The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-21 00:00:00

discern the outliae of tize_eraig throu,-,Ji the faint. -appearance,
as through a veil. Gradually the figure darkened into sub-
stance, and, with a mode of motion, which resembled gliding
rather than walking, descended towards the platform. I re"
solved within myself not to be taken off my guard, and kept
„
toy eye stcadisastly fixed upon the strange intruder. The boor
was dark ; the moon had not risen ; and, under the scowl of
night, the plenitude of vapours was perfectly star-proof. Yri
this account I could not d:stinctly trace the advance of the
figure. It came on nevertheless, and I watched its progress
with sensations of awe and terror, for which, et the time,
could assinn no reasoLable cause, although I am now too well
able to account for them. The obscure shape found 113,
obstacle in steep or rock, but glided by the jutting brosiers 0,1
nature, as if it possessed the power to move in air. At length
it lit upon an elevated knoll that overhung the military
station
where I had been posted. Then the shadowless form :node 3
pause--ay, on the very edge of the giddy height, trending to
look down on me. I looked up at it--I could do no more A
clammy dew gathered over and tingled all my flesh ; for I Was
sure, from the time of night, and the drapery of the shape,
that some bloodless villie (the willies, according to MagYar
superstition, are the ghosts of maiden-brides, who, if they get
a young man amongst them by moonlight, incontinently cuddle
him to death), at once a virgin and at once a bride,' gliecci
could .not rest in her grave, stood glaring at me. I 'Cress e
myself, and would have repeated an are, but my tongue cleY.
to the roof of my mouth; so I remained gazing at the
tion, as helpless and as purposeless as the new-born babe'
The horrible thing stared me into statue. It looked all wia,e
—.features, raiment, all. After awhile she beckoned me. Mae
ramping heart stuck in my throat, as I thought I should haws
to die of her embrace. She called me, naming me by nanle,'
and bade me, would I hear tidings of a dear relative, to f°L;
low her. - This relative and I, in our -early childhood, w°,
bosom comrades, and I yearned for some inte/ligence whether
he were living or dead ' • for we had been long severed, and ben
poor fellow t has been lately made a wanderer on 'the face °,
the earth for my crime ! The spectre, stretching her 11!1`
with a motion, which seemed to enjoin my following, pass'
soundlessly forward. God, in whose hands the secret spring°
and motives of man's actions are locked up, only knows 10
it came to pass, that I instinctively obeyed that horrible sign;
I hardly believe now, it was my deep anxiety to learn sorb
tidings of my relative, although I' deemed at the time, tint
such must have been my motive. Ah I surely I deceived , 011;
self ; it was not affection, but supernatural impulse, wt"'"
urged me on, since Heaven knows, I would have given world*
had I had them, only to have to have placed those worlds he;
twixt me and that shocking thing. I trembled, I shuddered
in every limb; my eyes strained themselves to gaze upos lb!
apparition ; but I felt myself impelled to follow. A hidel
phantasma sat upon my breast ; I knew it, but I could ntet
jostle it off. I traced the unincumbered spirit through beg
and depth, over battlement, and crag, and precipice, I belie
t
by intuition, for I retain a very vague idea of that midnight
walk—a spell was on all my faculties. I can only remembet
stopping ever and anon, for the weird thing, as if woven °f
air,
_flew over the ground at an amazing rate ; and whenever'l
would rest, the white creature, with more than human eager;
ness, again would beckon me to advance. At length I 01;4
to the yawning mouth of that deep black pit, which sweep
steeply down beneath the foundations of the city. Much t,r/,
_""D
followed is like a dream ; the spectre beguiled me doe o 9t',
and tortuous passages, rudely hewn in the rock, till I fou.°o
myself in a vast sepulchral chamber the roof sculptured'
death's emblems,—brainless skulls, bones, and other- revel
relics of mortality, were ranged around, and unnumberrt
coffins were deposited in marble recesses along the dorniiteo
walls. Here and there a full-length skeleton stood beside te
monument ; as if, impatient of the tomb, he would anticird
his resurrection ; a black iron lamp, suspended from the rafter
roof, cast a flaring and ghastly glare, far worse than darko";
upon the dismal abode of death. To all it gleamed 1113.°1
however I but little attended ; only one object transfixed 70
gaze, and she was the unearthly being, who had lured me
the spot. On her all the faculties of my soul rested With
divisible interest. She seated herself upon an ornataea,s,
slab, raised about two feet from the basement, whose entail
ture appeared highly wrought in living sculpture. On the
e,
same monument, by her side, rested a coffin ; a hideous skels
ton lay at her feet; I might not then discern her features, w
P
veil floated over her countenance and about her form. 111io
like some spectral effigy, she sat immovable for several millu,"ot,
I all the time looking on. I would have stirred ; I could °of
I would have spoken • my tongue forgot its office: I CO to
hardly be said to think. Whilst I yet remained in this ail
of stupified horror, my ears caught the tinkling of a amilichr
at no great distance. The vision arose, as if moved by me, to
nism, and uplifted the lid from the coffin, and then,-mob ity
my dying hour, I shall never forget my consternation
silent phantom crept back into its hollow tenement, and dr°ns
the lid, so as to fasten it on itself. I was now quite alone,o
the residence of mouldering mortality. I can just recoho
an overwhelming desire I felt to escape from the terrors schos
surrounded me, but that inclination was defeated by the pita
hopeless iMpotency of mind and body. In the mesntimi.ty,
eyes, fixed in mental vacancy, must have drunk in passivelY
impression of the ghostly shapes around. The first peretie
tion which I can call to mind, after the disappearance of 0,
spectre, was sufficiently startling The space beyond the Lie
trance of the vault was sunk in shapeless and impenetrs,ot
darkness, and the threshold itself was east into shadow ; !), •
all at once my sight seemed, as it were, to grasp at some
in that direction. The faculties of my mind, floating hetstety
vision and consciousness, very slowly became sensible of t
fact. Owing to the gloom, I could not at first define svh3l,o
beheld; but by little and little I came fully to understand, ttbo
my strained eyes, and the, eyes of some dark shape in `r,
door-way, were reciprocally fixed, and glaring on each othell,
The vacant orb recoiled, as a strange living creature, t3llspare, and fantastically habited, passed through the 10ri
~,,4
arch ;-'whether it male or female; I might not at first disen,
nate. Its epicene countenance was dark, withered, ow.;
dented with deep furrows--its shrivelled lanky arms were hwtie,o
The dishevelled hair was pendant in matted tresses abent,cl
shoulders. In its right hand it extended a staff: it spoke,7/
its voice sounded harsh and hollow, as from the grave,
Take up that coffin with care, and follow me.' For a .der
ment I hesitated, but only for a moment ; I seemed to conal,;
myself bound to obey. I raised the coffin ; it was 1110
then the foul hag, having reached the lamp down frets I
ceiling, passed onward with a gesture of lofty invitatioo•br
followed, as if under a charm ; we proceeded through a 114
rinth of subterraneous passages, ascending and deseee 0,1
frequently flights and steps, sometimes built of hewn Wool
in some places chiselled out of the living rock. We travetnt,
dungeons of wild and frightful aspect and of vast 0te
10
wrought out of the heart of the earth. At length a general
guishing and faintness of spirits overcame me ; I baited Wore
over myself, and let`the coffin rest upon the ground ; tatt,be
known guide moved on without a pause, and the assenw.d
of horrors which environed me were wrapped in imperc,!tel
gloom. Reptiles of unnatural and hellish natures congrercb,
round the narrow mansion of the dead. The dismal screethi
owl, with hideous outcry, fled deeper into the vault ; ice
whizzing bat whistled through my legs; and rats and e) yet
and such abhorred and unimaginable creatures, as are net,
heard of in the upper world, crawled about me in everi of
restion ; so I thought I would abide no longer in that seesof
loathsomeness. I essayed again, to uplift my allotted horod
when, in the very act of squeezing unwittingly in !IV tlie
some horrible abortion, which had nestled itself beside ip
coffin, the disjointed prison-house burst asunder, and thedir
carnate spirit of its single inhabitant stood redenuied and tba
enthralled, rending the casements of _death, and robbiugarE
grave of its victory. I could not see the apparition, the,d,
ness was too profound ; but, by that unutterable creePielity,
the flesh when every pore, tingling with distinct vitaot,
attests the vicinage of the dead, I felt its presence, and
i" 00; I
it was at that instant standing at my elbow. I wouluof
stretch my arm, lest I should touch its winding-sheet, thelool
thought of which palsied me with terror. Presently. a g
of light, that shot from an opposite direction, partially 10,4
mined the dungeon. I was mad enough several times tep of
a furtive glance on the apparition. She was the speetr:itel,
the precipice. Her veil, like a thin mist, must have to ]d.
woi.
away, and I looked upon a loveliness "not of this root,
There, pale in immortal beauty, stood the moveless '
fixing the intense and supernatural light of her eyes oPegeo?
Gradually, like the removal of one layer of the thinnest "',ess
samer after another, methought I recollected who She ever
that stood beside me. Father of heaven ! how did 'lap
survive the shock of that moment? 'Twas the sarne,,,-ell
whom, several years ago, in the forest of Belivar,
caused" • * *
• sliir
The hiatus which here occurs in the original is 3
sequently filled up ; but we have given as much Of
he
as must answer our purpose. If we might take t'
.
tie
liberty of directing the author, who -notwithstan
• al) I
some glaring faults and omissions, is unqiiestO
a person of great ability, we would recommend h' his
give up romance-writing,.and commence historian. f I
two introductory chapters are no inconsiderable Pr°° ap
his qualification for such a task ; and his reading, y
atr
be best employed in the *service of his e°l.l •
when brouaht forward to illustrate facts insteaa °f belt
tions. To the public we can only
say,
that sr
es
• ,{
readers as admire N the " Italian," and the " 'Ys,ost
of Udolpho," the Romance of Erdely will be i" re
welcome ; but altogether, we think—nay, we are ei
e
—the author could, not have undertaken a task l
his
likely to procure for him that reputation to whichil 0
learning entitles him, and which would assuredly fo ° „
its different application. His " Lectures on Love IP
we sincerely trust, be overlooked by the ladies. 01c1
own sex are bad enough—but not the tyrants lie
represent them.

A statement froth the thermometer at the, door,
•pit
Aerl
of Messrs. Swain, and Co. •tailors, 93, Fleet-greet, - ip
one week in January, 1834, and the correspondini* wee
January. 1835.

1884.
Jan. 15 49 degs. J an. 13 ... 64:

16 s4i

16 .................

17... oil, 17 ................. ..-,,1,
18
19
20 47i 20 ... .. ............ .S
ly.
~
21 54 21 ............... .. °;iiid eat
We should be glad if our Fareham correspondent
that
woo'
whether the heat still oontiuuea at 136 degrees ia 111
dead town.