The Squire

The Squire is a fictional character from H. P. Lovecraft's 1926 short story "He". He is depicted as a wizard who "flouted the sanctity of things as great as space and time".
==Description ==
The narrator of the story--as stand-in for Lovecraft himself--describes his first impression upon meeting a stranger in Greenwich Village who shared his fascination with Old New York:
The stranger wears a costume not of the time the story is set, but typical of two centuries earlier:
==History==
The stranger leads him to his home, a private estate incongruously located in the heart of Greenwich Village, where taking off his cloak he is "revealed in full mid-Georgian costume from queued hair and neck ruffles to knee-breeches, silk hose, and the buckled shoes I had not previously noticed." He tells the narrator the story of an ancestor who is plainly meant to be understood to be the stranger making a thinly veiled confession:
These Native Americans for years had climbed over the wall of the estate to hold a ritual on the night of each full moon.
The story's narrator is told that he is "the first outsider" to be told of this secret--and this only shared with him because he is "so hot after bygone things".
The stranger insists, though, that what he learned from the Native Americans he subsequently murdered is only part of his arcane knowledge:
As the narrator learns of his host's depraved character, his perception of the Squire's appearance becomes more horrific:
The Squire shows the narrator visions of New York's past and future, the last causes him to scream--a sound that enrages the Squire and summons the spirits of the Native Americans whose magic he stole. In a panic, the wizard pulls curtains off a window that exposes him to the light of the full moon, which breaks the spell that has preserved his flesh from the effects of time:
The "head with eyes" is taken away by the collective spirit of the Indians, and the house collapses from the cumulative decay of centuries. The narrator concludes: "Of who or what that ancient creature was, I have no idea; but I repeat that the city is dead and full of unsuspected horrors."
Category:Characters Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Magic Users
Category:Deceased (In Mythos)