone without me, had I perfifted in my refufal. Forced, therefore, however reluctantly, to comply, I at length gave way to their intreaties; for to defert my pupil would have appeared to me an unpardonable breach of trust. But how fhall I defcribe the behaviour of our landlord when he found us fully determined upon this adventure! 27 His aftonishment exceeded all conception, and with uplifted eyes and hands, he conjured us, in the name of the Bleffed ever Virgin Mary, and all the holy Saints, to defift from so rash an enterprize. I'll answer for it with my head"-was his repeated declaration that not one of you will live to fee the light of another day.". The lieutenant, however, turning all his pious remonftrances into ridicule, foon worked upon the irritability of his temper to that degree, that he left us to our fate, grumbling fome hearty curfes as he hurried out of the room. Our converfation, as may eafily be imagined, turned more upon fpiritual than political fubjects, when after having pretty well exhaufted our stock of gholy knowledge, the lieutenant propofed a walk to the haunted castle, very judiciously obferving, that it might not, perhaps, be altogether amifs to take a nearer view by daylight of thofe formidable premises, which we had fixed upon for our nocturnal rendezvous. This propofal meeting with univerfal approbation, we hurried to put it into immediate execution. An enormous pile of building in the Gothic tafte, but terribly ruined and demolished, prefented itfelf to our eyes. The caftle was furrounded with a high wall, befides a wide and deep ditch in front, over which a draw bridge afforded us an eafy paffage. We had no occafion to ftand knocking at the gate, for thrown, as it was, wide open, a troop of horse might have entered it in full gallop. The appearance of the place had fomething wonderfully awful and romantic. We drew, as with one common confent, our hangers the moment we fet foot in the hall. The pavement was of brick, but overgrown with weeds and mouldering grafs. From thence we continued our way through a flight of empty, defolate apartments, where fpiders, rats and owls, appeared to be the only tenants. Windows covered with dirt, with cobwebs, and even mofs itself, afforded no other light than what found admiffion through the broken panes, of g'afs; just fufficient to discover to our view the mouldering remains of feveral ancient pieces of furniture; broken tables, chairs with. out backs; part of the iron work of a large lamp fufpended by a chain of the fame metal from the cieling of one of the rooms; with two or three ricketty benches, that feemed ready to fall to pieces under the touch: thefe were the fole figns of the place ever having been inhabited by man. Curiofity now prompted us to take a view of the fubterraneous apartments of this antique building. Previous to our setting out on this expedition, we had the precaution to provide ourselves with a lanthorn and the neceffary apparatus for procuring fire, which we now found exceeding ferviceable. A stone stair cafe at the further extremity of the hall, conducted us to a long, narrow, winding paffage, arched over with brick work, and terminating in a door cafed over with iron. The lieutenant ftill leading the way, with his lanthorn in one hand, and his drawn fword in the other, boldly advanced towards the door, which yielding to his pufh, difcovered a large, vaulted place, resembling a cellar, but entirely emp. ty, wafe, and darker than the fhades of midnight. A tainted air, impregnated with baneful vapours and peftilential dews, almost deprived us of the faculty of breathing, when first we fet foot in this fubterraneous dungeon. On each fide, facing the entrance we perceived a pair of folding doors, fecured with enormous bolts, and a prodigious portcullis of maffy iron. In vain was it for us to attempt further entrance. We haftened therefore from this loathfome fcene back to the hall, where, like fifhes. reftored to their native element, we felt our hearts expand on once more breathing fresh air. As this appeared to us the most eligible place for paffing the night, and giving our ghoftly friends the meeting, in cafe they fhould think proper to pay us a vifit, we endeavoured to fit it up for their reception and our own as conveniently as poffible. For this purpose, with the help of fome ruity nails, and detached pieces of wood, which we found in abundance in the folitary apartments, we at length contrived to make one of the old broken tables ftand pretty decently upon its legs. We next effayed our ingenuity upon a couple of the ricketty benches, which were likewife with much trouble put in a condition that promised to secure us from all danger of their break ing down under us.' Not yet fatisfied, however, with the difcoveries we had made, we wandered once more through the fpacious, untenanted apartments of the caftle, but every where could meet with nothing but mouldering monuments of ruin and decay. The garden was the next place that curiofity prompted us to vifit. Melancholy indeed was the profpect that here prefented itself. Here was literally a place for dragons, for beafts and birds obfcene, and for every thing that is filthy and abominable. Overgrown as it was with thorns and briars, with thistles, weeds, nettles, and long grafs that whistled in the wind, our feet were not seldom entangled in the mazy labyrinth, whilst our hangers were fain to open us a paffage, which the spreading branches, indiffolubly twisted and interwoven with each other, feemed unwilling to afford us. Thus we continued our toilfome march through along winding alley, formed of a double row of beech trees, that led to the extremity of the garden, at the upper end of which we difcovered, emerging from the confufed mafs of briars, thorns, &c. that furrounded and almost concealed it from our view, a black, marble urn, fupported by a column of red porphyry. The workmanship was truly exquifite, but our eyes fearched in vain for any infcription; and already were we pro ceeding Epitaph found in the Garden of the Haunted Caffle. ceeding on our return, when the count's foot ftumbled again't fome hard body, buried among the weeds at no great distance from the urn: on inspection, 29 it proved to be a wooden cross, on which the following words were barely legible: 30 Near Approach of the Nocturnal Hunters. Our landlord, from whom we had cautioufly concealed our projected vifit to the caftle, was on our return almoft petrified with horror and aftonishment at our bold, and, as he called it, blafphemous prefumption. At the fame time coeceiving it his duty to deter us, if poffible, from rufhing on certain and immediate deftruction, left our blood, he obferved, might peradventure fall upon him, he fairly washed his hands of us, giving us the fecond edition of his morning lecture, enriched with various additions, emendations, and improvements. But, alas! his pious intentions met with no better fuccefs than before. The lieutenant indulging his natural propenfity for fatire, foon rallied him out of all temper: wherefore giving us up for a precious triumvirate of ftiffnecked incorrigible blockheads, he only requested of us to fettle the reckoning before our departure; and wifhing us that fuccefs which he dared not to hope, took his leave of us, as of perfons no longer defigned for this world. It was between nine and ten at night that we fallied from the inn, all three well armed with a hanger and a couple of piftols per man; excepting the lieutenant's fervant, who though he carried fire arms (being provided with a lanthorn) acted chiefly in the capacity of futler to the troop. Heroes in all ages have ever found an empty ftomach a great drawback upon valour, for which reafon the lieutenant, who understood the whole art of war, both theory and practice, as well as Cæfar or Alexander the Great, and very fagaciously reflected, that, in a place where ghofts were fuppofed to inhabit, little ftore of belly timber was to be expected, took care to clap a basket with a couple of roa fowls and three or four bottles of wine upon his fer vand's fhoulders, and thus equipped at all points, we began our march On our arrival at the appointed place of rendezvous, we found every thing exactly in the fame order as we had left it. Table and benches were fill ftanding as firm as ever; we took our feats, and encouraged by the lieutenant's example, eat as heartily as any pious Catholic may be fuppofed to do previous to a feven weeks lent, not forgetting to do justice to the wine, which circulated brifkly enough. This time, however, good cheer was found to fail of the defired effect; for instead of infpiriting our drooping valour, it acted rather like a leaden weight upon our eyelids, which with difficulty were kept from clofing, although the clock had not yet Bruck eleven. The intermediate space between this and the canonical hour of meeting our ghoftly friends we endeavoured to beguile by reading Hagedorn's Poems, of which I fortunately happened to have a copy with me. In this office I was alter. nately affifted by the count and the lieutenant, till the latter, on examining his watch, and finding it within a quarter of twelve, clofed the book, and brifkly running up ftairs to a front room in the first floor, took his ftand facing the window, which commanded as fair a view of the forecourt, and the circumjacent plain, as a dark unfriendly night would admit. The count and myself followed his example, and in this posture we awaited the fcenes that were to follow, leaving the lieu. tenant's fervant faft afleep in the hall. At length the ominous hour began to ftrike; more awful in our prefent circumftances than the funeral knell of fome departed friend. Dreadful was the midnight filence that reigned around us. The very pulfe of nature feemed fufpended; even the faculty of bieathing was almoft taken from us. And now the lait ftroke 'ceafed to vibrate on our ears. Inftantly fhook the whole fabric, with the found of horns, trumpets, &c. that feemed to rend the echoing air; whilft the dash. ing of horfes hoofs made the folid ground tremble as with an earth. quake: the rams horns of Jericho were mere pop-guns; the downfall of its walls 1 |