PS

oo

C O NT E NT S OF V O L II V 9
.

T H E MU RD E RS
T H E MY S T E RY

IN
OF

T H E RU E
MA RI E

T HE P U R L O I N E D
TH E B L A C !

TH E
TH E
TH E
HE

TH E
TH E
\T H E

FA L L

OF THE

HO U S E

OF

PI T A ND T H E
P R E MA T U R E B U R I A L

MA S Q U E

OF

T H E RE D

CA S E

I S LA N D O F T H E
OV A L P O RT RA I T

IT H E T E LL-T A L E
T H E D O MAI N O F
LA N D O R

H E A RT
A RN H E I M

C O TT A G E

W I LLI AM WI LSON

11 5 3 723 9

MUR D E R S

THE

W h at

son

th e

when h e
zz
l
i
n
g
q
u est i on s
u
p
m ed

assu

I N THE

S yren s san g
h id
imself

are not

RU E

MO R GU E

wh at n ame Ach ill es

al t h ou g h
amon g women
or

b eyon d a ll c onjec tur e

S ir Thomas B rowne

mental features di scoursed of as the

analytical are in themselves but little su sc ep
tible of analysis We appreciate them onl y in
their eff ects We know of them among other things
that they are always to their possessor when in ordin
ately possessed a source of the liveliest enj oyment
As the strong man exults in his physical abilit y de
lighting in such exercises as call hi s muscles into
action so glori es the analyst in that moral activity
which disentangles
He derives pleasure from even
the most t rivial occupations bringing his talent
into play He is fond of enigmas of conundrums
of hieroglyphics ; exhibiting in hi s solutions of each
a degree of acumen whi ch appears to the ordinary
apprehension praeternatural His res ults brought
about by the very so ul and essence of method have
in truth the whole air of intuition
The facul ty of re-solution is possibly much invigor
ated by mathematical study and especiall y by
that highest branch of it which unj ustly and
merely on account of its retrograde Operations has
been called as if par excellen ce analysis Yet to
cal cul ate is not in itself to an al yze A chess
player for example does the one without e ffort
at the other It follows that the game of chess in
its eff ec ts upon mental character is greatly mis
understood I am not now writing a treatise but
,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

simply prefac ing a somewhat peculiar narrative by

observations very mu ch at random ; I will therefore
take o cc asion to assert that the higher powers of the
reective intellect are more decidedl y and more
usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of
draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess
In this latter W here the pieces have di ff erent and
bizarre motions W ith various and variable values
what is only complex is mistaken ( a not unusual
error) for what is profound Th e a ttention is here
called powerfully into play If it ag for an instant
an oversight is committed resulting in
or
defeat The possible moves being not only manifold
but involute the chances of such oversights are mul
t iplied ; an d in nine cases out of ten it is the more
concentrative rather than the more a c ute player
who conquers In dr aughts on the contrary
where the moves are u nique and have but little vari
ation the probabilities of inadvertence are dimin
ish ed and the mere attention being left compara
tivel yunemployed what advantages are obtained b y
either party are obtained by superior a cu men To
be less abstract Let us suppose a game of draughts
where the piec es are reduced to four kings and
where of course no oversight is to be expected It
is obvious that here the victory can be d ec ided
(the players being at all equal) only by some recherche
movement the resul t of some strong exertion of
the intellect D eprived of ordinary resour ces the
analyst throws himself into the spirit of his oppon
ent identies himself therewith and not un fre
quently sees thus at a glance the sole method s
( sometimes indeed absurdl y simple ones) by
which he may s educe into error or hurry into
misc al culation
Wh ist has long been noted for its inuence upon
,

THE MURDERS IN THE RUE M O RGUE

what is termed the calculating power ; and men of

the highest order of intell ect have been known
to take an apparently unaccountable delight in it
while eschewing chess as frivolous Beyond doubt
there is nothing of a similar nature so greatly
tasking the faculty of analysis The best chess
player in Chr istendom may be little more than the
best player of chess ; but prociency in whist im
plies capac ity for success in all those more important
undertakings where mind struggles with min d
Wh en I say prociency I mean that perfection in
the game which includes a comprehension of all
sources whence legitimate advantage may be derived
These are not onl y manifold but multiform and lie
frequently among recesses of thought altogether ln
accessible to the ordinary understan din g To oh
serve attentively is to remember distinctly ; and so
far the concentrative chess -player will do very
well at whist ; while the rul es of Hoyle ( themselves
based upon the mere me chanism of the game) are
su f ciently and generally comprehensible Thus to

have a retentive memory and to proceed by the

book are points commonly regarded as the sum

total of good playing But it is in matters beyond
the limits of mere rule that the skill of the analyst
is evinced
He makes
silence a host of O b ser
vations and inferences
So perhaps do his c om
panions ; and the di ff erence in the extent of the ln
formation obtained lies not so much in the vali di ty
of the inf erence as in the qu al ity of the observatio n
The necessary knowledge is that of wha t to observe
Our player conn es himself not at all ; nor because
the gam e is the obj ect does he rej ect deductions from
things external to the game He examines the
countenance of his partner comparin g it carefully
with that of each of his opponents
He considers
,

E DGAR

ALLA N P OE

the mode of assorting the cards in each hand ; often

counting trump by trump and honor by honor
t hrough the glances bestowed by their holders upon
each He notes every variation of face as the play
progresses gathering a fund of thought from th e
diff erences in the expression of certainty of surprise
of tri umph
or of
chagrin From the manner
of gathering up a trick he j udges whether the person
t aking it can make another in the suit
He
r ecognises what is played through feint
by the air
with which it is thrown upon the table A casual or in
a dvertent word ; the accidental dr opping or t ur ning
o f a card with the accompanying anxiety or careless
ness in regard to its concealment ; the counting of
the tricks with the order of their arrang ement ;
embarrassment hesitation eagerness or trepidation
-all a ff ord to his apparently intui t ive perception
indications of the true state of aff airs The rst
two or three rounds having been played he is in full
possession of the contents of each hand and thence
forward puts down his cards with as absolute a pre
c ision of purpose as if the rest of the party had
turned outward the faces of their own
The analytical power should not be confounded
with simple ingenuity ; for while the analyst is neces
saril y in geni ous the ingenious man is often remark
ably incapable of an al ysis The constructive or com
bining power by which ing en uity is usually mani
fested and to whi ch the ph renologists ( I believe
e rroneously) have assigned a separate organ sup
posing it a primitive facul ty has been so frequently
seen in those whose intellect bordered otherwise
upon i diocy as to have attracted general ob ser
vation among writers on moral s B etween ingen
uity and the analytic ability there exists a d iff er
ence far greater indeed than that between the fancy
,

THE MU RDERS IN THE RU E MORGUE

and the imagination but of a character very strictly

analogous It will be found in fact that the in
u
l
are
always
fancif
and
the
t
r
u
l
imaginative
s
u
n
i
o
e
y
g
never otherwise than anal ytic
The narrative whi ch follows will appear to the
reader somewhat in the light of a commentary
upon the propositions j ust advanced
Residing in Pa ri s d uring the spring and part of
the summer of 1 8
I there became acquainted with
a Monsieur C Auguste Dupin Thi s young gentle
man was of an excellent indeed of an illustrious
family but by a variety of untowa rd events had
b een reduced to such poverty that the energy of his
character succumbed beneath it and he ceased to
bestir h imself in the world or to care for the re
trieval of his fortunes
B y courtesy of h is creditors
there still remained in h is possession a small rem
nant of his patrimony ; and upon the income arising
from this he managed by means of a rigorous e con
omy to pro c ure the necessaries of life
without
troubling himself about its superuities B ooks
indeed were his sole lux ur ies and in Paris these are
eas ily obtained
Our rst meeting was at an obscure library in the
Rue Montmartre where the accident of our both
being in search of the same very rare and very re
markable volume brought u s into closer communion
We saw each other again and again I was deeply
interested in the little family history which he de
tailed to me with all that candor which a French
man indul ges whenever mere self is his theme
I was astonished too at the vast ext ent of his read
ing ; and above all I felt my soul enkindled within
me by the wild fervor and the vivid freshn ess of
his imagination
Seeking in Pari s the obj ects I
then sought I felt that the s ociety of such a man
,

E DGAR

AL LA N P O E

would be to me a treasure beyond price ; and this

feeling I frankly conded to him It was at length
arranged that we should live together during my
stay in the city ; and as my worldl y circumst an ces
were somewhat less embarrassed than h is own I was
permitted to be at the expense of renting and furnish
ing in a style which suited the rather fantasti c gloom
of our common temper a time-eaten and grotesque
mansion long deserte d through superstitions into
which we did not inquire and tottering to its fall
in a retired and desolate portion of the Faubourg
St Germain
Had the routine of our life at this plac e been
known to the world we shoul d have been regar ded
as madmen although
perhaps as madmen of a
harmless nature Our seclusion was perfe ct We
admitted no visitors Indeed the locality of our
retirement had been carefully kept a secret from my
own former a ssociates ; and it had been many years
since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in
Paris We existed within ourselves alone
It was a freak of fancy in my friend (for what else
shall I cal l it to be enamored of the Night for her
own sake ; and into this bizarrerie as into all his others
I quietly fell ; giving myself up to his wild whims
with a perfect a bandon The sable di vinity would
not herself dwell with us al ways ; but we co ul d coun
At th e rst dawn of the
terfeit her presence
morning we closed all the massy shutters of our
of
tapers whi ch
old building ; lighting a couple
strongly perfumed thr ew out only [the ghastliest and
feeblest of rays By the aid of these we then
busied our souls in dream s reading writing or
conversing until warned by the cloc k of the advent
Then we salli ed forth into
of the true Darkness
th e streets arm in arm continuing the topics of
.

THE MU RD E R S IN THE RUE M O RG UE

the day or roaming far and wide un til a late hour

seeking amid the wild lights and shadows of the
populous city that innity of mental excitement
which quiet observation c an afford
At such times I co ul d not help remarking and
admiring (al though from hi s rich ide al ity I had
been prepared to expect it) a peculiar analytic ability
in Dupin He seemed too to take an eager delight
in its exerc is e if not exactly in its display and
did not he sitate to conf ess the pleasure thus derived
He boasted to me with a low chuckling laugh
that most men in respect to himself wore windows
in their bosoms and was wont to follow up su ch
assertions by di rect and very start ling proofs of
his intimate kn owledge of my own/ His manner
at these moment s was frigid and abstract ; his eyes
were va cant in expression ; while his voice usually
a rich tenor rose into a treble which woul d have
sounded petular y but for the deliberateness and
entire distinctness of the enunciation Observing
him in these moods I often dwelt meditatively
upon the old philosophy of the Bi-Part Soul and
amused myself with the fancy of a double Dupin
the creative and the resolvent
Let it not be supposed from what I have j ust
said that I am detailing any mystery or penning
any romance What I have described in the French
man was merely the result of an excited or perhap s
of a diseased intelligen c e
But of the character
of his remarks at the periods in question an example
will best convey the idea
We were strollin g one night down a long dirty
street in the vicinity of the Palais Royal Bein g
both apparently occupied with thought neither Of
us had spoken a syllable for f teen minutes at least
All at on c e Dupin broke forth with these words :
,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

He is a very little fellow that s true and would

do better for the Theatre des Varits

There c an be no doubt of that I replied unwit

tingly an d not at r st observing ( so much had I
been absorbed in ree c tion) the extraordinary
manner in which the spe aker had chime d in with my
medi tations In an instant afterward I recollected
myself and my astoni shment was profound

Dupin
said I gravely
this is beyond my
comprehension I do not hesitate to say that I am
amazed and can scarcely credit my senses HOW
was it possible you sho ul d know I was thinking of
Here I paused to ascertain beyond a doubt
whether he really knew of whom I thought

said he why do you pause ?

of Ch an tilly
You were remarking to yourself that his diminutive

gure un tted him for tragedy

This was precisely what had formed the subje ct
Chantilly was a q uonda m cobbler
of my reflections
of the Rue St
Denis who becoming stage-mad
had attempted the role of ! erxes in Crb ill on s
tragedy so called and been notoriously Pasquinaded
for his pains

Tell me for Heaven s sake

I exclaimed the

method if method there is b y which you have

been enabled to fathom my soul in this matter

In fact I was even more startled than I would have
been willing to express

It was the fruiterer replied my friend

who
brought you to the con clusion that the mender of
soles was not of s uffi cient height for ! erxes cl id
,

mne

u
s
o
e
n
g

The fruiterer l you astonish me I know no

fruiterer whomsoever

The man who ran up against you as we entered

"

the street it may have been fteen minutes ago

.

THE MU RD E R S IN THE RUE M O RG UE

I now remembered that in fact a fruiterer carry

ing upon his head a large basket of apples had nearly
thrown me down by acc ident as we passed from the
Rue 0
into the thoroughfare where we stood ;
but what this had to do with Chantilly I coul d
not possibly un derstand
There was not a particle of W
ig abo ut

Dupin
I will explain he said
and that you
may comprehend all clearly we will rst retrace
the course of your meditations from the moment
in which I spoke to you until that of the ren contre
with the fruiterer in question The larger links of
the chain run thus Chantilly Orion Dr Nichols
Epicurus Stereotomy the street stones the fruiterer
There are few persons who have not at some
period of their lives amused themselves in retracing
the steps by whi ch particular conclusions of their
own minds have been attained
The occ upation is
often full of interest ; and he who attempts it for the
rst time is astonished by the apparently illimitable
distance and in c oherenc e between the starting
point and the goal What then must h ave been
my amazement when I heard the Frenchman speak
what he h ad j u st spoken and when I could not help
acknowledging that he had spoken the truth He
continued :

We had been talking of horses if I remember

aright j ust before leaving the Rue 0
This
was the last subj e c t we dis cussed As we crossed
into this street a fruiterer with a large basket upon
his head brushing qui ckly past us thrus you upon
a pile of paving -stones collect ed at a spot where the
causeway is undergoing repair Y ou stepped upon
one of the loose fragments slipped slightly strained
your ankle appeared vexed or sulky muttered a few
words turned to look at the pile and then proceeded
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

IO

in silenc e I was not parti c ularly attentive to what

you did ; but observation has be c ome with me of
late a spe cies of necessity

Y ou kept your eyes upon the ground glan c ing

with a etu lant expression at the holes an d ruts in
the p avemem (so that I saw you were still thinking
o f the stones ) until we rea che d the little alley called
Lamartine whi ch has been paved by way of
experiment wi th the overlapping and riveted
blo c ks Here your countenance brightened up and
perc eiving your lips move I c ould not doubt that

you murmured the word stereotomy a term very

a ff ecte dly applied to this species of pavement I

knew that you could not say to yourself stere

otomy without being brought to think O f atomies
and thus of the theories of Epicurus ; and sin c e when
we d iscussed this subj e c t not very long ago I men
tion ed to you how singularly yet with how little
noti c e the vague guesses of that noble Greek had
met with c onrmation in the late nebular c osmogony
I felt that you could not avoid c asting your eyes up
ward to the great nebu la in Orion and I certainly
expe cted that you woul d do so You did look up ;
and I was now assured that I had corre ctly followed
your steps But in that bitter tirade upon Chan

tilly whi ch appeared in yesterday s Mnse the

satirist making some di sgraceful allusions to the
cobbler s change of name upon assuming the buskin
quoted a Latin line about which we have often con
versed I mean the line
Perdidit an t iqu um l i tera pr i ma sonum
I had told you that this w as in referen c e to Orion
formerly written Urion ; and from c ertain pungenc ies
c onn ected with this explanation
I was aware that
you could not have forgotten it It was c lear there
fore that you would not fail to combine the two
.

THE M U RD E R S I N THE RUE MORGUE

I I

ideas of Orion and Chantilly That you did com

bine them I saw by the character of the smile which
passed over your lips You thought of the poor
olation
cobbler s
So far you had been stoop
ing in your gai t ; But now I saw you draw yourself
up to your full height I was then sure that you
ree c ted upon the diminutive gure of Chantilly
At this point I interrupted your me di tations to re
mark that as in fac t he was a very little fellow
that Chantilly he would do better at the Theatre

des Varits
Not long after this we were looking over an even

ing e dition of the Gazette des Tribunaux when

the following paragraphs arrested our attention

E ! T RA O RD I NA RY MU RD E Rs This morning about

three O clo c k the inh abitants of the Quartier
St Roch were aroused from sleep by a succession
issuing apparently from the
of terric shrieks
fourth story of a house in the Rue Morgue known
to be in the sole occupancy of one Madame L E s
p an aye and her daughter Mademoiselle Camille
L E sp an aye
Af ter some delay occasioned by a
fruitless attempt to pro c ure a dmission in the usual
manner the gateway was broken in with a crowbar
and eight or ten of the neighbors entered aecom
B y this time the cries had
panied by two gendarmes
ceased ; but as the party rushed up the rst ight of
stairs two or more rough voices in angry contention
were distinguished and seemed to proceed from the
upper part of the house As the second landing
was reached these sounds also had ceased an d
everything remained perf ectly quiet The part y
spread themselves and hurri ed from room to room
Upon arriving at a large back chamber in the fourth
story (the door of whi ch being found lo cked with
the key insi de was forced open ) a spe ctacle pre
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

12

sented itself which struck every one present not

less with horror than with astonishment

Th e apartment was in the wil dest disorder

the furniture broken and thrown about in all direc
tions There was onl y one bedstead ; and from this
th e bed had been removed and thr own into the
middle of the oor O n a chair lay a razor besmeared
with blood On the hearth were two or three
long and thick tresses of grey human hair also
dabbed in blood and seeming to have been pull ed
ou t by the roots
Upon the oor were found four
Napoleons an ear-ring of topaz three large silver
spoons three smaller of metal d Alger and two b ags
containing nearly four thousand francs in gold
The drawers of a bu reau which stood in one corner
were open and had been apparently rie d although
many articles still remained in them A small iron
safe was dis c overed under the bed (not un der the
be dstead)
It was open with the key still in the
door It had no contents beyond a few old letters ,
and other papers of little consequence

Of Ma dame L E sp an aye no traces were here seen ;

but an unusual quantity of soot being observe d in
the re-place a search was made in the chimney
and (horrible to relate !) the c orpse of the daughter
head downward was dragged therefrom ; it having
been thus forced up the narrow aperture for a con
siderab l e
distance Th e body was quite warm
were per
Upon examining it many
c eiv ed
no doubt occasioned by the violence with
whi ch it had been thrust up and disengaged Upon
the fac e were many severe scrat ches an d upon the
throat dark bruises and deep in dentations of nger
nails as if the de c eased had been throttle d to death

After a thorough investigation of every portion

of the house without farther discovery the part y
.

MURDERS I N

THE

THE RUE

MORGUE

made its way into a small paved yard in the rear

where lay the corpse of the old
of the building
lady with her throat so entirely cut that upon an
attempt to raise her the head fell off The body as
well as the head was fearfully mutilated the former
so much so as scarcely to retain any semblance of
humanity

To this horrible mystery there is not as yet

we believe the slightest clew

Th e next d ay s pape r had these additional par
,

ticul ars

The Tragedy in the Rue

Morgne

Many individ
u al s have been examined in relation to this most

Th e word
extraordinary and frightful a ff air
[

aaire h as n ot yet in France that levity of import

whi ch it c onveys with u s ]

but nothing whatever
has transpired to throw light upon it We give b e
low all the material testimony eli c ited

P au lin D u bourg laundress deposes that she

has known both the de c eased for three years having
washed for them durin g that period The Old lady

o
s
and her daughter seemed n good term
very
affec tionate towards each other They were excel
lent pay Could not speak in regard to their mo de
or means of living
Believed that Madame L told
fortunes for a living Was reputed to have money
put by Never met any persons in the house when
sh e called for the clothes or took them home
Was
sure that they h ad no servant in employ There
appeared to be no furniture in any part of the build
ing except in the fourth story

P ierre Morean tobacconist depo ses that he has

been in the habit of selling small quantities of tobac co

and snu ff to Madame L E sp anaye for nearly four

years W a s born in the neighborhood and h as al
ways resi ded there Th e deceased and her daughte r
.

'

YC L

II
.

E DGAR ALLA N

x4

P OE

had occupied the house in which the corpses were

found for more than six years It was formerly
occupied by a j eweller who under-let the upper
rooms to various persons The house was the prop
erty of Madame L
She became dissatise d with the
abuse of the premises by her tenant and moved into
them herself refusing to let any portion Th e old
lad y was childish Witness had seen the daughter
some ve or six times during the six years Th e
two lived an exceedingly ret ired life were reputed
to have money Had heard it said among the neigh
bors that Madame L told fortunes d id not believe
it Had never seen any person enter the door ex
c ept the old lady and her d aughter a porter once or
twice and a physi cian some eight or ten times

Many other persons neighbors gave evidence

to the same eff ect No on e was spoken of as fre
u
n
i
e
n
the
house
It
was
not
kno
w
n
whether
there
t
g
q
were any living c onnexions of Ma dame L and her
daughter The shutters of the front windows were
sel dom opened Those in the rear we re always
closed with the exception of the large bac k room
fourth story The house was a good house not
very old

I sidore Muset gendarme deposes that h e was

called to the house about three o clock in the morn
ing and found some twenty or thirty persons at the
gateway endeavorin g to gain admittance Forced
it open at length with a bayonet not with a crow~
bar Had but little di fcul ty in getting it open on
account of its being a double or fol di ng gate and
bolted neither at bottom nor top The shrieks were
c ontinued until the gate w as forc ed and then sud
denly ceased
They seemed to be screams of some
person ( or persons) in great ag ony were lou d and
drawn out not short and quick
Witness led the
,

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

16

entered the building Corroborated the previou s

evidence in every respect but one Was sure that
the shrill voice was that of a man of a Frenchman
Co ul d not distinguish the words uttered They were
loud and quick unequal spoken apparently in
fear as well as in anger The voice was harsh not
Could not call it a shri ll
so much shrill as harsh

sacr
voice
Th e gruff voice said repeatedl y

diable an d once mon Dieu

u
u
o
f
M
i
a
u
M
b
nker
the
rm
n
l
e
s
i
n
a
d
a
o
f
d
g
j
g
Rue Deloraine Is the elder Mignaud
et Fils
Madame L E span aye had some property Had
opened an acc ount with his banking house in the
sprin g of the year
(eight years previously)
Made freq uent deposits in small sums Had chec ked
for nothing until the third day before her death
when she took out in person the sum of 4 0 0 0 francs
This sum w as paid in gold and a clerk sent home
with the money

Adolphe Le Bon clerk to Mignau d et Fils de

poses that on the day in question about noon he
accompanied Madame L E spanaye to her residence
with the 4 0 0 0 francs put up in two bags Upon
the door being opened Mademoiselle L appeared
and took from his hands one of the b ag s while the
old lady relieved him of the other
He then bowed
and departed Did not see any person in the street
at the time It is a bye-street very lonely

William Bird a tailor deposes that he was one

of the party who entere d the house
Is an English
man Has lived in Paris two years Was one of the
rst to as c en d the stairs Heard the voi c es in c on
tention Th e gruff voic e was that of a Frenchman
Could make out several words but c annot now

remember all Heard d istinctly sacr and mon

Dieu
There was a sound at t h e moment as if of
.

T HE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

sever al persons struggling a scraping and scufing

sound The shr ill voice was very lou d louder than
the gruff one Is sure that it was not the voice
Appeared to be that of a German
of an E ng lishman
Might have been a woman s voice Does not under
stand German
Four of the above-named witnesses being recalled
deposed that the door of the chamber in which
was found the body of Mademoiselle L was locked
on the inside when the party reached it
Every
thing was perfectly silent no groans or noises of
any kind Upon forcing the door no person was
seen The windows both of the back and front room
were down and rmly fastened from within A
door between the two rooms was closed but not
locked The door leadin g from the front room into
the passage was locked with the key on the inside
A small room in the front of the house on the
fourth story at the head of the passage was open
the door being aj ar This room was crowded with
old beds boxes and so forth
These were carefully
removed and searched There was not an inch of
any portion of the house which was not carefully
searched Sweeps were sent up and down the
chimneys The house was a four story one with
garrets (ma m ardes ) A trap-door on the roof
was nailed down very securely did not appe ar to
have been opened for years The time elapsing
between the hearing of the voices in contention and
the breaking open of the room door was variousl y
stated by the witnesses Some made it as short
as three minutes some as long as ve
The door was
op ened with difculty

Alfonzo Garcio undertaker deposes that h e

resides in the Rue Morgue Is a native of Spain
W as one of th e p arty who entered the house Did
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

18

not proceed up stairs Is nervous and was appre

Heard
h en siv e of the c onsequenc es of agitation
the voi c es in contention The gru ff voice was that
Could not distinguish what was
of a Fren chman
said The shrill voice was that of an Englishman
is sure of this Does not understand the English
language but j udges by the intonation

~ A lb erto Montan i
confectioner deposes that he
was among the r st to ascend the stairs Heard the
voi ces in question Th e gruff voi c e was that of a
Frenchman Distinguished several words The
speaker appeared to be expostul ating Co ul d not
make out the words of the shrill voice Spoke quic k
Thinks it th e voice of a Russian
an
d unevenl y
Corroborates the general testimony I s an Italian
Never conversed with a native of Russia

Several witnesses re called here testied that the

chimneys of all the rooms on the fo urth story were
t oo narrow to admit the passage of a human being

By sweeps were meant cylindrical sweeping-brushes

su ch as are employed by those who clean chimn eys
These brushes were passed up and down every ue in
the house There is no ba ck passage by which any
one could have des c ended whi le t h e party pro c ee ded
up stairs The body of Mademoiselle L E sp an aye was
so rmly wedged in the chimney that it could not
be got down until four or ve of the party united
their strength

P au l D u mas physician deposes that he was called

to view the bo dies about day-break They were
both then lying on the sacking of the bedstead in the
chamber where Mademoiselle L was found The
corpse of the young lady was mu ch bruised and ex
c oriated
Th e fac t that it had been thrust up the
chi mney would su ffic iently a cc ount for these appear
ances
Th e throat was greatly chafed
There were
.

T HE MURDERS I N THE RUE MORGUE

several deep s crat ches j ust below the chin together

with a series of livid spots whi ch were evi dently the
impression of n gers The face was fearq y discol
ored and the eye-balls protruded The tongue
had been partially bitten through A large bruise
was di scovered upon the pit of the stomach produce d
apparently by the pressure of a knee In the
Opinion of M Dumas Mademoiselle L E sp anaye
had been throttled to death by some person or per
sons unkn own The corpse of the mother was hor
rib l y mutilated
All the bones of the right leg and
arm were more or less shattered The left tibia
much splintered as well as all the ribs of the left side
Whole body dreadf ully bruised and discolored It
was not possible to say how the inj uries h ad been in
icted
A heavy club of wood or a broad bar of
iron a chair any large heavy and obtuse weapon
would have produce d such results if wielded by the
hands of a very powerful man No woman could
have in icted the blows with any weapon The
head of the de c eased when seen by witness was
entirely separated from the body and was also
greatly shattered The throat had evidently been
c ut with some very sharp instrument probably with
a razor

Alexandre E tienne surgeon was called with M

Dumas to view the bodies Corroborated the testi
mony and the opinions of M Dumas

Nothing fart her of importance was elicited al

though several other persons were examined A
murder so mysterious and so perplexing in all its
parti c ulars was never before committed in Paris
if indeed a murder h as been committed at all The
poli c e are entirely at fault an unusual o ccurrence
in a ff airs of this nature There is not however th e

shadow of a clew apparent

,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

2o

The evening e di tion of the paper stated that the

g reatest excitement still c ontinued in the Quartier

St Roch that the premises in question had been

carefully r e sear ched and fresh examinations of
witnesses instituted but all to no purpose A
postscript however mentioned that Adolphe Le Bon
had been arrested and imprisoned although nothing
appeared to criminate him beyond the facts
already d etailed
Dupin seemed singularly interested in the prog~
res s of this aff air at least so I j udged from h is
manner for he made no comments It was only
after the announcement that Le Bon had been im
prisoned that he asked me my Opinion respecting
the murders
I could merely agree with all Paris in considering
them an insoluble mystery I saw no means by
which it woul d be possible to trace the murderer

We must not j udge of the means said Dupin

by thi s shell of an examination The Parisian

police so much extolled for a cu men are cunning
but no more There is no method in their pro
They
c eeding s beyond the method of the moment
make a vast parade of measures ; but not unf re
quently these are so ill adapted to the obj ects
proposed as to put u s in mind of Monsieur Jourdain s
calling for h is robe-de-chambre jeour mieux entendre
The results attained by them are not
la musiqu e
unfrequently surprising but for the most part are
brought about by simple di ligence and activity
When these qu al ities are unavailing their sch mes
fail Vidocq for example was a good guesser
and a persevering man But without educated
thought h e erred continually by the very intensity
He impaired his vision by
of h is investigations
holding the obj ect too close He might see per
.

THE MURDERS IN THE RUE M O RGUE

2 r

haps one or two points with unusu al cleam ess but

in so doing he necessarily lost sight of the matter
Thus there is such a thing as being too
as a whole
profound Truth is not always in a well In fact
I do
as regar d s the more important knowledge
believe that sh e is invariably supercial The
depth lies in the valleys where we see k her and not
upon the mountain-tops where she is found The
modes and sour ces of this kind of error are well
typied in the c ontemplation of the heavenl y bodies

To look at a star by glances to view it in a side

long way by turning toward it the exterior portions
of the retina ( more susceptible of feebl e impressions
is to behold the star
of light than the interior)
distinctly is to have the best appreciation of its
lustrk a lustre which grows dim j ust in proportion
as we turn our vision fu lly upon it
A greater
number of rays actually fall upon t h e eye in the
latter case but in the former there is the more
rened capacity for comprehension B y undue
profundity we perplex and enfeeble thought ; and
it is possible to make even Venus herself vanish
from the rmament by a scrutiny too sustained too
concentrated or too direct

As for these murders let u s enter into some

examinations for ourselves before we make up an
Opinion respecting them An inquiry will afford

us amusement
I
thought
th
i
s
an
term
s
o
o
dd
[

applied but said nothin g] and besides Le Bon

once rendered me a service for which I am not un
grateful We will go and see the premises with
our own eyes
I know G
the Prefect of
Police and shall have no difculty in obtaining the

necessary permission
The permission was obtained and we proceeded
at once to the Rue Morgue This is on e of those
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

22

miserable thoroughf ares whi ch intervene between

the Rue Ri chelieu a nd the Rue St Ro ch It was
late in the afternoon when we reached it ; as this
quarter is at a great distanc e from that in whi ch
we resi ded The house was readily found ; for there
were still many persons gazing up at the closed
shutters with an Obj e ctless c uriosity from the
opposite side of the way It was an ordin ary
Parisian house with a gateway on one si de of which
was a glazed wat ch -box with a sliding panel in the
window in dicating a loge de concierge Before
going in we walke d up the street turned down an
alley and then again turning passe d in the rear
of the buil ding Dupin meanwhile
examining the
whole neighborhood as well as the house with a
minuteness of attention for which I could see no
possible obj ect
Retrac ing our steps we came again to the front
of
the dwelling rang and having shown our
credentials were admitted by the agents in charge
We went up stairs into the c hamber where the
body of Mademoiselle L E Sp anaye had been foun d
and where both the d eceased still lay Th e di s
orders of the room had as usual been su ffered to
exist I saw nothing beyond what had been stated

in th e Gazette des Tribunaux

Dupin scrutin
iz ed every thing n ot excepting the bodies of the
victims We then went into the other rooms
and into the yard ; a gendarme a c companying u s
throughout Th e examination occupied us until
dark when we took our departure On our way
home my companion stepped in for a moment at

the oice of one of the daily papers

I have said that the whims of my friend were
manifold and that je les mnagais : for this phrase
It was his humor
there is no English equivalent
.

E DGAR

ALLA N P OE

asked what has occurred as what has occurred

that has never o c curred before
In fact the
facility with which I shall arrive or have arrived at
the solution of this mystery is in the dire c t ratio of

its apparent insolubility in the eyes of the police

I stared at the speaker in mute astonishment

c ontinued
I am now awaiting
he looking

toward the door of our apartment I am now

awaiting a person wh o al though perhaps not the
perpetrator of these butcheries must have been in
some measure implicated in their perpetration Of
the worst portion of the crimes committed it is
probable that he is innocent I hope that I am
right in thi s supposition ; for upon it I build my ex
I look for
pectation of rea ding the entire ri ddle
the man here in this room every moment It is
true that he may not arrive ; but the probability is
that he will Should he come it will be necessary to
detain him Here are pistols ; and we both kn ow

how to use them when occasion demands their use

I took the pistols scarcely knowing what I did or
believing what I heard while Dupin went on very
much as if in a soliloquy I have already spoken
of his abstract manner at such times
His dis
course was addressed to myself ; but his voice al
th ough by no means loud had that intonation which
is commonl y employed in speaking to some one at a
great distance His eyes vacant in expression
regarded onl y the wall

That the voices heard in contention

h e said

by the party upon the stairs were not the voi c es

of the women themselves was full y proved by the
This relieves us of all doubt u p on th e
evidence
question whether the old lady could have rst
destroyed the da ughter and af terward have com
mitted suicide I speak of this point chiey for th e
,

THE

MURDERS I N

THE RUE

MORGUE

method ; for the strength of Madame

L E sp an aye wo ul d have been utterly unequal to the
task of thrusting her daughter s corpse up the
chimney as it was found ; and the nature of the
wounds upon her own person entirely preclude the
idea of self-destruction Murder then has been
c ommitted by some third p arty ; and the voices of
this third party were those heard in contention
Let me now advert not to the whole testimony
respecting these voices but to what was pecu liar in
that testimony Did you observe any thing peculiar
about it
I remarked that while all the witnesses agreed in
supposing the gruff voice to be that of a Frenchman
there was much di sagreement in regard to the shrill
or as one individual termed it the harsh voice

That was the evidence itself said Dupin but

it was not the peculiarity of the evidence
Y ou have
observed nothing distinctive Yet there was some
thing to be observed The witnesses as you re
mark ag re ed about the gru ff voice ; they were here
unanimous But in regard to the shril l voice the
pecul iarity is not that they disagreed but that
while an Italian an Englishman a Spaniard a
Hollander and a Frenchman attempted to describe
it each one Spoke of it as that of a foreigner Each
is sure that it was not the voice of one of his own

u
co ntrymen Each likens it not to the voice of
an individual of an y nation with whose language he
is conversant but the conv erse
The Frenchman

supposes it the voice of a Spaniard and might have

distinguished some words had he been a cqu ainted
with the S panish
The Dut chman maintains it to
have been that of a Frenchm an ; but we nd i t

stated that not u ndersta nding F rench this witness was

examined through a n interpreter
The Englishman
of

sake

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

26

thinks it the voice of a German and does not under

The Spani ard is sure that it was

s tand Germa n

that O f an Englishman but j u dges by the intonation

altogether as he has no knowledge of the E ng lish

The Italian believes it the voice of a Russian but

has never conversed with a native of Russia A

second Frenchman di ffers moreover with the rst
and is positive that the voice was that of an
Italian ; but not being cognizant of that tongue is

like the Spani ard convinced by the intonation

Now how strangely unusual must that voice have
really been about whi ch su ch testimony as thi s

cou ld have been

c
eli ited in whose tones even
denizens of the ve great divisions of Europe could
recognise nothing familiar ! You will say that it
might have been the voice of an Asiatic of an
African Neither Asiati c s nor Af ricans abound in
Paris ; but without denying the inference I will now
merely call your attention to three points The

voi c e is termed by one witness harsh rather than

shrill
It is represented by two others to have been

qui c k and u nequ al

No words no sounds re
sembling words were by any witness mentioned as
d istinguishable

I know not
continued Dupin
what im
pression I may have made so far upon your own
understanding ; but I do not hesitate to say that
legitimate deductions even from this portion of the

testimony the portion respecting the gruff and

shrill voices are in themselves su fcient to engender
a suspi cion whi ch should give direc tion to all farther
progress in the investigation of the mystery I

said legitimate deductions but my meaning is

not thus fully expressed I designed to imply that
the deductions are the sole proper ones and that the
suspicion arises inevitably from them as the single
.

THE

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

result What the suspicion is however I will not

I merely wi sh you to bear 1n m i nd
say just yet
that with myself it was s uffi ciently forcible to give
a den ite form a certain tendency to my in
in
the
c hamber
u
i
r
i
e
s
q

Let us now transport ourselves in fancy to this

Wh at shall we rst seek here ? Th e
c hamber
means of egress employed by the murderers It is
not too mu ch to say that neither of us believe in
Madame and Mademoiselle
prmternatural events
L E sp an aye were not destroyed by spi ri ts
The
doers of the deed were material and es c aped mate
Then how ? Fortunately there is but one
riall y
mode of reasoning upon the point and that mo de

u
t
m s lead us to a denite decisio n Let u s examine
each by e ac h the possible means of egress It is
clear that the assassins were in the room where
Mademoiselle L E sp anaye was found or at least in
the room a dj oining when the party ascended the
stairs It is then o nl y from these two apartments
that we have to seek issues Th e police have laid
bare the oors the ceilings and the masonr y of the
wall s in every di rection N 0 secret issues could have
esc aped their vigilance
But not trusting to
their eyes I examined with my own
There were ;
then no secret issues B oth doors leading from the
rooms into the passage were se curely locked with
the ke ys inside Let us turn to the chimn eys
These although of ordinary wi dth for some eight or
ten feet above the hearths wi ll not admit through
ou t their extent t h e body of a large cat
The im
possibility of egress by means already stated being
thus absolute we are redu c ed to the win dows
Through those of the front room no one coul d have
es caped without noti c e from the crowd in the street
The murderers must have passed then throug h
,

E DGAR

those

of

ALLAN P O E

the bac k room Now brought to this con

c lu sion in so unequivocal a manner as we are it is n ot
our part as reasoners to rej ect it on a c count of ap
parent impo ssibilities It is o nl y left for us to prove

that these apparent impossibilities are in reali ty

not su ch

There are two windows in the chamber

One of
them is unobstructed by furniture and is wholly
visible The lower portion of the other is hidden
from View by the head of the un wieldy bed stead
which is thrust close up against it The former was
found securely fastened from within It resisted
the utmost forc e of those who endeavored to raise it
A large gimlet -hole had been pierced in its frame to
the left and a very stout nail was found tted therein
nearly to the head Upon examining the other
window a similar nail was seen similarly tted in it ;
and a vigorous attempt to raise this sash failed al so
Th e poli c e were now entirely satised that egress
had not been in these directions And therefore it
was thought a matter of supererogation to withdraw
the nails and open the windows

My own examination was somewhat more

particular and was so for the reason I have j ust

given be cause here it was I knew that all apparent

impossibilities must be proved to be not su ch in
reality

I proceeded to think thus a pos teriori The

murderers did es c ape from one of these windows
This being so they could not have re-fastene d the
sashes from the inside as they were found fastened ;
the c onsideration whi h put a stop
through its
c
obviousness to the sc rutiny of the poli c e in this
quarter Yet the sashes were fastene d The y
must then have the power of fastening themselves
There was no escape from this conclusion I
.

THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

stepped to the unobstructed casement withdrew the

nail with some di fficulty and attempted to raise the
sash It resisted all my e ff orts as I h ad anticipate d
A c onceale d spring must I now knew exist ; and this
corroboration of my idea convin ced me that my
premises at least were c orrect however mysterious
still appeared the circumstances attending the nails
A careful search soon brought to light the hi dden
spring I pressed it and satised with the dis
c ov ery forbore to upraise the sash

I now repla c ed the nail and regarded it at

A person passing out through this
tentiv el y
win dow might have reclosed it and the spring
wo ul d have caught but the nail could not have
been replac ed Th e conclusion was plain and again
narrowed in the eld of my investigations The
assassins must have escaped through the other
window Supposin g then the springs upon each
sash to be the same as was probable there must be
found a di ff eren c e between the nails or at least b e
tween the modes of their xture Getting upon
the sacking of the bedstead I looked over the head
board min utely at the se c ond casement Passing
my hand down behind the boar d I readily dis
covered and pressed the spring whi ch was as I had
supposed i denti c al in character with its neighbor
I now looked at the nail It was as stout as the
other and apparently tted in the same manner
driven in nearly up to the head

Y ou will say that I was puzzled ; but if you

think so you must have misunderstood the nature
of the indu c tions
To use a sporting phrase I had

not been once at faul t

The s c ent h ad never for
an instant been lost There was no aw in any
link of the chain I had trac ed the se cret to its
ultimate result and that resul t was the nail It
,

V OL

II

E DGA R ALLA N

0
3

P OE

had I say in every respec t the appearance of its

fellow in the other win dow ; but this fa c t was an
absolute nullity (c onclusive as it might seem to be )
when compared with the consi deration that here a t

this point terminated the clew

There must be

something wrong I said about the nail

I tou c hed
it ; and the head with about a quarter of an inch of
the shank came off in my n gers The rest of the
shank was in the giml et -hole where it had been
broken o ff The fracture was an Old on e ( for its
e dges were incrusted with rust) and had apparently
been a c complished by the blow Of a hammer whi c h
h ad part ially imbe dded in the top of the bottom
sash the head portion of the nail I now carefully
replaced this head portion in the indentation whenc e
I had taken it and the resemblanc e to a perfe ct nail
was complete the ssure was invisible Pressing
the spring I gently raised the sash for a few inches ;
the head went up with it remainin g r m in its b ed
I close d the windows and the semblanc e of the
whole nail was again perfect
\J

The
Th e ri ddle so far was now unriddled
assassin had escaped through the window whi ch
looked upon the bed Dropping of its own acc ord
upon his exit ( or perhaps purposely c lose d) it had
become fastened by the spring ; and it was the re
tention of this spring whi c h had been mistaken by
the poli c e for that of the nail farther inquiry being
thus c onsidered unnecessary

Th e next question is that of the mode of descent

Upon this point I had been satised in my walk with
you around the building About ve feet and a half
from the casement in question there runs a lightning
rod From this rod it woul d have been impossible
for any one to reac h the window itself to say
nothing of entering it I Observed however that
,

ALL A N POE

E DGAR

3a

1 wish you to bear especially in mind that I have

.

poken of a very unusual degree of activity as

requisite to success in so h azardous and so di ffic ul t
a feat It is my design to show you rst that the
thing might possibly have been accomplished but
secondly and chiey I wish to impress upon your
understanding the very extraordinary the almost
preetern atural c haracter of that agility whi ch co ul d
have accomplished it

You will say no doubt us ing th e language of

the law that to make out my case I should rather

undervalue than insist upon a full estimation
Thi s may be
of the activity required in this matte r
the practi c e in law but it is not the usage of reason
My ul timate obj ec t is only the truth My im
me di ate purpose is to lead you to plac e in j uxta
position that very u nusu a l activity Of which I have
j ust spoken , with that very pecu liar shrill ( or harsh)
and u nequ al voi c e about whose nationality no two
persons c ould be found to agree and in whose ut

tere nce no syilab ication could be detected

At these words a vague and half -formed concep
tion of the meaning of Dupin itted over my mind
I seemed to be upon the verge of comprehension

without power to comprehend as men at times

nd themselves upon the brink of remembran c e
without being able in the end to remember My
friend went on with his dis course

Y ou will see
he said that I have shifted the
question from the mo de of egr ess to that of ing ress
It was my design to c onvey the idea that both were
e ff ected in the same manner at the same point
Let us now revert to the interior Of the room Let
us survey the appe aran c es here The drawers of
the bureau it is sai d had been rie d alth ough
many articles of apparel still remained within th em
s

THE

THE RUE

MURDERS I N

MORGUE

33

The con clusion here is absurd I t is a mere guess

a very silly one and no more How are we to
know that the arti cles found in the drawers were not
all the se drawers had originally contained ? Madam e
L E sp an aye and her daughter lived an ex c eedingly
retired life saw no company seldom went out
h ad little u se for numerous changes of h ab il irnent
Those found were at least of as good quality as any
likely to be possesse d by these ladies If a thief
had taken any why did he not take the best why
d id he not take all ? In a word why did he abandon
four thousand francs in gold to encumber himself
with a bundle of linen ? The gold was abandoned
Nearly the whole sum mentioned by Monsieu r
Mig naud the banker was discovered in bags upon
the oor I wish you therefore to discard from
your thoughts the blundering i dea of motive en
gendered in the brains of the police by that portion
of the eviden c e which speaks of money delivered at
the door Of the house Coincidenc es ten times as
remarkable as this ( the delivery of the money and
murder committed within three days upon the party
receiving it ) happen to all of us every hour of our
lives without attracting even momentary noti c e
Coin cidences in general are great st umblingblo cks
in the way of that class of thinkers who have been
e ducated to know nothing of the theory of probabili
ties that theory to which the most glorious oh
e
c
o
human
re
earch
are
indebted
for
the
most
s
f
t
s
j
glorious of illustration In the present instance had
the gold been gone the fact of its delivery three days
before would have formed something more than a
coinc i dence It would have been c orroborative of
this i dea of motive But under th e re al circum
stances of the case if we are to suppose gold the
motive of this outrage we must also imagine the
.

E DGAR

34

ALLA N

P OE

perpetrator so vacillating an idiot as to have aban

d on ed his gold and his motive together
"
Keeping now steadily in mind the points to

which I have drawn yo ur attention that peculiar

voice that unusual agility and that startling
absence of motive in a murder so singularly atro
ciou s as this let us glan c e at the but chery itself
Here is a woman strangled to d eath by manual
strength and thrust up a ch imney head downward
Ordinary assassins employ no su ch mod es Of murder
as this Least of all do they thus dispose of the
murdered In the mann er of thrusting the corp se
up the chimney you will admit that there was
something ex cessively ou tr somethin g altogether
irreconcilable with our c ommon notions of human
a ction even when we suppose the ac tors the most
depraved of men Think too how great must have
been that strength whi ch co ul d have thrust the body
u p su c h an aperture so for c ibly that the united
vigor of several persons was found barely su ffi cient
to drag it down !

Turn now to other indi c ations of the employ

ment of a vigor most marvelous On the hearth
were thi c k tresses very thi c k tresses of grey
human hair These had been torn ou t by the roots
You are aware of the great forc e necessary in tearing
thus from the head even twenty or thirty hairs to
gether You saw the lo cks in question as well as
myself Their roots ( a hideous sight !) were c lotted
with fragments of the esh of the scalp sure token
of the pro di gious power whi ch had been exerte d in
uprooting perhaps half a million of hairs at a time
Th e throat of the old lady was not merely cut but
the head absolutely severed from the body : the in
strument was a mere razor I wish you also to look
at the bru tal fero c ity Of these deeds Of the bruises
.

T HE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

35

upon the body of Madame L E sp an aye I do not

spe ak Monsieur Dumas and h is worthy coa dj utor
Monsieur Etienne have pronoun c ed that they were
inicte d by some obtuse instrument ; and so far the se
gentlemen are very c orre c t The obtuse instrument
was clearly the stone pavement in the yar d upon whi c h
the vi ctim had fallen from the window whi ch looke d
in upon the b ed This i dea however simple it may
now seem es caped the poli c e for the same reason
that the breadth of the shutters es caped them
be cause by the a ff air of the nails their perc eptions
h ad been hermeti cally sealed against the possib ility
of the win d ows having ever been opene d at all

If now in addition to all these things you have

properly ree c ted upon the odd di sorder of the
chamber we have gone so far as to combine the ideas
of an agility astoun d ing a strength superhuman a
fero city brutal a but chery without motive a g ro
tesqu erie in horror absolutely al ien from hum anity
an d a voi c e foreign in tone to the ears of men of
many nations and devoid of all distinct or intelligible
syllab ic ation
What result then has ensued ?

What impression have I made upon your fancy ?

I felt a creeping of the esh as Dupin aske d me the
question

A madman I said has done this deed some

raving maniac escaped from a neighboring Maison

de S a nt

In some respe c ts he replied your i dea is not

irrelevant But the voi c es of madmen even in their
wil dest parox ysms , are never found to tally with that
peculiar v oi c e heard upon the stairs Madmen are
of some nation
and their language however in
c oherent in its wor ds has always the coheren c e of
syll ab ic ation
Besi des the hair of a madman is not
su ch as I now hold in my hand I d isentangled this
,

E DGA R

6
3

POE

A LLA N

little tuft from the rigidly c lutched ngers of Madame

Tell me what you c an make of it

L E sp anaye

Dupin ! I said completely unn erve d ; this

hair is most unusual this is no human hair

I have not asserted that it is said he ; but

before we decide this point I wish you to glance at
the little sketch I have here traced upon this paper
It is a fac-simile drawing of what has been described

in one portion of the testimony as dark bruises and

deep indentations of nger nails upon the throat of
Mademoiselle L E sp anaye and in another ( by

Messrs D umas and Etienn e ) as a series of livid

spots evidently the impression of ngers

You will perceive continu ed my friend spread

ing out the paper upon the table before us

that
this drawing gives the idea of a rm and xed hold
There is no slipping apparent Each nger has
retained possibly until the death of the victim
the fearful grasp by which it originally imbedded
itself Attempt now to place al l your ngers at
the same time in the respective impressions as you

see them
I made the attempt in vain

We are possibly not giving this matter a fair

said
The paper is spread out upon a
plane surfa c e ; but t h e human throat is cylindrical
Here is a billet of wood the circumferenc e of which
is about that of the throat Wrap the dr awing

around it and try the experiment again

I di d so ; but the di ffi culty was even more obvious

than before
This I said
is the mark Of no

human hand

Read now replied D upin

thi s passage from

Cuvier
It was a minute anatomical and generally descrip
tive account of the large fulvous Ourang-Outang of

THE

MURDERS I N THE RUE M O RG UE

37

the East In di an Islands The gigantic stature the

prodigious strength and activity the wild ferocity
and the imitative propensities of these mammalia
are su fficiently well known to all I understood the
full horrors of the murder at once

The description of the digits said I as I made

an end of reading is in exact accordance with this

drawing I see that no animal but an Ourang
O utang of the spec ies here mentioned could have
impressed the indentations as you have traced them
This tuft of tawny hair too is identical in character
with that of the beast of Cuvier But I cannot
possibly comprehend t h e parti c ulars of this frightful
mystery Besides there were two voices heard in
contention and one of them was un questionably the

voice of a Frenchman

True ; and you will remember an expression at

t ributed almost unanimously by the evidence to

this voice the expression

mon Dieu ! This
under the c ircumstances h as been j ustly character
iz ed by on e of the witnesses ( Montani the con
fectioner ) as an expression of remonstrance or
expostulation Upon these two words therefore I
have mainl y built my hopes of a full solution of the
rid dl e A French man was cogni zant of the murder
It is possible indeed it is far more than probable
that h e was inno c ent of all participation in the
bloody transactions which took place The O urang
O utang may have escaped from him H e may have
traced it to the chamber ; but under the agitating
circumstances whi ch ensued he could never have
re-c aptured it
It is still at large
I will not

pursue these guesses for I have no right to call

them morw since th e shad es of reection upon
whi ch they are based are scarcely of suffic ient
depth to be appre c iable by my own intellect and
,

E DGAR ALLA N

3
3

P OE

since I co ul d not pretend to make them intelligible

to the understan ding of another We will c all them
guesses then and speak of them as su ch If the
Fren chman in question is indeed as I suppose
innocent of this atrocity this a dvertisement whi ch
I left last night upon our return home at the of c e

of Le Mon de ( a paper devoted to the shipping

interest and much sought by sailors) will bring

him to our resi dence

He handed me a paper and I read thus :
.

CA U G H T I n the Bois de Bou logne early in the

morning of the
ins t ( the morning of the murder )
a very la rge
tawny Ou rang-Ou tang of the B ornese
species
The owner
(who is ascertained to be a
sailor
b elonging to a Ma ltese vessel ) may have the
u pon identifying it s atisfa ctorily a nd
a nima l again
paying a few cha rges arising from its capture and
keeping
Rue
F au b ourg S t
C a ll at N o
Germa in ou troisieme
,

How was it possible I asked that you should

know the man to be a sailor and belonging to a

Maltese vessel ?

I do not know it said Dupin

I am not s ure
of it Here however is a small pie c e of ribbon
which from its form an d from its greasy appearance
has evi dently been used in tying the hair in one of
those long queues of which sailors are so fon d
Moreover this knot is on e whi ch few besides sailors
c an tie and is peculiar to the Maltese
I pi cke d the
ribbon up at the foot of the lightning -rod It could
not have belonged to either of the de c eased Now
if after all I am wr ong in my induction from this
ribbon that the Frenchman was a sailor belonging
to a Maltese vessel still I can have d one no harm in
saying what I did in the advertisement If I am in
error he will merel y suppose that I have been mis
,

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

4o

to the door when we again heard him coming up

He did not turn ba c k a se c ond time but stepped up
with dec ision and rapped at the d oor of our
chamber

Come in said Dupin in a cheerful and hearty

tone
A man entered He was a sailor evidently a
tall stout and muscul ar-looking person wi th a
certain d are -devil expression of countenance n ot
altogether unprepg ssessing His fa c e greatly sun
burnt w as rITOf e than half hidden by whisker and
musta chio He had with him a huge oaken cudgel
but appe ared to be otherwis e unarmed He bowed

awkwardl y and bade us good evening in French

a cc ents whi ch although somewhat Neufch atelish
were st ill s ufficiently in di cative of a Parisian origin

Sit down my friend said Dupin

I suppose
you have called about the Ourang-Outang Upon
my word I al most envy you the possession of him ;
a remarka bly ne and no doubt a very valuable

animal How old do you suppose him to be ?

The sailor drew a long breath with the air of a
man relieved of some intolerable bur den and then
replied in an assured tone :

I have no way of telling but he can t be more

than four or ve years old Have you got him

here ?

Oh no ; we had no conveniences for keeping him

here He is at a livery stable in the Rue Dubourg
j ust by You can get him in the morning Of

course you are prepared to identify the property ?

To be sure I am sir

I shall be sorry to part with him said Dupin

I d on t mean that you shoul d be at all this

trouble for nothing sir said the man

Couldn t
expec t it Am very willing to pay a reward for the
.

T HE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

nding

of

the animal

that is to

'

4r

any thing in

say,

reason

Well replied my friend that is all very fair to

be sure Let me think what should I have ?
Oh ! I will tell you My reward shall be thi s Y ou
shall give me al l the information in your power
"
about these murders in the Rue Morgue
Dupin said the l ast words in a very low tone and
very quietly Just as quietly too he walked
toward the door lo c ked it and put the key in his
pocket He then drew a pistol from his bosom and
placed it without the least urry upon the table
The sailor s face ushed up as if he were struggling
with su ff ocation He started to his feet and grasped
his cudgel ; but th e next momen t he fell back into
his seat trembling violently and with the counte
nan c e of death itself He spoke not a word I
pitied him from the bottom of my heart

My friend said Dupin in a kind tone you are

alarming yourself unnecessarily you are indeed

We mean you no harm W hatever I pledge you the
honor Of a gentleman and of a Fren chman that we
intend you no inj ury I perfe ctly well know that
you are innocent of the atro cities in the Rue Morgue
It will not do however to deny that you are in some
measure implicated in them From what I have
already sai d you must know that I have had means
of information about this matter means of whi ch
Now the thing
you could never have dreamed
stands thus You have done noth ing whi ch you
coul d have avoided nothing certainly whi ch
renders you culpable Y ou were not even guilty of
robbery when you might have robbed with im
You have nothing to c onceal Y ou have
p unit y
no reason for c on c ealment On the other hand you
are bound by every princ iple of honor to c onfess all
.

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

42

you know An innocent man is n ow imprisoned

c harge d with that crime of which you c an point ou t

the perpetrator
The sailor had rec overed his presenc e of mind in a
great measure while Dupin uttere d these words ;
but his original bol dness of bearing was all gone

So help me God sai d he after a brief pau se

I will tell you all I know about this aff air but I
do not expect you to believe on e half I say I would
be a fool indee d if I did Still I am inno c ent an d I

will make a c lean breast if I die for it

What he stated was in substanc e this He had
lately made a voyage to the Indian Ar chipelago
A party of which he formed on e lan ded at Borneo
and passed into the interior on an ex c ur sion o f
pleasure Himself and a companion had c aptured
the Ourang -Outang This companion d ying the
animal fell into his own exclusive possession Afte r
great trouble o c casioned by the intra ctable ferocity
of his c aptive during the home voyage he at length
su cc eeded in lo dging it safely at his own residence in
Paris where not to attract toward himself the un
pleasant curiosity of his neighbors he kept it c are
fully se cluded un til such time as it should re c over
from a wound in the foot receive d from a splinter
on board ship
His ultimate design was to sell it
Returning home from some sailors froli c on the
night or rather in the morning of the murder he
found the beast o c cupying his own bed-room into
whi ch it had broken from a closet a dj oining W here
it had been as was thought securely c onned
Razor in hand and fully lathered it was sitting before
a looking -glass attempting the operation of shaving
in whi ch it had no doubt previously wat ched its
master through the key-hole of the closet Terried
at the sight of so dangerous a weapon in the posses
.

THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

43

sion of an animal so fero c ious and so well able to use

it the man for some moments was at a loss what to
do He had been a cc ustomed however to quiet
the creature even in its ercest moods by the u se of
a whip and to this he now resorted Upon sight
of it the Ourang -Outang sprang at once through the
door of the chamber d own the stairs and then c e
through a window unf ortunately open into the
street
Th e Frenchman followed in despair ; the ape
razor still in hand o c casionally stopping to look
back and gesti c ulate at its pursuer until the latter
h ad nearly c ome up with it
It then again made Off
In this mann er the chase continued for a long time
The streets were profoun dly quiet as it was nearly
three o clo ck in the morning In p assmg down an
alley in the rear of the Rue Morgue the fugitive s
attention was arrested by a light gleaming from the
Open window of Madame L E span aye s chamber
in the fourth story of her house Rushing to the
buil ding it perceived the lightning-rod c lambered
up with inc onc eivable agility grasped the shutter
whi ch was thrown fully back against the wall and
by its means swun g itself dire ctly upon the head
board of the bed The whole feat did not occ upy a
minute The shutter was ki cked open again by the
Ourang -Outang as it entere d the room
The sailor in the meantime was both rej oiced and
perplexed He had strong hopes of now re c apturing
the brute as it could s c arc ely escape from t h e trap
into whi ch it had ventured except by the rod where
it might be intercepted as it c ame down On the
other hand there was mu ch cause for anxiety as to
what it might do in the house This latter ree ction
urge d the man still to follow the fugitive A light
ning rod is as c en de d wi thout di ffi culty especially by a
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

44

sailor ; but when h e had arrived as high as the win

dow whi ch lay far to h is left his c areer was stoppe d ;
the most that he co ul d accomplish was to reach over
so as to ob tain a glimpse of the interior of the room
At this glimpse he nearly fell from his hold through
excess of horror Now it was that those hideous
shri eks arose upon the night whi ch had startled
from slumber the inmates of the Rue Morgue
Madame L E sp an aye and her daughter habite d in
their night clothes had apparently been occupie d in
arrang ing some papers in the iron c hest already
mentioned which had been wheeled into the mid dl e
of the room
It was open and its c ontents lay
besi de it on the oor The victims must have been
sitting with their bac ks toward the window ; and
from the time elapsing between the ingress of the
beast and the s creams it seems probable that it was
not immediately perceived Th e apping -to of the
shutter would naturally have been attributed to the
,

As the sailor looked in the gigantic anim al had

seized Madame L E sp anaye by the hair (whi ch was
loose as she had been c ombing it ) and was ourish
ing the razor about her face in imitation of the
motions of a barber Th e daughter lay prostrate
and motionless ; sh e had swoone d Th e s creams
an d struggles of the old lady (during whi c h the hair
w as torn from her hea d) had the e ff e c t of changing
the probably pac ic purposes of the Ourang-Outang
into those of wrath With one determined sweet
of its muscular arm it nearly severe d her hea d fro m
her body The sight of blood iname d its anger into
Gnashing its teeth and ashing re frorr
ph ren z y
its eyes it ew upon the bo dy of the girl and im
b ed d ed its fearful talons in her throat retaining it s
grasp until sh e expired It s wan dering and wild
,

MO RGUE

THE MURDERS I N THE RUE

45

glances fell at this moment upon the head of th e bed

over which the face of its master rigid with horror
The fury of the beast who
was j ust dis c ernible
no doubt bore still in mind the dreaded whip was
instantly converted into fear Conscious of having
d eserved punishment it seemed desirous of c on
and skipped about the
c ealing its bloo d y deeds
chamber in an agony of nervous agitation ; throwin g
down and breaking the furnit ure as it moved an d
dr agging the bed from the bedstead In conclusion
it seize d rst the corpse of the daughter and thrust
it up the chimney as it was found ; then that Of the
old lady whi ch it imme di ately hurled through the
window hea dlong
As the ape approached the casement with its
multilated burden the sailor shrank aghast to the
rod and rather gliding than clambering down it
hurried at onc e home dreading the c onsequenc es
of the butchery
and gladl y abandoning in h is
terror all solicitude about the fate of the Ourang
Outang The words heard by the party upon the
staircase were the Frenchman s exclamations of
horror and aff right commingled with the endish
j abberings of the brute
I have scarc ely anyt hing to add The O urang
Outang must have escaped from the chamber by
the rod j ust before the breaking of the door It
must have closed the window as it passe d through it
I t was subsequently caught by the own er himself
who obtaine d for it a very large sum at the j ardin
des P lantes
L e Bon was instantly released upon
our narration
of the
c ir cumstan c es
( with some
comments from Dupin) at the b ureau of the Prefect
of Poli c e
This func tionary however well disposed
to my friend c oul d not altogether c onceal his
chagrin at the turn which affairs had taken and was
,

VO L I I 4
.

E DGA R ALLA N POE

46

fain to indulge in a sarcasm or two about the pro

ety of every person min ding his own business
r
i
p

Let him talk said Dupin who had not thought

it necessary to reply
Let him dis c ourse ; it will ease
his consc ience I am satised with having defeated
him in his own c astle Nevertheless that he failed
in the solution of this mystery is by no means that
matter for wonder whi ch he supposes it ; for in truth
our friend the Prefe c t is somewhat too c u nning to be
profound In his wisdom is no stamen It is all
head and no body like the pictur es of the Go ddess
Laverna or at best all head and shoul ders like a
But he is a good c reatur e after all I like
codsh
him especially for on e master stroke of cant by
which he has attained his reputation for ingenuity

I mean the way he h as de nier cc qui est et d ex

,

u
l
i
p q er

cc

u
q i n

est

pas

Rou ssea u N ouvell e Helo ise

E DGAR ALLA N

43

P OE

persons even among the

c alrn est think ers who have n ot occasionally
been startled into a vague yet thrilling
h al fcreden c e in the supernatural by coincidences
as
of so seemingly marvellous a character that
mere coinc i dences the intelle c t has been unable to
re c eive them Such sentiments for the half-cre
d eu ces of which I speak have never the full forc e of
thought su ch sentiments are sel dom thoroughly stied
unless by referen c e to the doctrine of c hanc e or
as it is te chni ca lly terme d the Calcul us of Proba
b il ities
this Cal culus is in its essence purely

Now
mathematical ; and thus we have the anom al y of the
most rigidly exac t in s cienc e applie d to the shadow
and spirituality of the most intangible in spe c ulation
The extraordinary details whi ch I am now c alled
upon to make public will be found to form as
regard s sequenc e of time the primary branch of a
series of scarcely intelligible coi ncide nces whose
se c ondary or c onc lu ding branch will be recognize d
by all readers in the late murder of M A RY CE C I LI A
R O G E RS at New York

When in an arti cle entitled Th e Murders in

the Rue Morgue I endeavored about a year ago

to depi ct some very remarkable features in th e
ment al c harac ter of my friend the Chevalier C
Auguste Dupin it did not oc cur to me that I should
ever resume the subj e ct This depi c ting of charac
ter constituted my d esign ; and this d esign was
thoroughly fullle d in the wild train of circ um
stanc es brought to instance Dupin s i di osyn crasy
I might have ad duced other examples but I Should
have proven no more Late events however in
their surprising d evelopment have startled me
into some farther details whi c h will c arry with
them the air of extorted c onfession Hearing
,

THE

M YS TE R Y

OF

M ARI E R O G ET

49

what I have lately heard it would be indeed strange

should I remain Silent in regard to what I both
heard and saw so long ago
Upon the winding up of the tragedy involved in
the deaths of Madame L E sp anaye and her daughter
the Chevalier di smi ssed the aff air at once from his
attention and relapsed into his O ld habits of moo dy
reverie Prone at al l times to abstraction I
readily fell in with his humor ; and c ontinuing to
occ upy our chambers in th e Faubourg Saint Ger
main we gave the Future to the winds and slum
bered tranquilly in the Present weaving the dull
world around us into dr eams
But these dreams were not altogether uninter
It may readily be supposed that the part
rup t ed
played by my friend in the drama at the Rue
Morgue had not failed of its impression upon the
fancies of the Parisian poli c e With its emissaries
the nam e of Dupin had grown into a household
word The sirnpl e character of those inductions
by which he had disentangled the mystery never
having been explained even to the Prefect or to
any other individual than myself of course it is
not surprising that the a ffair was regarded as little
less than miraculous or that the Chevalier s ana
l yt ical abi lities acquired for him the cre dit of in
tuition His frankness would have led him to
d isabuse every inquirer of su c h prej udi c e ; but h is
indolent humor forbade all farther agitation of a
topic whose interest to himself had long ceased I t
thus happened that he found himself the cyn osure
of the policial eyes ; and the cases were not few in
whi ch attempt was mad e to engage his service s at
Prefecture One of the most remarkable inst an ces
was that of th e murder of a young girl named Marie
Rog et
,

E DGA R

0
5

ALLA N

P OE

This event occurred about two years after the

atro c ity in the Rue Morgue
Marie whose Chris
tian and family name will at once arrest attention
from their resemblance to those of the unfortunate

wa s the only daughter of the widow

c igar -girl
Estelle Rog et Th e father had died during the
child s infancy and from the period of his death
until within eighteen months before the assassina
tion whi ch forms the subj ect of our narrative the
mother and daughter had dwelt together in the
Rue Pave Saint Andr ee ; * Madame there keepin g
a pension assisted by Marie A ff airs went on thus
until the latter had attained her twentysecond
year when her great beauty attra cted the noti c e
of a perfumer who oc c upied on e of the shops in
the basement of the Palais Royal and whose c ustom
lay ch iey among the desperate adventurers in
festing that neighborhood Monsieur L e Blanc T
was not unaware of the advantages to be derived
from the attendance of the fair Marie in his per
fumery; and his liberal proposals were accepted
eagerly by the girl although with somewhat more
of hesitation by Madame
The anti cipations of the shopkeeper were realized
and his rooms soon became notorious through the
charms of the sprightly grisette She h ad been in
his employ about a year when her a dm irers were
thrown into confusion by her sud den d isappearan c e
from the Shop Monsieur Le Blane was un able to
a cc ount for her absenc e and Madame Rog et was
The public
distra c ted with anxiety and terror
papers immediately took up the theme and the
poli c e were upon the point of making serious
investigations when on e ne morning after the
lapse of a week Marie in good health but with a
.

Na ssa u

St reet

1 An d erson
'

THE MYSTERY O F MARIE ROGET

51

somewhat saddened air made her re-appearance

at her usual counter in the perfumery All in
quiry ex c ept that of a private character was of
course immediately hushed
Monsieur L e Blane
professed total ignoranc e as before Marie with
Madame replied to all questions that the last week
had been Spent at the house of a relation in the
c ountry
Thus the aff air died away
and was
generally forgotten ; for the girl ostensibly to relieve
herself from the impertinence of curiosity soon
bade a nal adieu to the perfumer and sought the
shelter of her mother s residence in the Rue Pav e
Saint Andree
I t was about ve months after this return home
that h er friends were alarmed by her su dden dis
appearanc e for the second time Three days elapse d
and nothing was heard of her On the fourth her
*
corpse was found oating in the Seine near the
shore whi ch is Opposite the Quartier of the Rue
Saint An dree and at a point not very far distant
from the secluded neighborhood of the Barri ere du
,

Roule q

The atrocity of this murder ( for it was at on c e

evi dent that murder had been committed ) the
youth and beauty of the victim and above all her
previous notoriety conspired to produce intense
excitement in the minds of the sensitive Parisians
I can call to mind no similar occurrence producing
so general and so intense an effect
For several
weeks in the discussion of this one absorbing theme
even the momentous political topics of the day were
forgotten The Prefect mad e unusual exertions ;
and the powers of the whole Parisian poli c e were
of course tasked to th e utmost extent
,

* The

H ud son

TW e eh awken

E DGAR ALLA N

P OE

Upon the rst discovery of the corpse it was not

suppose d that t h e murderer would be able to elu de
for more than a very brief period the inquisition
which was immediately set on foot It was not
until the expiration of a week that it was deemed
necessary to o ff er a reward ; and even then this re
ward was limited to a thousand francs In the
mean time the investigation proceeded with vigor
if not always with j udgment and numerous indivi d
u al s were examined to no purpose ; while
owing
to the continual absence of all clue to the mystery
the pop ul ar excitement greatly increased At the end
of the tenth day it was thought advisable to double
the sum originally proposed ; an d at length the
second week having elapsed without leading to
any discoveries and the prej udi c e which always
exists in Paris against the Police having given
vent to itself in several serious meu tes the Prefect
took it upon himself to off er the sum of twenty

thousand francs for the conviction of the assassin

or
if more than one should prove to have been

implicated
for t h e convi ction of any one of the

assassins
In the proclamation setting forth this
reward a full pardon was promised to any acc om
plice who should come forward in evidence against
his fellow ; and to the whole was appended where
e v er it appeared the private placa rd of a com
mittee of citizens off ering ten thousand francs in
addition to the amount propo sed by the Prefecture
The entire reward thus stood at no less than thirty
thousand francs which will be regarded as an extra
ordinary sum when we consider the humble con
dition of the girl and the great frequency in large
cities of such atrocities as the one d escribed
No on e doubte d now that th e mystery of this
murder woul d be immed iately brought to ligh t
,

THE

MYSTERY OF MARI E RO GET

53

although in one or two instances arrests were

m ade whi ch promised elucidation yet nothing
was elicited whi ch could implicate the parties
suspected ; and they were di scharged forthwith
Strange as it may appear the third week from the
discovery of the body had passed and passed with
out any light being thrown upon the subj ec t before
even a rumor of th e events which had so agitate d
the public mind reached the ears of Dupin and
myself Engag ed in researches which had ob sorb ed
it had been n early a month
our whole attention
sin ce either of us h ad gone abro ad or received a
visitor or more than glanced at th e leading political
articles in one Of the daily papers Th e rst in
tellig ence of the murder was brought us by G
in person He called upon us early in the af ter
noon of the thi rteenth of J ul y 1 8
and remained
wi th us until late in the night He h ad been
by the fail ure of all his endeavors to ferret out the
assassins His reputation so he said with a
peculiarly Parisian air was at stake Even h is
honor was concerned The eyes of the public were
upon him ; and there was really no sacrice whi ch
he would not be will ing to make for the develop
ment of the mystery He concluded a somewhat
droll speech with a compliment u pon what he was
pleased to term the tact Of Dupin and mad e him a
direct and certa
a liberal proposition the
prec ise nature of which I do not feel myself at
li b erty to disclose but which has no b earing upon
the proper subj ect of my narrative
The compliment my friend rebutted as best h e
coul d but the proposition he accepted at once
al though its advantages were al together provision al
This point being settled the Prefect broke forth
at once into explanations of h is own views inter
B ut

EDGAR ALLAN POE

54

spersing them with long comments upon the evi

d en c e ; of which latter we were not yet in possession
He discoursed much and beyond d oubt learne dl y ;
while I hazarded an o c casion al suggestion as the
night wore drowsily away Dupin sitting steadily
in his accustomed arm -chair was the embodiment
of respectful attention
He wore spe c tacles during
the whole interview ; and an occasional glanc e beneath
their green glasses sufced to convince me that
he slept not th e less soun dly because Silently
throughout the seven or eight lea denfoote d hours
which immediately preceded th e departure of the
Prefect
In the mornin g I procured at the Prefecture a
full report of all the evidence elicited and at the

various newspaper oices a copy of every paper

in which from rst to last had been published any
dec isive information in regard to this sad affair
Freed from all that was positively disproved this
mass of information stood thus :
Marie Rog et left the resi dence of h er mother
in the Rue Pav e St Andree about nine o clock
in the morning of Sunday June the twenty-second
18
In g oing out, sh e gave notice to a Monsieur

St
c
u
es
E
a
s
h
u
t
c
e
: an d to him onl y of her in ten
jg q
tion to sp ed the daywith an aunt who resi ded in
The Rue des Dromes is a
t h e Rue des Dromes
short and narrow but populous thoroughfare not
far from the banks of the river and at a distan c e of
some two miles in the most direct course possible
from the pens ion of Madame Roget St Eustache
was the ac cepted suitor of Marie and lodged as
well as took h is meals at the pens ion He was to
have gone for his betrothed at dusk and to have
escorted her home In the afternoon however
.

'

P ayne

EDGAR ALLAN POE

6
5

rope in more than on e volution A part of the

right wrist al so was much chafed as well as the
back throughout its extent but more especially at
the sho ul der bl ad es In bringing the bo dy to the
shore the shermen had attached to it a rope ; but
none of the excoriat ions had been effe cted by this
The esh of the nec k was mu ch swollen There
were no cuts apparent or brui ses which appeared
the eff e ct of blows A piec e of lac e was found
tied so tightly around the ne ck as to be hi dden from
sight ; it was completely buried in the esh an d
was fastened by a knot which lay j ust un der the
left ear This alone would have sufficed to pro
duce death The m edical testimony Spoke c on
d ently of the virtuous c haracter of the de c ease d
She had been subj ected it said to brutal violenc e
The corpse was in su ch condition when found that
there c ould have been no difculty in its recogni tion
by friends
The dress was much torn and otherwise dis
ordered In the outer garment a slip about a
foot wide had been torn upward from the bottom
hem to the waist but not torn off It was wound
three times around the waist and secured by a
sort of hitch in the bac k Th e dress immedi ately
beneath the frock was of ne mu slin ; and from this a
Slip eighteen inches wide h ad been torn entirely
ou t torn very evenly and with great c are
It
was found around her nec k tting loosely and
secured with a hard knot Over this muslin slip and
the sl ip of lace th e strings of a bonnet were attached ;
the bonn et being appended The knot by which
the strings of the bonnet were fastened was not a
lady s but a Slip or sailor s kn ot
After the recognition of the corpse it was not ;
as usual taken to the Morg ue ( this formality be ing
.

THE MYSTERY O F MARIE R O GET

57

) but hastily interred not far from the

spot at which it was brought ashore Thr ough
the exertions of Beauvais the matter was industri
ou sly hushed up as far as poss ible ; and several days
had elapsed before any public emotion resulted A
*
weekly paper
however at length took up the
theme ; the corpse was disinterre d and a re-ex
amination instituted f but nothing was elicited
b eyond what h as been already noted
The clothes
however were now submitted to th e mother and
friends of the d eceased and fully i dent ied as those
worn by the girl upon leaving home
Meantime the excitement increased hourly
Several in dividuals were arrested and di sc harged
St Eustache fell espe c ially under suspicion ; and
he failed at rst to give an intelligible account
of hi s whereabouts during the Sunday on whi ch
Marie left home Subsequently however he su b
mitte d to Monsieur G
af davits acc ounting
satisfactorily for every hour of the day in question
As time passed and no discovery ensued a thousand
contradictory rumors were circulated and j ournal
ists busied themselves in suggestions
Among these
the one which attracted the most noti c e w as the
idea that Marie Rog et still lived that the corpse
foun d in the Seine was that of some other unfortu
nate I t will be proper that I submit to the reader
some passages which embod y the suggestion alluded
to These passages are literal translations from
L E toil e T a paper conducted in general
with
much abil ity
superu ou s,

M ademoi selle Roget l eft h er mot h er s h ou se on S un day

morn in g J un e t he twen ty-secon d 1 8
wi th th e ostens i bl e
'

The
N Y

N Y
1 Th e
W e ld E s q

Merc u ry

B rot her

o n at

ha n

e dit ed

by H

Has ti n gs

E DGAR

8
5

ALLA N P OE

go in g to see

of

he r

me

h er c onn exion
F rom t h a t h our n ob ody is p ro ve d
in t h e Ru e d es D rOmes
T h ere is n o trace o r t i d i n g s of h er at all
to h ave seen h er
T he re h as n o person wh a tever c ome forward
on t h at d ay a ft er S h e l eft h e
so far w h o saw h er a t all
Now t hou gh w e h av e n o evi d en ce
mot h er s door
t h at M ar i e Roget w as in t h e l an d of th e l i v in g after n i n e
o c l oc k on S u n d ay J u n e t he twen ty -sec on d w e h a ve proof
t h a t u p t o t h at h ou r sh e w a s al ive
O n W e dn e sday n oon
a t twel ve a femal e b o dy w a s d i sc ov ered a o at on the sh ore
Th i s w as even if w e presu me
o f th e B a rr i ere du R oul e
t h a t M ar i e Roget w as t h rown in to t h e r iv er wi t h in t h ree
h ou rs after sh e left h er mot h er s h ou se only t h ree d ays
from t h e t ime sh e l eft h er h ome t h ree d ays t o an h ou r
Bu t it is folly t o su ppose t h a t th e mu rder if m u rd er w a s
c ommi tt ed on h er b o dy c oul d h a v e b een c on su mmat e d soon
e n ou g h to h av e en ab l ed h e r mu r d erers t o t h row t h e b ody
i n to th e r iver b efore m idn ight Th ose w h o are gu il ty of
su c h h orr i d c r i mes
c h oo se d arkn ess rat h er t h an l igh t
T hu s w e see t h at if t he b ody fou n d in th e r iver w as
t h at of M ari e R oget it c oul d only hav e b een in t h e wat er
t w o an d a h alf d ays or t h r ee at t h e ou t si de
Al l experi en ce
h as Sh own t h at drown e d b od i es or b od i es t h rown in to t h e
water i mmed i ately after deat h by violen ce requ ire from
six t o t en d ays for su ff i c i en t dec ompo si t i on t o t ake pl ace
t o b r in g t h em to t h e t op of t h e water
E ven wh ere a
c ann on is red o v er a c orp se
an d it r i ses b e fore a t l ea st
v e or six da ys immersi on it s ink s a ga in if l et al on e
Now w e ask wh at w a s t h ere in t h i s c ase to c au se a depart u re
from t h e ord in ary c our se of n ature ?
I f t h e b ody
h ad b een kept in it s man gl ed state on sh ore u n t il T u esd ay
n ig h t some t ra ce woul d b e foun d on sh ore of t h e mu rderers
I t is a dou b tful po in t al so wh et h er t h e b ody woul d b e so
soon a oat e ven were it t h rown in a fter h avi n g b een d ea d
tw o d ays
An d fu rt h ermore it is ex c eed in gly improb abl e
t h at any v ill ian s w h o h a d c omm i t t ed su c h a mu rder a s is
h ere suppose d woul d h ave t h rown t h e b ody in wi th ou t
weigh t t o sin k it when su c h a precau t ion c oul d h ave so
eas ily b een t ak en
pu rp ose

'

au n t , or so

ot

The e di tor h ere proceeds to argue that the body

must have been in the water not thr ee days merely

be cause it was
b ut at le ast ve times three d ays
,

TH E

M YS TE R Y OF MA RI E

R O G ET

59

far decomposed that Beauvais had great di f culty

in recognizing it This latter poin t however was
fully disproved I continue the translation :

so

Wh at t h en are the fac ts on wh i c h M Beau va i s says

t ha t he h a s n o dou b t t h e b ody w as t h at of M ar i e Roget ?
He r ipp ed u p t h e gown sl eeve an d says he foun d marks
wh ic h sat i sed h im of t h e i den t i ty Th e pu bl ic generally
su p po sed t h ose ma rk s t o h ave c on s i sted of some d esc r ip t i on
H e rubb ed t he arm an d foun d hair u pon it
of sc ars
w e t h ink as c an read ily b e im
somet h i n g a s in den i te
ag in e d as l i t tl e c on cl u sive a s n d i n g an a rm in t h e sl eeve

M B eau vai s d id not return t hat n igh t b u t sen t word t o

M a dame Roget at seven O cl oc k on Wedn esday e ven in g
t h a t a n i n vest ig at i on w as st ill in p ro gress re spec t i n g h er
d au gh ter
I f w e allow t h at M adame R oget from h er ag e
an d gr i ef c oul d n ot g o o ver (wh i c h is all owin g a great deal )
th ere c ert a i nly mu st h ave b een some on e w h o woul d h ave
t h ou g h t it wort h wh il e t o g o o ver an d att en d t h e in vest ig a
N ob ody
t ion if t h ey t h ou g h t t he b ody w as t h at of M ari e
went o ver T here w as n ot h in g sa i d or h eard ab ou t t h e
mat ter in th e Ru e P av e S t An dr ee t h at reac h ed e ven
M St E u stac he th e
th e o c cu p an t s of t h e same b u il d in g
l over an d in ten de d h u sb an d of M ari e w h o b oarded in h er
mot h er s h ou se depo se s t h at he d id n ot h ear of t h e d is
c ov ery of t h e b ody of h is in ten ded un t i l t h e n ext morn i n g
wh en M B eau vai s c ame into h is c h amb er an d told h im of
it
For an i t em of n ews l ik e t h is it strik es u s it w a s v ery
c ooll y rece ive d
,

In this way the j ournal endeavored to create the

impression of an apathy on the part of the relatives
of Marie
in c onsistent with the supposition that
these relatives believed the corpse to be hers Its
insinuations amount to this that Marie with
the c onnivance of her friends had absented herself
from the city for reasons involving a charge against
her chastity ; and that these friends upon the dis
c ov ery of a c orpse in the Seine somewhat resembling
that of the girl had availe d themselves of the op
,

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

60
i
o
r
t
u
n
ty
p

to impress the public with the be lief of

her death But L E toile was again over-hasty
It was distinctly proved t h at no apathy such as
was imagined existed ; that the old lady was ex
ceeding l y feeble and so agitated as to be unable to
attend to any duty ; that St Eustache so far from
receiving the news coolly was distracte d with grief
and bore himself so frantically that M Beauvais
prevailed upon a friend and relative to take ch arge
of him and prevent his atten ding the examination
at the di sinterment Moreover al though i t wa
stated by L E toile that the corpse was re-interred
at the public expense that an advantageous off er
of private sepulture was absolutely de clined b y the
family and that no member of the family attend ed
the ceremonial although I say all this was
asserted by L E toile in furtherance of the impression
it designed to convey yet all this was satisfactorily
disproved In a subsequent number of the paper
an attempt was m ade to throw suspicion upon
B eauvais himself The editor says :

h an ge comes over th e matter W e are tol d

w as a t
t h a t on on e o c c as i on wh il e a M adame B
M adame Roget s h ou se M B eau vai s w h o w as go in g ou t
t ol d he r t h at a g end a r me w as e xpec t ed t h ere a n d t h at sh e
M adame B mu st n ot say anyth in g t o the g endarme u n t il
N ow

h en

ac

In t he
b u t l et t h e matter b e for h im
p resen t post u re of aff a irs M B eau va i s appears t o h ave t h e
wh ole matter l oc ked u p in h is head A sin gle step c ann ot
b e t ak en wi t h ou t M B eau va i s ; for g o wh i c h w ay you wil l
n
h
e
o
u
r
u
n
i
n
m
r
s
o
g
F
o
e
a
a
s
t
h
i
o
r
s
e
a
m
y
det ermi n ed t h at n ob ody sh all ha ve anyth in g t o do wi t h t h e
proc eed in gs b u t h imself an d he h as el bowed th e mal e
rel at iv es o u t of t h e w ay a cc ord in g t o t h e i r rep resen t at i on s
in a very s in gu l ar mann er
H e seems to h ave b een v ery

mu c h averse t o permi tt in g the relat ives t o see the body

he

re tur n e d ,

By the following fact some color was given to

,

TH E MYSTERY O F

MARI E R O GET

th e

suspicion thus thrown upon Beauvais A

visitor at his o f ce a few days prior to the girl s
di sappearance and during the absence of its oc
o
a
r
se
had
observed
in
the
key
hole of the
c up ant

door and the name Marie inscribed upon a

slate which hung near at hand
The general impression so far as we were enabled
to glean it from the newspapers seemed to be that
Marie had been the victim of a gang of desperadoes
that by these She had been borne across the river
maltreated and murdered Le Commerciel * how
ever a print of extensive inuence was earnest in
combating this popular idea I quote a passage
or two from its columns :
.

We

persu aded th at pursu i t h as h i th erto b een on a

fal se scen t so far a s it h as b een d irec ted to th e B arr iere du
Roul e
I t is i mpo ssibl e t h a t a person so well k n own to
t h ou san ds a s t h i s you n g woman w a s sh oul d h a ve p a sse d
t h ree b l oc k s wi t h ou t some on e h aving seen h er ; an d any on e
w h o saw h er woul d h ave rememb ered it for sh e in terested
I t w a s wh en t h e st reet s were ful l of
al l w h o k new h er
I t is impossi bl e t ha t
peopl e wh en sh e wen t ou t
sh e c oul d h ave gon e t o t h e B a rr iere du R oul e o r t o t h e Ru e
wi
d es D
t h ou t b e in g reco gn iz e d by a d o z en person s ;
W
yet no on e h as c ome forward wh o saw h er ou t s ide of h er
moth er s door an d t h ere is n o e vi den c e ex cept th e test i
mony c on cern in g h er expres sed inten tion s t h at sh e d id g o ou t
H er gown w as torn b ou n d rou n d h er an d t i ed ;
a t all
a n d by t h at t h e b ody w as c arr i e d a s a b un dl e
I f the
mur der h ad b een c omm itted at t h e B arr iere du Roul e t h ere
woul d h ave b een n o nec essi ty for any su c h arran gemen t
T h e fact t h at th e b ody w as foun d oat in g n ear t h e B arr iere
is n o proof as t o wh ere it w as t h rown in to th e water
A piece of one of th e u n fortu n ate gi rl s pet t i
c oat s tw o feet l on g an d on e foot wi de w a s t orn ou t a n d
t i e d u n der he r c h in arou n d th e b a c k of h er h ead prob a bly
t o pre ven t scream
T h i s w as d on e by fell ows wh o h ad
n o poc k et-h an dk erc h i ef
ar e
,

N Y
.

V OL 11 5
.

ou rn al of

C ommerc e

62

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

A day or two before the Prefe c t called upon us

however some important inf ormation reached the
police whi ch seemed to overthrow at least the
chief portion of L e Commerciel s argument Two
small boys sons of a Madame Deluc while roam
ing among the woo ds ne ar the Barri ere du Roule
c han c ed to penetrate a close thicket within whi c h
were three or four large stones formin g a kind of
seat with a back and footstool On the uppe r
stone lay a white petticoat ; on the second a silk
scarf A parasol gloves and a pocket -h an dker
chief were a lso here found The h anderch ief bore

the name
Marie Roget
Fragments of dr ess
were discovered on the brambles ar ound The
earth was trampled the bushes were broken and
there was every evidence of a struggle B etween
the thi c ket and the river the fences were found
taken down and the groun d bore evidence of some
heavy burthen having been dr agged along it
*
A weekly paper Le Soleil had the following
comments upon this discovery comments whi ch
merely echoed the sentiment of the whole Parisian
press
,

Th e t h in gs h ad

vi dently been t here at least t hree

o r four wee k s ; t h ey were all m ildewe d d own h a rd wi t h t h e
Th e
a c t i on of t h e ra i n a n d stu c k t oge t h er from m il dew
grass h ad grown a rou n d an d over some of t h em Th e sil k
on t h e p arasol w as stron g b u t t h e t h rea d s of it w e r e run
toge th er wi t h in
Th e u ppe r p art wh e r e it h a d b een
dou bl ed an d fol ded w as all m il d ewed an d rotten and tore
o n its b e in g O pen ed
Th e pi eces of h er froc k t orn
ou t by t h e b u sh e s were ab ou t t h r ee in c h e s wi de an d six
inc h es l on g
O n e p art w as th e h em of t h e froc k an d it
h ad been men de d ; t h e ot h er pi ec e w as p art of th e sk irt
T h ey l ook ed l ik e st rip s t rn off an d w e re o n
n ot t h e h em
th e t horn b u sh ab ou t a foot from t h e grou n d

Ph il Sat E ven i ng P ost edited by C I Peterson E sq

all e

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

64

taken in her identity The articles fo und in t h e

thicket were ful ly identied by the relatives of
Marie
The items of evidence and information thus
c olle c ted by myself
from the newspapers at the
suggestion of Dupin embraced o nl y one more point
- but this was a point of seemingly vast c onsequen c e
It appears that immediately after the discovery
of the clothes as above described
the l ifeless or
nearly li feless body of St Eustache Marie s b e
trothed was found in the vicinity of what all now
supposed the s c ene of the outrage A phial la

belled laudanum and empti ed was found near

him His breath gave evidence of the poison
He died wi thout speaking Upon h is person was
found a letter briey stating his love for Marie
with his design of self-destruction

I nee d s c arcely tell you

said Dupin a s h e

nishe d the perusal of my notes

that this is a
far more intricate case than that of the Rue Morgue ;
from whi ch it di ff ers in one important respe c t
This is an ordinary although an atrocious instance
of crime
There is nothing pecul iarly ou tre about
it You will Observe that for this reason the
mystery has been considered easy when for this
reason it should have been c onsidered di fficult of
solution Thus at r st it was thought unn ecessary
to O ffer a reward The myrmi don s of G
were
able at on c e to comprehend how and why su ch an
atroc ity might have been c ommitted They could

pi cture to their imaginations a mo de many modes

and a motive many motives
; and be c ause it
was not impossible that either of these numerous
modes and motives cou ld have been the a c tual one
they have taken it for granted that one of them
must But the ease with which these variable
.

THE

M YS TE R Y OF MARI E ROGET

65

fancies were entertained and the very plausibility

whi ch each assumed Sho ul d ha v e been understood
as indicative rather of the difculties than of the
facilities which must attend elucidation I have
before observed that it is by prominences above
the plane of the ordinary that reason feels her way
if at all in her search for the true and that the
proper question in cases su ch as this is not so much

what has occurred ? as what has o cc urred that

In the investigations
h as never oc curred before ?
at the house of Madame L E sp anaye * the agents
were discour aged and co nf ounded by that
of G
very u nusua lness whi ch to a properly regulated
intellect would have aff orded the surest omen of
su c cess while this same intellect might have been
plunged in despair at the ordinary c harac ter of all
that met the eye in the case of the perfumery-girl
and yet told of nothing but easy triumph to the
functionaries of the Prefecture

In the case of Madame L E spanaye and her

daughter there was even at the beginning of our
investigation no doubt that murder h ad been com
mitted The i dea of suicide was excluded at onc e
Here too we are freed at the commencement
from all supposition of self murder Th e body
found at the B arri ere du Ro ul e was found under
such circumstances as to leave u s no room for em
b arrassment upon this important point
But it
h as been suggested that the corpse discovered is
not that of the Marie Rog et for the conviction of
whose assassin or assassins the reward is offered
and respecting whom solely our agreement has
been arranged with the Prefect We both know
this gentleman well It will not do to trust him too
far If dating our inquiries from the body found

See Mu rd ers I n t h e Ru e Morg u e

,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

66

and thence trac ing a murderer we yet di scover

this bo d y to be that of some other in dividual than
Marie ; or if starting from the living Marie we n d
her yet nd her un assassinated in either case we
lose our labor ; sin ce it is Monsieur G
with
whom we have to deal For our own purpose
therefore if not for the purpose of j ustice it is in
dispensable that our rst step sho ul d be the de
termination of the identity of th e corpse with the
Marie Rog et who is missing

With the public the arguments of L E toile have

had weight ; and that the j ournal itself is convinc ed
of their importance would appear from the manner
in which it commences one of its essays upon the
subj ect
Several of the morning papers of the

day it says speak of the conclusive arti cle in

Monday s Etoile
To me this articl e appears
conclusive of little beyond th e zeal of its in diter
We should bear in min d that in general it is the
obj ect of our newspapers r ather to create a sensa
tion to make a poin t than to further the c ause
of truth
The latter end is only pu rsued when it
seems coin cident with the former The print
whi c h merely falls in with ordinary opinion (how
ever well founded this Op inion may be) earns for
itself no cre dit with the mob The mass of the
people regard as profound onl y him who suggests
u
n
In
p gent contradictions of the general idea
ratiocination not less than in literature it is the
epigram which is the most immediately and the
most universally appre ciated In both it is of
the lowest order of merit

What I mean to say is that it is the mingled

epigram and melodrame of the idea that Marie
Roget still lives rather than any true plausibility
in this idea whi ch have suggested it to L E toil e
,

T HE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET

67

and secur ed it a favorable reception with the public

Let us examine the heads of this j ournal s argu
ment ; endeavoring to avoid th e incoherence with
which it is originally set forth

The rst aim of the writer is to show from th e

brevity of the interv al between Marie s disappearance
and the n ding of th e oating corpse that this
corpse c annot be that Of Marie The reduction
of this interval to its smallest possible dimension
becomes thus at once an obj e ct with the reasoner
In the ras h pursuit of this obj ect he rushes into

mere assumption at the outset

It is folly to sup

pose h e says that the murder if murder was

committed on her body could have been consum
mated soon enough to have enabled her murderers
to throw the body into the river before midnight
We demand at once and very naturally why?
Why is it folly to supose that the murder was com
mitted within ve minu tes after the girl s quitting
her mother s house ? Why is it folly to suppose
that the murder was committed at any given period
There have been assassinations at all
of t h e day ?
hours But had the murder taken place at any
moment between nine o clock in the morning of
Sunday and a quarter before midn ight there

would still have been time enough to throw th e

body into the river before mi dnight
This as

sumption then amounts precisely to this that

the murder was not committed on Sunday at all
an d if we allow L E toil e to assume this
we may
perm it it any liberties whatever The paragraph

beginning It is folly to suppose that the murder

however it appears as printed in L E toile
may be imagined to have existe d ac tual ly thus in
the b rain of its indi ter It is folly to suppose that
the murder if murder was committed on the body
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

68

ould h a v e been committed soon enough to have

enabled her murderers to throw the body into the
river before midn ight ; it is folly we say to suppose
all thi s and to suppose at the same time ( as we
are resolved to suppose ) that the body was not
thrown in until after midnight a sentence suf ci
e ntly in consequential in itself
but not so utterly
preposterous as the one printed

Were it my purpose continued Dupin merely

to ma ke out a case against this passage of L E toile s
argument I might safely leave it where it is It
is not however with L E toile that we have to do
but with the truth The sentence in question has
but one meaning as it stands ; and this meaning I
have fairly stat ed : but it is material that we go
behind the mere words for an idea whi ch these
words have obviously intended and failed to con
v ey
It was the design of the j ournalist to say
that at whatever period of the day or night of
Sunday this murder was committed it was im
probable that the assassins would have ventured
to bear t h e corpse to the river before midn ight
And herein lies really the assumption of which
I complain It is assumed that the murder was
committed at such a position and under such
circumstances that the bearing it to the river became
necessary N ow the assassination might have
taken place upon the river s brink or on the river
itself ; and thus the throwing the corpse in the
water might ha v e been resorted to at any period
of the day or night as the most obvious and most
immediate mode of disposal Y ou will understand
that I suggest nothing here as probable or as coin
c ident with my own opinion
My design so far
h as no reference to the facts of the case
I wish
merely to c aution you against the whole tone of
c

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE R O GET

L Etoile

69

s uggestion ,

by calling your attention

so it s ex parte c haracter at the outset

Having prescribed thus a limit to suit its own

preconceived notions ; having assumed that if this
were the body of Marie it coul d h av e been in the
water but a very brief time ; the j ournal goes on to

sa y:

xp erience h as sh own t hat drown ed bod ies or b od i es

t hrown i n to t h e wat er i mme d i at ely afte r d ea t h b y vi ol en ce
re q u i re from six t o t en d ays for su f c i ent dec omposi t i on
E ven
to t ak e pl ace t o b r in g t h em t o t h e t op of th e wate r
wh en a c ann on is red over a c orpse and it r ises before at
l east ve or six days immersi on it s ink s aga in if let al on e
All

The se assertions have been tacitly received by

e very paper in Paris
with the exception of L e
*
Moniteur
This latter print endeavors to combat
that portion of the paragraph which has reference

to drowned bodies onl y by citing some ve or

six instances in which the bodies of individuals
known to be drowned were found oating after the
lapse of less time than is insisted upon by L E toile
But there is something excessively unphilosophi c al
in the attempt on the p art of Le Moniteur to rebut
the general assertion of L E toile by a citation of
particular instances militating against that as
sertion Had it been possible to adduce f ty in
stead of ve examples of bodies found oating at
the end of two or three days these f ty examples
could still ha v e been properly regarded only as
exceptions to L E toile s rule until such t ime as the
rul e itself should be confuted Admitting the rule
( and this L e Moni teur does not d eny insisting
merely upon its exceptions ) the argument of
,

Th e

N Y
.

Commerica l

Advert i ser

ed

i ted b y Col

Stone

E DG AR AL LA N

0
7

P OE

is su ffered to remain in ful l force ; for this

argument does not pretend to involve more than
a question of the probabi lity of the body havin g
risen to the surface in less than t h ree days ; an d
this probability will be in favor of L E toile s position
until the inst an ces so childi shl y adduced shall be
suf cient in number to establish an antagonistical
rule

You will see at once that all argument upon

this head should be urged if at all against the rule
itself ; and for thi s end we must examine the ration
a le O f the rul e
Now the human body in general
is neither much lighter nor mu ch heavier than the
water of the Seine ; that is to say the spe c ic gravity
of the human body
in its natural condition is
about equal to the b ul k of fresh water which it
d isplac es
The bodi es of fat and eshy persons
with small bones and of women generally are
lighter than those of the lean an d large-boned and
of men ; and the spe c ic gravity of the water of a
river is somewhat inuen c ed by the presenc e of the
ti de from sea B ut leaving this tide out of question
it may be said that very few human bodies will
s ink at all even in fresh water of their own a ccord
Almost any one falling into a river will be enabled
to oat if he suffer the specic gravity Of the water
fairly to be adduced in comparison with his own
that is to say if he su ffer h is whole person to be
immersed with as little exception as possible The
proper position for one who cannot swim is the
upright position of the walker on land with the
head thrown fully back and immersed ; the mouth
and nostrils alone remaining above the surfa c e
Thus circumstanced we sh all nd that we oat
without di fculty and without exertion It is
evident however that the gravities of the body
L E toile

E DGAR ALLA N

72

P OE

its appearance at t h e surface But dec omposition

is mo died by inn umerable c irc umstan c es is has
tened or re tarded by in numerable agenc ies ; for
example by the heat or cold Of the season by the
mineral impregnation or p urity of the water by
its depth or shallowness by its curren c y or stagna
tion by the temperament Of the bo d y by its in
fec tion or free dom from disease before d eath
Thus
it is evident that we can assign no period with
any thing like accuracy at which the c orpse sh all
rise through decomposition Under c ertain con
d ition s this result would be brought about within
an hour ; under others it might not take place at
all There are chemical infusions by which the
animal frame can be preserved forever from c orrup
tion ; the Bi-chloride of Mercury is one But apart
from decomposition there may be and very usually
is a generation of gas within the stomach from
the acetous fermentation of vegetable matter ( or
within other cavities from other c auses) su fcient
to induce a distention which will bring the body
to the surface Th e eff e c t produ c ed by the ring
of a cann on is that of simple vibration
This may
either loosen the corpse from the soft mud or ooze
in which it is imbedded thus permitting it to rise
when other agen cies have already prepared it for
so doing ; or it may overcome the tenacity of some
putrescent portions of the cell ul ar tissue ; allowing
the cavities to distend under the influence of th e
gas

Having thus before us th e whole philosophy of

this subj e c t we can eas ily test by it the assertions

of
L E toile
All experienc e shows
says this

paper
th at drowned bo dies or bodies thrown
into the water immediately after death by violence
require from six to ten days for suf cient decom
.

THE MYSTERY O F MARIE ROGET

73

posi tion to take place to bring them to the top of

the water Even when a cannon is r ed over a
corpse and it rises before at least ve or six days
immersion it sinks again if let alone

The whole of this paragraph must now appear

a tissue of inconsequence and inc oherence All

experience does not Show that drown ed bodies

requ ire from six to ten days for suf cient decom
position to take place to bring them to the surface
Both science and experienc e Show t h at the period
of their rising is an d necessarily must be in deter
minate If moreover a body has risen to the

surfac e through ring of cannon it will not s ink

again if let alone until decomposition has so far
progress ed as to permit the escape of the generated
gas But I wish to c all your attention to the dis

tinction which is mad e between drowned bodies

and bo dies thrown into the water immediately

after death by violence
Although the writer
admits the distinction he yet includes them all in
the same category I have shown how it is that
the body of a drowning man becomes specic ally
heavier than its bulk of water and that he would
not sink at all except for the struggles by whi ch
he elevates his arms above the surface and his gasps
for breath while beneath the surface gasps whi ch
supply by water the place of the original air in the
lungs But these struggles and these gasps would

not occur in the bo dy thrown into the water im

mediately after death by Violence
Thus in the
latter instanc e the body as a general ru le wou ld not
sink at all a fa c t of which L E toile is evidently
ignorant When decomposition had proceeded to
a v ery great extent when the esh h ad in a great
measure le ft the bones then indeed but not till
then shoul d we lose sight of the corpse
.

And now what are we to make of the argument

that the body found could not be that of Marie
Rog et because three days onl y having elapse d
this body was found oating ? If drowned being
a woman sh e might never have sunk ; or having
sunk might have re -appeared in twenty-four hours
or less
But no one supposes her to have been
drowned ; an d dying before being thrown into the
river She might have been found oating at any
period afterwards whatever

sa y s L E toil e if the body had been

kept in its mangled state on Shore until Tuesday
night some trace would be found on shore of the
murderers
Here it is at rst d if cul t to perceive
the intention of the reasoner He means to anti
c ip ate what he imagines would be an obj ection to
his theory viz : that th e body was kept on shore
two days suff ering rapid decomposition more
rapid t h an if immersed in water He supposes
that had this been the c ase it might have appeared
at t h e surface on the Wednesday and think s that
only under such circumstances it could so have
appeared He is accordingly in h aste to Show that

it was not kept on shore ; for if so some trace

would be found on Shore of the murderers
I
presume you smil e at the sequitur You cann ot
be made to see how the m ere duration of t h e corpse
on the shore could operate to mu ltiply tra ces of the
assassins Nor can I

And furthermore it is exceedingly improbable

continues our j ournal that any villains who had

committed such a murder as here supposed would
have thrown the body in without weight to Sink
it when such a precaution could have so easily
been taken
Observe here the laughable con
fusion of thought ! No one not even L E toil e
,

THE MYSTERY OF MARI E ROGET

75

the murder comm i tted on the body fou nd

The marks of violence are too Obvious It is our
reasoner s obj e c t merely to show that this body is
not Marie s He wishes to prove that Marie is not

assassinated not that the corpse was not Yet

his observation proves only the la ter point Here
is a corpse without weight attac ed Murderers
castin g it in woul d not have failed to attac h a
weight Therefore it w as not thrown in by murder
ers This is all whi ch is prove d if anything is
The q uestion of identity is not even approached
and L E toile has been at great pains merely to
gainsay now what it has a dmitte d only a moment

before
We are perfe ctly convinc ed
it says

that the body found was that of a murdered

female

Nor is this the sole instance even in this division

subj ect where our reasoner unwittingly
of his
reasons against himself His evi dent obj ect I
have already said is to re duce as mu ch as possible
the interval between Marie s d isappearan ce and the
n ding of the c orpse Yet we n d him u rging the
point that no person saw the girl from the moment

of her leaving
her mother s house
We h av e

no evi denc e he says that Marie Rog et was in

the land of the living after nine O clock on Sunday
June the twenty-second
As his argument is
obviously an ex parte one he Should at least have
left this matter out of sight ; for had an y on e been
known to see Marie say on Monday or on Tues day
the interval in question would hav e been mu ch
reduced and by his own ratio c ination the prob
ability mu ch di minished of the corpse being that
of the grisette
It is nevertheless amusing to
observe that L E toile insists upon its point in the
full belief of its furthering its general argument
di sputes

E DGAR AL LA N

6
7

P OE

now
that
portion
of this argumen t

has reference to the identic ation Of the

wh ic
corpse by Beauvais In regard to the hair upon
the arm L E toile has been obviously disingenuous
M B eauvais not being an idiot coul d never have
urged in i dentication of the corpse simply ha ir
upon
its arm
No arm is without hair The
a
i
t
f
L
E
o
l
l
e
n
e
r
o
f
the
expression
o
t
i
e
is
a
mer
e
y
g
perversion of the witness phraseology He must
h a v e spoken of some peculiarity in this hair It
must have been a pecul iarity of color of quantity
of length or of situation

Her foot says the j ournal was small so

are thousands of feet Her garter is no proof
whatever nor is her Shoe for shoes and garters
are sold in packages The same may be said of
the owers in her hat One thing upon whi ch M
B eauvais strongly insists is that the clasp on the
garter found had been set back to take it in Th i s
amounts to nothing ; for most women nd it proper
to take a pair of garters home and t them to the
size of the limbs they are to encircle rather than
to try them in th e store where they purcha se
Here it is dif cult to suppose the reasoner in earnest
Had M Beauvais in his search for the body of
Marie discovered a corpse correspon ding in general
size and appearanc e to the miss ing girl he would
have been warranted (without referenc e to th e
question of habiliment at all ) in forming an opinion
that his search h ad been successful If in a ddition
to the point of general Size and contour he had
found upon the arm a peculiar hairy appearance
whi ch he h ad observed upon the living Marie his
opinion might have been j ustly strengthened ; and
the in crease of positiveness might well have been
in the ratio of the peculiarity or unusu alness of

e
se
u
g
p
g

'

THE MYSTERY O F MARI E R O G ET

77

the hairy mark If the feet of Marie being small

those of the corpse were also small the increase of
of Marie would
robability
that
the
bo
y
was
that
d
p
not be an increase in a ratio mere arithmetical but
in one highly geometrical or accumulative Add
to all this Shoes such as sh e had been known to
wear upon the day of her disappearance and

although these shoes may be sol d in packages

you so far augment the probability as to verge
upon t h e certain What of itself would be no
evidence of identity becomes through its corrobora
tive position proof most sure Give u s then
owers in the hat corresponding to those worn by
the missing girl and we seek for nothing farther
If only one ower we seek for nothing farther
what then if two or three or more ? Each successive
one is multiple ev iden cc
p roof not added to proof
but mu ltiplied by hun dreds or thousands Let
us now discover upon the decease d garters su c h
as the living used and it is almost folly to proceed
But these garters are foun d to be tightened by the
setting back of a clasp in j ust su ch a manner as
her own had been tightened by Marie Shortly pre
viou s to her leaving home
It is now madness or
hyp ocrisy to doubt Wh at L E toil e sa ys in respe c t
to this abbreviation of the garter s being an usual
occurrenc e show s nothing beyond its own perti
nac it y in error
The elastic natur e of the clasp
-d emonstration of the u nu su alness of
arter
is
self
g
the abbreviation What is made to adj ust itself
must of ne cessity require foreign adj ustment but
rarely It must have been by an a c ci dent in its
stri ctest sense that these garters of Marie needed
the tightening d escribed The y alone woul d have
amply establish ed her i dentity But it is not that
the c orpse was found to have the garters of the
,

VOL 11 6
.

E DGAR ALLAN POE

8
7

missing girl or found to have her shoes or h er

bonnet or the owers of her bonn et or her feet
or her general
o r a pe c uliar mark upon the arm
size and app earan cw it is that the corpse had
ea ch and a ll collectively Co ul d it be proved that
the editor of L E toile really entertained
doubt
un der the circumstances there would be no need
in h is case of a commission de lu na tico inq uirendo
He has thought it saga cious to echo the small talk
who for the most part content
of the lawyers
themselves with echoing the re ctangular precepts
I would here observe that very
of the courts
much of what is rej ected as evi denc e by a court
is the best of evidenc e to the intelle ct For the
court guiding itself by the general prin ciples of
evidence the re c ognized and b ooked principles
is averse from swerving at parti c ular instan c es
And this steadfast adh erenc e to princ iple with
rigorous disregard of the con icting exc eption is
a sure mode of attaining the max imu m of attainable
The pra cti c e
t ruth in any long sequenc e of time
in mass is therefore philosophi c al ; but it is not
the less certain that it engenders vast individual
*
e rror

In respect to the insinuations levelled at Beau

v ais you will be willing to dismiss them in a breath
You have already fathomed the true chara c ter of
this good gentleman He is a b usy-body with much
,

heo y b a ed on t h e q u al it i es of an obje t w i ll p vent

it s b i ng u n fol d d a c c o d i ng t o it s o bjec t s ; a n d h
wh o a
r a n g es t o p i
in ref
n ce t o t h i r
au
s wi ll c a
t o va l u
t h m a c o d i ng t o t h i r esu l t s
T h u s t h e ju ri p ru d en e of
e very n a t i on w i ll sh ow t h a t w h n l aw b e o m
i n and
a
a
Th
i nt o w hi h a
o
yst e m it ea s s t o b
ju t i c
b l i n d d vot i o n t o prin i ples o f c l as i at i o n h a l d t h
om
mon l a w w i ll b s en b y ob vi ng h ow oft n t h l gi l at u e
h a s b n obl ig d t o o m forw a d t o r st o e t h
q u i t y it s
L nd or
s c h eme h a d l o t

ee

e.

es

e rr

rs

se r

"

se

se

ere

re

cs

sc e

ce

e c

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

80

lastly his apparent determination that nobod y

should have anything to do with the proceedings
ex c ept himself
It see m s to me unquestionable
that Beauvais was a suitor of Marie s ; that sh e
coquetted with him ; and that he was ambitious
o f being thought to enj oy h er fullest intimacy and
condence I shall say nothing more upon this
point ; and as the evidence fully : ebuts the asser
tion of L E toile touching the matter of apathy
on the part of the mother and other relatives
an apathy inconsistent with th e supposition of
their believing the corpse to be that of the per
fumerygirl we shall now proceed as if the question

of identity were settled to our perfect satisfaction

And what
I here demanded
do you think

of the opinions Of Le Commerciel ?

That in spi ri t they are far more worthy of

attention than any which have been promulgated
upon the subj e c t The de du ctions from the pre
mises are philosophical and acute ; but the premises
in two instances at least are founded in imperfect
observation Le Commerciel wishes to intimate
that Marie w as seized by some gang of low rufan s

not far from her mother s door

It is impossible

it urges that a person so well known to thousand s

as this young woman was should have passed three
blo cks without some one having seen her
This
is t h e idea of a man long resi dent in Paris a public

man and one whose walks to and fro in the c ity

h a v e been mostly limited to th e vicinity of the
publi c o ffices He is aware th at he sel dom passes
so far as a dozen blocks from his own b ureau with
out being re c ognized and a cc osted
An d knowing
the extent of his personal a c quaintanc e with others
and of others with him he c ompares his notoriety
with that of the perfumery-girl n ds no great
,

THE MYSTERY O F MARI E R O G ET

81

di ff erence between them and reaches at onc e the

conclusion that sh e in her walks woul d be equally
liable to recogn ition with himself in his This
could onl y be the case were her walks of the same
unvarying metho di cal character and within the
same species of limited region as are his own He
passes to and fro at regular in tervals within a
conned pe ri phery aboun ding in individuals who
are led to observation of his person through in terest
in the
nature of his occupation with their
own
But the walks of Marie may in general be
supposed disc ursive In this particular instance
it will be un derstood as most probable that sh e
proceeded upon a route of more than average
diversity from her a cc ustomed ones The parallel
whi ch we imagine to have existed in the mind of
Le Commerciel would onl y be sustained in the
event of the two individuals traversin g the whole
city In this case gran ting the personal a c quaint
ances to be equal the chan c es would be also equal
that an equal number of personal rencounters
would be made For my own part I shoul d hold
it not only as possible but as very far more than
probable that Marie might have proceeded at
any given period by any one of the many routes
between h er own residence an d that of her aunt
without meeting a Single indivi dual whom sh e
knew or by whom sh e was known In viewing
this question in its full and proper light we must
hold steadi ly in mind the great disproportion
between the personal acquaintan ces of even the
most noted individu al in Paris and the entire
population of Paris itself

But whatever force there may still appear to

be in the suggestion of Le Commerciel will be
much diminished when we take into consideration
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

82

the hou r

at which the girl went abroad

It was
when the streets were full of people says Le Com

merciel that sh e went out

But not so It was
at nine o clock in the morning Now at nine O clock
of every morning in the week with the exception of
S u nday the streets of the city are it is true thronged
with people At nine on Sun day the populace are
chiey within doors preparing for church NO
observing person can have failed to notice the
pec uliarly deserted air of the town from about
eight until ten on the morning of every Sabbath
Between ten and eleven th e streets are thronged
but not at so early a period as that design ated

There is another point at which there se ems

a deciency of observation on the part of Le Com

merciel
A piece it says Of one of the unfort u
nat e girl s p etticoats two feet long and one foot
wide was torn out and tied under her chin and
around the back of h er head probably to prevent
screams This was done by fellows who had no
pocket-handkerchiefs
Whether this idea is or
is not well fo unde d we will endeavor to see here

after ; but by fellows who have no pocket -h andker

chiefs the e ditor intends the lowest class of rufan s
These however are the very des cription of people
who will always be found to have handkerchiefs
even when destitute of shirts Y ou must have
h ad oc casion to observe how absolutely in di sp en s
able of late years to the thorough blackguard h as
become the po c ket -handkerchief

And what are we to think

I asked
of the

article in Le Soleil ?

That it is a vast pity its inditer was not born a

parrot in which c ase he woul d have been the
illustrious parrot of his ra c e He has merely re
peated the indivi du al it ems of the alrea d y published
.

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE R O G ET

83

opinion ; collecting them with a laudable industry

from this paper an d from that

Th e things had

he says at least three or

all evidently been there
four weeks and there can be no dou bt that the spot
Of this appallin g outrage h as been dis covered
The facts here restated by L e Soleil are very far
indee d from removing my own doubts upon this
subje ct an d we will examin e them more particularly
f
hereafter in connexion with another division o
the theme

At present we must occupy ourselves with

other investigations You cannot fail to have
remarked the extreme laxity of the examination
of the corpse
To be sure the question of identity
was readily determined or should have been ; but
t h ere were other points to be as c ertained Had
the body been in an y respe c t despoiled? Had the
deceased any articles of j ewelry about h er person
upon leaving home ? if so h ad Sh e any when foun d ?
These are import ant questions utterly untouched
by the evidence ; and there are others of equal
moment which have met with no attention We
must endeavor to satisfy ourselves b y personal
inquiry Th e case of St Eusta che must be re
examined I have no suspi c ion of this person ;
but let us proceed methodically We will ascertain
beyond a doubt the vali di ty of the aidavits in
regard to his whereabouts on the Sun day Affida
vits of this charac ter are rea dily made matter of
mystication Should there be nothing wrong here
however we will dismiss St Eustache from our
investigations His suicide however corroborative
of suspi c ion
were there found to be deceit in t h e
afdavits is without such deceit in no respect
an un ac countable circumstanc e or one whi ch need
cause us to deect from the line of ordinary analysis
,

E DGAR ALLA N

84

P OE

In that whi ch I now propose we will discard

the interior points of thi s tragedy an d concentrate
our attention upon its outskirts
Not the least
usual error in in vestigations such as this is the
limiting of inquiry to th e immediate with total
disregard of the collateral or circumst an tial events
It is the mal -prac tice of the courts to conne evi
denc e and disc ussion to the bounds of apparent
relevancy Yet experience has shown and a true
philosophy will always Show that a vast perhaps
the larger portion of truth arises from the seem
ing ly irrelevant
It is through the spirit Of this
principle if not precisely through its letter that
modern scien c e has resolved to calcu la te u pon the
u nforeseen
But perhaps you do not comprehend
me The history of human kn owledge has so un
interruptedl y shown that to gollateral or incidental or
accidental events we are indebted for the most numer
o u s and most v auab le discoveries that it has at length
become necessary in any prospective V i ew of im
provement to make not o nl y large but the largest
al lowances for inventions that shall arise by chan ce
and quite out of the range Of ordinary expectation
It is no longer philosophi c al to base upon what
has b een a vision of what is to be A ccident is
admitted as a portion of the substructure We
make chance a matter of absolute calculation We
subj ect the unl oc ked for and unimagined to the
mathematical formu lae of the schools

I repeat that it is no more than fact that the

larger portion of all truth h as sprun g from the
col lateral ; and it is but in accordance with the
spirit of the principle involved in this fact that I
would divert inquiry in the present case from the
trodden and hitherto unf ruitful ground of the event
itself to the cotemporary circumstances which
,

T HE MYSTERY O F MARI E ROGET

85

surround it While you ascertain t h e validity of

the afdavits I will examine the newspapers more
generally than you have as yet done So far we
ha v e onl y reconnoitred the eld of investigation ;
but it will be stran ge indeed if a comprehensive
survey such as I propose of the public prints
will not a ff ord us some minute points which shall

establish a direction for inquiry

In pursuan c e of Dupin s suggestion I made
scrupulous examination of the a ff air of the affidavits
The result was a rm conviction of their validity
and of the consequent innocence of St Eustache
In the mean time my friend occupied him self with
what seemed to me a minuteness altogether Obj e ct
less in a scrutiny of the various newspaper les
A t the end of a week he placed before me the follow
ing extracts :
.

A bou t

t hr ee years an d a h alf ag o a d istur b ance very

w as c au sed by t h e d i sappearan ce
s i mil ar t o t h e pre sen t
of t h i s same M a ri e Roget from t h e p a rf u merie of M on si eur
A t th e en d of a week
Le B lan c in th e P al a i s Royal
h owever sh e re-appeared at h er c u stomary comptoir as
well as ever w ith th e ex cept i on of a sl ight pal eness not
I t w as given ou t b y M on si eur Le B l an c
al t oget h er u su al
a nd h er mot h er t h at sh e h ad merely been on a vi si t to
so me fri en d in t h e c ou n try ; an d t h e affa ir w as speedily
hu shed u p W e presu me t h at th e present absen ce is a
freak of t h e same n ature and t h at at th e expirat i on of a
week or perh aps of a mont h w e sh al l h ave he r amon g u s
E venin P a er Mond a
ag ai n
g
y j u ne 2
p

An e ven i n g jou rnal of yesterday refers to a former

mysteriou s d i sappearan ce of M ademoi sell e Roget I t is
well kn own t h at durin g the week of her ab sen ce from Le
Bl anc s parf u merie sh e w as in t he company of a youn g
na val o f cer mu c h n oted for h is deb au c h eri es
A qu arrel
it is su p pose d provi den t i ally l ed t o h er return h ome
We
h ave t h e n ame of th e Lotha r i o in qu est i on w h o is at p resen t
st at i on ed in P ari s
b u t for O b vi ou s reasons forb ear to

N Y E xp ress
,

86

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

make

it

pu bl ic

Mercu rie Tuesday Morning J

Le

u ne

An ou trage of th e most at roc i ou s c h arac t er w as f

p e rp e
A gen tl e
trated n ear t h i s c i ty t h e d ay b efore ye st erd ay
man wi t h h is wife an d d au gh ter , en gaged ab ou t du sk
t h e servi ces of six you n g men wh o w e r e i dl y rowin g a boa t
t o an d fro n ear t h e b an k s of t h e S e in e t o c on vey h im acro ss
th e r iver
Upon reac h i n g t h e op po si te sh ore , t h e t h r ee
passen gers stepped ou t , an d h ad proc eeded so far as t o b e
b eyon d t h e V ie w of th e b oat wh en th e dau g h t er d i sc overed
t h at sh e h a d l eft in it h er p arasol
Sh e ret ur n ed for it ,
w as se iz ed by t h e g an g c arr ied ou t in to the st re am ga gge d ,
b ru tal ly treated an d nal ly t aken t o t h e sh ore at a po i nt
n ot far from t h a t at wh i c h sh e h a d origin al ly en t ere d t h e
b oat wi t h h er parents Th e vill a in s h ave esc aped for th e
t i me b u t t h e p ol i ce are u pon t h e i r t ra il an d some of t h em

will soon b e ta ken

Morning P aper f u ne 2 5 ]

W e ha ve rec e ived on e or two c ommu n i c at ion s t h e

o bjec t of wh i c h is to fasten t he c r i me of t h e l a te a t roc i ty
u pon Menn a is b u t a s t h i s gen tl eman h as b een ful ly ex
on erate d by a l e g al i n qu iry an d as the argu men t s o f our
se veral c orrespon den t s appear t o b e more z eal ou s t h an p ro

foun d w e do n ot t h i nk it a dvi sabl e t o mak e t h em p u bl i c

Morn in P a er u ne
g
p
j

W e h ave rece ived se veral forc ibly wri tten c ommun i

c at i ons apparen tly from v ari ou s sources an d wh i c h g o far
to ren der it a m atter of c erta in ty t h at t h e u n fort un ate
M ar ie Roget h as b ec ome a vic t im of on e of the n umerou s
b ands of bl ackgu ards wh i c h infest th e vic in i ty of t h e c i ty
u po n S u n d ay
Our ow n O pin i on is d ec i dedl y in favor of
t h i s suppo si t i on
W e sh all en de avor t o make room for

E ven in
so me of t h e se arg u men t s h ere after
g P aper
Tu esday j u ne

On M onday one of t h e b argemen c on necte d wi t h th e

revenu e servi ce saw an e mpty b oat oat i n g down t h e S ei n e
Th e b argeman
S a il s were lyin g in th e b ot t om of t he b o at
towed it under the b arge ofce The next morn in g it w as

N Y Heral d
.

N Y

C o u r er a n d I n q u rer
Me nna s wa s o ne of t h e p art es or ina ll
st e d , b u t d sc a r ed t rou
t ot al la c
of

5 N Y C o u r er a n d I n q u rer

I! N Y E en n P o st

i h g
i
v i g

gh

ig

y
e

su sp ect ed a n

vid ence

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

88

men-oi-war Had the lover been interrupted in

his r st villany by the ne cessity of departure to
sea an d had he seized the rst moment of his return
to renew the base designs not yet altogether accom
or not
yet altogeth er a ccomplished by
li
s
h
e
d
p
Of all these things we know nothing
h im?

Y ou will say however that in the second

instance th ere was no elopement as imagined
Certainl y not but are we prepared to say that
there was not the frustrated design ? B eyond
St Eustache and perhaps Beauvais we nd n o
re c ognized n o open n o honorable suitors of Marie
Of none other is there any thing said Who then
is the secret lover of whom the relatives (at least
most of them) know nothing but whom Marie meets
upon the morning of Sunday and who is so deeply
in h er con dence that sh e hesitates not to remain
with him until the Shades of the evening descend
amid the solitary groves of the Barri ere du Roule ?
Who is that secret lover I ask of whom at least
most of the relatives know nothing ? And what
means the singul ar prophecy of Ma dame Roget

the mo rning of Marie s departure ?

on
I fear
that I Shall never see Marie again

But if we cannot imagine Madame Rog et privy

to the design of elopement may we not at least
Upon
suppose this design entertained by the girl ?
uitting
home
gave
it
to
be
understood
that
s
h
e
q
sh e was about to visit her aunt in the Rue d es
DrOmes and St Eustache was requested to call
for her at dark Now at rst glance this fact
strongly
militates against m y suggestion b ut
let us reec t That she did m eet so m e c ompanion
and proceed with him across the river reaching
the Barri ere du Roule at so late an hour as three
o clock in the afternoon is known But in con
.

THE MYSTERY O F MARI E R O G ET

senting

so

to accompany this

89

individual (for what

known or u nknown )
,

her mother
sh e must have thought of her exp ressed intention
when leaving ho m e and of the surprise and sus
p icion aroused in the boso m of her affianced suitor
ever

to
o
u
r
s
e
p p

St Eusta che when calling for her at the hour

appointed in the Rue des Dromes he should n d
that sh e had not been there and when moreover
upon returning to the pens ion with this al arming
intelligen c e he should beco m e aware of her con
t inued absence from home
She must have thought
0 : these things
I say She must have foreseen
the chagrin of St Eustache the suspicion of all
She could not have thought of returning to brave
this suspi cion ; but the suspicion becomes a point
of trivial importance to her if we suppose her not
intending to return

We may imagine her th inking thus

am to
m eet a certain person for t h e purpose of elopement
or for certain other purposes known only to myself
It is ne c essary that there be n o chance of inter
ruption there must be suffi cient time given us
to elude pursuit I will give it to be un derstood
that I shall visit and spend the day with my aunt
at the Rue des DrOmes I will tell St Eustache
not to c all for m e until dark in this way my
absenc e from ho m e for the longest possible period
without c ausing suspi c ion or anxiety will be ac
counted for and I shall gain m ore time than in
any other manner If I b id St Eusta che call for
me at dark he will be sure not to c all before ; but
if I wholly negle c t to bid him call my time for
escape will be diminished since it will be expected
that I return the earlier and my absen ce will the
sooner exc ite anxiety Now if it were my design

t
a
to return a ll if I had in contemplation m erel y
.

'

E DGAR ALLA N

0
9

P OE

a stroll with the individu al in question it wo uld

not be my poli c y to bid St Eustache call ; for
he will be sure to ascertain that I have
ca lling

played him fals e a fact of whi ch I might keep

him for ever in ignoran c e by leaving home without
notifying him of my intention by returning before
dark and b y then stating that I had been to visit
my aunt in the Rue des DrOmeS But as it is
my design never to return or not for so m e weeks
or not until certain concealments are e ffe cted
the gaining of t im e is the onl y point abou t which
I need gi ve myself any conc ern

You have observed in your notes that the

m ost general Opinion in relat i on to this sad aff air
is and was from the rst that the girl had been the
victim of a ga ng of blackguards Now the pop ul ar
opinion un der certain c onditions is not to be di s
regarded When arising of itself when m an ifest

ing itself in a strictly spontaneous mann er w e

Shoul d look upon it as an al ogous with that intu ition
whi ch is the idiosyn crasy of the individual man of
genius In ninety-nine cases from the hun dred
I would abi de by its decision But it is important
that we nd n o palpable traces of suggestion Th e
opinion must be ri gorously the pu blic s own ; and the
distin ction is often excee dingly di ffi c ult to perceive
and to maintain In the present instance it appears

to m e that this public opinion in respec t to a

has b een superinduced by the collateral
g ang
event whi ch is detailed in the third of m y extracts
All Pari s is excited by the di scovered corpse of
Marie a girl young beautiful an d notorious This
corpse is found bearing marks of violenc e and
oating in the river But it is now made known
that at the very period or abo ut the very period
in which it is supposed that the girl was assassinated
.

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET

1
9

an outrage similar in nature to that endured by the

de c ease d although less in extent was perpetrated
b y a gang of youn g rufans upon the person of a
second young female Is i t won derful that the
on e known atro c ity should inuence the pop ul ar
j udgment in regard to the other unknown ? Th i s
j udgment awaite d direction and the known out
rage seemed so opportunely to a fford it ! Marie
too was found in the river ; and upon this very
river was this known outrage committed Th e
connexion of the two events had about it so much
of the palpable that the true won der would have
been a failure of the populace to appreciate and to
seize it But in fac t the one atrocity known to
be so c ommitte d is if any thing evi denc e that the
other c ommitted at a time nearly coinc i dent was
not so committe d
It would have been a miracle
indeed if while a gang of ru fans were perpetrating
at a given lo cality a most un heard-of wrong there
Should have b een another similar gang in a similar
lo c ality in the sa m e city under the sa m e circum
stanc es with the same means and applian c es en
gaged in a wrong of pre cisely the sa m e aspect at
precisely the sam e perio d of time ! Yet in what
if not in this marvellous train of coincidenc e does
the accidentally suggested opinion of the pop ul ac e
call upon us to believe ?

Before pro c ee d ing farther let u s consider the

supposed scene of the assassination in the thi cket
at the Barri ere du Roule This thicket although
dense was in th e close vicinity of a public road
Within we r e three or four large stones forming
a kind of seat with a bac k and footstool On the
upper stone was discovered a white petti c oat ; on
the sec ond a Silk sc arf A parasol gloves and a
-han dkerchie f
o
c
ket
were also here found Th e
p
,

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

handkerchief bore the name Marie Rog et

Frag
ments of dr ess were seen on the bran ches aroun d
The earth was trampled the bushes were broken
and there was every evidenc e of a Violent struggle

Notwithstanding the acclamation with whi ch

the di scovery of this thicket was re c eived by the
press and the unanimity with whi c h it was sup
posed to indicate the precise scene of the outrage
it must be admitted t h at there was so m e very good
reason for d oubt That it was the s c ene I may
or I may not believe but there was excellent
reason for doubt Had the true scene been as Le
Commerciel suggeste d in the neighborhood of the Rue
Pa ve St Andree the perpetrators of the crime sup
posing the m still resi dent in Paris would natural ly
have been striken with terror at the public attention
thus acutely directed into the proper channel ; an d
in certain c lasses of minds there would have arisen
a t once
a sense of the necessity of so m e exertion
to re-divert this attention And thus the thi cket
of the Barri ere du Roule having been already su s
c
the
idea
placing
the
arti
les
where
the
y
e
c
t
o
f
e
d
p
were found might have been naturally entertained
There is no real eviden c e although Le Soleil so
supposes that the articles dis covered had been
m ore than a very few days in the thi cket ; while
there is much circumstantial proof that they c ould
not have remaine d there without attracting atten
tion during the twenty days elapsing between the
fatal Sunday and the afternoon upon whi ch they

were found by the boys

They were all mildewed
d own hard
says Le Soleil adopting the opinions

of its prede c essors

with the action of the rain and
stu ck together from mildew Th e grass had g row n
aroun d and over some of them Th e silk of the
parasol was strong but the th reads of it were run
,

THE

M YS TE R Y OF M A RI E R O G ET

93

together within The upper part where it had

been doubled and folded was all mildewed and
rotten and tor e on being opened
In respe c t

to the grass having grown around and over some

it is obvious t hat th e fac t could onl y have
of them
been as certained from the words and th u s from
the recollections of two small boys ; for these boys
remove d the arti cles and took them ho m e before
they had been seen b y a third party But grass
will grow especially in warm and damp weather
( su ch as was that of the period of the murder ) as
much as two or three in ches in a single day A
parasol lying upon a newly tur fed ground might
in a single week be entirely conc ealed fro m sight
b y the upspringing grass And tou ching that
mildew upon which the e ditor of Le Soleil so per
t in aciou sl y insists that he employs the word no
less than three times in the brief paragraph just
quoted is he really unaware of the natur e of this
mildew? I S he to be told that it is one of the many
classes of fu ngus of whi ch the m ost ordinary feature
is its upspringing and decadence within twenty
four hour s ?

Thus we see at a glance that what has been

m ost triumphantly ad du c ed in support of the idea

that the arti cles h ad been for at least three or four

weeks in the thi cket is m ost absurdly nul l as
regard s any evidenc e of that fa c t O n the other
hand it is excee dingly dif cult to believe that
these arti cles could ha v e remained in the thi cket
spe cied for a longer period th an a single week
for a longer perio d than from one Sun day to the
next Those who know any thing of the vi c inity
of Paris
kn ow the e x t r e m e di f culty of n ding
s eclu sion
unless at a great distanc e from its su b
urbs Su ch a thing as an unexplored or even an
.

'

VOL I I
.

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

94

un frequently visited recess amid its woods or groves ,

is not for a moment to be imagined Let any one
who being at heart a lover of nature is yet chained
b y d uty to the dust and heat of this great metropolis

let any suc h one attempt even during the week

days to slake his thirst for solitude amid the s c enes
of natural loveliness whi ch immediately surround
us At every second step he will n d the growing
charm di spelled b y the voice and personal intrusion
of so m e ru fan or party of carousing b l a c kguards
He will seek priva cy ami d the densest foliage all
Here are the very nooks where the un
in vain
washed most abound here are the temples m ost
With sickness of the heart the wan derer
d esecrate
will ee ba c k to the polluted Pari s as to a less odious
because less inc ongruous sink of pollution But
if the vicinity of the c ity is so beset d urin g the work
"
ing days of the week how mu ch m ore so on the
Sabbath ! It is now espe cially that released from
the claims of labor or d eprived of t h e customary
opportunities of crime the town b l ackg irard seeks
the pre cinc ts of the town not through love of the
rural whi ch in his heart h e despises but by way
of escape from the restraints and conventionalities
He d esires less the fresh air and the
of so c iety
green trees than the utter license of the country
He r e at the road-Si de inn or beneath the foliage
h e indul ges un che cked by an eye
of the woo ds
exc ept those of his boon companions in all the mad
ex cess of a counterfeit hil arity the j oint o ff spring
of liberty and of rum
I say nothing m o r e than
what must be Obvious to every dispassionate ob
server when I repeat that the c ircumstan c e of the
arti cles in question having remained undiscovere d
for a longer period than from one Sunday to an
other in any thicket in the immediate neighbor
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

6
9

Would it be a rash wager a wager of one thousand

to one that a day never passed over the hea ds of

these boys without n ding at least on e of them
enscon c ed in the umbrageous hall and enthroned
upon its natural throne ? Those who would hesi
tate at such a wager have either never been boys
themselves or have forgotten the boyish nature
I repeat it is exceedingly hard to comprehend
how the arti cles coul d have remained in this thicket
undiscover ed for a longer period than on e or two
days ; and that thus there is good ground for su s
i
i
n
o
f
in
spite
the
dogmatic
ignorance
Le
c
o
f
o
p
Soleil that they were at a comparatively late date
deposited where found

But there are still other and stronger reasons for

believing them so deposited th an any whi ch I have
as yet urged And now let me beg your noti c e
to the highly articial arrangement of the articles
On the u pper stone lay a white petti c oat ; on the
second a silk scarf ; s c attered around were a parasol
gloves and a pocket -handkerchief bearing the name

Marie Rog et
Here is j ust such an arrangement
as would naturally be made by a not -over-ac ute
person wi shing to dispose the arti cles naturally
But it is by no means a really natural arrangement
I should rather have looked to see the things a ll
l ying on the ground and trampled under foot In
the narrow limits of that bower it would have been
scarcely possible that the petti c oat and sc arf should
have retained a position upon the stones when sub
e
c
t
e
d
to
the
brushing
to
and
fro
o
f
many
struggling
j

persons
There was evidence
it is said of a
struggle ; and the earth was trampled the bush es
were broken but the petti c oat and the s carf are

found deposited as if upon shelves

Th e pie c es of
the fro ck torn out by the bushes were about three
,

THE

MYS TERY

OF

MARIE ROGE T

97

in ches wide and six inches long One part was the
hem of the frock and it has been men ded They
looked like strips torn of
Here ina dvertently Le
Soleil has employed an exceedingly suspi cious

phrase The pieces as described d o in deed look

like strips torn off ; but purposely and by hand It

is one of the rarest of accidents that a pie c e is torn

o ff
from any garment such as is now in question
by the agency of a thorn From the very nature of
su ch fabri c s a thorn or nail becomin g entangled in
them tears them rectangul arly divides them into
two longitud inal rents at right angles with ea ch
other and meeting at an apex where the thorn

enters but it is s carcely possible to conceive the

pie c e torn off

I never so knew it nor did you
To tear a piece of from such fabric two distinct
forc es in di ff erent directions will be in almost
every case required If there be two edges to the
fabric if for example it be a pocket-handkerchief
and it is desired to tear from it a slip then and then
only will the one force serve the purpose But in
the present case the question is of a dr ess presenting
but one e dge To tear a piece from the interior
where no e dge is presented could only be e ff ected by
a miracle through the agen c y of thorns an d no one
thorn could accomplish it But even where an
edge is presente d two thorns will be necessary
operating the one in two distinct directions and the
other in one And this is the supposition that the
edge is unhemmed If hemme d the matter is
nearly out of the question We thus see the numer
ou s and great obsta c les in the way of pieces being

torn o through the simple agency of thorns ;

yet we are required to believe not only that on e piece

but that many have been so torn

And one p ar t

was the hem of the frock! Another piece was pari

.

EDGAR ALLAN

8
9
skirt,

not the

hem

POE

that
i
s
to
was
tor
s
a
n
f
y
completely ou t through the agenc y of thorns from
the une dged interior of the dress ! These I say are
things whi ch one may we ll be pardoned for disb eliev
ing ; yet taken collectedly they form perhaps less
of reasonable ground for suspicion than the one
start ling c ircumstance of the articles having been
left in this thicket at al l b y any murderers who had
enough precaution to think of removing the corpse
Y ou will not have apprehen ded me ri ghtly however
if you suppose it my design to deny this thi c ket as the
scene of the outrage There might have been a
wrong here or more possibly an accident at Madame
Deluc s But in fac t this is a po int of minor im
po rtan c e We are not engaged in an attempt to
discover the scene but to produc e the perpetrators
of the murder
What I have ad du c ed n otwith
standing the min uteness with whi ch I have a dduced
it has bee n with the View rst to show the folly of
the positive an d hea dl ong assertions of Le Soleil but
secondly and chiey to bring you by the most
natural route to a further contemplation of the
doubt whether this assassination has or has not
been the work of a gang

We will resume this question by mere allusion to

the revolting details of the surgeon exam ined at the
inquest
It is only ne c essary to say that his pub
l ish ed inferences in regard to the n umber of the
rui ans have been properly ridiculed as unj ust and
totally baseless by all the reputable anatomists of
Paris Not that the matter might not have be en as
inferred but that there was no groun d for the in
ference z was there not much for an other ?

Let us reec t now upon the traces of a struggle

and let me ask what these trac es have b een supposed
A gang But do they no t rather
to demonstrate
the

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

I OO

dead He trembles and is bewildered Yet there is

a ne c essity for d isposing of the corpse He bears it
to the river but leaves behind him the other evi
denc es of guilt ; for it is d iffi cul t if not impossible to
carry all the burthen at onc e and it will be easy to
return for what is left But in his toilsome j ourney
to the water his fears redouble within him The
sounds of life encompass his path A dozen times he
hears or fancies the step of an observer Even the
Yet in
very lights from the city bewil der him
time and by long and frequent pauses of d eep agony
he re aches the river s brink and di sposes of his
ghastly ch arg c p erh aps through the medium of a
boat But now what treasure d oes the world hold
what threat of vengeance could it hold out whi ch
would have power to urge the return of that lonely
murderer over that toilsome and perilous path to
the thi c ket and its blood-chilling rec ollections ? He
returns not let the consequences be what they may
He could not return if he would His sole thought
is immediate escape He turns his back forever upon
those dreadful shrubberies and ees as from the
wrath to come

But how with a gang ? Their number would

have inspire d them with confidence ; if indeed c on
denc e is ever wanting in the brea st of the arrant
blackguard ; and of arrant blackguards alone are the
suppose d gangs ever constituted Their number I
sa y
would have prevented the bewil dering and
unreasoning terror which I have imagined to par
Could we suppose an over
al yz e the single man
sight in one or two or three this oversight would
have been reme died by a fourth They would have
left nothing behind them ; for their number would
have enabled them to c arry all at once There
would have been no need of return
.

THE MYS TERY O F MARIE ROGET

I OI

Consider now the circumst ance that in the outer

garment of the c orpse when found a slip about a

foot wide h ad been torn upward from the bottom
hem to the waist wound three times round the
waist and secured by a sort of hitc h in the back
This was done with the obvious design of a ff ording
a ha ndle by whi c h to carry the body
But woul d any
nu mber of men have dreamed of resorting to such an
expe di ent ? To three or four the limbs of the
corpse would have afforded not o nl y a su ffi cient but
the best possible hold The device is that of a single

in divi dual ; and this brings us to the fact that b e

tween the thi cket and the river the rails of the
fences were found taken down and the ground bore
evi dent tra ces of some heavy burden having been
dragged along it ! But would a nu mber of men
have put themselves to the superuous trouble of
taking d own a fen c e for the purpose of dragging
through it a c orpse whi ch they might have lifted
over any fen c e in an instant ?
Would a nu mber of
men have so dragged a corpse at all as to have left
evident tra ces of the dragging ?

And here we must refer to an obse rvation of Le

Co mmercial ; an observation upon whi ch I have

already in some measure commented

A piece

says this j ournal of one of the unf ortunate girl s

petticoats was to rn out and tied under her chin an d
around the back of her head probably to prevent
screams This was done by fellows who had no
pocket -handkerchiefs

I have before suggested that a genuine black

guard is never withou t a pocket -handkerchief But
it is not to this fac t that I now especially advert
That it was not through want of a handkerchief for
the purpose imagine d by Le Commerc ial that this
bandage was employed is rendered apparent by the
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

10 2

handk erchi e f left in the thicket : and that the obj ect

was not to prevent screams appears also from the

band age having been employed in preferen c e to
what would so much better have answered the
purpose But the language of the evidence speaks

of the strip in question as found around the neck

tting l oosely and secured with a hard knot
but differ
These word s are s uffi ciently vague
materially from those of Le Commercial The slip
was eighteen in ches wi de and therefore although
of muslin would form a strong band when fol de d or
rumpled longitudin al ly An d thus rumpled it was
My i nferenc e is this Th e so litary
dis c overed
murderer having borne the corpse for some distance
(whether from the thicket or el sewhere) by means
of the bandage hitched aroun d its mi ddl e foun d the
weight in this mode of procedure too mu ch for h is
strength He resolved to dr ag the burthen the
evi dence goes to show that it was dragge d With
this obj ect in view it became necessary to attach
something lik e a rope to one of the extremities It
where the
c ould be best attached about the ne c k
head woul d prevent its slipping off And now the
murderer bethought him unquestionably of th e
ban dage about the loin s He would have used this
but for its volution about the corpse the hitch whi ch
the reec tion that it had not
emb arras

been torn off from the garment It w as easier to

tear a new slip from the petti c oat He tore it mad e
it fast about the neck and so dragged his victim to

the brink of the river That this bandage only

attainable with trouble and delay and but im
perfe c tly an swering its purpose that this ban dage
was employed a t a ll demonstrates that the necessit y
for its employment sprang from circumstances
arising at a period when the handkerchief was no

0 4

EDGAR ALLAN POE

pproa ches ;

for the night had not yet

a rrived
It was onl y a bout dus k that the in decent

haste of these miscreants off ende d the sober eyes

of Mad ame Deluc
But we are told that it was upon
this very evening that Madame Delu c as well as her

eldest son heard th e screams of a female in the

vi c inity of the inn
An d in what words does
Madame Deluc designate the perio d of the evening

at whi ch these sc reams were heard ? It was soon

after dark
sh e says
But soon after dark is at

least da rk; and about dusk is as certainl y daylight

Thus it is abundantly clear that the gang quitted
the Barri ere du Roule prior to the s creams overheard
by Madame Deluc And although in all the
many reports of the evidenc e the relative expres
sions in question are distinctly and invariably em

say

ployed j ust as I have employed them in this con

versation with yourself no noti c e whatever of the
gross discrepanc y has as yet been taken by any of
the public j ourn al s or by any of the Myrmidons of
poli ce

I shall add but one to the arguments against a

g ang ; but thi s on e h as to my own underst and ing at
least a weight altogether irresistible Un der the
circumstanc es of large reward o ff ered and ful l
pardon to any King s evidence it is not to be
imagined for a moment th at some member of a
a
n
o
f
o
f
low
i
r
o
f
any
bo
d
y
men would
r
u
a
n
s
o
g
g
not long ago have betrayed his accomplices Eac h
one of a gang so pla c ed is not so mu ch gree dy of
reward or anxious for escape as fearfu l of b etrayal
He betrays eagerly and early that he may not him
That the secret has not been
self be b etrayed
divulge d is the very best of proof that it is in fa c t
Th e horrors of this d ark d eed are known
a secret
only to one or two living human beings and to God
,

'

THE MYSTERY O F MARIE ROGET

105

Let us sum up now the meagre yet certain fruits

W e have attained the idea
of our long analysis
either of a fatal accident under the roof of Madame
Deluc or a murder perpetrated in the thicket at the
Barri ere du Roule by a lover or at least by an in
timate an d se cret asso c iate of the deceased This
asso c iate is of swarthy complexion This com

plexion the hitch in the ban dage and the sailor s

knot with which the bonn et -ribbon is tied point to
a seaman His c ompanionship with the de c eased a
gay but not an ject young girl designates him as
above the grade 0
e common sailor Here the
well written and urgent commun ications to the
journals are mu ch in the way of c orroboration The
circumstan c e of the rst elopement as mentioned by
Le Mercurie ten ds to blend the idea of this seaman

with that of the naval ofcer who is r st known to

have led the unfortunate into crime

And here most tl y c omes the consideration of

the continued absen c e of him of the dark c om
plexion Let me pause to observe that the c om
plexion of this man is dark and swarthy ; it was no
common swarthiness whi ch constituted the sole
point of remembranc e both as regards Valence and
Madame Delu c But why is this man absent ?
Was he murdered by the gang ? If so why are there
only traces of the assassinated girl ? Th e s cene of the
two outrages will naturally be
supposed
identi
c al

And where is his corpse ? The assassins would

most probably have disposed of both in the same
way But it may be sai d that this man lives and is
deterred from making himself known through drea d
of being charge d with the murder
This c onsidera
tion might be supposed to operate upon him now at
this late perio d sin c e it has been given in evi den c e
that he was seen with Marie but it woul d have had
.

'

E DGAR ALLAN POE

106

no force at the period of the deed The rst im

pul se of an inn o c ent man woul d have been to an
noun c e the outrage and to aid in i dentifying the
ru ffians This policy would have suggested He
had been seen with the girl He h ad crosse d the
river with her in an open ferry-boat Th e de
n oun cing of the assassins woul d have appeare d even
to an i di ot the surest and sole means of relieving
himself from suspi cion We cann ot suppose him
on the night of the fatal Sun day
both inn o c ent
him self an d incognizant of an outrage c ommitted
Yet onl y under su c h circumstances is it possible
to imagine that he woul d have failed if alive in the
denoun cement of the assassins

An d what means are ours of attainin g the truth ?

We shall nd these means multiplying and gather
ing distin ctness as we proce ed Let us si ft to the
bottom this aff air of the r st elopement Let u s

kn ow the full history of the of cer with his present

circumstances and his whereabouts at the prec ise
period of the murder Let us carefully compare
with each other the various communi c ations sent
to the evening paper in which the obj e c t was to in
culpate a g ang This done let us compare th ese
communi cations both as regards style and MS with
those sent to the morning paper at a previous
period and insisting so vehemently upon the gu ilt
of Mennais
And all this d one let u s again compare
these various commun ications with the known MSS
of the o ffi c er
Le t us endeavor to ascertain by re
a
n
a
t
e
questionings
Madame
Deluc
d her boys
e
d
o
f
p
as well as of the omnibus-driver Valence something
more of the personal appearan c e and bearing of the

man of dark complexion

Queries skilfully di
rec ted will not fail to elicit from some of these par
ties information on this particul a
r point ( or upon
.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

108

supposing the murderer to have negle cted the pre

c aution of supplying himself with it before pushing
o ff
In the act of consigning the corpse to the water
he would unquestionably have noti c ed his oversight ;
but then no remedy would have been at hand Any
risk would have been prefe rred to a return to that
a ccurse d shore Having rid himself of his ghastly
charge the mur derer woul d have hastened to the
c ity
There at some obscure wharf he woul d have
leaped on land But the boat would he have
secured it ? He would have been in too great haste
for su ch thing s as securing a boat Moreover in
fastening it to the wharf he would have felt as if
securing evidence against himself His natural
thought woul d have been to c ast from him as far as
possible all that had held conne c tion with his crime
He would not only have ed from the wharf but he
would not have perm itted the b oa t to remain As
su redl y he would have cast it a drift
Let us pursue
ou r fancie s In the morning the wret c h is stricken
with un utterable horror at nding that the boat has
been pi cked up and detained at a lo c ality whi ch he is

in the daily habit of frequenting at a locality per

haps whi ch his duty compels him to frequent
The next night withou t daring to ask for the rudder
he removes it Now where is that ru dderless boat ?
Let it be one of our rst purposes to d iscover With
the rst glimpse we obtain of it the dawn of our
success shall begin This boat shall guide us with a
rapidity whi ch will surprise even ourselves to him
who employed it in the mi dnight of the fatal Sab
bath Corroboration will rise upon c orroboration

and the murderer will be tra ced

[ For reasons whi ch we shall not specify but which
to many readers will appear obvious we have taken
the liberty of here omitting from the MSS placed
,

TH E

MYS TERY

OF

MARI E ROGET

109

portion as details the following up

slight clew obtaine d by Dupin
We feel it advisable only to state in brief that the
result desired was brought to pass ; and that the
Prefect full led p unctually alth oug h with relu ctanc e
Mr
th e terms of his compa c t with the Chevalier
Poe s art i cle concludes with the followin g word s
in ou r hands such
of the apparently
,

It will be understood that I speak of coincidences

and no more
What I have said above upon this
topi c must sufce In my own heart there dwells
no faith in praeter-nature That Nature and its
God are two no man who thinks will deny That
the latter creating the former c an at will control or

mo dify it is also unquestionable I say at will

for the question is of will and not as the insanity of
logic has assumed of power It is not that the
Deity cannot mo dify his laws but that we ins ul t him
in imagining a possible necessity for modi c ation
In their origin these laws were fashione d to embra c e
a ll c ontingen c ies which cou ld lie in the Future
With
God all is N ow
I repeat then that I speak of these things only as
of c oin c idences
And farther : in what I relate it
will be seen that between the fate of the unhappy
Mary Cecilia Rogers so far as that fate is known
and the fate of one Marie Rog et up to a certain
epo ch in her history there has existed a parallel in
the contemplation of whose wonderful exactitu de
the reason becomes embarrassed I say all this will
be seen But let it not for a moment b e suppose d
that in procee ding with the sad narrative of Marie
from the epo ch just mentioned and in trac ing to its
denouement the mystery whi ch enshrou ded her it
.

ns

( f th e
e3

Magazi ne

V OL 11 8
.

in w

hich

t h e a rt

i cle

was

igi nally p ub

or

EDGAR ALLAN POE

n o

is my covert design to hint at an extension of the

parallel or even to suggest that the measures adopted
in Paris for the dis covery of the assassin of a grisette
or measures foun ded in any similar ratiocination
woul d produ ce any similar result
For in respect to the latter branch of the sup
position it sho ul d be consi dered that the most
t riing variation in the fa cts of the two cases might
give rise to the most important miscal c ulations
by d iverting thoroughly the two courses of events ;
very mu ch a s in arithmetic an error whi ch in its
own in di vi d uality may be inappre c iable produces
at length by dint of multipli c ation at all points of
the pro c ess a result enormously at varian c e with
truth And in regard to the former bran ch we
must not fail to hol d in view that the very Calcul us
of Probabilities to which I have referred forbi ds all
i dea of the extension of the parallel z forbi ds it
with a positiveness strong and d e cided just in pro
portion a s this parallel has al rea dy been long
drawn This is on e of those g nom l ou s propositions
which seemingly appealing to thought altogether
apart from the mathemati cal is yet on e which onl y
the mathematician can fully entertain Nothing
for example is more di f cul t than to convin c e the
merely general reader that the fact of sixes having
been thrown twice in su c cession by a player at di ce
is suf cient cause for betting the largest odds that
sixes will not be thrown in the third attempt A
suggestion to thi s eff e c t is usuall y rej ec ted by the
intellec t at onc e It does not appear that the two
throws whi ch have been completed and which lie
now absolutely in the Past can have inuence upon
the throw which exists onl y in the Future Th e
chance for throwing sixes seems to be pre cisely as it
was at any ordinary time that is to say subj e c t
,

EDGAR ALLAN PO E

r1 2

T HE
Nil

PUR L O INE D L ETT E R

sa

pient ia

min e

od iosru s a cu

nimio

S eneca

T Paris j ust after dark one gusty evening in

the autum nof 1 8
I was enj oying the two
fold luxury of medi tation and a meerschaum
in company with my friend C Auguste Dupin in
his little back library or book-closet ou troisieme
N o 3 3 Ru e B u not F au bou rg S t Germain
For one
hour at lea st we had maintaine d a profound silen c e ;
whi le each to any casual observer might have
seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the
curling eddies of smoke that Oppressed the atmos
h
r
e
e of the chamber
For myself however I was
p
mentally discussing certain topics whi ch h ad formed
matter for conversation between us at an earlier
period of the evening ; I mean the affair of the Rue
Morgue and the mystery attend ing the murder of
Marie Rog et I looked upon it therefore as some
thing of a c oinci den c e when the door of our apart
ment was thro wn open and admitted our old ac
qu aintan c e Monsieur G
the Prefect of the
Parisian poli c e
We gave him a hearty welcome ; for there was
nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the con
t emp tib l e about the man and we had not seen him
for several years We had been sitting in the dark
and Dupin now arose for the purpose of lighting a
lamp but sat down
d oing so upon
G s saying that he had c all e d to consul t u s or rath e r
,

THE PURLOINED LETTER

I

I 13

to ask the opini on of my friend about some ocial

business which had occasioned a great deal of
trouble

If it is any point r equiring reection observed

Dupin as he foreb ore to en kin dle the wi ck we shall

examine it to better purpose in the dark

That is another of your odd notions said the

Prefe c t who had a fashion of calling every thing
odd
that was beyond his comprehension and thus

lived amid an absolute legion of od di ties

Very true sai d Dupin as he suppli ed his visiter

with a pipe and rolled towards him a comfortable
chair

And what is the diffi culty now ?

I asked

Nothing more in the assassination way I hope ?

Oh no ; nothing of that nature The fact is

the business is very simple indeed and I make no
doubt that we can manage it suffi ciently well our
selves : but then I thought Dupin woul d like to hear

the d etails of it because it is so excessively odd

Simple and odd said Dupin

Why yes ; and not exac tly that either Th e

fact is we have all been a good deal puzzled because

the a ff air is so simple and yet baf es us altogether

Perhaps it is the very simpli city of the

which puts you at fault sai d my friend

What nonsense you do talk ! replied the Prefect

laughing heartily

Perhaps the mystery is little too plain

said
Dupin

Oh good heavens ! who ever hear d of such an

idea ?

A little too self-evident

Ha ! ha ! h a ! h a ! ha ! ha l h o ! ho ! ho ! roared
our visitor profoun dly amused
oh Dupin you will
b e the dea th of me vet !
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

114

And what after al l is the matter on hand ?

I asked

Why I will tell you replied the Prefect as he

gave a long steady and contemplative puff and
settled hi mself in his chair
I will tell you in a few
words ; but before I begin let me caution you that
this is an a ff air demanding the greatest se cre c y and
that I should most probably lose the position I
now hold were it known that I conded it to any
,

one

Proceed said I

Or not sai d Dupin

Well then ; I have received person al information
from a very high quarter that a c ertain do cument
of the last importan c e has been purloined from the
royal apartments Th e individual who purloined it
is kn own ; this beyond a doubt ; he was seen to take
/
it It is known also that it still remains in his

posses sion

How is this known ? asked Dupin

It is clearly inferre d replied the Prefect from

the nature of the document and from the non ?
appearan c e of certain results whi c h would at once
arise from its passing ou t of the robber s possession ; I
that is to sa
y from his employin g it as he must

design in the en d to employ it

B e a little more expli cit I said

Well I may venture so far as to say that the
paper gives its hol der a c ertain power in a certain

quarter where such pow er is immensely valuable

The Prefe c t was fon d of the

Still
I
d
o not quite understan d
sai
d
Dupin

N 0 ? Well ; the disclosure of the d ocument to a

third person who shall be nameless w ul d bring in
o
question the honor of a personage of most ex al ted
an d this fa c t gives the hol d er of the do c u
.

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

1 16

precisely what you demand to make the ascendan cy

complete the robber s knowledge of the loser s

knowledge of the robber

Y es
replied the Prefect ; and the power thus
attained has for some months past been wielded
for politi c al purposes to a very dangerous extent
The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced
every day of the ne c essity of reclaiming her letter
But this of course cannot be done openl y In ne
driven to despair sh e h as committed the matter to

me

Than whom said Dupin ami d a perfect whirl

om agent could I
wind of smoke no more

suppose be desired or even i magined

You atter me replied the Prefect ; but it is

possible that some such opinion may have been

entertained

It is clear said I
as you observe that the
letter is still in possession of th e minister ; since it is
this possession and not any employment of the
letter which bestows the power With the employ

ment the power departs

True
said G ; and upon this conviction I
proceeded My rst care was to make thorough
search of the minister s hotel ; and here my chief
embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching
without his knowledge Beyond al l things I have
been warned of the danger which wo ul d resul t from

giving him reason to suspect our design

B ut said I
you are quite an fait in these
investigations Th e Pari sian police have done this

thing often before

did not despair

O yes ; and for this reason
The habits of the mini ster gav me too a great
advantage He is frequently absent from home all
night His servants are by no means numerous

M
,

THE P URLO I NE D LE TTE R

11

T hey sleep at a distan c e from their master s apart

ment an d bein g chiey Neapolitans are readil y
made dr un k I have keys as you know wi th whi ch
I can open any chamber or cabinet in Pari s For
three months a night has not passed durin g th e
greater part of whi ch I have n ot been engaged per
sonally in ransacking the D
Hotel My honor
is interested and to mention a great secret the
reward is enormous So I did not abandon the
search until I had become fully satised that the
thief is a more astute man than myself I fancy
that I have investigated ever y nook and corner of the
premises in whi ch it is possible that the paper can be

conc eal ed

But is it not possible

I suggested
that
although the letter may be in possession of the
minister as it unquestionably is he may have

con ceal ed it elsewhere than upon his own premises ?

This is barely possible

said Du pin
The
present peculiar condition of aff airs at court and
especially of those
knom
to be m
ol yed would render the instant availability
l
bf th e docu rffen t its susceptibility of being pro
duced at a moment s notic e a point of nearly equal

importance with its possession

I ts s us c eptibility of being produced ? said I

That is to say of being des troyed

said Du p in

True
I observed ; the paper is clearly then
upon the premises As for its being upon the person
of the minister we may consider that as ou t of the

question

Entirely said the Prefect

He has been twice
waylaid as if by footp ads and his person rigorousl y

searched un der my own inspe c tion

You might have spared yourself this trouble

said Dupin
D
I presume is not altogether a
,

'

'

EDGAR ALLAN POE

1 18

fool and if not must have anticipated thes e way

layings as a matter of c ourse

Not altogether a fool

said G
but then he s a
poet which I take to be o nl y one remove from a

fool

True said Dupin after a long and thoughtful

whiff from his meersc haum although I have been

guilty of c ertain doggerel myself

Suppose you detail said I the particul ars of

your sear ch

Why the fac t is we took our time and we

searched every where I have had long experience in
these affairs I took the entire building room by
room ; devoting the nights of a whole week to each
We examined r st the furniture of ea ch apartment
We opened every possible drawer ; and I presume
you know that to a properly traine d poli c e agent
such a thing a s a secret drawer is impossible Any

man is a dolt who permits a secret drawer to

escape him in a search of
There
i
s a c ertain
plain
to be a cc ounted for in every c abinet Then we
have a c curate rules The ftieth part of a line could
not escape us After the cabinets we took the chairs
The cushions we probed with the ne long needles
you have seen me employ From the tables we

removed the tops

,

so ?

Sometimes the top of a table or other similarly

arranged piece of furniture is removed by the
person wishi ng to c onceal an article ; then the leg is
e xcavated
the arti cle deposited within the cavity
and the top repla c ed Th e bottoms and tops of
bed-posts are employed in the same way

But coul d not the cavity be d etected by sound

ing ? I asked
,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

120

We had ; but the reward o ff ered is prodigious

You in clude the g rou nds about the houses ?

All the grounds are paved with brick They

gave u s comparatively little trouble We examined
the moss between the bri cks and found it undis
.

turb ed

You looked among D

s papers
of course

and into the books of the library ?

Certainly ; we opened every package and parc el ;

we not onl y opened every book but we turned over
every leaf in each volume not contenting ourselves
with a mere shake according to the fashion of some
We also measure d the thi ck
of our poli c e o ff icers
ness of every b ook-cover with the most accurate
admeasurement and applied to ea ch the most
j ealous scrutiny of th e microscope Had any of the
bindings been recently med dl ed with it wo ul d have
been utterly impossible that the fact should have
es caped observation Some ve o r six volumes
j ust from the hands of the binder we carefully

probed longitu dinally with the needles

You explored the oors beneath the carpets ?

B eyond d oubt We removed every carpet and

examined the boards with the microscope

An d the paper on the walls ?

Yes

You looked into the cellars ?

We did

Then I said
you have been making a mis
calculation and the letter is not upon the premises

as you suppose

I fear you are right there said the Prefec t

And now Dupin what would you a dvise me to

do ?

To make a thorough r e search of the premises

That is absolutely needless replied G

I

THE PURLOI NED LETTER

12 1

am not more sure that I breathe than I am that the

letter is not at the Hotel

I have no better advice to give you said Dupin

Y ou have of course an accurate descri ption of

the letter ?

Oh yes ! And here the Prefect producing a

memoran dum b ook proceeded to read aloud a
minute account of the internal and especially of the
external appearanc e of the missing document
Soon after nishing the perusal of this d escription he
took his departure more entirely depressed in spirits
than I had ever known the goo d gentleman before
In about a month afterwards he paid us another
visit and fo un d us occupied very nearly as before
He took a pipe an d a chair and entered into some
ordinary conversation At length I said

Well but G
what of the purloined letter ?
I presume you have at last made up your mind that

there is no su ch thing as overreaching the Mini ster ?

Confoun d him say I yes ; I made the re-ex

amination however as Dupin suggested but it was

all labor lost as I knew it would be

How mu ch was the reward off er ed did you say?

asked Dupin

Why a very great deal a very liber al reward I

don t like to say how mu ch prec isely ; but on e thing
I will say that I wouldn t mind giving my in divi dual
che ck for f ty thousand fran c s to any on e who could
obtain me that letter Th e fac t is it is becoming of
more and more importan c e every day ; and the
reward has been lately doubled If it were trebled
however I could do no more than I have

Why yes sai d Dupin d rawlingly between the

whiff s of his meerschaum

I re al ly think G
you have not exerte d yourself to the utmost in this

matter You might d o a little more I think eh ?

.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

122

How

-in

what way ?

ff
f
f
Why pu
pu
you might pu ff pu ff em
ploy counsel in the matter eh 3 puff pu ff pu ff
Do you remember the story they tell of Abernethy

No ; hang Abernethy !

To be sure ! hang him and wel c ome But once

upon a time a c ertain rich miser c onc eived the
d esign of spunging upon this Abern ethy for a
medical opinion Getting up for this purpose an
ordinary conversation in a p ri vate c ompany he
insinuated h is case to the physician as that of an
imaginary indi vi dual

W e will suppose said the miser that his

symptoms are su ch and su ch ; now do c tor what

woul d you have di rected him to take ?

said Abernethy W h y take advice to

be sure

B ut
said the Prefect a little dis c omposed

I am perfectly willing to take a dvice an d to pay

for it I wo ul d rea lly give fty thousan d francs to

any on e who would aid me in the matter

In that case replie d Dupin opening a drawer

and pr oducing a che ck-book you may as well l l

me up a che ck for the amount mentioned When
you have signed it I will hand you the letter
I was astoun ded The Prefect appeared absolutely
thun der -stricken For some minutes he remained
speechless and motionless looking incredulously at
my friend with open mouth and eyes that seemed
starting from their sockets ; then apparently recover
ing himself in some measure he seized a pen an d
after several pauses and va cant stares nally lled
up and signe d a c heck for f ty thousand franc s and
handed it across the table to Dupin Th e latter
examined it careful ly and deposite d it in his po cket
book ; then unlocking an escritoire took then c e a
,

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

: 24

and is played with marbles One player holds in

his hand a number of these toys and deman d s of
another whether that number is even or O dd If the
guess is right the guesser wins on e ; if wrong he
loses one Th e boy to whom I allude won al l the
marbles Of the school Of course he had some
principle of guessing ; and thi s lay in mere observation
and admeasurement of the astuteness Of hi s oppon
ents For exa ple an arrant simpleton is his

opponent and holding up h is close d hand asks are

they even or O dd ? Our schoolboy replies od d

and loses ; but upon the second trial he wins for he

then says to himself the simpleton had them even

upon the r st trial an d his amount of cunn ing is
j ust sufficient to make him have them odd upon the
sec ond ; I will therefore guess O dd ; h e guesses Odd
and wins Now with a simpleton a degree above

the r st he would have reasoned thus : This

fellow nds that in the rst instan c e I guessed odd
and in th e second he will propose to himself upon
the rst impulse a simple variation from even to odd
as did the rst simpleton ; but then a second thought
will suggest that this is too simple a variation and
n ally he will de cide upon putting it even as before
I will therefore guess even ; h e guesses even and
wins Now th is mo de of reasoning in the schoolboy

whom his fellows t ermed lucky what in its last

analysis is it ?

It is merely I said
an identication of the

reasoner s intelle c t with that of his opponent

It is said Dupin ; and upon inquirin g of the

boy by what means he effecte d the thorou gh iden ti
cation in whi ch his suc c ess consisted I received
answer as follows : When I wish to n d out how wise
or how stupi d or how good or how wi cked is any
ane or what are his thoughts at the moment I fashi on
.

THE

PURL O INED LETTER

12

expression of my face as accurately as possible

in accordance with the expression of his and then
wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my
mind or heart as if to match or correspond with
the expression
This reponse of the schoolboy lies
at the bottom of all the spurious profundity which
has been attributed to Roch efoucaul t to La Boug ive

to Machi avelli and to Campanella

And the identication I said of the reasoner s

intellect with that of h is opponent depends if I
understand you aright upon the accuracy with

which the opponent s intellect is admeasured

For its practi c al value it depends upon this

replied Dupin ; and the Prefect and his cohort fail

so frequently rst by defaul t of this identication
and secondl y by ill-admeasurement or rather
through non-admeasurement of the intellect with
which they are engaged They consi d er only their
own ideas of ingenuity ; and in searching for any
thing hidden advert onl y to the modes in which
they would have hidden it
They are right in this
much that their own ingenuity is a faithful repre
sen tativ e of that of the mass; but when the cunning
of the in di vidual felon is diverse in character from
their own the felon foils them of course This
always happens when it is above their own an d very
usually when it is below They have no variation
of principle in their investigations ; at best
when
urged by some unusual emergency b y some ex
traordin ary reward they extend or exaggerate their
own
modes of practice without touchin g their
principles What for example in this c ase of
has been done to vary the principle of
action ? What is all this boring and p robing and
soun ding and s c rutinizing with the mi cros c ope
and dividing the surface of the building into reg is

the

V OL IIo
.

12

EDGAR ALLAN POE

square inches wha t is it all but an exag g era

tion of the application of the one p rinciple or set of
principles of search which are based upon the one
set of notions regarding human ingenuity to whi c h
the Prefect in the long routine of his duty has been
DO you not see he h as taken it for
accustome d ?
granted that a ll men proceed to conceal a letter

exactly
in
a
gi
m
let
hole
bored
in
a
chair
leg
but
not
at least in s ome out-of-the-way hole or corner
suggested by the same tenor of thought which wo ul d
urge a man to secrete a letter in a giml et-hole bored
in a chair-leg ? And do you not see also that su ch
recherchs nooks for conceal ment are adapted only
for ordi nary occasions and wo uld be a dopted onl y
by ordinary intellects ; for in all cases Of conceal
ment a disposal of the article concealed a disposal

of it in this recherche manner

is in the very rst
instance presumable an d presumed ; and thus its
dis covery depends not at all upon the acumen but
al together upon the mere care patience and deter
mination of the seekers ; and where the case is of
importance or what amounts to the same thing
in the policial eyes when the reward is of magnitude
the qualities in question have never been known to
fail You will now understand what I meant in
suggesting that had the purloined letter been hidden
any where within the limits of the Prefe c t s ex
amination in other words had the principle of its
conce al ment been comprehended within the principle
of the Prefe c t its dis c overy would have been a
matter altogether beyond question The func
tion ary however has been thoroughly mystie d ;
and the remote sourc e of his defeat lies in the sup
position that the Minister is a fool bec ause he has
All fools are poets ;
ac quired renown as a poet
thi s the Prefect feels ; and he is merely guilty of a non
tered

12

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

ther than the abstractly logical I dispute in

particu lar the reason educed by mathematical
The mathematics are the science of form
st udy
an d quantity ; mathematical reasoning is merely
logic applied to Observation upon form and quantity
Th e great error lies in supposing that even the
truths of what is called pure algebra are abstract
And this error is so egregious
or general truths
that I am confounded at the universal ity wr w 1c
it h as been received Mathematical axioms are not
axioms of general truth What is true of relation O f
form and quantity is often grossly false in regard
to morals for example In this latter science it is
usually u ntrue that the aggregated parts are equal
to the whole In chemistry also the axiom fails
In the consideration of motive it fails ; for two
motives each of a given value have not necessarily
equal to the sum of their
a value when united
values apart There are numerous other mathe
matical truths which are only truths within the
limits of relation But the mathematician argues
from his nite tru ths through habit as if they were

as the world
of an absolut ely general applicability
indeed imagines them to be Bryant in his very

learned Mythology mentions an analogous sourc e

of error when he says that

although the Pagan
fables are not believed yet we forget ourselves con
tinually and make inferences from them as existing
realities
With the alg ebr aists however who are

Pagans themselves the Pagan fables are believed

and the inferences are made not so mu ch through
lapse of memory as through an unaccountable
In sh ort I never yet en
addling of the brains
countered the mere mathemati cian who could be
trusted ou t of equal roots or on e who did not
c landestinely hold it as a point of his faith tha t
o

THE PURL O INED LETTER

'

f~ px

129

\
was absolutely and uncondition al ly equal to

~
o
f
e
x
Say
n
these
gentlemen
by
way
e
r
i
t
o
o
e
o
f
p
q
ment if you please that you believe occasion s
may occur where x + px is not altogether equal to q
and having mad e him understand what you mean
get out of his reach as speedily as convenient for
beyond doubt he will endeavor to knock you down

I mean to say continued Dupin while I merely

laughed at his last observations that if the Minister

had been no more than a mathematician the Prefect
would have been un der no necessity of giving me
this check I knew him however as both mathe
matician and 19d
my measures were a dapted:
to his capacity with referenc e to the circumstance s
b y which he was surrot
n ded
I knew him as a
'
co urt ier too and as a bold intriguant SuCh a man
I considered co ul d not fail to be aware 0 f the 0 rd?
l
nary policial modes of action He cou d not have
failed to anticipate and events have proved tha t"
he did not fail to anticipatethe w aylaying s tot
which he was subj ected He must have
I reected the se cret investigations of his premises
His frequent absences from home at n
ight which
were hailed by the Prefec t as certain ai ds to his
success I regarded onl y as ruses to aff ord Opp or
tunity for thorough search to the police and thus
the sooner to impress them with the conviction to
in fact did nally arrive the con
vic tion that th e letter was not upon the premises
I felt also that the whole trai n of thought which
I was at some pains in detailing to you j ust now
concerni ng the invariable principle of
i
al a ction
d
/
in searches for articles conceal ed I e t that this
whole train of thought would nec essarily pass through
the mind of the Minister It wo ul d imperativel y
lead him to despise all the ordinary nooks of conceal
.

'

p
q

E DGAR ALLAN

r3 0

He could

P OE

I reected be so weak as not

to see that the most intricate and remote reces s of
his hotel would be as Open as his commonest closets
to the eyes to the probes to theg imlets and to the
mi croscopes of the Prefec t I saw in ne that he
wo ul d be dr iven as a matter of course to simplicity
if not deliberately induced to it as a matter of ch oice
You will remember perhaps how desperately the
Prefect laughed when I suggested upon our rst
interview that it was j ust possible this mystery
troubled him so much on a c count of its being so

very self-evident

Yes sai d I
I remember his merriment well
I really thought he would have fallen into con
ment

not,

vul sion s

The material world con tinued Dupin abounds

with very s trict an al ogies to the immaterial ; and
thus some color Of truth has been given to the
rhetorical dogma that metaphor or sirnile may be
made to strengthen an argument as well as to
embellish a description The principle of the vis
inertice for example seems to be identical in physi c s
It is not more true in the former
and metaphysics
that a large body is with more dif culty set in motion
than a smaller one and that its subsequent momen
tum is commensurate with this dif culty than it is
in the latter that intell ects of the vaster capacity
while more forc ible more constant and more event
ful in their movements than those of inferior grade
are yet the less readily moved and more embarrassed
and ful l of hesitation in the rst few steps of their
progress Again : have you ever noticed which of
the street signs over the shop -doors are the most

attractive of attention ?

I have never given the matter a thought I said

There is a game of p uzzles he resumed whi ch

,

E DG AR ALLAN P O E

I 32

D
at home yawning loung ing and dawdling as
usual and pretending to be in the last extremity of
ennu i
He is perhaps the most really en ergetic
n
w
o
but that is only when
alive
h uman being
nobody sees him
To be even with him I complained of my we ak
eyes
and lamented the necessity of the spectacles
u nder cover of which I cautiously and thoroughl y
s urveyed
the whole apartment while seemingly
intent onl y upon the conversation of my host

I paid especial attention to a large writing -table

near which he sat and upon whi ch lay confusedly
some miscellaneous letters and other papers with
one or two musical instruments and a few books
Here however after a long and very deliberate
scrutiny I saw nothing to excite particular suspicion

At length my eyes in going the circuit of the

fell upon
gree card -rack of
room
pasteboard th at
by a dirty blue
from a little brass knob j ust beneath the
ribbon
middle of the mantel -piece In this rack which had
three or four compartments were ve or six visiting
cards and a solitary letter This last was much
soiled and crumpled It was torn nearly in two
across the middl e as if a design in the rst instance
to tear it entirely up as worthless had been altered
It had a large black seal
or stayed in the second
bearing the D
cipher very conspicuously and
was addressed in a diminutive female hand to
D
the minister himself It was thrust care
lessly and even as it seemed contemptuously into
on e of the upperm ost divisions of the rack

No sooner had I glanced at this letter than I

c oncluded it to be that of whi ch I was in search
To be sure it was to all appearance radical ly
diff erent from the one of which the Prefect had read
,

THE PURL O INED LETTER

I 33

minute a descri ption Here the seal was large

and black with the D
cipher ; there it was
small and red with the ducal arms of the S
family Here the address to the Minister was
d iminutive and feminine ; there the superscription
to a certain royal personage was markedl y bold and
d ecided ; the size alone formed a point of correspond
ence But then the radicalness of these di fferences
which was excessive ; the dirt ; the soiled and torn
c on dition of the paper so inconsistent with the tru e
methodical habits of D
and so suggestive of a
d es ign to delude the beholder into an idea of th e
worthlessn ess of the document ; these things together
with the hyperobtrusive situation of this document
full in the view of every visitor and thus exactly
in accordance with the conclusions to which I had
previously arrived ; these things I say were strongly
corroborative of suspicion in one who came with
the intention to suspect

I protracted my visit as long as possible and

while I maintained a most animated discussion wi th
the Minister upon a topic which I knew well had
never failed to interest and excite him I kept my
attention really riveted upon the letter In this
examination I committed to memory its external
appearance and arrangement in the rack ; and als o
fell at length upon a discovery which set at rest
whatever t ri vial doubt I might have entertained
In scrutinizing the edges of the paper I observed
them to be more chafed than seemed nec essary
They presented the broken appearance which is
manifested when a sti ff paper having been once
folded and pressed with a folder is refolded in a
reversed direction in the same cre ases or edg es
which had formed the o ri ginal fold This di s covery
was sufcient
It was clear to me that the letter
u s so

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

r3 4

had been turned as a glove inside ou t re-direct ed

and re-sealed I bade the Minister g ood morning
and took my departure at once leaving a gold snuff
b ox upon the table

The next morning I c alled for the snu ff -b ox

when we resumed quite e agerly the conversation
While thus engaged however
of the precedi ng day
a loud report as if of a pistol was heard immediately
beneath the windows of the hotel and was succeed ed
by a seri es of fearful screams and the shoutings
D
rushed to a casement
of a terried mob
thr ew it open and looked out In the meantime I
c
stepped to the ard rack took the letter put it in
my pocket and replaced it by a fac-simile ( so far as
regards externals ) which I had carefully prepared
at my lo dging s imitating the D
cipher very
readily by means of a seal formed of bread

The disturban c e in the street had been occasion ed

by the frantic behavior of a man with a musket
He had red it among a crowd of women and
children It proved however to have been without
ball and the fellow was su ff ered to go his way as a
lunatic or a drunkard When he had gone D
c ame from the window whither I had followed him
immediately upon securing the Obj ect in view
Soon afterwards I bade him farewell The pretended

lunatic was a man in my own pay

But what purpose had you I asked in repl ac

ing the letter by a fac-simile? Would it not have
been better at the rst visit to ha ve seiz ed it

openl y and departed ?

D
replied Du pin
is a desperate man
and a man of nerve His hotel too is not without
Had I made
atten dants d evoted to his interests
the wild attempt you suggest I might never have
left the Ministeri al presence alive The good people
,

P OE

E DGAR ALLAN

136

T HE B L A C !

C AT

R the most wil d yet most homely narrative

ich I am about to pen I neither expect
Mad indeed wo ul d I be
to expect it in a case where my very senses rej ect
their own evidence Yet mad am I not and very
But tomorrow I di e and
surely do I not dream
to day I woul d unburthen my so ul My immediat e
purpose is to place before the world plainly su e
and without comment a series of mere
cin ctly
household events In their consequences these
even ts have terried have tortured have destroyed
me Yet I will not attempt to expound them To
me they have presented little but Horror to many
they will seem less terrible than b arroqu es Here
after perhaps some intellect may be found which
will reduce my phantasm to the common -place
some intellect more calm more logical
and far less
excitable than my own which will perceive in the
circumstances I detail with awe nothing more than
an ordinary succession of very natural cau ses and
e ff e c ts
From my infancy I was not ed for the docility and
humanity of my disposition My tenderness of
heart was even so conspicu ous as to make me the
j est of my compani ons I was especially fond
of animal s and was ind ul ged by my parents with a
great variety of pets With these I spent most of
my time and never was so happy as when feeding
and caressing them
This pec uliarity of character
g rew with my g rowth and in my manh ood I
,

THE B LAC ! CAT

137

from it one of my p ri ncipal so urce s of

pleasure To those who have cherished an aff ection
for a faithful and sagacious dog I need hardl y be at
the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity
There is some
of the gratication thus derivable
thing in the unselsh and self-sacricing love of a
brute which goes directly to the heart of him who
has had frequent oc casion to test the paltry friend
ship and ossamer delity of mere Man
I ma ed eafly: and was happy to nd in my wife
a di sposition not uncongeni al with my own Ob serv
ing my partiality for domestic pets she lost no
Opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable
kind We had birds gold-sh a n e dog rabbits a
sm al l monkey and a ca t
This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful
animal entirely black and sagacious to an astonish
In speaking Of his intelligence my
ing degree
wife who at heart was not a little tinctured with
superstition made frequent allusion to the ancient
popular notion whi ch regarded all black ca ts as
witches in disguise Not that she was ever seriou s

upon this point and I mention the matter at all

for no better reason than that it happens j ust now
to be remembered
Pluto -this was the cat s nam e was my favorite
pet and playmate I alone fed him and he attended
me wherever I went about the house It was even
with difculty that I could prevent him from follow
ing me through the streets
Our frien dship lasted in this mann er for several
years during whi ch my general temperament and

chara cter through the instrumental ity of the Fiend

Intemperance had ( I blush to c onf ess it) ex p eri
en c ed a radi c al alteration for the worse
I grew
day by day more m oody more i rritable more
d erived

'

EDGAR ALLAN POE

I 38

regardl ess of the feelings of others I suff ered my

self to use intemperate language to my wife At
length I even off ered her personal violence My
pets of c ourse were made to feel the change in my
d isposition
I not onl y negle cted but ill-use d them
For Pluto however I still retained sui cien t regard
to restrain me from maltreating him as I made no
scruple of maltreating the rabbits the monkey or
even the dog when by accident or through a ff e c tion
they cam e in my way But my disease grew upon
me for what disease is like Al cohol an d at length
even Pluto who was now bec oming old and con
sequently somewhat peevish even Pluto began to
experience the eff e c ts of my ill temper
One night returning home mu ch intoxicated
from one of my haunts about town I fancie d that the
I siez ed him ; when in
c at avoi ded my presen c e
hi s fright at my violenc e he ini c ted a slight wound
upon my hand with his teeth The fury of a demon
instantly possessed me I knew myself no longer
My o ri ginal soul seemed at once to take its ight
from my body ; and a more than endish malevolen c e
gin-nurtured thri lled every bre of my frame
I took from my waist coat pocket a pen-knife opened
it grasped the poor beast by the throat and de
lib e ately c u t on e of its eyes from the so c ket ! I
blush I burn I shudder while I pen the damnable
atro city
When reason returned with the morning when
I had slept off the fumes of the night s debau ch I
experienc ed a sentiment half of horror half Of re
morse for the crime of which I had been guilty ;
but it was at best a feeble and equivo ca l feeling
and the soul remained untouched I again plun ged
into excess and soon drowned in wine all memory
o f the d eed
.

E DGAR ALLAN

I 4O

POE

were possible even beyond the reach of the in

nite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terri ble
God
On the night of the day on which this cruel deed
was done I was aroused from sleep by the cry of re
The curtains of my bed were in ames The whol e
house was blazing I t was with great dif culty
that my wife a servant and myself made our es
cape from the con ag ration The destruction was
complete My entire worldly weal th was swallowed
up and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair
I am above the weakness of seeking to establish
a sequence of cause and effect between the disaster
and the atrocity But I am detailing a chain of
fa c ts and wish not to leave even a possible link
imper fe c t On the day succeeding the r e I visited
the ruins The walls with on e exception had
fallen in This exception was found in a compart
ment wal l not very th ickfwh ich stood about the mid
dl e of the house and against which had rested th e
head of my bed The plastering had her e in great
measure resisted the action of the re a fact which
I attributed to its having been recently spread
About this wall a dense crowd were collec ted and
many persons seemed to be examining a particul ar
portion of it with very minute and eager attention

The words strange ! singular ! and other similar

expressions excited my curiosity I approa ched
and saw as if graven in b as relief upon the white sur
fa c e the gure Of a gigantic cat The impression
was given with an a cc uracy truly marvellous There
was a rope about the animal s neck
When I rst beheld this apparition for I coul d
scarcely regard it as less my won der and my terror
were e x treme But at length reection came to
my aid The cat I remembered h ad been hung
o

'

'

TH E B LACK CAT
in
of

1 41

a garden adjacent to the house Upon the al arm

re this garden had been immediately l led by the
c rowd b y some on e of whom the ani mal must have
been cut from the tree and thrown throug h an open
window into my chamber This had probably
been done with the view of arousing me from sleep
The falling of other wal ls had compressed the victim
of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly
spread plaster ; the lime of whi ch with the ames
and the ammonia from the car cass had then accom
l
i
h
e
d
s
the portraiture as I saw it
p
Although I thus rea dily accounted to my reason
if not al together to my conscience for the startling
fact j ust d etailed it did not the less fail to make a
deep impression upon my fancy For months I
co ul d not ri d mys elf of the phantasm of th e cat ;
and during this period there came back into my
spirit a hal f-sentiment that seemed but was not
remorse I went so far as to regret the loss of the
animal and to look about me among the vile haun ts
which I now habitually frequented for another pet
and of somewhat similar ap
of the s am e spe c ies
p earance with whi ch to supply its pla c e
One night as I sat half stup ied in a den of more
than infamy my attention was suddenly drawn
to some black Obj e c t reposing upon the head of one
of the imm ense hogsheads of Gin or of Rum whi c h
constituted the c hief furniture of the apartment I
had been l ooking steadil y at the top of this hogshead
for some minutes and what now caused me surprise
was the fact that I h ad not sooner perceived the O b ject
thereupon I approach ed it an d touched it with
my hand It was a black c at a very large one
fully as large as Pluto and c losely resembling him in
every respe c t but one Pluto had not a white hair
upon any portion of his bo dy ; but thi s cat had a large
.

V OL .

I I

P OE

E DGAR ALLAN

42

although indenite splotch of whi te covering nearly

the whole region of the breast
Upon my touching him he immediately arose
purred loudl y rubbed against my hand and ap
This
then
was
eared delighted with my notice
p
the very creature of which I was in search I at
onc e o ff ered to purchase it of the lan dl ord ; but this
person made no claim to it kn ew nothing of it
had never seen it before
I continued my caresses and when I prepared to
go home the animal evin ced a di sposition to accom
pany me I permitted it to do so ; occasionally
stoop ing and patting it as I procee ded When it
reached the house it domesticated itself at once and
became imme diately a great favorite with my wife
For my own part I soon foun d a dislike to it
arising within me This was j ust the reverse of
what I had anticipate d ; but I know not how or
why it was its evident fon dness for myself rather
d isgusted and annoye d
B y slow d egrees these
feelings of di sgust and annoyance rose into the bit
I avoided the creatur e ; a certain
t ern ess of hatred
sense of sh am e and the remembrance of my former
d eed of cruelty preventing me from physically abus
I did not for some weeks strike or otherwise
ing it

violently ill use it ; but gradually very graduall y I

came to look upon it with unutterable loathing and
to ee silently from its odi ous presence as from the
breath of a pestilenc e
What adde d no doubt to my h atred of the beast
was the d is c overy on the morning after I brought
it home that like Pluto it also h ad been deprive d of
on e of its eyes
This c ircumstance however only
endeared it to my wife who as I have already sai d
possessed in a high degree that humanity of feeling
whi ch had once b een my distinguishing trait and
,

POE

EDGAR ALLAN

r4 4

it

was now I say the image of a hideou s

o f a ghastly thing O i the GA LL O W S l oh mourn
ful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime of
Agony and of Death !
And now was I indeed wretched beyond the
And a brute
wretch edness of mere Humanity
beas t whose fellow I h ad contemptuously destroyed
a bru te b eas t to work ou t for me for me a man
fashioned in the image of the High God so much of
in su erab le wo ! Alas !neither by day nor by night
knew I the blessing of Rest any more ! During the
former the crea ture left me no moment alone ; and
in th e latter I started hourly from dreams of un
utterable fear to nd th e hot breath of the thing
upon my fac e and its va st weight an incarnate
Night -Mare that I had no powe r to shake o3
bent eternal ly upon my heart!
Beneath the pressure of torm en ts such as these
the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed
Evil thoughts became my sole intimates the dark
est and most evil of thoughts
The mo odi ness of
my usual temper in creased to hatred of all things
and of all mankind ; while from the sud den fre
quent and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to
which I now blindl y abandoned myself my un com
plaining wife alas !was the most usual and the most
patient of suff erers
One day sh e accompanied me upon some house
hold errand into the c ellar of the old buil ding whi ch
our poverty compelled us to inhabit
Th e cat fol
lowed me down the steep stairs and nearly throwing
me hea dlong exasperated me to madness Uplift
ing an axe and forgetting in my wrath the child
ish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand I
aimed a blow at the animal which of c ourse wo ul d
have proved instantly fatal had it des c ended as I

had I

dared

THE

wished

BLACK

CAT

1 45

But thi s blow was arrested by the hand of

my wife Goaded by the in terferen c e into a rage
more than demoniacal I withdrew my arm from her
grasp and buri ed the axe in her brain She fell
dead upon the spot without a groan
This hideous murder accomplished I set myself
forthwith and with entire deliberation to the task
I knew that I could not re
of c on c ealing the body
move it from the house either by day or by night
without the risk of being observed by the neigh b ors
Many proj ects entered my mind At on e period I
thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments
and destroying them by re At another I resolved
to dig a grave for it in the oor of the c ellar Again
I deliberated about casting it in the well in th e
yard about packing it in a box as if merchandize
with the usual arrangements and so getting a port er
Finally I hit upon what
to take it from the house
I consi dered a far better expe dient than either of
these I determin ed to wall it up in the cellar as
the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have
walled up their victims
For a purpose such as this the cellar was well
adapted Its walls were loosely constru c ted and had
lately been plastered throughout with a rO Lg h plaster
which the dampness of the atmosphere h ad prevented
from hardening Moreover in on e of the walls
was a proj ection caused by a false chimney or re
place that had been lled up and ma de to resemble
the rest of the cell ar I ma d e no doubt that I could
readily displace the bri cks at this point insert the
corpse an d wall the whole up as before so that no
eye could detect any thi ng suspicious
An d in this cal cul ation I was not deceived
By
means of a crow-bar I easily dislodg e d the bri cks
and having carefull y deposited the body against
.

EDGAR ALLAN

1 46

POE

the inner wall I propped it in that position while

r
th
little
trouble
I
e
laid the whole structure as
wi
it o ri ginally stoo d Having procured mortar sand
and hair with every possible precaution I prepared
a pl aster which co ul d not be distinguished fro m
the old and with this I very careful ly went over the
new brick-work When I h ad n ished I felt
satised that al l was right The wall did not present
the slightest appearance of havin g been disturbed
The rubbish on the oor was picked up with the
minutest care I looked around triumphantly and

said to myself
Here at least then my lab or has

not been in vain

My next step was to look for the beast which had
been the cause of so mu ch wretchedness ; for I had
at length rmly resolved to put it to death Had I
been able to meet with it at the moment there could
have been no doubt of its fate ; but it appeared that
the crafty animal had been al arm ed at the violence
of my previous anger and foreb ore to present itself
in my present mood It is impossible to des cribe or
to imagine the deep the blissful sense of relief
which the absence of the detested creature o c casioned
in my bosom It did not make its appearance

during the night and thus for one night at least

sin c e its introduction into the house I soundly and
tranquilly slept ; aye slept even with the burden of
murder upon my so ul !
The se c ond and the third day passed an d still my
tormentor c ame not Once again I breathed as a
freeman The monster in terror had ed the
premises forever ! I should behold it no more !
My happiness was supreme ! The guilt of my dark
deed disturbed me but little Some few inquiries
had been made but these h ad been readily answered
E ven a search had been instituted but of course
,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

r4 8

answered by a voice from within the tomb -b y a

c ry at rst mu fed and broken like the sobbing of a
child and then quickly swelling into one long loud
and continuous scream utterly anomalous and ln
human a howl a wailing sh ri ek half of horror
and half of t ri umph such as might have arisen onl y
o u t of hell c onj ointly from the throats of the d amn ed
in their agony and of the demons that exult in the
damnation
O f my own thoughts it is folly to speak Swooning
I staggered to the Opposite wall For one in stan t
the party upon the stairs remained motionl ess
through extremity of terror and of awe In th e
next a dozen stout arms were toilin g at the wall It
fell bodily The corpse al ready greatly decayed
and clotted with gore stood erect before the eyes of
the spectators Upon its head with red extended
mouth and solitary eye of re sat the hideous
beast whose craft had seduced me into m urder and
whose informing voi c e had consigned me to the
hangman I had walled the monster up within th e
tomb !
,

THE FALL O F THE H O USE O F U S HER

T HE

49

FA L L
01

T HE

H OUS E OF USHER

Son coeur est n u l u t h suspendu ;

S itOt qu on l s t ou ch c il
sonn e
D e Berang er

!whole of
,

URING the
a dull dark and
soundless day in the autumn of the year
when the c louds hung oppressively low in
the heavens I had been passing al one on horseback
through a singularly dreary tract of country ; and at
length foun d myself as the shades of the evening
drew on within view of the melancho ly House of
Usher I kn ow not how it was but with the rst
glimpse of the bu ilding a sense of insu ff erable
gloom pervaded my spirit I say insu ff er e ; for
the feeling was unrelieved by any of tHzE alf-pleas
because poeti c sentiment with which the
urab l e
mind usually re c eives even the sternest natural
images Of the desolate or terrible I looked upon the
scene before me -upon the mere house and the

d
simple lan scape features of the domain upon
th e bleak wall s: upon the vac ant eyelike windows
upon a few ra
nk siefl g e and upon a few white
trunks of d ecayed trees w ith an utter depression
of so ul which I c an compare to no earthl y sensation
more properly than to the after-dream of the revell er
upon Opium the bitter lapW
e the

hideous dropping off of

TE re w as an
iciness a sinking a sickening of the heart an un ~
red eemed dreariness of thought which no goadin g
.

rla

l
o
Is

EDGAR AL LAN

P OE

of

the imagination could torture into a h of th e

i
What
w
a
s
I
paused
to
what
t
S
irb lirne
was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of
the House of Usher ? It was a my stery all insoluble ;
nor could I grapple with the sh adowy fangies th a
t
crowded upon me as I pondered I was forced to
unsatisfacto ry conclusion that
while beyond doubt there are combinations of very
simple natural Obj ec ts whil lfaTve th e p ower of th us

a ff ecting us still the analysis O

f th rs power lies

J o

possible I reected that a mere di ff erent arrange

ment of the particulars of the scene of the details

Of the picture wo ul d be suicient g m

odi fy or
perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful im
pression ; and acting upon this idea I reined my
horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid
tarn that lay in unrui ed lustre b y the dwelli ng and
gazed down but with a shudder even more thrilling
than before upon the remodelled an d inverted
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 pro
posed to myself a soj ourn of some weeks Its pro
y boon
prietor Roderi c k Usher had been one of m
companions in boyhood ; but many years had elap sed
since our last meeting A letter however had lately

d
o
f
reached me in a istant part
the country a letter
from him whi ch in its wildly irnp ortun ate nature
had admitted of no other than a personal reply
The MS gave evidence of n ervous agitation The
writer Spoke of acu te bodily illness of a mental
est
disorder which oppressed him and o f an ei m
d esire to see me as his best and indeed his
personal friend with a view of attemptin g, by th e
ch eerful ness of my so ciety some alleviation of his
,

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

1 52

I have said that the sole e ff ect of my somewhat

c hil dish experiment that of looking d own wi thin

the am h ad been to deepen the rst singul ar im

t
pression There can be no doubt that the con
sciou sn ess of the rapid in crease Of my superstition
for why sho ul d I not so term it Serve d mainly to
accelerate the incre ase itself Such I have long
known is the paradoxical law of all sen timents hav
ing terror as a basis And it might have been for
this reason o nl y that when I again uplifted my
eyes to the house itself from its image in the pool
there grew in my min d a strange fancy a fancy so
ri dicul ous indeed that I but mention it to Show the
vivid force of the sensations whi ch pppressed me
I had so work ed upon my imag i nati on as really to
believe that about the whole mansion and d om ain
.

had no afnity with the air of heaven but which

had ree ked up from the decayed trees and the gray
wall an d the silent mn rr apestil t and mystic vapor
dull sluggish fain tly discerib le and leaden -hued
Shaking off from my Spirit what must have been a
dream I scanned more narrowly the real aspect
of the buil ding I ts princip al feature seemed to be
that of an ex c
The discoloration of
ages had b em great Minute fungi overspread the
whole exterior hanging in a ne 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 cr umbling con di tion of the in di
vidu al stones In this there was mu ch that reminded
me of the specious totality of old wood -work whi ch
has rotted for long years in some neglected vault
,

w
,

THE FALL OF THE HO USE O F USHER

53

with no disturbance from the breath of the external

B eyond this indi ca tion of extensive de c ay
air
however the fabri c gave little token of instability
Perhaps the eye Of a scrutinizing Observer migh t
have discovered a barely perceptible ssure whi ch
ex tending from the roof of the building in front
made its way down the wall in a zigzag dire c tion
until it bec ame lost in the sullen waters of the tarn
Noti cing these things I ro d e over a short cause
way to the house A erv ant
waiting took my
horse and I entered the Gothic archway of the hall
stealthy step thence conducte d me in
ug h many dark and intri cate passages
in my progress to the s tu dio of his master Much
that I encoun tered on the way contributed I know
not h ow to heighten the vague sentiments of which
I have alrea dy Spoken While the Obj e cts around
me while the carvings of the ceilings the sombre
tapestries of the walls the ebon blackn ess of the
oors: and the phantasmagoric armo ri al trophies
whi ch ra ttled as I strode were but matters to whi ch
"
or to su c
as whi ch I h ad been a cc ustomed from
my infancy while I hesitated not to a ckn owledge
how famili ar was al l this I still wondered to nd
how unfamiliar were the fancies whi ch ordinary im
ages were stirring u p On one of the sta ircases I
met the physician of the family His c ountenan c e
I thought wore a mingled expression of low cunning
and perplexity He ac costed me with trepidation
and passed on
Th e valet now threw open a door
and ushered me into the presenc e of his master
Th e room in whi ch I found myself was very large
an d lofty
The windows were long narrow and
pointed and at so vast a distance from the bla ck
oaken oor as to be altogether inac c essible from
within Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light mad e
,

EDGAR ALLAN

1 54

P OE

their way through th ei rellissed panes and served to

rend er suf ciently di stinc t the more prominent
obj e cts around ; the eye however strugg l ed in y ain
to rea ch the remoter angles Of th e chamber or
the re c esses of the vaul ted and frg tt ed ceiling
Dark draperies hung upon the wall s Th e general
fu rniture was profuse comfortless antique and
tattered Many books and musical instruments
lay s cattered about but failed to give any vital ity
to the s c ene I felt that I breathe d an atmosphere
of sorrow
An air of stern d eep and irr eema e
n
d
d
over
pervade
all
a
g
W
Upon my entrance Usher arose from a sofa
on whi c h he had been lying at full length
and
greeted me with a viva cious warmth whi ch h ad mu ch
in it I at rst thought of an overdone c ordiality O f
the c onstrained eff ort of the ennuy man Of the
world A glan c e however at hi s c ountenance
convinced me O f his perfec t sin c erity We sat d own ;
an d for some moments while he spoke not I gaze d
upon him with a feeling half of pity half of awe
Surely man had never before so terri bly altered in
so brief a period
a s h ad Ro deri ck Usher ! It was
with dif cul ty that I c oul d bring myself to a dm it the
identity of the wan being before me with the com
panion of myearly boyhoo d Yet the character O f
his face had been at all tim es remarkable
A g
dav erou sn ess f c ompl exion ; an eye large liquid and
nou s beyond c omparison ; lips somewhat thin
and very pallid but of a surpassingly beauti ful curve ;
a nose Of a deli cate Hebrew mo del but with a
breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations ;
a nely moul ded chin speaking in its want of promi
n en ce of a want of moral energy; hair O f a more than
web -like softness and tenuity ; these features with
an inordinate expansion above the re gions of the
,

EDGAR ALLAN

1 56

P OE

t was he said a constitutional and a

and one for whi ch he d espaired to nd a
remedy a mere nervous a ff ection he imme diately
added which would undoubtedly soon pass O ff It
displayed itself in a host of unn atural sensations
Some of these as he detailed them interested and
bewildered me ; al though perhaps the terms and
the general manner of the narration h ad their weight
He su ff ered much from a orb id acuteness of the
senses ; the most insipid food was a
lone endurable ;
aul d wear onl y garments of certain tex ture ;
the odors of all owers were oppressive ; his eyes
were tortured by even a faint light ; and there
were but pe cul iar sounds and these from stringed
did not inspire him with horror
,

of
the future not in themselves but in their results
I shu dder at the thought of any even the most tri vial
incident which may Operate upon this intolerable
agitation of soul I have indeed no abhorrence of
d anger except in its absolute
m
fiis
c on dition I
unnervel
n
feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I
must abandon life and reason together in some

struggle with the grim phantasm F E AR

I learned moreover at interv als and thr ough
broken and equivo cal hints another singular feature
of his mental condition
He was enchained by c er
tain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling
an d whence for many years he
forth in regard to an inuenc e
3 force was c onveyed in terms
to he re-stated an inuence
th e

even ts

THE

OF THE

FALL

H O USE

OF

USHER

57

which some peculiarities in the mere form and su b

stanc e of h is family mansion h ad by dint of long
suff erance he said obtained over h is spirit an
e ff ect which the physique of the gray walls and tur
rets and of the dim tarn into which they all looked
d own had at length brought ab out upqnm the
morale Of his existence

H E E
ffa rdj t
th oug h with hesitation
that mu ch of the peculiar gloom whi ch thus affl icted
him c ould be trac ed to a more natural and far more
palpable originI to the severe and lon -continued
rn deeT to the emden tf
s
L
y approa W ESSO
neg
lu tion of a tenderly beloved sister his sole com
panion for long years his last and only relative on
,

'

g
_

less and the frail) t ;

mg
e he Spoke
W
h
he
lady
Madeline
for
(
W
so was sh e called ) passed slowly through a remote
portion of the apartment and without having
noticed my presen c e disappeared I regarded
her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with

dread and yet I found it impossible to a c count for

such feelings A sensation of stupor oppressed me as
my eyes followed her retreating steps When a door
at length closed upon her my glan c e sought instin ct
ively and eagerly the c ountenance of the brother
but he had buried his fac e in his hands and I could
onl y perceive that a far more than ordinary wan
ness had overspread the ema ciate d ngers through
whi ch trickle d many passi
Th e disease of the lady Madeline had long b af ed
the skill of her physicians A settled apathy a
gradual wasting away of the person and frequent
although transient a ff ections of a partially catalep
ti
character were the unusual diagnosis
it e 0
9

0L

II

rr

EDGAR ALLAN

1 58

P OE

had stea dily borne up against the pressure

of her mala dy and had not betaken herself n ally
to bed ; but on the Closing in of the evening of my
arri v al at the house sh e succumbed (as her brother
told me at night with inexpressible agitation) to the
of the d estroyer ; and I learned
prostrating
power
\
that the glimpse I had Obtained of her person would
thus probably be the last I Shoul d obtain that the
lady at least while living would be seen by me no
more
For several days ensuing her name was unmen
tion ed by either Usher or myself : and during th is
period I was busied in earnest endeavors to alleviate
the melancholy of my friend We painted an d read
together ; or I listened as if in a dream to the wild
improvisations of his speaking guitar And thus as
a closer an d still Closer intima cy a dmitted me more
unr eserve dly into the re c esses of his spirit the more
bitterly di d I perc eive the futility of all attempt at
cheering a mind from whi ch darkness as if an in
herent positive quality poure d forth upon all oh
ec ts of the moral and physical uni verse in on e un
j
c easing ra diation of gloom
I shall ever bear about me a memory of the many
solemn hours I thus spent alone with the master
Yet I should fail in any
o f the House of Usher
attempt to convey an i dea of the exa c t c hara cter
o f the stu dies or of the o c c upations in whi ch he in
volved me or l ed me the way An ex cite d an d highly
distempered i deality threw a sulphureous lustre
over all His long improvised dirges will ring for
ever in my ears Among other things I hold
painf ully in mind a certain singular perversion and
amplication Of the wild air of the last waltz of Von
Weber From th e paintings over whi ch his elab
orate fancy b roode
an whi ch gre w tou ch b y
sh e

EDGAR ALLAN POE

60

the fantastic character of his performances But

the fervi d facility of his impromptu s could not be so
accounted for They must have been and were
in the notes as well as in the words of his wild fan
tasias ( for he not unf requently accompanied himself
with rhymed verbal improvisations) the result of
that intense mental colle ctedness and concentra
tion to whi ch I have previously alluded as ob serv
able onl y in particular moments of the highest
articial excitement The words of on e of these
rhapso dies I have easily remembered I was per
haps th e more forcibly impressed with it as he
gave it because in the under or m
ystic curren t of
its meaning I fan c ied that I perceived and for the
rst time a full cons ciousness on the part of Usher
of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne

Th e verses whi ch were entitled

Th e Haunted
Palace
ran very nearly i f not accura e y
us
.

gr eenest of our vall eys

B y good an gels t en an ted
O n c e a fa ir an d stat ely p al a c e
R ad i an t p al a c mreared it s h e ad
I n t h e mon arc h Th ou gh t s d omi n ion
I t s t oo d t h ere !
N e ver serap h sp rea d a p i n ion
Over fab r i c h al f so fa i r
I n th e

II

Bann ers yell ow, gl or i ou s gol den ,

O n it s roof did oat an d ow ;
all t h i s w as in t h e ol den
T
h
i
s
(
T i me l on g ag o)
An d ev ery gen tl e a ir t h at dal l i ed ,
I n t h at sweet d ay,
Al on g t h e ramparts pl u me d an d p all i d,
,

wi n ged

O dor

wen t

a w av

THE

FALL OF THE HOUSE O F USHER

I II

16

W an derers

in t h at h appy vall ey
T hrou g h t wo l u mmou s wi n dows saw
Spi r i t s movin g mu si c ally

T o a l u t e s well t u ne d l aw ,
Rou n d a b ou t a t hrone wh ere sitt in g
,

( Porp hyrogen e

In

h is
rul er

st a t e

Th e

gl ory well b ett in g

of

t h e real m w as

IV

seen .

And al l w i th

pe arl and ruby gl owing

W as th e fair p al ace d oor
Thr ou gh wh i c h c ame owin g owi n g owing
An d sparkl i n g ev ermore
A t roop of E c h oes wh ose sweet du ty
W as b u t t o sin g
In vo i ce s of su rpa ssin g b eau ty
Th e W it an d wi sd om of t h ei r kin g
,

vil t h in gs in rob es of sorrow

Assa il e d t h e mon arc h s h igh e st ate ;
( Ah l et u s mourn for n ever morrow
S h all d awn u pon h im d esol at e !)
And rou n d a bou t h is h ome t h e gl ory
T hat b l u sh e d an d bl oomed
Is b u t a d im-rememb ere d st ory
Of the ol d t ime en tomb ed
But

VI

wi th in th at valley
Throu gh th e red -l i tt en wi n d ows se e
V a st forms t h at mov e fan t ast i c ally
To a d i sc ordan t mel ody ;
Wh il e l i ke a rapi d g h astly r ive r
T hrou gh th e pal e doo r
A h i deou s t hron g ru sh ou t forever
An d l au gh b u t sm il e n o more

And travell ers

n ow

EDGAR ALLAN POE

62

I well remember that suggestions ari sing from this

ballad led u s into a train of thought wherein there
bec ame manifest an opini on of Usher s wh ich I
mention not so mu ch on ac count of its novelty (for
other men* have thought thus ) as on acc ount of the
pertinacity with which he maintained it This
opinion in its general form was that of the sentien ce
But in his disordered fancy
of all vegetable things
the i dea h ad assumed a more daring charac ter and
trespasse d un der c ertain c onditions upon the
king dom of inorganization I lack words to express
the full extent or the earnest abandon of his per
suasion Th e belief however was c onnected (as I
have previously hinted) with the gray stones of the
home of his forefathers The con ditions of the sen
tien c e had been here he imagined full led in the

o
f
method of collocation
these stones ln the order
of the ir arrangement as well as in that of the many
fu ngi whi ch overspread them and of the d ecayed
trees whi c h stood aroun d above all in the long
undisturbed endurance of this arrangement and in
its redupli c ation in the still waters of the tarn Its
evi den c e the eviden c e of the sentienc e was to be
m Spoke ) in the
seen he said (an
rtain condensation of an a mosph re
z
g radu aLyd
e
q e
t
m
m

i
of
r
ate
d
i
l
n
t
Th
d
e
t
f
e
a
s
n
the w q
ab 'ig
result was disc overable he added in that silent
yet importunate and terrible inuenc e which for
centuries had moul ded the destinies of his family
and whi ch made him what I now saw him what he
was Such opinions need no comment and I will
make none
Our books the books whi ch for years had formed
no small portion of the mental existence of the in
,

"

W at so n

Bi h
s

Dr

ival

Perc
op of L a n d a ff Se e
,

z i

Sp all a n a n , a n d e sp e cial l y t h e
"
C e m c a l E ssa ys , v ol
,

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

64

staircase on the day of my arri val at the house I had

no des ire 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
ep
th e arrangements for the t e p orary
t
n
e
m
m
b
m
q
The body having been encofh ed we two alone bore
it to its rest The vault in which we placed it ( and
whi ch had been so long unopened that o ur torches
half smothere d in its oppressive atmosplfere gave us
little Opportunity for investigation) was smal l damp
and entirely without means of admission for light ;
lying at great depth immedi ately beneath that
portion of the buil ding in which was my own sleep
ing apartment It had been used a pparently in
remote feu dal times for the worst purposes of a
donjon-keep and in later days as a place of deposit
for powder or some other highl y combustible sub
stan ce as a portion of its oor and the whole inte
rior of a long archway through which we reached it
wer e carefully sheathed with copper The door of
massive iron had been also similarly prote cted
I ts immense weight caused an unusually sharp grat
ing sound as it moved upon its hinges
H aving deposited our mou rnf ul burden upon tres
sels within thi s region of horror we partially turned
aside the yet un screwed lid of the c o f n and looked
upon the face of the tenant A st lgnm
e
between the brother and sister now rst arrested
,

'

m
0.

thoughts murmured out some few words from which

I learned that the deceased and himself had been
an d that sympathies of a scarcely in tell igible
W
nature had al ways existed between them Our
glances however rested not long upon the dead
for we coul d not regard her unawed The disease
which had thus entombed the lady in the maturit y
,

THE FALL O F THE HO USE O F USHER

16

youth had left as us ual 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 repla c ed and screwed down the lid and
having se cure d 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

of

ae

His

or dinary
manner h ad vanished His ordinary occupations
were negle cted or forgotten He roamed from
chamber to chamber with hurried
unequal
and Obj e ctless 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 occasion al huskiness of his tone was heard
no more ; and a tremulous quaver as if of extreme
terror habitually characterized his utterance
There were times indeed when I thought his un
some
c easing ly agitated min d was laboring with
oppressive secret to divulge which he struggled
for the necessary courage At times again I was
obliged to resolve al l into the mere inexplicable
vagaries of madness for I beheld him gazing upon
vacancy for long hours in an attitude of the pro
foundest attention as if listeni ng to some imaginary
sound It W S 11 0 a!
ef f i
as
ed that it infecte
me
t creeping upon
'
'
'
me By sloW yEf Seffam degrees the wild inuences
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 pla cing
of the lady Madelin e within the donjon that I ex p eri
enced the full power of such feelings
Sleep came
I

16

EDGAR ALLAN POE

not near my cou ch while the hours waned and

waned away I struggled to reason Off the nerv
ou sn ess which h ad d ominion over me
I endeavored
to believe that mu ch if not all of what I felt was
due to the bewil deri ng inuence of the gloomy fum i
O
ture of the room
i the dark and tattered draperi es
whi ch tortured into motion by the breath of a
rising tempest swayed tfully to and fro upon the
walls and rustled uneasily about the decorations
of the bed
But my eff orts were fruitless An
irrep ressg e trg rnqr gr a ually pervaded my fram e ;
d
an d at length there sat
af f in
Shaking this off
cu b u s of utterly causeless alarm
with a g asp and a struggle I uplifted myself upon
the pill ows and peering earnestly within the intense
d arkness of the Chamber harkened I know not
why except that an instinctive spirit prompted
me to certa in low and inden ite sounds whi ch
came thr ough the pauses of the storm at long in
Overpowered by an
t erval s I knew not when c e
intense sentiment of horror unaccountable yet un
endurable I threw on my clothes with haste (for I
felt that I shoul d sleep no more durin g the night)
and endeavored to arouse myself from the pitiable
c on dition into which I h ad fallen by pacing rapi dl y
to an d fro through the apartment
I had taken but few turns in this manner when
a light step on an adj oining staircase arrested my
attention I presently rec ogni sed it as that of
Usher In an instant afterward he rapped with a
gentle touch at my door and entere d bearing a
lamp His countenance was as usu al ca daverously
wan but moreover there was a spe cies of mad
hilarity in his eyes an evi dently restrain ed hysteria
in his whole d emeanor His air appal led me
but anything was preferable to the solitud e which

16

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

the air is chilling and dangerous to your frame

Here is on e of your favorite roman ces I will read
and you shall listen ; and so we will pass away thi s

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 favori te of Usher s more in sad j est than
in earnest ; for in truth there is little in its uncouth
and un imaginative prolixity whi ch could have had
interest for the lofty and spi ri tual ideality of my
fri end It was however the onl ; book immediately
at hand ; and I indulged a vague hope that the excite
ue nt whi c h now agitated the hyp o chondri ac might
I nd relief
(for the history of mental disorder is full
of simil a
r anom al ies) even in the extremeness of the
folly wh ich T Sh oul d read Could I have j udged
g in deed by the wild overstrained air of vivacity with
whi ch he harkened or apparently harkened to the
words of the tale I might well have c ongratulated my
self upon the success of my design
I h ad arrived at that well known portion Of the
story where Ethelred the hero of the Trist having
sought in vain for peaceable admi ssion into the
dwelling of the hermit pro c eeds to make goo d 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 powe rful ness of the wine whi c h he had drunken
waite d no longer to hold parley with the hermit who
in sooth was of an obstinate and maliceful turn but
feeling the rain upon his shoul ders and fearing the
ri sing Of the tempest upli fted h is ma c e outright and
with blows made qui c kly r oom in the plankings of
the door for his gauntleted hand ; and now pulling
therewith sturdily he so cra cked and ripped and
.

THE FALL OF THE HO USE OF USHER

16

tore all asunder that the noise of the dry and hollow
sounding wood al arummed and reverberated through

ou t the forest
At the termination of this sentence I started and
for a moment paused ; for it appeared to me
( although I at onc e c oncluded that my excited

h
a
d
fancy
de ceived me) it appeared to me that
from some very remote portion of the mansion
there came indistin c tly to my ears what might
have been in its exa c t similari ty of Character the
one certainly) q fi h g ymery
e cho ( butma stied ang
hich Sir Launcelot had
Cc kig an d ri pping sound w

so partieu larlY O eSCrib edT: I t was beyond doubt

fEh had arrested my atten
the coincW
tion for amid the rattling of the sashes of the c ase
ments and the ordinary commingled noises of the
still increasing storm the sound in itself had noth
ing surely whi ch should have interested or dis
I c ontinued the story :
turb ed me

But the goo d champion Ethelred now entering

wi thin the door was sore enraged and amazed to
perc eive no signal of the mali c eful hermit ; but in the
stead thereof a dragon of a scaly and prodigious de
meanor and of a ery tongue whi ch sate in guard
before a palac e of gold with a oor of silver ; and
upon the wall there hung a shield of shining bra ss
with this legend enwritten
,

' '

"

'

'

W ho
W ho

h h ere i n a c on qu eror h at h b in ;
sl ayet h t h e dr a gon t h e sh i eld h e S h al l w in ;
e n t ere t

And Ethelred uplifted hi s mace and stru c k upo n

the head of the dragon which fell before him and
gave up his pesty breath with a shriek so horri d and
harsh and withal so pierc ing that Ethelred h ad
fain to close his ears with his hands against the
,

E DGAR ALLAN

70

P OE

d readful 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 coul d be no doubt
whatever that in this instance I did a c tually hear
(although from what dire c tion it pro c ee de d I foun d
it impossible to say) a low an d apparently distant
but h arsh k p rotrac ted and most unusual screamin g
or grating soun d the exac t c ounterpart of what
y c onj ured up for the dragon s
unnatural shriek as described by the romanc er
Oppresse d as I certainl y was upon the o ccurren ce
of this se c ond an d most extraord inary c oin c iden c e
by a thousand coni c ting sensations in whi ch won
d er and extreme terror were pre dominant I still
retained suf cient presenc e of mind to avoid ex
c iting by any Observation
the sensitive nervous
ness of my companion I was by no means c er
tain that he h ad noti c ed the sounds in question ;
although assure dl y a strange alteration h ad during
the last few minutes taken place in his demean of
From a position fronting my own he h ad gradually
brought roun d h is chair so as to sit with his fa c e
to the door of the chamber ; and thus I c ould but par
tially per c eive his features although I saw that h is
lips trembled as if he were murmuring inaudibly
His hea d h ad dropped upon his breast yet I knew
that he was not asleep from the wi de and ri gid open
ing of the eye as I c aught a glan c e of it in prol e
The motion of his body too was at varianc e with
this i dea for he rocked from si de to si de with a
gentle yet constant and uniform svvay Having
rapi dly taken noti c e of all this I resume d the narra
tive of Sir Laun c elot whi ch thus proceeded :

And now the champion having es caped from

the terrible fury of the dragon bethin king himself of
,

'

EDGAR ALLAN POE

2
7

of

her cofn and th e gratin g of the iron hinges of her

i son a d her st
arch
pr
g
l
W
ih
not be here anon ? I s sh e not hurrying to upbraid
me for my haste ? Have I not heard her footsteps
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 ou t
his syllables as if in the e ffort he were giving up hi s
,

As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance

there had been found the potency of a spell the

huge antique panels to whi ch the speaker pointe d
threw slowly back upon the instant their pon derous
and ebony j aws It was the work of the rushing
gust but then without those doors there did s tand
the lofty and enshrouded gure of the lady Madeline
of Usher
There w as bl o
od
and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every
portion of her emaciated frame For a moment
sh e remaine d trembling and f eeling to and fro upon
the threshold then with a low moaning c ry fell
heavily inward upon the person of her brother and
in her violent an d now n al death -agonies bore him
to the floor a corpse and a victim to the terrors he
h ad anti cipated
From that chamber and from that mansion I
ed aghast Th e storm was still abroad in all its
wrath as I found myself crossing the ol d causeway
Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light and
I turne d to see whence a gleam so unusu al could
have issued ; for the vast house and its shadows
were alone behind me Th e radiance wa s that of
the full setting an d blood -red moon whi ch now
s hone vividly through that on c e barely-dis c ernible
,

THE FALL O F THE HO USE O F USHE R

73

ssure of which I have before spoken a s extending

from the roof of the buil ding in a z ig z ag direction
to the base While I gazed this ssure rapi dly
widened there came a erce breath of the whirl
wind 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 su llenl y

and silently over the fragments of the House of

,

Us

V OL

11

12

EDGAR ALLAN

74

POE

THE PI T AND T HE PE N D UL UM
Imp ia t ortoru m l on gas h ic t ur b a furores
S an g u in i s i n n oc u i n on sat iat a al u it
So sp ite n u n c p at r i a frac t o nun c fu n eris antro
M ors u b i d ira fu i t vita sal u sq u e patent
,

[Q u atmin

mp osed f or the g ates of

co

the

s ite o

the

j acobi n

market to b e erected u pon

Clu b H ouse

at

P aris ]

si c k

WAS

sick unto death with that long

ag ony; and when they at length unbound me
and I was permitted to sit I felt that my senses
were leaving me
Th e senten ce the dread sen
ten c e of death was the last of distinct a cc entuation
which reached my ears
After that the sound
of the inquisitorial voi c es seemed merged in on e
dreamy indeterminate hum It conveyed to my

o
u
o
so ul the idea of rev l ti n perhaps from its asso
o
f
in
fan
y
with
the
burr
a
mill
wheel This
i
a
i
o
n
c
t
c
o nl y for a brief period ; for presently I heard no more
Yet for a whil e I saw ; but with how terri ble an ex
aggeration ! I saw the lips of the bla c k-robed j udges
They appeared to me white whiter than th e
sheet upon whi c h I trace these words and thi n
even to grotesqueness ; thin with the intensity of their
expression of rmness of immovable resolution
of stern c ontempt of hu m
an torture I saw that
the decre es of what to me was Fate were still issuing
from those lips I saw them writhe with a d eadl y
locution I saw them fashion the syllables of my
name ; and I Shuddered because no soun d su c cee ded
I saw too for a few moments of d elirious horror
th e soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the
,

EDGAR ALLA N

r 7

P OE

physi c al e xistence It seems probable that if upon

rea ching the sec ond stage we could recall the im
pressions of the rst we should nd thes e im
pression s eloquent in memories of the gulf beyond

And that gulf is what ? How at least shall we dis

But it
ting uish its shadows from those of the tomb ?
the impressions of what I have termed the rst
stage are not at will recall ed yet after long inter
do they not come unbidden whil e we marvel
val
whence they c ome ? He who has never swooned
is not he who nds strange palaces an d wil dly famil
iar faces in coals that glow ; is not he who beholds
oating in mid -air the sad visions that the many may
not View ; is not he who ponders over the perfum e of
some novel ower is not he whose brain grows b e
wildered with the meaning of some musical c adence
whi ch has never before arrested his attention
Ami d frequent and thoughtful endeavors to re
member ; amid earnest struggles to regather some
token of the state of seeming nothingness into whi ch
my so ul had lapsed there have been moments when
I have dreamed of success ; there have been brief
very b rief period s when I have c onj ured up remem
b ran c es whi c h the lu cid reason of a later epoch as
sures me could have had reference onl y to that c on
di tion of seeming unconsciousness These shadows
of memory tell
indistinc tly of tall gures that
li fted and bore me in silence d own d own still
down till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the
mere i dea of the in termin ableness of the d es c ent
They tell also of a vague horror at my heart on a c
count of that heart s unn atural stillness Then
c omes a sense of su dden motionlessness throughout
all things ; as if those who bore me ( a ghastly train !)
h ad outrun in their des c ent the limits of the limit
less and pause d from the wearisomeness of their
.

THE PIT AN D THE PENDULUM

77

After this I call to mind atness and dampness ;

the madn ess of a memory

an d then all is madness
whi ch busies itself among forbidden things
Very suddenl y there came ba ck to my soul motion

and sound the tum ul tuous motion of the heart and

in my ears the sound of its beating Then a pause
in which all is blank Then again sound and
motion and tou ch and tingling sensation perva ding
my frame Then the mere consciousness of ex is
tence without thought a condition whi ch lasted
long Then very suddenl y thought and shud dering
terror and earn est endeavor to comprehen d my true
state Then a strong desire to lapse into insen
Then a rushing revival of soul and a su cc ess
sib ility
ful e ffort to move An d now a full memory of the
tri al of the j u dges of the sable draperies of the
senten c e of the si ckn ess of the swoon Then entire
forgetful ness of all that followed ; of all that a later
day and much earnestness of endeavor have enabled
m e vaguely to re call
So far I had not opened my eyes
I felt that I lay
upon my back unbound I reache d out my hand
and it fell heavily upon something damp an d hard
There I suffered it to remain for many minutes
while I strove to imagine where and what I coul d be
I longed yet dared not to employ my vision I
dreaded the rst glan c e at obj ects around me It
was not th at I feared to look upon things horrible
but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing
to see At length with a wild desperation at heart
I qui ckly unclosed my eyes My worst th oughts
then were conrmed The blackness of eternal
night enc ompassed me
I struggled for breath
The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and
stie me The atmosphere was intolerably close
I still lay quietly and made eff ort to exercise my
t

oil

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

78

reason I brought to mind the inquisitorial proceed

ings an d attempted from that point to dedu c e my
real con dition Th e sentence had passed ; an d it
appeared to me that a very long interval of time
Yet not for a moment did I
h ad since elaps ed
suppose myself a c tually dead Su ch a supposition
notwithstan ding what we read in ction is altogether
inconsistent with real existen c e but where and in
what state w as I ? Th e condemned to death I
kne w peri shed usually at the au to-dafes and on e
of these h ad been hel d on the very night of the day
Had I been remanded to my d ungeon
of my t rial
to await the next sacric e which would not take
place for many months ? This I at on c e saw could
not be Vi c tims had been in immediate deman d
Moreover my d ungeon as well as all the c ondemned
cells at Tole do h ad stone oors and light was not
al together exclu d ed
A fearful idea now suddenly drove the blood in
to rrents upon my heart an d for a brief peri o d I
onc e more relapsed into insensibility Upon re
covering I at on c e started to my feet trembling c on
I thrust my arms wil dl y
vulsiv ely in every bre
above and around me in all dire ctions I felt
nothing ; yet dreaded to move a step lest I should
be impeded by the walls of a tomb Perspiration
bur st from every pore and stood in cold big beads
upon my forehea d The agony of suspense grew at
lengt h intolerable and I cautiously moved forward
with my arms extended and my eyes straining from
their sockets in the hope of c at ching some faint ray
I pro c ee de d for many paces ; but still all
of light
was bla ckness an d va canc y I breathed more freely
It seemed evi dent that mine was not at least the
most hi deous of fates
And n ow as I still continued to step ca utiously

EDGAR ALLA N P O E

1 80

ground was moist and slippery I staggered

onward for some time when I stumbled and fell
My exc essive fatigue induced me to remain prostrate ;
and sleep soon overtook me as I lay
Upon awaking and stretching forth an arm I
foun d besi de me a loaf and a pit cher with water I
was too mu ch exhausted to reect upon this circum
stance but ate and drank with avidity Shortly
afterward I res umed my tour around the prison and
with much toil came at last upon the fragment of
the serge Up to the pe riod when I fell I had
counted fty-t wo paces and upon resum ing my
wal k I had c oun ted forty-eight more when I ar ri ved
at the rag There were in all then a hundred paces ;
and admitting two paces to the yard I presumed
the dungeon to be fty yards in circ uit I had met
however with many angles in the wal l and thus I
co ul d form no guess at the shape of the vault ; for
vault I co ul d not help supposing it to be
I h ad little obj ect certainl y no hop e in these re
searches ; but a vague curiosity prompted me to con
Quitting the wall I resolved to cross
tin ue them
the area of the enclosure At r st I pro c eeded with ex
treme caution for the oor although seemingly of
soli d material was treacherous with slime At
length however I took courage and did not hesitate
to step rmly e n deavoring to cross in as di rect a
line as possible I had advanced some ten or twelve
pa ces in this manner when the remnant of the torn
hem of my robe became entangled between my
legs I steppe d on it and fell violently on my face
In the c onfusion atten ding my fall I did not
immediately apprehen d a somewhat startling c ircum
stance which yet in a few se conds afterward and
while I sti ll lay prostrate arr ested my atten tion
It was this : my chin reste d upon the oor of the
Th e

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

ri s

I81

on
but
my
lips
and
the
upper
portion
my
o
f
p
head although seemingly at a less elevation than
the chin touched nothin g At the same time my
forehead seemed bathed in a clammy vapor and
the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my
nostri ls I put forward my arm and Shuddered to
n d that I had fallen at the very brink of a circul ar
o
i
whose
extent
f
course
I
had
no
means
f
a
s
er
c
t
o
p
taining at the moment Groping about the masonry
c ceeded in di slodgin g
ust
below
the
margin
I
su
j
a small fragment and let it fall into the abyss For
many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations as it
d ashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent ;
at length there was a sullen plunge into water su c
At the same momen t there
c eeded by loud e choe s
came a sound resembling the qui c k opening and as
rapi d closing of a door overhead while a faint gleam
of light ashed suddenl y through the gloom and as
suddenl y faded away
I saw clearly the doom which h ad been prepared
for me and congrat ul ated myself upon the timely
accident by whi ch I had escaped Another step
before my fall and the world had seen me no more
And the death just avoided was of that very
character which I had regarded as fab ul ous and
frivolous in the tales respectin g the Inquisition
To the victims of its tyranny there was the choice of
death with its direct physical agonies or death with
its most hideous moral horrors I had been re
served for the latter By long su ff ering my nerves
had been unstrung until I trembled at the sound
of my own voi c e and had be come in every respect
a tting subj e c t for the species of torture whi ch
,

'

Shaking in every limb I groped my way ba ck to

l
the wal resolving there to peri sh rather than risk
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

82

the terrors of the wells of which my im ag ination

now pictured many in v arious positions about
the dungeon In other conditions of mind I might
have had courage to end my misery at once by a
plunge into on e of these abysses ; but now I was the
veriest of c owards
Neither could I forget what I
had read of these pits that the su dden extinction
of life fo rmed no part of their most horri ble plan
Agitation of spirit kept me awake for many long
hours ; but at length I again slumbered Upon
arousing I found by my side as before a loaf and a
pit cher of water A burning thirst consumed me
and I emptied the vessel at a draught It must have
been dr ugged for scarcely had I drunk before I
became irresistibly drowsy A deep sleep fell upon
me a sleep like that of death How long it laste d
of course I kn ow not ; but when once again I unclosed
my eyes the obj e c ts around me were visible B y
a wil d sulphurous lustre the origin of which I
could not at rst determine I was enabled to see
the extent and aspe ct of the prison
In its siz e I had been greatly mistaken The
whole circuit of its walls did not exceed twenty
ve yard s
For some minutes this fa c t o cc asioned
me a world of vain trouble ; vain indeed for what
could be of less importan c e under the terri ble
circ umstances which environed me than the mere
d imensions of my dungeon ? B ut my soul took a
wild interest in tri es and I busied myself in en
d eavors to acc ount for the error I had c ommitted
in my measurement The truth at lengt h ashed
upon me In my rst attempt at exploration I
h ad counted f t y-two pa c es up to the period when
I fell : I must then have been within a pac e or two
of the fragment of serge ; in fa c t
I had nearly
performe d the circ uit of the vault I then slept
,

EDGAR ALLA N POE

1 84

only my head and my left arm to such extent

that I could by dint of much exertion supply my
self with food from an earthen dish which lay by my
side on the oor I saw to my horror that the
pitcher had been removed I say to my horror
for I was consumed with intolerable thirst This
thirst it appeared to be the design of my persecutors
to stim ul ate for the fo od in the di sh was meat
pungently seasoned
Looking upward I surveyed the ceil ing of my
prison It was some thirty or forty feet overhead
and constru c ted mu ch as the side walls In one of
its panels a very sing ul ar gure riveted my whole
attention It was the painted gure of Time as he
is commonly represented save that in lieu of a
scythe he held what at a casual glance I supposed
to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum
such as we see on antique clocks There was some
thing however in the appearance of this machin e
whi ch caused me to regard it more attentively
Wh ile I gazed directly upward at it (for its position
was imme di ately over my own ) I fan c ied that I
saw it in motion
In an instant afterward the fanc y
was conrme d Its sweep was brief and of course
slow I watched it for some minutes somewhat
in fear but more in wonder Wearied at length
with observing its dull movement I turned my eye s
upon the other obj e c ts in the cell
A slight noise attra c ted my notice and looking to
the oor I saw several enormous rats traversing it
They had issued from the well which lay j ust
within view to my right Even then while I
gazed they came up in troops hurrie dl y with
ravenous eyes allured by the scent of the meat
From this it required much e ffort and attention to
scare them away
,

'

THE P IT AND THE

PENDULU M

185

It might have been half an hour perhaps even an

hour (for I c ould take but imperfe c t note of time )
before I again c ast my eyes upward What I the n
confounded and amazed me The sweep of
saw
the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a
yard As a natural consequence its velo c ity was
also much greater But what mainly disturbed me
was the idea that it had perceptibly descended
I now observed with what horror it is nee dless to

that its nether extremity was formed of a

say
cresc ent of glitterin g steel about a foot in length
from ho rn to horn ; the horns upward and the under
e dge evi dently as keen as that of a razor Like a
razor also it seemed massy and heavy tapering
from the edge into a soli d and broad stru c ture above
It was appen ded to a weighty rod of brass and the
whole hissed as it swung through the air
I c oul d no longer doubt the doom prepared for
me by monkish ingenuity in torture My c ognizance
of the pit had be c ome known to the inquisitorial

agents the pit whose horrors had been destin ed

for so bold a recusant as myself the pit typical of
hell and regarded by rumor as the Ultima Thule
of all their punishments
Th e plun ge into this pit
I had avoi ded by the merest of a cc idents and I
knew that surprise or entrapment into torment
formed an important portion of all the grotesqueri e
of these dungeon d eaths
Having failed to fall
it was no part of the demon plan to hurl me int o
the abyss ; and thus ( there being no alternative)
a different and a milder destru c tion awaited me
M ilder ! I half smiled in my agony as I thought of
such appli c ation of su ch a term
What boots it to tell of the long long hours of
horror more than mortal during whi ch I counted
the rushing osc illations of the steel ! Inch by inch
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

8O

line by line with a descent only appreciable at

intervals that seemed ages d own and still down it
came ! Days passed it might have been that
many days passed ere it swept so c losely over me
a s to fan me with it s a c ri d breath
The o dor of the
sharp steel force d itself into my nostrils I prayed I
wearied heaven with my prayer for it s more speedy
des c ent I grew franti c ally mad and struggled to
forc e myself upward against the sweep of the fearful
s cimitar And then I fell su ddenly calm and lay
smiling at the glittering death as a child at some
rare bauble
There was another interval of utter insensibility ;
it was brief ; for upon again lapsing into life there
had been no perc eptible desc ent in the pendul um
But it might have been long for I knew there were
demons who took note of my swoon and who coul d
have arrested the vibration at pleasure Upon my
recovery too I felt very o h inexpressibly si ck
and we ak as if through long inanition E ven ami d
the agonies of that perio d the human nature crave d
foo d With painful e ff ort I outstret ched my left arm
as far as my bonds permitted and took possession
of the small remnant which had been spared me by
the rats As I put a portion of it within my lips
there rushed to my mind a hal f-formed thought of
j oy of hope Yet what business had I with hope ?
It was as I say a half-formed thought man has
many such whi ch are never complete d I felt that
it was of j oy of hope ; but I felt al so that it h ad
perished in its formation In vain I struggled to

r
c
pe fe t to regain it Long suff ering had ne ar ly
annih ilated all my ordinary powers of mind I was

an imbe c ile
an i diot
The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles
to my length I saw that the crescent was designe d
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

88

its outward or upward whirls with the e agerness of

the most unmeaning d espair ; they closed themselves
spasmodically at the descent although death would
have been a relief oh how unspeakable ! Still I
quivered in every nerve to think how slight a sinking
of the
machinery would prec ipitate that keen
glistening axe upon my bosom It was hope that

prompted the nerve to quiver the frame to shrin k

It was hope the hope that triumphs on the rack
that whispers to the death -condemned even in the
dungeons of the Inquisition
I saw that some ten or twelve vibrations woul d
bring the steel in actual contact with my robe and
with this Observation there suddenly c ame over my
spirit all the keen collected calmn ess of despair

For the rst time during many hours or perhaps

days I thought It now occ urred to me that the
bandage or s urcingle whi ch enveloped me was
u niqu e
I was tied by no separate cord The r st
stroke of the razor-like cres cent athwart any por
tion of the band would so detach it that it might be
unwound from my person by means of my left hand
But how fearful in that case the proximity of the
steel ! The resul t of the slightest stru ggle how
d eadl y ! Was it likely moreover that the minions
of the torturer had not foreseen and provided for
this possibility ? W as it probable that the ban dage
c rossed my bosom in the tra c k of the pen dul um ?
Drea ding to n d my faint and as it seemed my last
hope frustrated I so far elevated my head as to
ob tain a di stinc t view of my breast The surcingle
enveloped my limbs and body close in all directions
s ave in the pa th of the destroying cres cent
S carc ely had I drop ped my head back into its
original position when there ashed upon my mind
what I cannot better des cri be than as the unformed
,

THE PIT AN D THE PENDULU M

1 89

of

that idea of deliverance to which I have pre

viou sly al lu ded and of which a moiety onl y oated
in determinately through my brain ,when I raised
food to my burning lips Th e whole thought was

now present feeble scarcely sane s carc ely deni te

but still entire
I pro c eeded at onc e with the
nervous energy of despair to attempt its execution
For many hours the immediate vicinity of the low
framework upon whi ch I lay had been literally
swarming with rats They were wild bold raven
o u s their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited
but for motionlessness on my part to make me their

prey
To what food
I thought have they been
ac customed in the well
They had devoured in spite of all my e fforts to pre
vent them all but a small remnant of the contents
of the d ish
I had fallen into an habitual see-saw
or wave of the hand about the platter ; and at length
the unconscious uniformity of the movement de
In their vora city the vermin
p rived it of e ff e ct
frequently fastened their sharp fangs in my ngers
With the parti cles of the oily and spi cy viand whi ch
now remained I thoroughly rubbed the bandage
wherever I c ould rea ch it ; then raising my hand
from the oor I lay breathlessly still
At r st the ravenous animal s were startled and
terried at the Oh an g e at the cessation of move
ment They shrank alarme dl y back ; many sought
the well But this was only for a moment I h ad
not counted in vain upon their voracity Observing
that I remained without motion one or two of th e
boldest leaped upon the fram e-work and smelt at
the sur c ingle This seemed the signal for a general
rush Forth from the well they hurried in fresh

troops They clung to the wood they overran it

and leaped in hundreds upon my person Th e
half

II I 3

E D GAR ALLA N

1 90

POE

measured movement of the pendulum disturbed them

not at all Avoi din g its strokes they busied them
selves with the anointed bandage They pressed
they swarmed upon me in ever accumulating
heaps They wri thed upon my throat ; their cold lips
sought my own ; I was half stied by their throngi ng
press ure ; disgust for which the world h as no name
swelled my bosom and chilled with a heavy c lam
miness my heart Yet one minute and I felt that
the struggle woul d be over Plai nl y I perceived
the loosening of the bandage I knew that in more
than one place it must be already severed With a
more than human resolution I lay s till
Nor had I erred in my calculations nor had I
en dured in vain I at length felt that I was free
The sur cingle hung in ribands from my body But
the stroke of the pendulum al ready press ed upon my
bosom It had divided the serge of the robe It had
cut through the linen beneath Twice again it
swung and a sharp sense of pain shot through every
nerve But the moment of escape had arri ved
At a wave of my hand my deliverers hurried tumul
With a stead y movement cautious
tuou sly away
sidelong shrinking and slow I slid from the
embra c e of the bandage and beyond the reach of
the Scimitar For the moment at least I was free
Free and in the grasp of the Inqui sition ! I had
scarcely stepped from my wooden bed of horror
upon the sto ne oor of the prison when the motion
of the helli sh ma chine ceased and I beheld it drawn
up by some invisible force through the ceiling
This was a lesson whi ch I took desperately to heart
My every motion was undoubtedl y wat ched Free !
-I had but esca ped death in one form of agony to
be delivered unto worse than death in some other
With that thought I roll ed my eyes nervously
.

P OE

EDGAR ALLA N

2
9

most demoniac of men ! I shrank from the

glowing metal to the c entre of the cell Amid th e
thought of the ery destruction that impended the
idea of the c oolness of the well came over my soul
like balm I rushed to its deadly brink I threw
my straining vision below The glare from the
enkindl ed roof il lumined its inmost recesses Yet
for a wild moment did my spirit refuse to com
prehend the meaning of what I saw At length it
forc ed it wrestled its way into my soul it burned
itself in upon my shu ddering reason Oh ! for a
voice to speak oh ! horror oh ! any horror but
this ! With a shriek I rushed from the margin and
buried my face in my hands weeping bitterly
The heat rapidly increased and once again I
looked up shuddering as with a t of the ague
There had been a second change in the cell and
now the change was obviously in the form As
before it was in vain that I at r st endeavored to
appreciate or understand what was taking place
B ut not long was I left in do ubt The Inquisitorial
vengean c e had been hurried by my two-fold es cape
and there was to be no more dallying with the King
of Terrors
Th e room had been square
I saw that
two of its iron angles were now acut e two con
sequently obtuse The fearful di fferen c e quickly in
creased with a low rumbling or moaning sound In
an instant the apartment had shifte d its form into
that of a lozenge Bu t the alteration stopped not
here I neither hoped nor desired it to stop I coul d
have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment

o f eternal pea c e
Death I said any death but

that of the pit ! Fool ! might I not have known

that into the pit it was the obj ec t of the burning iron
to urge me ? Could I resist its glow ? or if even that
could I withstan d its pre ssure ? And now atter

oh !

THE PIT AND TH E

PENDULUM

1 93

and atter grew the lozenge with a rapidity that left

me no time for c ontemplation I ts centre and of
c ourse
its greatest wi dth came j ust over the
yawning gulf I shrank back but the closing wall s
pressed me resistlessly onward At length for my
seared and writhing body there was no longer an
inch of foothold on the r m oor of the prison I
struggled no more but the agony of my soul found
vent in one loud long and n al s cream of despair

I felt that I tottered upon the brink I averted my

eyes
There was a di scordant hum of human voices !
There was a loud blast as of many trummts ! There
was a harsh grating as of a thousan d thunders ! The
ery walls rushed back ! An outstretched arm caught
my own as I fell fainting into the abyss It was
that of General Lasal le The French army had
entered Toledo The Inquisition was in the hands
o f its en emi es
,

P OE

EDGAR AL LAN

1 94

P R E MA T U R E B U R I AL

T HE

ERE are c ertain themes of which the interest

is all -absorbing but which are too entirely
horri ble for the purposes of legitimate c tion
These the mere romanticist must eschew if he do n ot
wish to o ffend or to di sgust They are with pro
d
d
han
le
only
when
the
severity
and
maj
est
r
i
e
t
y
y
p
of truth san c tity and sustain them
We thrill for

example with the most intense of pleasurabl e

pain
over the acc ounts of the Passage of the
Beresin a of the Earthquake at Lisbon of the
Plague at London of the Massacre of St B artholo
mew or of the sti ing of the hundred and twenty
thr ee prisoners in the Black Hole at Calcutta B ut
in these a cc ounts it is the fact it is the real ity it
As inventions we
is the hi story which excites
should regard them with simple abhorrence
I have mentioned some few of the more promi
nent and august calamities on record ; but in these
it is the extent not less than the character of the
calamity whi ch so vividly impresses the fancy I
need not remind the reader that from the long and
weird catalogue of human miserie s I might have
sele c ted many in di vidual instan c es more reple te
with essential su ffering than any of these vast
generalities of disaster The true wretchedness
indeed the ul timate wo is particul ar not diff use
That the ghastly extremes of agony are endured by
man the unit and never by man the mass for
this let us thank a mercif ul God !
To be buried wh ile alive is b eyond question th e
,

EDGAR ALLAN

1 90

POE

After much suff ering sh e died or was supposed to

die No one suspe c ted indeed or h ad reason to
suspect that she was not actually dead She pre
sented all the ordinary appearances of death The
face assumed the usual pinched and sunk en outline
The lips were of the usual marble pallor The eyes
were lustreless There was no warmth P ul sation
For three days the body was preserved
h ad ceased
unburied during which it h ad acquired a stony
rigidity
The funeral in short was hastened on
account of the rapid advance of what was supposed
to be de c omposition
The lady was d ep osited in her family vault
which for three subse quent years was undisturbed
At the expiration of this term it was opened for the
reception of a sarcophagus but alas ! how fear
ful a sh ock awaited the husband who personally
t hrew open the door As its portals swung out
wardl y back some white apparelled object fell
rattling with in his arms It was the skeleton of h is
wife in her yet unmoul dered shroud
A careful investigation rendered it evident that
sh e had revived within two days after her entomb
ment that her struggles within the c oi n had
caused it to fall from a ledge or shelf to the oor
where it was so broken as to permit her escape A
lamp which had been accidentally left full of oil
within the tomb was found empty ; it might have
been exhausted however by evaporation On the
uppermost of the steps which led down into the
dread chamber was a large fragment of the cofn
with which it seemed that she had endeavored to
arrest attention by striking the iron door While
thus occupied she probably swooned or possibly
died through sheer terror ; and in fall ing her
hroud
became
entangled
in
some
iron
work which
s
,

THE

PREMATURE B URIAL

97

projected interiorly Thus sh e remained and thus

sh e rotted erect
In the year 1 8 ro a case of living inh umation hap
pened in France attended with circumstances which
go far to warrant the assertion that truth is indeed
stranger than ction The heroine of the sto ry was
a Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade a young girl of
illustrious family of wealth and of great personal
beauty Among her numerous suitors wa s Julien
B ossuet a poor litterateur or j ournalist of Paris
His talents and general amiability had recom
mended him to the notice of the heiress by whom
he seems to have been truly belove d ; but her
pride of birth decided her nally to rej ect him
and to wed a Monsieur Renelle
a banker and
a diplomatist of some eminenc e After marriage
however this gentleman negle c ted and perhaps
even more positively illtreated her Having passed

with him some wret ched years she died at least

her con dition so closely resembled death as to
deceive every one who saw her She was burie d
not in a vault but in an ordinary grave in the
village of her nativity Filled with despair and
still in amed by the memory of a profound atta ch
ment the lover j ourneys from the capital to the
remote province in whi ch the village lies with the
romantic purpose of disinterring the corpse and
possessing himself of its luxuriant tresses He
reaches the grave At midnight he unearths the
coffin opens it and is in the act of detach ing the hair
when he is arrested by the unclosing of the beloved
eyes In fact the lady had been buried alive
Vitality had not altogether departed ; and sh e w as
aroused by the caresses of her lover from the
lethargy which h ad been mistaken for death He
bore her frantically to h is lodgings in the vil lage
,

E DGAR AL LA N POE

1 98

He employed cert ain powerf ul restoratives sug

gested by no little medical learning In ne she
revived She recognised her preserver She re
mained with him until by slow degrees sh e fully
recovered her original he al th Her woman s heart
was not adamant and this last lesson of love suf
ced to soften it
She bestowed it upon B ossuet
She returned no more to her husband but con
ed with her
ceal ing from him her resurre c tion
lover to America
Twenty years afterwards the
two returned to France in the persuasion that time
had so greatly al tered the lady s appearance that
her friends would be unable to re c ognise her They
were mistaken however ; for at the rst meeting
Monsieur Renelle did actually re c ognise and mak e
claim to his wife This claim sh e resisted ; and a
j udicial tribunal sustained her in her resistance ;
d eciding that the p ec ul iar circumstan ces with th e
long lapse of years had extingu ished not onl y
equitably but legally the authority of the husband

o
f
The Chirurgical Journal
Leipsic a periodi ~
cal of high authority and merit which some American
bookseller would do well to translate and republish
records in a late number a very distressing event
of the character in question
An officer of artillery a man of gigantic stature
and of robust health being thrown from an un
manageable horse re ceived a very severe contusion
upon the head which rendered him insensible at
once ; the skull was slightly fractured ; but no im
mediate danger was apprehended Trepanning was
accomplished successfully He was bled and many
other of the ordinary means of relief were adopted
Gradually however he fell into a more and more
hopeless state of stupor ; and nally it was though t
that he di ed
.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

z oo

than he became f ully aware of the awf ul horrors Of

his position
This patient it is recorded was doing well and
seemed to be in a fair way of ultimate re c overy b u t
fell a victim to the quackeries of medi c al ex peri
ment The galvani c battery was applie d ; and h e
su ddenl y expired in one of those ecstati c paroxysms
whi ch o ccasionally it superin du ces
Th e mention of the galvani c battery nevertheless
recalls to my memory a well known and very ex
t raordin ar y case in point where it s action proved
the means of restoring to animation a youn g at
torney of London who had been interred for tw o
days This occurred in 1 8 3 1 and created at the
time a very profound sensation wherever it was
made the subj ect of converse
Th e patient Mr Edward Stapleton had die d
apparently of typhus fever accomp anied with
some anomalous symptoms which had excited the
curiosity of his me dical attendants Upon his
seeming decease his friends were requested to sanc
tion a post mortem examination but declined to per
mit it As often happens when su ch refusals are
made the practitioners resolved to disinter the
body and di sse c t it at leisure in private Arrange
ment s were easily eff e c ted with some of the numer
ou s corps of body-snatchers with which London
abounds ; and upon the third night after the fun eral
the supposed corpse was unearthed from a grave
eight feet deep and deposited in the operating
chamber of one of the private hospitals
An incision of some extent had been actually
made in the abdomen when the fresh and un
decayed appearance of the subject suggested an ap
plication of the battery One experiment succee ded
another and the customary effects supervened
.

THE PREMATURE B URIAL

201

with

nothing to charac terise them in any resp ect

except upon one or two occasions a more than
ordi nary degree of life -likeness in the convulsive
action
It grew late The day was about to dawn ; and it
was thought expedient at length to proceed at
once to the disse c tion A student however was
espe cially desirous of testing a theory of his own
and insisted upon applying the battery to one of the
pectoral muscles A rough gash was made and a
wire hastily brought in contact ; when the patient
with a hurried but quiet unconvulsive movement
arose from the table stepped into the middl e of
the oor gazed about him uneasily for a few seconds
and then spoke What he said was unintelligible ;
but words were uttered ; the syllab ication was dis
tinct Having spoken he fell heavily to the oor
For some moments all were paralysed with awe
but the urgenc y of the c ase so on restored them their
presence of mind It was seen that Mr Stapleton
was alive al though in a swoon Upon e x hibition of
ether he revived and was rapidl y restored to health
and to the society of his friends from whom
however all knowledge of his resuscitation was
withheld until a relapse was no longer to be ap
prehen ded Their wonder their rapturous astonish

ment may be c onc eived

The most thrilling peculiarity of this inc ident
nevertheless is involved in what Mr S himself
asserts He de clares that at no period w as he al
together insensible that dully and confuse dl y
he was aware of every thing whi ch happened to him
from the moment in which he was pronoun c e d dead
by his physi c ians to that in which he fell swooning

to the oor of the hospital

I am alive were the
unc omprehende d words whi ch upon recognisin g the
,

EDGAR ALLA N POE

2 02

lo c ality of the dissecting-room he had endeavored

in his extremity to utter
It were an easy matter to multiply such histories as
these but I forbear for indeed we have no need
of such to establish the fact that premature in ter
ments occur When we reect how very rarely
from the nature of the ca se we have it in our power
to detect them we must admit that they may
t
r
u
e
n
ly o cc ur without our cognizance
Scarcely
e
f q
in truth is a graveyard ever en croache d upon for any
purpose to any great extent that skeletons are not
found in postures which suggest the most fearful
of suspi c ions
Fearful indeed the suspicion but more fearful the
doom ! It may be asserte d without hesitation that
no event is so terribly well a dapted to inspire the
supremeness of bodily and of mental distress as is
burial before death The unendurable oppression
of the lun gs the stiing fumes of the damp earth
the clin ging to the death garments the rigid em
brace of the narrow house the bla ckness of the
absolute Night the silence like a sea that over
whelms the unseen but palpable presenc e of the
Conqueror Worm these things with thoughts of
the air and grass above with memory of d ear friends
who wo ul d y to save us if but inf ormed of our fate
and with consciousness that of this fate they can
never be informed that our hopeless po rtion is that
of the really dead these consi derations I sa y carry
into the heart which still palpitates a degree of ap
palling and intolerable ho rror from which the most
daring imagination must recoil We know of noth
ing so agonizing upon Earth w e can dream of
nothing h alf so hi deous in the realms of the nether
most Hell And thus all narratives upon this topi c
have an interest profound ; an interest neverth e
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

2 04

se c urity from inhumation Th e unfortunate whose

rst atta c k should be of the extreme charac ter whi ch
is occasionally seen woul d almost inevitably be
consigned alive to the tomb
My own c ase di ff ered in no important particular
from those mentioned in me di c al books Some
t imes without any apparent cause I sank little b y
little into a condition of semi -syn c ope or half swoon ;
and in this con dition without pain without ability
to stir or stri c tly spe aking to think but with a dull
lethargic cons c iousness of life and of the presen ce of
those who su rrounded my bed I remained until
the crisis of the disease restore d me su ddenly to
perfect sensation At other times I was qui ckly and
irnp etuou sl y smitten
I grew sick an d numb and
c hilly
an d dizzy
and so fell prostrate at once
Then for weeks al l w as void and blac k and silent
and Nothing became the universe Total annih ila
tion could be no more From these latter attacks I
awoke however with a gra dation slow in proportion
to the suddenness of the se izure Just as the day
dawns to the frien dless and houseless beggar who
roams the streets throughout the long desolate
winter night j ust so tardily j ust so wearily j ust
so c hee ril y c ame ba c k the light of the Soul to me
Apart from the tendenc y to trance however my
general health appeare d to be goo d ; nor c ould I per
ceive that it was at all aff e c te d by the one prevalent
malady unless in deed an i diosync rasy in my
ordinary sleep may be looked upon as superinduced
Upon awakening from slum ber I could never gain
at once thorough possession of my senses and al
ways remained for many minutes in mu ch be
wil derment and perplexity ; the mental faculties in
general but the memory in especial being in a con
dition of absolute abeyance
.

THE

PREMATURE B URIAL

20

In all that I endured there was no physi c al suff er

ing but of moral di stres s an inn itude My fanc y

grew charnal I talked of worms of tombs and

epitaphs
I was lost in reveries of death and the
idea of premature burial held continual possession
The ghastly Danger to which I was
of my brain
subj ected haunted me day and night In the former
the tort ure of meditation was excessive in the
latter supreme When the grim Darkness over
spread the Earth then with very horror of thought
I shook shook as the quivering pl umes upon the
hearse When Nature could en dure wakefulness no
longer it was with a struggle that I consented to
sleep for I shuddered to ree ct that upon awaken
ing I might nd myself the tenant of a grave And
when nally I sank into slumber it w as o nl y to
rush at once into a world of phantasms above whi ch
with vast sable overshadowing wings hovered
predominant the one sepul chral Idea
From the in numerable images of gloom which thus
Oppressed me in dreams I sele c t for record but a
solitary vision Methought I was immerse d in a
cataleptic trance of more than usual duration and
profun dity Suddenl y there came an ic y hand u pon
my forehead and an impatient gibbering voice

whispere d the word Arise ! within my ear

I sat erect The darkness was total I could not
see the gure of him who had aroused me
I could
c all to mind neither the period at whi ch I had fallen
into the trance nor the loc ality in whi ch I then lay
While I remained motionl ess and busied in en
deavors to colle c t my thoughts the cold han d grasped
me erc ely by the wrist shaking it petul antly whil e
the gibbering voi c e said again :

Arise !did I not b id thee arise ?

And who I demanded art thou ?

.

V OL 11
.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

206

I have no name in the regions whi ch I inhabit

I was mort al but am
replied the voi ce mour nf ully ;
end I was mercil ess but am p itiful Thou dost
feel that I shudder My teeth chatter a s I speak
yet it is not with the chilliness of the night of the
night without end But this hideousness is in suff er
able How canst thou tranquilly sleep ? I c annot
rest for the c ry of these great agonies These sights
are more than I can bear Get thee up ! Come
with me into the outer Night and let me unfold to
th ee the graves I s not this a spectacle of wo
Behol d
I looked ; and the unseen g ure which still grasped
me by the wrist had cause d to be thrown open the
graves of all mankind ; and from eac h issued the faint
phosphoric radianc e of dec ay ; so that I c ould see into
the innermost recesses and there View the shrouded
bodies in their sad and solemn slumbers with the
worm B ut alas ! the real sleepers were fewer by
many millions than those who sl umbered not at all ;
and there was a feeble struggling ; and there was a
g eneral sad unrest ; and from ou t the depths of the
co untless pits there c ame a melan choly rustling
And of those who
f rom the garments of the buried
seemed tranquilly to repose I saw that a vast
n umber had changed in a greater or less degree the
ri gid and uneasy position in whi c h they had origi
n al ly been entombed
And the voice again said to
me as I gazed :

Is it not oh is it not a pitiful sight ?

But
before I coul d n d words to reply the gu re had
the phosphoric lights
c ea sed to grasp my wr ist
expired and the grav es were closed with a su dden
violence whil e from ou t them arose a tumul t of

d espai ring cries saying ag ain

I s it not oh God !
i s it not a very pitiful sight
,

EDGAR ALLA N PO E

2 08

tion of springs so contrived that the fee blest move

ment of the body would be suffi ci ent to set it at
liberty B esides all this there was suspended from
the roof of the tomb a large bell the rope of whi ch
it was designed should extend through a hole in the
coffin and so be fastened to one of the hands of
the corpse B ut alas ! what avails the vigilance
against the Destiny of man ? Not even these well
contrived securities suced to save from the utter
most agonies of living inh umation a wretch to these
ago nies foredoomed !
There arrived an epoch as often before there had

arrived in which I found myself emerging from

total unconsc iousness into the rst feeble and in
den ite sense of existence Slowly with a tortoise

gradation approa ched the faint gray dawn of the

psychal day A torpid uneas iness An apathetic

enduran c e of dull pain No care no h ope no

eff ort Then after long interval a ringing in the
ears ; then after a lapse still longer a pricking or
tingling sensation in the extremities ; then a seemingly
eternal period of pleasurable quiescence during
which the awakening feelings are struggling into
thought ; then a brief re-sinking into nonentity ; then
a sudden recovery At length the slight quivering
of an eyelid and imme diately thereupon an electric
shock of a terror dea dly and in de nite which sends
the blood in to rrents from the temples to the heart
And now the rst positive e ff ort to thi nk And now
the rst endeavor to remember And now a partial
and evanescent su cc ess And now the memory has
so far regaine d its dominion that in some measure
I am cognizant of my state I feel that I am not
awaking from ordinary sleep I re c ollect that I
have been subj ect to catalepsy And now at last
as if by th e rush of an oce an my shuddering sp irit
.

THE PREMATURE B URIAL

20

overwhelmed
by
the
o
n
e
grim
Danger
b y the one
is
spe ctral and ever-prevalent Idea
For some minutes after this fancy possessed me
I remaine d without motion And why ? I c oul d
not summon courage to move I dared not make
the e ffort whi ch was to satisfy me of my fate and
yet there was something at my heart whi ch whispe red
me it was sure Despair such as no other spe c ies

f
w
et
c
hedness
ever
cal
l
s
into
being
d espair alone
r
O
urged me after long irresolution to uplift the heavy

lids of my eyes I uplifted them It was dark all

dark I knew that the t was over I knew that
the c risis of my disorder had long passe d I knew
that I had now ful ly recovered the u se of my visual
fac ulties and yet it was dark all dark the in
tense and utter raylessness of the Night that en
dureth for evermore
I endeavored to shriek ; and my lips and my
parched tongue moved convulsively together in the

attempt but no voice issued from the cavernous

lungs which oppressed as if by the weight of some
incumbent mountain gasped and palpitated with
the heart at every elaborate and struggling
inspiration
Th e movement of the j aws in this e ff ort to cry
aloud showed me that they were bound up as is
usual with the dead I felt too that I lay upon
some hard substance ; and by something similar my
sides were also closely compressed So far I had not
ventured to stir any of my lim b s but now I vio
lently thre w up my arms whi ch h ad been lying at
l ength with the wrists crossed
They struck a solid
wooden substanc e which extended above my
person at an elevation of not more than six inche s
from my face I could no longer doubt that I re
H osed within a cof n at last
.

E DGAR ALLAN

2 10

POE

And now amid all my innite miseries cam e

sweetly the che rub Hope for I thought of my pre
cautions I writhed and made spasmodic exertions
to force open the lid : it woul d not move I felt my
wrists for the bell-rope : it was not to be found
And now the Co mforter ed for ever and a still
sterner Despair reigned triumphant ; for I co ul d not
help perceiving the absence of the paddi ngs which I
had so carefully prepared - and then too there cam e
suddenl y to my nostrils the strong peculiar odor of
moist earth The conclusion was irresistible I
I had fallen into a trance
was not within the vault
while absent from hom e while among strangers
when or how I co ul d not remember and it was

o
they who had buried me as a d g nailed up in some
common c ofn and thrust d eep deep and for
ever in to some ordinary and nameless grave
As th is awf ul conviction forced itself thus into
the innermost chambers of my so ul I once again
struggled to cry al oud And in this se c ond en
A long wild and continuous
d eav or I succeeded
resounded through the
shriek
or yell
of agony
re al m s of the subterrene Night

Hillo !hi llo there ! said a gruff voice in reply

What the devil s the matter now ? said a second

Get out o that ! said a third

What do you mean by yowling in that ere kind of

style like a cattymount
said a fourth ; and here
upon I was seized and shaken without ceremony for
several minutes by a j unto of very rough -looking
individu al s They did not arouse me from my
slumber for I was wide awake when I screamed
but they restored me to the ful l possession of my
memory
This adventure occurred near Richmond in
Virginia Accompanied by a friend I h ad pro
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

2 12

houghts
no
fustian
about
church
yard
s
no
T
bugaboo tales su ch as this In short I bec ame a
new man and lived a m an s life From that
memorable night I dismissed forever my ch arnal ap
prehensions and with them vani shed the cataleptic
disorder of which perhaps they had been less t
consequence than the cause
There are moments when even to the sober eye
of Rea son the world of our sad Humanity may as
sume the semblance of a Hell but the imagination
of man is no Carathi s to explore with impunity its
every cavern Alas ! the grim legion of sep ul chral
terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fanciful
but like the Demons in whose company Afrasiab
made his voyage down the O xus they must sleep or
they will devour u s they must be suff ered to
slumber or we perish
.

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

T HE

MA S Q U E

O F THE RE D

2 13

D E AT H

Redmlgeatlt l; had long devastated the

ry
No p estenca h ad ever been so
.

hideous Blood was its Ava

tor and its seal the redn ess and the horror of blood
There were sharp pains and sudden dizziness and
then profuse blee ding at the pores with d issolution
The scarlet stains upon the body and espec ially upon
the face of th e victim were the pest ban which shut
him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his
fellow-men And the whole seizure progress and
termination of the disease were the incidents of half
an hour
Bt the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless
and sagacious When his dominions were hal f
depopulated he summoned to his presence a
thousand hale and light -hearted frien ds from among
the knights and dames of his court and with the se
or

so

i
This
was
an
extensive
and
magn
cent

stfiittirenh e creation of the prince s own eccentric

yet august taste A strong and lofty wall girdled
it in This wall had gates of iron The courtiers
havi ng entered brought furnaces and massy ham
mers and welded the bolts They resolved to leave
means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden im
pulses of despair or of frenz y from within The abbey
was amply provisioned With such prec autions the
courtiers might bid deance to contagion The
external world coul d take care of itself In the
meantime it w as folly to grieve or to think Th e
ab b eys.

E D GAR ALLAN POE

2 14

p ri nce had provided all the app lianc es of pleasure

T here were buff oons there were improvisatori there
were ballet -danc ers there were musi ci an s there was
B eauty ther e was wine All t
e
s
ty
w ere
'
It w
as toward the c lose of the fth or sixth month
of hi s se c lusion and while the pestilenc e rage d most
furiously abroad that the Princ e Prospero enter
tained h is thousand friends at a maske d ball of the
most unusual magni c enc e
It was a voluptuous s cene that W
But
de
rst let me tell of the room s in whi ch it was held
There wer e seyeq a
p eri al suite In m any
palac es h oweV Er suc h suites form a long and straight
vista while the fol ding doors slide back nearly to the
walls on either hand so that the View of the whole
extent is s c ar c ely impe ded Here the case was very
diff erent ; as might have been expe cted from the
Th e apartments were so
the vision embraced but
little more than one at a time T here was a sh ar p
turn at every twenty or t hirty yards and at ea ch
turn a novel eff e ct To the right and left in the
mi ddle of each wall a t al l and narrow Gothic win dow
look ed out upon a c losed c orri dor whi ch pursued
the win din gs of the suite These windows were of
stained glass whose color varied in accor dan c e with
the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber
into whi ch it Opened
That at the eastern ex
tremity was hung for example in blue and vivi dly
blue were its windows Th e se con d chamber was
purp le in its ornaments and tapestries and here the
panes were purp le Th e third was green through
ou t
and so were the easements Th e fourth was
furnished and lighte d with orange the fth with
whit e the sixth with violet Th e seventh apart
.

vv
A

ED G A R

2 16

AL L A N P O E

evolutions ; and there was a brief disc on cert of the

whole gay company ; and while the chimes of the
clock yet rang it was observed that the giddiest
grew pale an d the more aged and sedate passe d their
hands over their brows as if in conf used revery or
meditation But when the echoes had fully ceased
a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly ; the
musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at
their own nervousness and folly and made whisper
ing vows each to the other that the next c himing of
the clock should produ c e in them no simil ar emotion ;
and then afte r the lapse of sixty minutes (which
embrace three thousand and six hun dred seconds of
the Time that ies ) there cameyet a-n other qh iming
of the clock and then were the same disc
rt and
gpg g

t renmlou sness n nd
g b fb re
W
But in spite of these things it was a gay and
magnicent revel The tastes of the duk e were
peculiar He had a n e eye for c olors and effe c ts
He di sregarded the de cora of mere fashion His
plans were bold and ery and his conceptions
glowed with barbaric lustre There are some who
wo ul d have thought him mad His followers fel t
that he w as not It was nec essary to hear and see
an d tou c h him to b e su re that he was not
He had directed in great part the movable em
b ellish men ts of the seven chambers upon occasion of
this great fete; and it was his own gui ding taste which
had given character to the masqueraders Be sure
they were grote sque There were much glare and
glitter and piquancy and phanta sm much of what

h as been sin c e seen in

Hernani
There were
arabesque gures with unsuited limbs and appoint
ments There were delirious fancies such as the
madman fashions There were mu ch of the beau
tiful much of the wanton much of the biza rre
,

'

"

I r

v
?

THE

MASQUE

OF THE RE D

DEATH

ometh ing of the terrible and not a little of that

which might have excited disgust To and fro in the
in fact a m ul titude
seven chambers there stalked
And these the dreams writhe d in and
of dreams
about taking hue from the rooms and causing the
wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo Of
their steps And anon there strikes the ebony
clock which stan d s in the hall of the velvet And
then for a moment all is still and all is silent sav e
the voice of the clock The dreams are stiff -froze n
as they stand B ut the ech oes of the chime die
away they have endured but an inst ant and a
light half -sub dued laughter oats after them as they
depart And now again the music swells and the
dreams live and writhe to and fro more merrily than
ever taking hue from the many tinted windows
s

"

seven there
are
now
none
of th e maskers who
W

EW
j
i til e night i s waning away ; and there
ventur e ;m fa
M
ows a ruddier light through the blood-c olored
panes ; and the blackness of the sable dr apery appals ;
and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet
there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled
peal more sole mn ly emphatic than any which reaches
their ears who in dulge in the more remote gaieties of
the other apartments
B ut these other apartments were densely crowded
and in them beat feveri shly the heart of life An d
the revel went whirlingly on until at length there
commenced the sounding of midnight upon the
clo c k And then the music ceased as I have tol d ;
and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted ;
and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as
before But now there were twelve strokes to b e
sounded by the bell of the clo ck ; and t hus i t hap
,

ag

, u

a. r

E DG A R ALLAN P OE

2 18

pened perhaps that more of thought crept with

more of time into the meditations of the thoughtful
among those who revelled And thus too it hap
pened perhaps that before the last echoes of the last
c hime had utterly sunk into silence
there were
many individuals in the crowd who had found
leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked
gure which had arrested the attenti on of no s i ng e
And the rumor of this new
f
r
h
es
e
n

a
v
i

s
e
a
itself
whisperingly
around
c
d
g p
p
there arose at length from the whole company a
buzz or murmur expressive of disapprobation and
surpri se then nally of terror of horror and of
disgu st
In an assembly of phantasms such as I have
painted it may well be supposed th at no ordinary
appearance coul d have excited such sensation In
truth the mas querade license of the night was
nearly unl imited ; but the gure in question had out
Heroded Herod and gone beyond the bounds of
even the prince s indenite decorum There are
chords in the hearts of the most reckless which can
not be touched without emotion Even with th e
utterly lost to whom life and death are equally
jests there are matters of whi ch no est c an he made
The whole company indeed seemed now deeply to
feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger
neither wit nor propriety existed The gure was
tall and gaun t and shrouded from head to foot in th e
h ab ilirnents of the grave
The mask whi ch c on
c ealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the
countenanc e of a sti ff ened corpse that the closest
scrutiny must have had difculty in detecting th e
cheat And yet all this might have been endured
if not approved by the mad revellers around But
the mummer had gone so far as
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

2 20

rst through the blue chamber to the purple

through the p urple to the green through the green
to the orange t hrough this again to the white
and even thence to the violet ere a deci ded move
ment had been made to arrest him It was then
however that the Prince Prospero m addening with
rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice
rushed hurriedly through the six chambers while
none followe d him on account of a dea dly terror that
had seized upon all He bore aloft a drawn dagger
and had approached in rapid impetuosity to within
three or four feet of the retreating gure when the
latter having attained the extremity of the velvet
apartment turned suddenly and c onfronted h is
pursuer There wmas a sharp cry and the dagger
m
dropped g leaming updri th e sabl e c arpe t upon
whi ch instantly afterwards fell prostrate in d eath
hb iiing the wild
the Prince Prospero
sumr
courage of despair : a throng of the revellers at on c e
threw themselves into the bla c k apartment and
seizing the mummer whose tall gure stood ere c t
and motionless within the shadow of the ebony
c lock
gasped in unutterable horror at nding the
grave c erements and c orpse -like mask which they
handled with so violent a ru dn ess untenanted by
any tangible form
And n ow was ac knowledged the presen c e of the
ief in the night
Red Death
,

b edewed h alls nf their r evel

d espairing posture of his fall

and die d
And the life of the
ebony c lock went out w
ith that of the last of the g ay
And the ames of the tripods expired And Dark
.

T HE

T HE

CASK OF AMONTILLA DO

221

AMONTI L LAD O

C AS ! or

HE thousand inj uries of Fortunato I had

borne as I best could ; but when he ventured
upon insult I vowed revenge Y ou who
so well know the nature of my soul will not suppose
however that I gave utteran c e to a threat At
leng th I woul d be avenged ; thi s was a point deni
t iv ely settled but the very den itiv en ess with
whi ch it was resolved precluded the idea of risk
I must not only puni sh but punish with impunity
A wrong is unredr essed when retribution overtakes
It is equally unre dressed when the
its re dresser
avenger fails to make himself felt as su ch to him
who h as done the wrong
It must be understood that neither by word nor
deed had I given Fortunato c ause to doubt my good
will I continued as was my wont to smile in his
fa c e and he did not perc eive that my smile now
was at the thought of his immolation
He had a weak point this Fortunato although
in other regards he was a man to be respe cted and
even feared He pri ded himself on his connoisseur
ship in wine Few Italians have the true virtuoso
spirit For the most part their enthusi asm is
adopted to suit the time and oppo rtu n ity to
practise irnpostur e upon the British and Austri an
milliona ires In painting and gemmary Fortunato
like his c ountrymen was a qua ck but in the matter
In this respe c t I did not
of old wines he wa s sin c ere
di ff er from him materially : I was skilful in the
Italian vintages myself and bought largely when
ever I co ul d
,

V OL I I
.

rs

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

2 22

It was about dusk on e evenin g during the supreme

madn ess of the carnival season that I encountered
my friend He accosted me with exces sive warmth
for he had been dr inking much The man wore
motley He had on a tight -tting parti-striped
dress and h is head was su rmounted by the conical
cap_and bells I was so pleased to see him that I

tho ught I should never have done wringing his hand

I said to him
My dear Fortunato you are
lu ckily met How remarkably well you are looking
to-day ! But I have received a pipe of what passes

for Amontillado and I have my doubts

How ? sai d he
Amontillado ? A pipe ? Im

possible ! An d in the mi ddle of the carnival !

I have my doubts I replied ; and I was silly

enough to pay the full Am ontillado pri c e withou t
You were not to b e
c onsul ting you in the matter

found and I was fearful of losing a bargain

Amontillado

I have my doubts
Amontillado

An d I must satisfy them

Amontillado
As you are engaged I am on my way to Lu chesi
If any on e has a c ritical turn it is he He will tell
,

Lu chesi can not tell Amontilla do from Sherry

An d yet some fools will have it that his taste is a

mat ch for your own

Come let us go

Whither ?

To your vaul ts
My friend no ; I will not impose upon your good
nature I perc eive you have an engagement
Luchesi

I have no engagement c ome

.

22

E DGAR ALLA N POE

Nitre
I replied
How long have you had

that cough ?

Ugh ! ugh ! ugh ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! ugh !

ugh ugh ! ugh ! ugh ugh ! ugh ! ugh !

My poor friend foun d it impossible to reply for
many minutes

It is nothing he said at last

Come I said with decision we will go back ;

your health is precious You are ri ch respe c te d
admired beloved ; you are happy a s on c e I was
You are a man to be mi ssed For me it is no matter
We will go back ; you will be ill and I cannot be
responsible B esides there is Lu chesi

Enough he said ; the c ough is a mere noth ing ;

it w ill not kill me I shall not die of a cough

I replied ; and indeed I had no

Tru w tru e
intention of alarmin g you unn ecessarily but you
should use all proper c aution A draught of this

Medoc will defend us from the d amps

Here I kno cke d off the ne ck of a bottle whi ch I
drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the
mo ul d

D ri nk I said presenting him the wine

He raised it to his lips with a l eer He paused and
nodded to me familiarly while his bells j ingle d

I drin k
he sai d
to the buried that repose

aroun d us

And I to yo ur long life

He agai ntook my arm and we proceeded

These vaults
he sai d are extensive

The Mon tr esors I replied were a great and

numerous family

I forget your arms

A huge human foot d or in a eld azur e ; the foot
crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbe dded

in the heel
.

THE CASK O F AMONTILLADO

And the motto ?

2 2

N emo me impu ne la cessit

Good ! he sai d
The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells j ing l ed
My own fan cy grew warm with the Medo c We
h ad passed through walls of piled bones with cask s
an d puncheons intermingling into the inmost recesses
I paused again and this time
of the catacombs
I mad e bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the
elbow

Th e nitre ! I said ; see it increases

It hangs
like moss upon the vaults We are below the river s
bed The drops of moistur e trickle among the bones
Come we will go back ere it is too late Your
.

coug

It is nothing he said ; let u s go on But rst

another draught of the Medoc

I broke and reached him a agon of De Grave
He emptied it at a breath His eyes ashed with a
erc e light He laughed and threw the bottle
upwards with a gesticulation I did not un derstand
I looked at him in s urprise He repeated the
movement a grotesque one

You do not comprehend ? he said

Not I I replied

Then you are not of the brotherhood

,

Y ou

are not of the masons

Yes yes I sai d yes yes

Y ou ? Imposs ible ! A mason ?

A mason I repli a l

A sign he said

It is this I answered producing a trowel from

benea th the folds of my rogu elaire

Y ou j est
he exclaimed recoil ing a few p aces

But let us proc eed to the Amontillado

.

2 2

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

B e it so I said replacing the tool beneath the

cloak and again o ff ering him my arm He leaned
upon it heavily We continued our route in sear ch
We passed through a range of
of the Amontillado
low ar ches d es c ended passed on and des c ending
again arrived at a d eep crypt in whi ch the fouln ess
of the air caused our amb eau x rather to glow than
ame
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared
another less spa cious Its walls had been l ined with
human remains piled to the vault overhead in the
fashion of the great cata combs of Paris Three
sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in
this manner From the fourth the bones had been
thrown down and lay promisc uously upon the earth
forming at on e point a mound of some size Within
the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones
we perc eived a still interi or re c ess in dep th about
four feet in wi dth three in height six or seven
It seemed to have been c onstru cted for no especial
use within itself but formed merely the interval
between two of the colossal supports of the roof of
the c ata c ombs and was backed by one of their
c ircums c ribing walls of soli d granite
It was in vain that Fort unato uplifting his dul l
torch endeavored to pry into the d epth of the re c ess
Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to
,

se e

Proceed
I said ; herein is the Amontill ado
As for Lu c hesi

He is an ignoramus interrupted my fri end as

he stepp ed unsteadily forward while I followed
imme diately at his heels In an instant he had
reached the extremity of the niche and n ding his
progress arrested by the rock stood stupi dly b e
wil dered
A moment more and I had fettered him
.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

2 28

breast I again paused and holding the amb eaux

over the mason work threw a few feeble rays upon
the gur e within
A su cc ession of loud and shrill screams bursting
sud denl y from the throat of the chaine d form
seemed to thrust me violently back For a b ri ef
moment I hesitated I trembled Unsheathing
my rapier I began to grope with it about the recess :
but the thought of an instant reassured me I placed
my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs
and felt satise d I reapproach ed the wall I
replied to the yells of him who clamor ed I re
e choed I aide d I surpassed them in volume and
in strength I did this and the cl am orer grew sti ll
It was now mi dnight and my task was drawing
to a close I h ad completed the eighth the ninth
and the tenth tier I had nished a portion of the
last and the eleventh ; there remained but a single
stone to be tted and plastered in I struggl ed
with its weight ; I pla c ed it parti al ly in its destined
position But now there came from out the niche a
low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head I t
was su cc eede d by a sad voice whi ch I h ad di f cul ty
in re cognising as that of the noble Fortunato
Th e voice sai d

Ha !ha !ha h e !h e ! a-very g ood oke indeed

an excellent j est We will have many a ri ch laugh

h
e
!
!
about it at the palazzo
he he over our wine
h e !he !he !

The Amontillado ! I said

He ! he ! he h e ! he ! he ! yes the Amontillado
But is it not getting late ? Will not they be awaiting
us at the palazzo the Lady Fortunato and the rest ?

Let us be gone

Yes I sai d let us be gone

F or the love of God Mon tresor!

,

THE CASK OF AMONTILLA DO

229

I said for the love of God !

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply
I grew impatient I cal led al oud
Fortunato
No answer I called again
Fortunato
No answer sti ll I thrust a torch through th e
remaining aperture and l et it fall within There
came forth in return o nl y a j ingling of the bells
My heart grew sick on account of the dampness
of the cata c ombs
I hastened to make an end of
my labor I forced the last stone into its position ;
I plastered it up Against the new masonry I
re-erec ted th e
l d rampart of bones
For the half
of a c entury no mortal has distur b ed them
In
Yes

E D GAR ALLAN POE

3o

T HE

I MP

OF

T HE

PERVERSE

N the consideration of the faculties and impulses

o f the
prima mobilia of the human soul the
phrenologists have faile d to m ak e room for a
p ropensity whi ch although obviously e xisting as a
ra di c al p ri mitive irre du cible sentiment has been
equally overlooked by all the moralists who have
In the pur e ar rogan c e of the reason
p rece ded them
we have all overlooke d it We h av e suff ered its
existen ce to es c ape our senses solel y through want
of belief o f faith whether it be faith in Revela
tion or faith in the Kabbala Th e i dea of it has
never o cc urred to us simply bec ause of its super
er og ation
We saw no need of the impulse for the
propensity We c ould not per c eive its necessity
We co ul d not un derstand that is to say we could
not have un derstoo d had the notion of this primum

l
we c ould not have
bi
e
ever
obtruded
itself
mo
un derstoo d in what manner it might be ma de to
further the objects of humanity either temporal
or eternal
It c annot be denie d that phr enology
and in great measure all metaphysi c ianism have
been c onc o cted a priori The intellec tu al or logi c al
man rather than the understanding or observant

man set himself to imagin e designs to dictate

purposes to God Having thus fathomed to his
satisfac tion the intentions of Jehovah out of these
intentions he bui lt his innumerable systems of mind
In the matter of phr enology for example we rst
determine d natural ly enough that it was the
design of the D eity that man sho uld eat We then
,

E DGAR ALLAN POE

232

we act for the reason that we shoul d not In theory

no reason can be more unreasonable ; but in fact
there is none more strong With certain minds under
certain conditions it becomes absolutely irresistible
I am not more certain that I breathe than that the
assurance of the wrong or error of any a ction is
often the one unconquerable force whi ch impels us
and alone impels us to its prose cution Nor wil l
this overwhelming tenden cy to do wrong for the
wrong s sake admit of anal ysis or resolution into
ulterior elements It is a radical a primitive
impulse elementary It will be said I am aware
that when we persist in acts because we feel we
should not persist in them our c on du c t is but a
modication of th at which ordinarily sp rings from
the combativeness of phrenology But a glance will
show the fallacy of this idea The phrenologi ca l
combativeness h as for its essence the necessity
of self-defence
I t is our safeguard against inj ury
Its principle regards our well -being ; and thus the
desire to be well is excited sim ul taneously with its
development It follows that the d esire to be well
must be excited sim ul taneously with any p rin ciple
which shall be merely a modication of c ombative
ness but in the case of that something which I term
d
o
e
r
v
e
rse
n
e
s
the
esire
to
be
well
is
not
o
ly
n
t
s
n
p
aroused but a strongly antagoni stical sentimen t
exists
An appeal to one s own heart is after al l the best
reply to the S ophistry j ust notice d No one who
trustingly consults and thoroughly questions his
own soul will be disposed to den y the entire radical
ness of the propen sity in question It is not more
incomprehensible than di stinctive There lives no
man who at some peri od has not been tormented
for example by an earnest desire to tantalize a
.

THE IMP O F THE PERVERSE

33

listen er by circumlo c ution The speaker is aware

that he displeases ; he h as every intention to please ;
he is usually curt preci se and clear ; th e mos t
laconic and luminous language is struggling for
utterance upon hi s tongue ; it is only with difculty
that he restrains himself from giving it ow ; he
dread s and d eprecates the anger of him whom he
addresses ; yet the thought strikes him that by
certain in volutions and parentheses this anger may
be engendere d That single thought is enough
Th e impulse increases to a wish the wish to a desire
the desire to an uncontrollable longing and the
longing ( to the deep regret and mortication of
the speaker and in deance of all consequences ) is
indulged
We have a task before us which must be speedily
performed We know that it will be ruinous to
make delay Th e most important cri sis of our life
calls trumpet -tongued for immedi ate energy and
action We glow we are cons umed with eagern ess
to c ommenc e the work with the anticipation of
whose glorious resul t our whole soul s are on re
It must it shall be un dertaken to -day and yet
we put it off until to-morrow ; and why ? There
is no answer except that we feel perverse using the
word with no c omprehension of the principle
To-mo rrow arrives and with it a more impatient
anxiety to do our duty but with this very increase
of anxiety arrives
also a nameless a positively
fearful be cause unf athomable craving for delay
This craving gathers strength as the moments y
Th e last hour for action is at han d
We tremble
with the violence of the c on i c t within u s o f the
denite with the indenitH f the substan c e with
But if the contest have proceeded
th e sha dow
thus far it is the sha dow whi ch prevails -w e struggle
.

EDGAR ALLA N POE

34

in vain The clo c k strikes and is the knell of our

welfare At the same time it is the Chanti cleer-note
to the ghost that has so long overawed us It
The old energy
ies it d isappears -w e are free
returns We will labor now Alas it is too late!
We stand upon the brink of a pre cipi c e We peer
into the abyss we grow si c k and dizzy
Our rst
impulse is to shrink from the danger Un accoun t
ably we remain By slow d egrees our si ckness and
dizziness and horror become merged in a cloud
of unnamable feeling
By gradations still more
imperc eptible this cloud assumes shape as di d the
vapor from th e bottle ou t of which arose the genius
in the Arabian Nights But ou t of this ou r cloud
upon the precipice s e dge there grows into palpa
b ility a shape far more terrible than any genius
or an y demon of a tal e and yet it is but a thought
although a fearful on e and one whi ch chills the very
marrow of our bones with the ercen ess of the delight
of its horror
It is merely the idea of what woul d be
o ur sensations d uri ng the sweeping precipitancy of a

fall from such a height And this fall this rushing

annihilation for the very reason that it involves
that one most ghastly and loathsome of al l the most
ghastly and loathsome images of death and suff ering
whi ch have ever presented themselves to our
imagination for this very cause do we now the most
vivi dl y desire it An d because our reason violently
deters us from the b ri nk therefore do we the more
impetuously approach it There is no passion in
nature so demoniacall y impatient as that of him
who shuddering upon the edge of a precipice thus
med itates a plunge To indulge for a moment in
any attempt at thought is to be inevitably lost ; for
ree ction but urges u s to forbear and therefore it is
I say that we cannot If there be no frien dl y arm
.

E DGAR ALLAN

23 6

which

P OE

I there found The next morning he was

di s c overed d ead in his b ed and the c oroner s ver di ct

was
Death by the visitation of God
Having inherited his estate all went well with me
for years Th e i d ea of detection never once entered
my brain Of the remains of the fatal taper I
had myself carefully disposed I had left no shadow
o f a clue by which it would be possible to convict
o r even to suspect me of the crim e
It is incon
c eivab le how ri c h a sentiment of satisfaction arose
in my bosom as I reected upon my absolute security
For a very long peri od of time I was accustomed
to revel in this sentiment It a fforded me more real
delight than all the mere worldly advantages accru
ing from my sin But there arrived at length an
epoch from which the pleasurable feeling grew by
s carc ely perceptible gradations into a haunting
and harassing thought It harassed because it
haunted I could s carc ely get rid of it for an instant
I t is quite a common thing to be thus ann oyed with
the ringing in our ears or rather in our memories
of the burthen of some ordinary song
or some
un impressive snat ches from an opera Nor will we
be the less tormented if the song in itself be good or
the opera air meritori ous In this mann er at last
I would perpetually cat ch myself pondering upor
my se c urity and repeating in a low under-tone

the phrase I am safe

One day whilst saun tering along the streets I
arrested myself in the act of murmurin g half al oud
these c ustomary syllables In a t of petulance I

d
re mo elle d them thus
I am safe I am safe yes

if I be not fool enough to make open confession !

No sooner had I spoken these words than I felt
an icy c hill creep to my heart I had had some
e xpe rience in these ts of perversity ( whose nature
.

THE I MP OF THE

P ERVE RSE

237

have been at some trouble to explain ) and I

remembered well that in no instance I had success
full y resisted their attacks And now my own
casual self-suggestion that I might possibly be fool
enough to confess the murder of which I had been
guil ty confronted me as if the very ghost of him

whom I had murdered and beckoned me on to death

At r st I made an effort to shake off thi s night
mare of the soul I wal ked vigorously faster

ll
sti
faster at length I ran I felt a maddenin g
desire to {shriek aloud
Every succeeding wave
of thought overwhelmed me with new terror for
alas ! I well too well un derstood that to think in
my situation was to be lost I sti ll quickened my
pace I bounded like a madman through the
c rowded thoroughfares
At length the pop ul ace
took the alarm and pur sued me I felt then the
consummation of my fate Co ul d I have torn out
my tongue I would have done it but a rough voice
resounded in my ears a rougher grasp seized me by
the shoulder I tum ed I gasped for breath For a
moment I experienced all the pangs of su ff ocation ;
I bec ame blind and deaf and giddy ; and then some
invisible end I thought stru ck me with his broad
palm upon the back The long-imprisoned secret
burst forth from my soul
They say that I spoke with a distin c t enunciation
but with marked emphasis and passionate hu rry
as if in dread of interruption before c onclu ding the
brief but pregnant sentences that consigne d me to
the hangman and to hell
Having related all what was necessary for the
ful lest j udicial conviction I fell prostrate in a swoon
But why shall I say more ? To-day I wear these
chains and am here! To -morrow I shall be fetter
les s bu t where?
I

'

V OL 11
.

E DG AR AL LAN

233

POE

T HE I SLAND O F THE FAY

Null us

en

im l ocu s sine geni o est 5 m m

says Marmon tel in those

Contes Moraux * which in all our transla

tions we have insisted u pon calling Moral

Tales as if in mockery of their spirit

la musique est
le sen l des talens qu i jomssent de lni meme ; tons les an tres

He here confoun ds the pleasure

veu lent des temozn s
derivable from sweet sounds with the capa city for
them No more than any other ta lent
c reating
is that for music susc eptible of complete enj oyment
where there is no second party to appreciate its
And it is onl y in common with other
e xercise
talents that it prod uces ej ects which may b e fully
enj oyed in solitude The idea which the ra conteur
has either failed to entertain clearly or has sa cri
ced in its expr ession to his national love of point is
doubtless the very tenable on e that the higher order
o f music is the most thoroughl y estimated when we
The proposition in this form
a re exclusively al one
will be admitted at on c e by those who love the lyre
for its own sake and for its spiritual uses But
t here is one pleasure still within the reach of fall en
mortality and perhaps onl y on e which owes even
more than does music to the a c cessory sentiment of
s ec lusion
I mean the happiness experienc ed in
the contemplation of natural scenery In tru th
t h e man who woul d behold aright the glory of G od
upon earth must in solitu d e behold that glory To
Mo a u x is h e e d eriv d f om mcenrs a n d its m aning is

MUS ] Q U

'

'

'

"

f as hw n a ble

"

o r,

more

st ri c t l y,

of

EDGAR

4o

ALLA N POE

being an obj ect with God that space itself is innite ;

for there may be an innity of matter to ll it And
sin c e we see clearly that the endowment of matter
with vitality is a prin cipl e indeed as far as our
j udgments extend the leading p ri nciple in the

operations of Deity it is scarc ely logi cal to imagine

it c onn ed to the regions of the minute where we
daily trace it and not extending to those of the
august As we nd cycle within c ycle without end
yet all revolving around on e far-distant c entre
whi ch is the Godhead may we not analogically
suppose in the same manner life within life the
less within the greater and all within the Spirit
Divine ? In short we are madl y erring through
self-esteem in believing man in either his temporal
to be of more moment in the
or future destinies

universe th an that vast clod of the valley whi ch

he tills and contemns and to which he d enies a soul
for no more profound reason that that he does not
behold it in operation *
These fanc ies and su ch as these have always
given to my me ditations among the mountains
and the forests by the rivers and the ocean a tinge
of what the every -day world woul d n ot fail to term
the fantastic My wan d erings amid such scenes have
{
been many and far sear ching and often sol itary ;
and the interest with whi ch I have strayed through
many a dim deep valley or gazed into the reected
Heaven { f many a bright lake has been an interest
greatly deepene d by the thought that I have strayed
and gazed a lone Wh at ippan t Fren chm an ] was
it who sai d in allusion to the well -known work of

Z immerman that
la solitu de est u ne b elle chose;
S ak i n
of t h
t i d s P omp on iu s Mel a in h is t r a t i e

De int 0
w orl d i a gr a t a n i mal o
says
eit h r t h
,

&c

'

B alza

ln

su

b sta n

c e

I do

n ot

re

me mb er

t h e w o rd s

TH E

ma ts

ISLAND

il fan t qu elq n n n pou r

Th e
est n ne b elle chose?

OF THE FAY
oou s

dire que la

41

s olitude

epigram cannot be gain

sayed ; but the necessity is a thi ng that does not exist
It was during one of my lonely j ourneyings amid
a far-distant region of mountain locked within moun
tain and sad rivers and melancholy tarns writhing
chanced upon a
or sleeping within all that I
certain rivul et and island I came upon them
suddenly in the leafy June and threw myself upon
the tur f beneath the bran ches of an unknown
odorous shrub that I might doze as I contemplated
the sc ene I felt that thus only shoul d I look upon
su c h w as the
character of phantasm which it
it
wore
On all side s save to the west where the sun was
about sinking arose the verdant walls of the forest
The little ri ver which turned sharply in its course
and was thus immedi ately lost to sight seemed to
have no exit from its prison but to be absorbed by

the deep green foliag e of the trees to the east while

in the opposite quart er (so it appeared to me as I
lay at length and glanced upward) there poured
down noiselessly and continuously into the valley a
rich golden and crimson water-fall from the sunse t
fountains of the sky
About midway in the short vis ta which my dreamy
vision took in one sm al l circular island profusel y
verdured reposed upon the bosom of the stream
.

So bl ended b an k an d sh adow t h ere

That eac h seemed pendul ou s in air

was the glassy water that it was

mirror-e
sca rcely possible to sa y at what point upon the
slope of the emeral d tur f its c rystal dominion began
My position enabl ed me to include in a single view
b oth the eastern and western extremities of the islet ;

so

EDGAR ALLA N

42

P OE

and I observed a singularly-marked dieren ce in

their aspe cts Th e latter was all one radiant harem
It glowed and blushed beneath
of gard en beauties
the eye of the slant sunlight and fai rly laughed
with owers The grass was short springy sweet
scented and Aspho del-interspersed The trees were
lithe mirthful erec t bright slender and graceful
of eastern gure and foliage with bark smooth glossy
and parti -c olored There seemed a deep sense of
l ife and j oy about all ; and al though no airs blew
from ou t the Heavens yet every thing had motion
through the gentle sweepings to an d fro of inn umer
able b u tteries that might have been mistaken for
t ul ips with wings *
Th e other or easte rn en d of the isle was whelmed
in the bla c kest shade A sombre yet beautiful
and pea c eful gloom here pervad ed all things Th e
trees were d ark in color and mournful in form and
attitu de wreathing themselves into sad solemn
an d spe c tral shapes that conveyed ideas of mortal
sorrow and untimely death The grass wore the
deep tint of the c ypress and the heads of its blades
hung droopingly and hither an d thither among it
were many small unsightly hillo cks low an d narrow
that had the aspect of graves
an d not ve ry long
but were not ; although over and all about them
the rue and the rosemary clambered The sha de of
the trees fell heavily upon the water and seemed to
bury itself therein immegnating the depths of the
element with darkn ess I fancie d that each shadow
as the sun des cended lower and lo wer separated
itself sul lenly from the trunk that gave it birth
an d thus became absorbed by the stream ; whil e
other shadows issued momently from the trees tak
ing the place of their pred e c essors thus entombed
.

Flore n

p u t ares n at e

er

l iq uid u m

aet h era

C ommire

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

44

She is a year nearer unto Dea th : for I

did not fail to see th at as sh e came into the shade
her shadow fell from her and was swall owed up in
"
the dark water making its blackness more black
And again the boat appeared and the Fay ; but
about the attitude of the latter there was more of
care and uncertainty and less of elastic j oy She
oated again from out the light and into the gloom
(which deepened momently) and again her shadow
fell from her into the ebony water and became
absorbed into its blackness And ag ain and again
she mad e the circuit of the island (wh ile the sun
rushed down to his slumbers) and at each issuing
into the light there was more sorrow about her
person while it grew feebler and far fainter and
more indistinct ; and at each passage into the gloom
there fell from her a darker shad e which becam e
whelmed in a shadow more black But at length
when the sun had utterly departed the Fay n ow
the mere ghost of her former self went disconsolately
with her boat into the region of the ebony ood

and that sh e issued thence at all I cannot say for

darkn ess fell over all things and I beheld her mag ical
g ure no more
summer

THE

O VAL P O RTRAI T

THE OVAL

45

P O RT RAIT

E chateau into which my val et had ven tured

rather than
to make forcible en trance
permit me in my desperately wound ed
c on dition to pass a night in the open air was on e
of those piles of commingled gloom and grandeur
which have so long frown ed among the Apennines
not less in fact than in the fancy of Mrs Rad cliffe
To all appearance it had been temporarily and very
lately abandoned We established ourselves in one
of the sm al lest and least sumptuously furni shed
apartments It lay in a remote turret of the build
ing I ts decorations were rich yet tattered and
antique Its walls were hung with tapestry and
bedecked with manifold and mul tiform armorial
trophies together with an unusually great number
of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich
golden arabesque In these paintings which de
pended from the walls not only in their main surfac es
but in very m an y nooks which the bizarre architec

f
ture o th e chateau rendered necessary in these
paintings my incipient delirium perhaps had caused
me to take deep interest ; so that I bade Pedro to
close the heavy shutters of the room since it was
al ready night to light the tongues of a tall can d e
lab rum which stood by the head of my bed and to
th row Open far and wide the fri nged curtains of
black velvet whi ch enveloped the bed itself I
wished all this done that I might resign myself if
not to sleep at least alternately to the con templati on
of these pictures and the perusal of a small volume
,

E D GAR ALLAN POE

46

whi ch had been found upon the pillow an d whi ch

p urported to cri ticise and des cri be them

Long long I read and devoutly dev outedly I

gaze d Ra pidly an d g loriously the hours ew by
an d the deep midnight came
Th e position of the
c an dal ab rum di sp leased me
and outreaching my
hand with dif cul ty rather than distur b my slumber
ing valet I placed it so as to throw its rays more
fully upon the book
B ut the a cti on produ c ed an eff e c t altogether
unanti cipated Th e rays of the numerous c andles
(for there were many) now fell within a ni che of the
room which had hitherto been thrown into deep
shade by one of the bed-posts I thus saw in vivid
light a pict ure all un noti c ed before It was the
portrait of a young girl just ripening into wom an
hood I glanc ed at the p aint ing hurri e dly and then
c losed my eyes
Wh y I did this was not at rst
apparent even to my own perc eption But while
my lids remained thus shut I ran over in mind my
reason for so shutting them It was an imp ul sive

movement to gain time for thought to make sur e

that my vision had not deceived me to c al m and
subdue my fan cy for a more sober and more c ertain
gaz e In a very few moments I again look ed
xe dly at the painting
T hat I n ow saw ari g ht I could not an d wo ul d not
doubt ; for the r st ashing of the c an dles upon that
canvas had seemed to dissipate the dreamy stupor
whi ch was stealin g over my senses and to startle
me at on c e into waking lif e
T h e por t rait I have already said w as that of a
young gir l It was a mere head and shoul ders done
in what is techni c ally termed a vignette m an ner ;
much in the style of the favorite heads of Sully
The arms the bosom an d even the en ds of the
,

P OE

E DGAR ALLAN

48

cherishing all things : hating onl y the Art which

was her rival : dreading only the pallet and brushes
and other untoward instruments which deprived her
It was thus a
of the countenance of her lover
terr ible thing for this lady to hear the painter speak
But
of his desire to portray even his young bride
sh e was humble and obe dient
and sat meekly for
many weeks in the dark high turret -chamber where
the light dripped upon the pale canvass onl y from
overhead But he the painter took glory in his
work which went on from hour to hour and from
d ay to day
And he was a passionate and wil d
and moody man who be came lost in reveries ; so
that he wou ld not see that the light whi c h fell so
ghastlily in that lone turret withered the health and
the spirits of his bride who pined visibly to al l but
him Yet sh e smiled on and sti ll on uncomplain
ing ly because sh e saw that the painter (who had
high renown ) took a fervid and burning pleasure
in his task and wrought day and night to depi c t her
who so loved him yet who grew daily more dispi ri ted
and weak And in sooth some who beheld the por
trait spoke of its res emblance in low words as of a
mighty marvel and a proof not less of the power of
the painter than of his deep love for her whom he
depicted so surpassingly well B ut at length as the
labor drew nearer to its conclusion there were
admitt ed none into the turret ; for the painter had
grown wild with the ardor of his work and turned his
eyes from the canvass rarely even to regard the
coun tenance of hi s wif e And he wou ld not see
that the tints which he spread up on the canvass
were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside
him An d when many weeks had passed and but
little remained to do save on e brush upon the
mouth and one tint upon the eye the spirit Of the
.

THE

OVAL P O RTRAIT

49

again ickered up as the ame within th e

socket of the lamp And then the brush was given
an d then the tint was placed ; and for one moment
the painter stood entranced before the work which
he had wrought ; but in the next wh ile he yet gazed
he grew tremulous and very pall i d and aghast and

crying with a loud voice This is indeed Life itself !

turned suddenly to regard his beloved S he was

l ady

E DGAR ALLAN

50

POE

T HE A S S I G N A T I O N
S tay for

To
on the

mee t

death

me

h ere ! I will n ot fa il
t h ee in t h at h oll ow val e

his wife by H en ry ! ing , B ishop

C hichester]
,

LL-FATED and mysteri ous man bewildered

in the b ri lliancy of thine own imagination and
,

fallen in the ames of thine own youth ! Again

in fancy I behold thee ! Once more thy fo rm hath
risen before me -not -oh not as thou art in the
c old valley and shadow but as thou shou ldst b e
squandering away a life of magnicent m editation
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 palac es look down
with a deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets
of her silent waters
Yes ! I repeat it as thou
s hou ldst b e
There are sur ely other worlds than
this o ther thoughts than the thoughts of the
multitud e o ther speculations than the spe c ulations
of the sophist
Who then shall call thy conduct
into question ? who blame thee for thy visionary
hours or denounce those o ccupations as a was ting
away of life whi ch were but the overowing s of thine
everlasting en ergies ?
It was at Veni c e beneath the covered archway
there called the P onte di S ospiri that I met for the
third or fourth time the person of whom I speak
It is with a confuse d re c olle ction that I bring to
mind the circumstances of that meeting Yet I
,

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

sinc e forgotten It was the Marchesa Aphrodite

the a doration 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 Men toni
an d the mother of that fair child her rst and onl y
o n e wh o n o w deep b eneath the murky water was
thinking in bitterness of heart upon her sweet
caresses and exhausting its little life in struggles to
c all upon her name
She stood alone Her small bare and silvery feet
gleamed in the black mirror of marble ben eath her
Her hair not as yet more than half loosened for the
r ig ht from its ball -room array
clustered a mid a
sho wer 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 d eli cate form ; but the
mid -summer 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
around the Niobe Yet strange to say her large
lustrous eyes were not turned downwards upon that
grave wherein her brightest hope lay buried
but riveted in a widely different direc tion ! The
prison of the Old Republic is I think the stateliest
building in all Vience but how could that lady
gaze so xe dl y upon it when beneath her lay stiing
her own child ? Y on dark gloomy niche too yawns

right opposite her chamber window what then

cou ld there be in its shadows in its architecture
in its ivy-wrea th ed and solemn cornices that the
Marchesa di Men toni had not wondered at a thousand
times b efore ? 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
.

THE ASSIGNATION

53

innumerable far off places the wo which is clos e

at han d ?
Many steps above the Marchesa and within the
arch of th e water-gate stood in full dress the
Satyr-like gure 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 h is child Stupi
ed and aghast I had myself no power to move
from the upright position I had assumed upon rst
hearing the shriek and must have presented to the
eyes of the agitated group a spectral and ominous
appearance as with p al e coun tenance and ri gid
limbs I oated down among them in that fun ereal
gondola
All efforts proved in vain Many of the most
energetic in the search were relaxing their exertions
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
ni che which has been already mentioned as forming a
part of the Old Republican prison and as fronting
the lattice of the Marchesa a g ure mufed in a
cloak stepped out within reach of the light and
pausing a moment upon the verge of the gi ddy
descent plunged headl ong into the canal As in an
instant af terwards he stood with the still living and
breathing child within his grasp upon the marble
ag stones by the side of the Marchesa his cloak
heavy with the drenching water became unf as tened
and fallin g in folds about hi s feet di scovered to the
wonder-stricken spectators the graceful person of a
very young ma n with the so und of whose name the
greater part of Europe was then ringin g
N 0 wo rd spoke the deliverer But the March esa !
She will now receive her child sh e will press it to
in

VO L I ll U
.

E DGAR ALLAN P O E

54

her heart sh e will cling to its little form and

smother it with her caresses
Alas ! another s arms
have taken it from the stranger a nother s arms
have t aken it away and bo rne it afar Off unnoticed
into the p al ace ! And the Mar chesa ! Her lip
her beautiful lip trembles : tears are gathering in her
eyes those eyes which like Pliny s acanthus are

Y es ! tears are gathering

soft and almost liquid

in tho se eyes and see ! the entire woman thri lls

throughout the soul and the statue has started into
life ! The pallor of the marble countenance the
swelling Of the marble bosom the very puri ty of the
marble feet we behold suddenly ushed over with
a tide of un governable crimson ; and a slight shudder
q ui vers about her deli c ate frame as a gentle air at
Napoli about the ri ch silver lilies in the grass
Why should that lady blush ! To this demand
there is no answer except that having left in the
eager haste an d terror of a mother s heart the
privacy of her own boudoir sh e has neglected to
enthral her tiny feet in their slippers and utterly
forgotten to throw over her Venetian shoulders that
drapery whi ch is their due What other possible
reason could there have been for her so blushin g
for the glance of those wild ap p eal in g eyes ? for the
for the
unusual tumult of that throbbing bosom
convulsive press u re of that trembling hand that
hand which fell as Mentoni tu rned into the palac e
acci dentally upon the han d of the stranger What
reason could there have been for the low the
singul arly low tone Of those unmeaning words which
the lady uttered hurriedly in bidding him adieu ?

Thou hast c onquered sh e said or the m urmurs of

the water deceived me ; thou hast conquered

"
one hour after sunrise we shall meet so let it be !
,

3k

3'

E DGAR ALLAN

56

P OE

sion to be fastene d upon the memory ; a countena n ce

seen and instantly forgotten but forgotten with a
vagu e and never-ceasing desire of recalling it to
mind Not that the spiri t of each rapid passion
failed at any time to throw its own di stinct imag e
upon the mirror of that face but that the mi rror
mirror-like retained no vestige of the passion when
th e passion had d eparte d
Upon leaving him on the night Of our adventure he
solicited me in what I thought an urgent m an ner
to call upon him veryearly the next morning Shortly
after sunrise I found myself a cc ordi ngly at his
Palazzo one Of those huge structures of gloomy
yet fantastic pomp whi ch tower above the waters
of the Grand Canal in the vicinity of the Ri al to
I
was shown up a broad win ding staircase of mosaics
in to an apartment whose unparall ele d splendor burst
through the opening door with an a ctual glare
makin g me blin d and diz z y with luxuriousn ess
I kn ew my a c quaintan c e to be wealthy Report
had spoken of his possessions in terms whi ch I had
even ventured to call terms of ri di cul ous ex agg er
ation But as I gazed about me I could not bring
myself to believe that the wealth of any subj ect in
Europe could have supplied the princ ely mag n i
cence whi ch burned and blaz ed around
Although as I say the sun had arisen yet the
room was still brilliantly lighted up I j udge from
this circumstance as well as from an air of exh aus
tion in the countenance of my friend that he had
not ret ired to bed d uring the whole of the pre c eding
night In the architecture and embellishments of
th e c hamber the evident d esign had been to dazzle
and a tound
Little attention h ad been pai d to the
decora Of what is technically called keeping or to the
proprieties of nationalit y The eye wan dered from
.

THE

ASSIGNATION

57

obj
ect
and
rested
upon
non
neither the
e
to
u
o
f
the
reek
painters
nor
the
sculptures
t
es
e
r
o
:
G
q
g
Of the bes t Italian days nor the huge carvings of
untutored Egypt Rich draperies in every p art
of the room trembled to the vibration of low
melancholy music whose origin w as not to b e dis
covered The senses were oppressed by mingl ed and
conicting perfumes reeking up from strange c on
volute c ensers together with multitudinous aring
and ickering tongues of emeral d and violet re
The rays of the newly risen sun poured in upon the
whole through windows formed each of a single
pane of crimson-tinted glass Glancin g to an d fro
in a thousand reections from curtains which rolled
from their cornices like cataracts Of mol ten silver
the beams of natural glory min gled at length
tfull y with the articial light and lay wel tering
in subdued m as ses upon a carpet of rich liqui d
looking cloth of Chili gold

Ha ! ha ! ha h a ! ha ! ha l laughed the pro

e
o
r
i
t
r motionin g me to a seat as I ente red the
p
room and throwing himself bac k at full-length upon

an ottoman
I see
said he perceiving th at I
coul d not immediately reconcil e myself to th e

b ienseance of so singular a welcom e I see you

are astonished at my apartment at my statues

my pictures my original ity of conception in archi
tecture and upholstery ! absolutely drunk eh with
my magnicence ? B ut pardon me my dear sir
(here his tone of voice dropped to the very spirit of
cordialit y ) pardon me for my uncharitable laughter
Y ou appeared so u tterly astoni shed
Besides some
things are so completely ludicrous that a man must
laugh or die To die laughing must be th e most

glorious of all glorious deaths ! Sir Thomas More a

very ne man was Sir Thomas More Sir Thoma s

obj ect

EDGAR ALLAN

58

P OE

More died laughing you remember

,

Al so in the

Absu rdities of Ravisius Textor there is a long list of

,

characters who came to the same magnicent end

DO you know however

continued he musingly

that at Sparta (whi ch is now P alaeoch ori ) 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 AAEM They
are undoubtedly part of PEAAEMA Now at Sparta
were a thousand temples and shrines to a thou
sand di ff erent di vinities How exceedin gly strange
that the altar of Laughter should have survived
all the others ! But in the present
he
resumed with a singular alteration of voice and

manner
I have no right to be merry at yo ur
expense You might well have bee n amazed
Europe cannot produce anything so n e as this my
My other apartments are by no
little regal cabinet
mean s of the same order mere u ltras of fashionable
This is better than fashion is it not ?
insipidity
Yet this has but to be seen to become the rage
that is with those who co ul d aff ord it at the c os t
of their entire patrimony
I have guarded however
against any su ch profanation With one exception
o
are
the
on
y
human
being
besides
myself
and
u
l
y
my valet who has been admitted within the mysteries
of these imperial precincts
sin ce they have bee n

b edizz ened as you see !

I bowed in acknowledgment for the overpower
ing sense of splendor and perfume and music to
gether with the unexpec ted eccentricity of his address
and manner
preven ted me from expressing in
words my appreciation of what I mig ht have
c onstrued into a compliment

Here he resumed arising and leaning on my

arm as he sauntered around the apartment

here
.

EDGAR ALLAN PO E

60

a diff erence from the bearing of the vulgar

without being at once precisely able to determine
in what such di ff erence consists All owing the
remar k to have applied in its full force to the outward
demeanor Of my acquaintance I felt it on that
e ven tful morning still more fully applicable to his
moral temperament and ch aracter Nor can I
better dene that peculiarity of spirit which seemed
to place him so essentially apart from all other
hum an beings than by c alling it a habit of intense
and contin ual th ought pervading even his most

trivial actions intru ding upon his moments of

d allianceand interweaving itself with his very
ashes of merriment like adders which writhe
from out the eyes of the grinning masks in the
c o rnices around the temples of Persepo lis
I co ul d not help however repeatedl y ob se r ving
through the mingled tone of levity and solemnity
with which he rapidly d escanted upon matters of

a
n
little import ce a certain air of trepi dation a
degree of nervous u nction in action and in s peech an
unquiet excitability of mann er which appeared to
me at all times unaccountable and u pon some
o ccasions even lled me with alarm
Frequently
t oo pausing in the mid dl e of a sentenc e whose com
mencemen t he h ad 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 s c holar P olitian s beaut iful tragedy

The Orfeo ( the rst native Italian traged y ) which

lay near me upon an ottoman I discovered a passage
underlined in pencil
It was a passage towards
of

THE

A SS IGNATI O N

26 1

a passage of th e most
th e end of the third act
heart -stirring exc itement a passage which although
,

tainted with imp uri ty no man shall rea d wi thout a

thr ill of novel emotion no woman without a si g h

The whole page was blotted with fresh tears ; and
upon th e opposite interleaf wer e the following
English lines written in a hand so very diff erent
from the pecul iar characters of my acquaint an ce
that I had some di fculty in recognising it as his
.

own :

Th ou wast t ha t all t o me , lov e

l
For wh ic h my sou d id pine
A green i sle in t h e se a , love ,
A foun t a i n an d a s hr i ne ,
Al l wr eat h ed wi t h fa i ry fru i ts an d
An d all th e owers were mi n e
,

o wers ;

Ah dream too b righ t t o l ast !

Ah starry Hope t h at d i dst
,

Bu t to b e

ar se

verc ast !

from ou t t h e Fu ture c ri es,

O nward ! -b u t o er t h e P as t
( D im gul f !) my sp ir i t h overin g l ies,
Mu te motionl ss agh ast !

vo c e

For al as ! al as !wi t h me
Th e l ig h t of life is o er
No more no more n o more

h olds t h e solemn $6 3
To th e sa nd s u pon t h e sh ore )
S hall bl oo m th e t hu n der-bl asted tree
Or th e stric ken e agl e soar !
( Su c h lan guage

Now all my hou rs are trances ;

An d all my n igh tly d reams

Are where t h e d ark eye glances

And wh ere t hy foo tst ep gleams
In wh at et hereal dances
.

By what I tal i an

ms

strea

E D GAR ALLAN P O E

ime
Th ey bore thee o er the b ill ow
From Love to t ilted age and crime
And an unh oly p ill ow
From me and from our mi sty cl ime
Wh ere weeps the silver willow !

Al as ! for th at

accursed

That these lines were written in English a

lang uage with whi ch I had not believed their author
acqu ainted aff orded me little matter for surprise
I was too well aware of the extent of his acquire
ments and of the singular pleasure he took in con
c ealing them from observation
to be as tonished
at any similar discovery ; but the place of date I
must confess occasioned me no little am az ement
It had been originall y written London and after

wards car efully overscored not however so eff ectu

all y as to conceal the word from a scrutinizing
eye I say thi s occasioned me no little amaze
ment ; for I well remember that in a former con
versation with my fri end I p ar ti c ul ar ly inquired
if he had at any time met in London the Marche sa
di Mentoni (who for some years previous to her
marriage had resided in that city ) when his answer
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 c ourse giving credit
to a rep ort involving so many improbabili ties )
that the person of whom I speak was not only by
birth but in ed ucation an E nglishman

3k

There is one painting said he without being

is still
aware of my noti c e of the tragedy
seen
And
one p ainting whi c h you have not
throwing aside a dr apery he disc over ed a full
length portrait of the Mar chesa Aphr odite
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

64

drink ! Let us pour out an O ff ering to yon

solemn sun which these gaudy l amps and censers

are so eager to sub due ! And having made me

pledg e him in a bumper he swallowed in rapid
succession several goblets of the wine

To dr e am
he c ontinue d resuming the tone
of his desultory conversation as he held up to the
rich light of a censer one Of the magnicent vases

to dream has been the business of my life I

have therefore framed for myself as you see a
bower Of dreams In the heart of Venice could I
have erected a better ? Y ou behold around you
it is true a me dl ey of architectural embellishments
The ch as tity of Ionia is o ff ended by antedil uvian
devices and the sphinxes of Egypt are outs tretched
up on carpets of gol d Yet the eff e c t is incongru
ou s to the timid alone
Proprieties of place and
especially of time are the bugbears which terrify
mankind from the contemplation of the magnicent
Once I was myself a de c orist ; but that sublimation
of folly h as palled upon my soul
All this is now
the tter for my purpose Lik e these arabesque
censers my spirit is writhing in re and the delirium
of this scene is fashioning me for the wilder v isions
of that land of real dreams whither I am now

rapi dl y departing
He here paused abruptly
bent h is head to hi s bosom and seemed to listen
to a sound which I could not hear At length
erecting h is frame he looked upwards and ejacu
lated the lines of the B ishop of Chichester :
l et

us

S tayf or me there! I will n ot f ail

To meet thee in tha t hollow vale

.

In the next instant conf essing the power of the

wine , he threw himself at full -length u pon an

ottoman

TH E

ASSIGNATI O N

65

A quick step was now heard upon the st aircase

and a loud knock at the door rapi dl y succ eeded
I was hastening to anti c ipate a second di sturbance
when a page of Mentoni s household burst into the
room and faltered out in a voice choking with

emotion the incoherent words

My mistress
my mistress Poisoned ! poisoned ! O h bea uti

f ul O h beautiful Aphrodite !
Bewildered I ew to the ottoman and end eavored
to arouse the sleeper to a sense of the startling
intelligence But his limbs were ri g i d his lips
were livid his lately beaming eyes were ri veted
I staggered bac k towards the ta ble
in death
my hand fell .upon a c racked and bla c kened goblet
an d a c onsciousness of the entire and terri ble trut h
ashed suddenly over my so ul
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

66

T HE TE L L T A L E
E l

H E A RT

nervous very very dr eadfully ner

vous I had been and am ; but why will you
I am mad ? The disease had
sa y that
sh arpened my senses not destroye d not dul led
them Above all was the sense of hearing acute
I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth
I heard many things in hell How then am I
mad ? Hearken ! and observe how heal thily h ow
calml y I can tell you the whole story
It is impossible to say how r st the idea entered
my brain ; but once conceived it haunted me d ay
and night Obj e c t there was none Passion there
was none I loved the old man He had never
wronged me He had never given me insult For
his gold I had no desire I think it was his eye !
yes it was this ! One of his eyes resembled that
of a vulture a pale blue eye with a l m over it
Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold ; and
so
by degrees very gradually I m ad e up my
mind to take the life of the old man and thus rid
myself of the eye for ever
Now this is the point You fancy me mad
Madmen know nothing But you should have
seen me Y ou shoul d have seen how wisely I pro

ee
c
ded with what c aution with what foresight
with what dissirnul ation I went to work ! I was
never kinder to the Old marLth an durin g the whol e
week before I killed h im {And every night abou t
dighf f f ff d f hl bh of his d oor and opened
t o h so gently ! And then when I had made
,

EDGAR ALLAN PO E

68

ness ( for the shutters were close fastened through

fear of robbers ) and so I knew that he co uld not
see the opening of the door and I kept pushing it
n steadily steadily
O
_
I had my head in and was about to open the
lantern when
my
thumb
slipped
upon
the
tin

fasten ing affd the Old man m

u p in the b e d

crying out
there
?
s
Wi ng
I kept quite still and said nothing For a whole
ho ur I did not move a musc le and in the mean time
I did not hear him lie down He was still sitting

n
i
up in the bed liste ng ; j ust as I have done
1 night af ter night hearkening to th e death wa tches
f in the wall
Presently I heard a slight groan and I kne w it
was the groan of mortal terror It was not a groan
it was the low stied
of pain or of grief Oh no
sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when
overcharged with awe I kn ew the sound well
Many a night j ust at midnight when all the world
slept it has welled up from my own bosom deepen
ing with its dreadf ul e cho the terrors that dis
tracted me I say I knew it well I knew what
the Old man felt and pitied him although I chuckled
at heart I knew that he had been lying awake
ever since the rst slight noise when h e had turned
been ever since ggowing
upon him He h ad been trying to fancy th em
causeless but could not He had been sayin g to

himse lf I t is nothing but the wind in the chim

n ey it is o nl y a mouse crossing the oor

or it

his merely a cricket which has made a single ch irp

Yes he has been trying to comfort himself wi th
these suppositions : but he had found all in vain
All in vain; beca use Death in approaching him
had stalked with his black shadow b efo re him and
,

'

THE TELL-TALE H EART

69

enveloped the vi ct im And it was the mournful

inuence of the un perceived sh adow that ca used
him to feel although he neither saw nor heard
to feel the presence of my head within the room
When I had waited a long time very patiently
without hearing him lie down I resolved to Open
a little a very very little crevice in the lantern
So I opened it you cannot imagine how stealthily

stealthily until at length a single dim ray like

the thread of the spi der shot from out the crevi c e
and fell upon the vulture eye

It was open wide wide open and I grew

furious as I gazed upon it I saw it with perfec t
distinctness all a dull blue with a hideous veil
O ver it that c hilled the very marrow in my bones ;
but I coul d see nothing else of the Old man s fac e
or person : for I had dire c ted the ray as if by in
st inc t precisely upon the d amned spot
And now have I not told you that what you
mistake for madn ess is but over acuteness of the
senses ? now I say there came to my ears a low
dull quick sound such as a watch makes whe n
enveloped in cotton I knew that sound well too
It was the beatin g of the ol d man s heart It
increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimu
lates the soldier into courage
But even yet I refrained and kept still I scarcely
breathed I held the lantern motionless I tried
how stead ily I could maintain the ray upon the
eye Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart
increased It gr ew quicker and quicker and lou der
and louder every inst an t The old man s terror
must have been extreme ! It grew louder I say
louder every moment do you m ark me well ?
I have told you that I am nervous : so I am Ai d
now at the d ead hour of th e night amid the dr ead
.

VOL 11
.

18

P OE

E DGAR ALLAN

ful silence of that old house so strange a noise as

this excited me to uncontrollable terror Yet
some minutes longer I refrained and stood still
grew louder l ouder! I thought
burst Ai d nOW
new anxiety
seized me the so und would be heard by a neighbor !

l he old man s hour had come ! With a loud yell
I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room
once once only In an instant I
to the oor and pulled the heavy bed
over him I then smiled gaily to nd the deed
But for many minutes the heart
so far done
beat on with a muf ed sound This however
did not vex me ; it would not be heard through the
wall At length it ceased The Old man was
dead I removed the bed an d examined the corpse
Yes he was
I placed my hand
stone dead
upon the heart and h eld it there many minutesJ f

He was stone dead His

There was no pulsation
eye would trouble me no more
If still you think me mad you wi ll think so no
longer when I describe the wise pre c autions I took
for the concealment of the body The night wane d
and I worked hastily but in silence First of all
I dismembered the corpse I cut off the head and
the arms and the legs
I then took up three planks from the ooring of
the chamber and deposited all between the scant
ings I then repla ced the boards so cleverly so
cunningly that no human eye not even his
could have detected any thing wrong There was

nothing to wash out no stain of any kind no

blood -spot whatever I had been too wary for
that A tub had caught all h a !ha !
When I had made a n end of these labors it was

As the b ell
four O clock still dark as midnight
,

P OE

E DGAR ALLAN

2
7

the soun d increase d and what could i do ? It

was a low du ll q u ick sou nd- m uch su ch a sou nd
I gasped
as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton

I
for breath and yet the Officers heard it not
talked more qui c kly more V ehemently ; but the
I arose and argued a b out
n oise stea d ily increased
tries in a high key and with violent gesticul ations ;
but the noise stea dily increase d Why would
they not be gone ? I pa ced the oor to and fro
with heavy st ri des as if excite d to fu ry by the ob
servat ion s Of the men but the noise stea dil y in
c reased
Oh God ! what cou ld I do ? I foame d
I raved I swore ! I s wung the ch air upon whi c h
I had been sittin g and grate d it upon the b oards
but the noise arose over all and c ontinual ly in
c rease d
I t grew loud er louder lou der ! An d
still the men c hatted pleasantly and smile d Was

t
i possible they heard not ? Almighty G od ! no
no ! They heard they suspe cte d th ey knew !
th c y were making a mockery Of my h orror l th is
I thought and this I think But anything was
better than this agony ! An yt hing was more toler
able than this derision ! I c ould bear those hypo
c riti c al smiles no longer ! I felt that I must s c ream

or d ie
again ! hark ! louder ! lou der !
an d now
lou der !lou der!

Villains ! I shrieked
d issemble no more ! I

admit the deed tear up the planks here here

it is the bea ting of his hideous heart !

,

THE

DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM

73

D O MAIN OF ARN H EI M

THE

garden l ike a l a dy fai r w a s c u t

Th at l ay as if sh e sl u mb ere d in del ig h t
An d t o t h e ope n sk i es h er eye s d id shu t
Th e a z u re el d s of H e av en were semb l ed righ t
I n a l arge roun d se t wi th t h e owers of l igh t
Th e owers de l u ce an d t h e roun d spark s of d ew
T h at h u n g u po n t h e ir az u re l eav es d id sh ew
L ik e twi n kl i n g stars th at sp ar kl e in t h e even i n g b l u e
Th e

Giles F letcher

M his cradle to his grave a gale of pros

Nor
perity bore my frien d Ellison along
do I use the word prosperity in its mere
worldly sense I mean it as synonymous with
happiness The person of whom I speak seeme d
born for the purpose Of foreshadowing the doctrines
o f Turgot
Pri c e Priestly and Condorc et O f ex
emplifying by indivi dual instan c e what has bee n
d eemed the c himera O f the perfe c tionists
In the
brief existenc e of Ellison I fan c y that I have seen
refuted the dogma that in man s very nature lies
some hi dden prin c iple the antagonist of bliss An
anxious examination of his career has given me
to understand that in general from the violation
o f a few simple laws of humanity arises the wret c he d
ness of mankind that as a spe c ies we have in ou r
possession the as yet unwrought elements of c ontent
and that even now in the present darkness and
madness of all thought on the great question of
the soc ial condi tion it is not impossible that man
th e indivi dual under certain unusual and highly
f ortuitous c onditions may be happy
With opinions such as these my young friend
.

E DGAR ALLAN PO E

74

t oo , was

fully imbued ; and thus it is worthy of ob

servation that the un interrupted enj oyment which
distinguished his life was in great measure the
result of pre c oncert It is indeed evident that
with less of the instinctive philosophy which now
and then stands so well in the stead of experienc e
Mr Elliso n wo ul d have found himself precipitated
by the very extraordinary su c cess of his life into
the c ommon vortex of unhappiness which yawns
for those of pre -eminent end owments But it is
by no means my Obj ect to pen an essay on happ iness
The i deas of my friend may be summe d up in a
few words He admitted but four elementary
principles or more stri ctly conditions of bliss
That whi c h he c onsidered c hief was ( strange to
o
n
o
f
the
simple
and
purely
physical
free
say!
e
)

exercise in the open air

The health
he said

attainable by other means is scarcely worth the

n am e
He instanced the ecstacies of the fox
hunter and pointe d to the tillers of the earth the
only people who as a c lass can be fairly c on
His second condition
sidered happier than others
His third and most dif
w as the love of woman
c ult of realization
was the contempt of ambition
His fourth was an obj ect of unceasing pursuit ; and
he held that other things being equal the extent
of attain able happiness was in proportion to the
spirituality of this obje c t
Ellison w as remarkable in the continuous pro
fusion of good gifts lavished upon him by fortune
In per sonal grace and beauty he exceeded all men
His intellect was of that order to which the ac
n
i
i
o
n
Of
knowledge
is
less
a
labor
than
an
u
i
s
i
t
q
tuition and a necessity His family was one of
the most illustrious of the empire His bride was
the loveliest and most devoted of women His
,

P OE

EDGAR ALLAN

6
7

Wh en it had become kn own that su ch was the

there we re of course
e normous wealth inherited
many spe c ulations as to the mode of its dispo sal
Th e magnitude and the immediate availability of
the sum bewildered all who thought on the topic
Th e possessor of any appreciable amount Of money
might have been imagined to perform any one of a
thousand things With riches merely surpassing
those of any citizen it would have been easy to
suppose him engaging to supreme exc ess in the
fashionable extravagances of his time o r busying
himse lf with political intrigu e or aiming at minis

r
i
o r purchasing increase Of nobil ity
a
p
o
wer
e
l
t
or coll e c ting large museums of virtu or playing
the mun icent patron of letters of science of art
or endowing
an d bestowing his name upo n ex
tensive institutions of charity But for the in
conceivable wealth in the actual possession of the
heir these Obj ects and all ordinary Obje c ts were
felt to a ff ord too limited a eld Rec ourse was
h ad to gures and these but su fced to con foun d
It was seen th at even at three per cent the annual
income of the inheritan ce amounted to no less than
thirteen millions and ve hundred thousand dollars ;
which was one million and one hundred and twenty
-six thousand
ve thousand per month ; or thirt y
nine hundred and eightysix per day ; or on e thou
sand ve hundred and forty-one per hour ; or six
and twenty d ollars for every minute that ew
Thus the usu al trac k of supposition was thoroughly
broken up Men knew not what to imagine There
were some who even conceived that Mr Ellison
would divest himself of at least one half of his
fortun e as of utterly supe ruous opul ence en
riching whole troops of his relatives by di vision Of
his superabundance To the neares t of these he
,

THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM

77

did in fact abandon the very unusual wealth which

was his own before the inh eritance
I was n ot surprise d however to perc eive that
he had long made up his mind on a point which
had occ asione d so much d isc ussion to his friends
Nor was I greatly astonishe d at the nature of his
decision In regard to in di vidual charities he h ad
satised his cons cience In the possibility of any
improvement properly so called being e ff ected
by man himself in the general condition of man
he h ad ( I am sorry to c onfess it ) little faith Upon
the whole whether happily or unhapp ily he was
thrown back in very great measure upon self
In the wi dest and noblest sense he was a poet
He c omprehended moreover the true character
the augu st aims the supreme maj esty and dignity
of the poetic sentiment
Th e fullest if not the
sole satisfa ction Of this sentiment he instinctively
felt to lie in the creation of novel forms of beauty
Some peculiarities either in his early education
o r in the nature of his intelle c t
had tinged with
what is termed materialism all his ethi c al spe c ula
tions ; and it was this bias perhaps which led him
to believe that the most a dvantageous at least
if not the sole legitimate eld for the poetic ex
erc ise lies in the creation of novel moods of purely
h
s
i
c
a
l
loveliness Thus it happened he be c ame
y
p
neither musician nor poet if we use this latter
term in its every-day ac ceptation Or it might
have been that he negle cted to become either
merely in pursuan c e of his i dea that in c ontempt
of ambition is to be found one of the essential princi
ples of happiness on earth Is it not indeed po ssible
that while a high order of genius is ne cessarily
ambitious the highest is above that whi c h is termed
Lmb it ion ?
And may it not thus happen that many
,

'

E DGAR ALLAN

78

P OE

far greater th an M ilton have contentedly remained

mute and inglorious ?

I be lieve that the world

never
seen
and that unl ess thr ough some
h as
seri es of acc idents goadin g the noblest order of
mind into distasteful exertion the world will never
in
see that full extent of trium phant execution
the ri cher domains of art Of which the human
natur e is absolutely capable
Ellison bec ame neither musician nor poet ; al
though no man lived more profoundl y en amored
of music and poetry
Under other circ umstan ces
than those which invested him it is not impossible
that he would have become a painter Sculpture
although in its nature rigorously p oetical was too
limited in its extent and consequenc es to have
occupied at any time much of his attention And
I have n ow mentioned all the provin c es in whi ch
the common un derstanding of the poetic sentiment
But Ellison
h as declared it capable of expatiating
maintained that the ri chest the truest and most
natural if not altogether the most extensive province
had been unaccoun tably negle c ted NO de nition
had spoken of the land scape-gardener as of the poet ;
yet it seemed to my friend that the creation of the
landscape -garden Off ere d to the prope r Muse the
most magnic ent of Opportunities Here ind eed
was the fairest eld for the display of i magination
in the endl ess combini ng of forms of novel beauty ;
the elements to enter into combination being by
a vast superiority the most glorious which the
earth could afford In the mult iform and m ulti
color of the ower and the trees he recogni zed the
most direct and energetic e ff orts of Nature at
physical loveliness And in the direction or con
cen tration of this e ff ort o r more properly in its
ada ptation to the eyes which were to behold it on
,

EDGAR ALLAN POE

8o

long spirit of general ization whi ch has led him to

pronounc e it true throughout all the domain s o f
art Having I say felt its truth here ; f or the
feeling is no aff e ctation or c himera The mathe
matic s aff ord no more absolute demonstrations
than the sentiment of his art yield s the artist He
not onl y believes but positively knows that su ch
and such apparently arbitrary arrangements of
matter constitute and alone constitute the true
beauty His reasons however have not yet been
mat ured into expression It remains for a more
profound anal ysis than the worl d has yet seen fully
to investigate and express them Nevertheless
he is conrmed in h is instinctive Opin ions by the

voi ce of al l his brethren Let a composition be

defective ; let an emend ation be wrought in its mere
arrangement of form ; let this emendation be sub
mitted to every artist in the worl d ; by each will
its necessity be admitted And even far more than
this : in remedy of the defective c omposition ea c h
insulated member of the fraternity woul d have
suggested the identical emendation
I repeat that in landsc ape arrangements al one
is the physical nature susceptible of exaltation and
that therefore her susc eptibility of improvement
at this one point was a mystery I had been un able
to solve My own thoughts on the subject had
rested in the idea that the primitive intention of
nature wo ul d have so arrange d the earth s surfa c e
as to have fullled at all points man s sense of
perfe c tion in the beautiful the sublime or the
picturesque ; but th at this primitive intention h ad
been frustrated by the known geological disturb
au ces d isturbances of form and color-grouping
in the correction or allaying of which lies the soul
of art
The force of this i dea was mu ch weakened
.

THE DO MAI N O F ARNHEIM

81

however by the ne c essity whi ch it involved of

the d isturbanc es abnormal and u n
c onsi dering
I t was Ellison who sug
adapted to any purpose
gested that they we e prognostic of death He
thus explained Admit the earthly immortality
o f man to have been the rst intention
We have
then the primitive arrangement of the ea rth s
su rfac e adapted to his blissful estate as not existent
but designed Th e d isturbances were the prepara
tions for his subsequently con ceived deathful
c on dition

Now
said my friend
what we regard as
exaltation of the landsc ape may be really su ch
as respe cts only the moral or human point of view
Eac h alternation of the natural s cenery may possibly
e ff e c t a blemish in the pi c ture if we c an suppose
this pi cture viewe d at large in mass from some
poin t distant from the earth s surface although
not beyond the limits of its atmosphere It is
ea sily understood that what might improve a closely
s crutinized detail may at the same time inj ure
a general or more distantly Observe d e ff e c t There
ma y be a c lass O f beings human on c e but now invisi
ble to humanity to whom from a far ou r disorder
may seem order our unpi c turesqueness p ictur
esque ; in a word the earth -angels for whose scrutiny
more espe c ially than our own and for whose death
rene d appre ciation of the beautiful may have
been set in array by God the wi de landsc ape -gardens

of the hemispheres
I
the c ourse of dis c ussion my friend quoted
some pa ssages from a writer on lands cape-garden
ing who h as been suppose d to have well treated
his theme :

There are properly but two styles of land scape

gardening the natural and the artic ial One
,

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

282

seeks to recall the origin al beauty of the country

by adapting its means to the surrounding scenery;
cultivating trees in harmony with the hills or plain
of the neighboring land ; detecting and bringing
into practice those nice relations of size proportion
and color which hid from the common observer
are revealed everywhere to the experien c ed student
of nat u re
Th e result of the natural style of gar
dening is seen rather in the absenc e of all defe cts

and incongruities in the prevalenc e Of a healthy

harmony and order than in the c reation Of any
special won ders or miracles The artic ial style
h as as many varieties a s there are di ff erent taste s
to gratify It has a certain general relation to
the various styles of building There are the
stately avenues an d retirements of Versailles ;
Ital ian te rra c es ; and a various mixed old English
style which bears some relation to the domestic
Gothic or English Elizabethan architecture \
What
ever may be said against the abuses of the articial
landscape gar dening a mixture of pure art in a
garden scene ad d s to it a great beauty This is
p ar tly pleasing to the eye by the show of order
and design
an d partly moral
A terrace with an
old moss-covere d balustra de
calls up at onc e to
the eye the fair forms that have passed there in
other days Th e slightest exhibition of art is an
evidenc e of care an d h uman interest

From what I have already observed said Elli

son
you will understand that I rej ect the i dea
here expresse d Of recalling the original beaut y of
the country The original beauty is never so great
as that which may be introduced Of course
everything depends on the selection of a spot with
capabil ities W hat is said about detec ting and
bringing into practice ni c e relations of size pro
,

E DGAR ALLAN

84

P OE

something beyond it There may be an obj ect in

keeping with the principle an Obj ec t unattainable
by the means ordinari ly possesse d by individual s
yet which if attained wo ul d lend a charm to the
landscape-garden far surpassing that which a sense
A poet
of merely human interest c oul d bestow
having very unusu al pecuniary resources might
while retaining the necessary i dea of art or culture
or as our author expresses it of interest so imbue
his designs at on c e with extent and novelty of beauty
as to convey the sentiment of spiritual interference
It will be seen that in bringing about such resul t
he secures all the advantages of interest or design
while relieving his work of the harshness or techni
In the most rugged of
c al ity Of the worl dl y art
wildernesses in the most savage of the scenes of
pure natur e there is apparent the art of a creator ;
yet this art is apparent to ree ction only ; in no
respect h as it the obvious force of a feeling Now
let us suppose this sense of the Almighty design
to be one step depressed to be brought into some
thin g like harmony or consistency with the sense

human
art
to form an intermedium between
f
o
the two -let us imagine for example a landscape
whose combined vastness and denitiveness whose
united beauty magnicen c e and stra ngeness shall
convey the idea of care or cul ture or superinten d
ence on the part of beings superior yet akin to
humani ty then the sentiment of interest is pre
served while the art intervolved is made to assume
the air of an intermediate or secondary nature
a nature which is not God nor an emanation from
God but which still is nat ure in the sense of the
han diwork of the angels that hover between man

and God
It was in devotin g his enormous wealth to th e
.

THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM

85

em b odiment of a vision such a s thi s in the free

exercise in the Open air ensured by the personal
superin ten dence of his plans in the unceas in g

obj ect whi ch these plans aff orded ih the high

spirituali ty of the obj ect in the contemp t of
ambition whi ch it enabled him truly to feel ln
the perennial springs with whi ch it g ratiexl with
ou t po ssibility Of satiating that on e master p as sion
of his soul the thirst for bea uty ; above all it was
in the sym
pathy of a woman not unwomanly wh os e
lovelin ess and love enveloped his e xistence in the
purple atmosphere of Paradise that Ellison thought
to n d and fou nd exemption from the ordinary
with a far greater amount of
c ares of humanity
positive happiness than ever glowed in the rapt
d ay-dreams of De Stael
I d espair of conveying to the reader an y dis tinct
con c eption of the marvels whi ch my friend did
actually accomplish I wish to d escribe but am
disheartened by the difficulty of d escription and
hesitate between detail and generality Perha ps
the better course will be to unite the two in their
extremes
Mr Elli son s r st step regarded of course the
choice of a locality ; and scarcely had he commenc ed
thinking on this point when the luxuriant nature
In
of the Pacic Islands a rrested his attention
fact he had made up his mind for a voyage to the
South S eas when a night s reection induced him

Were I misanthr opic he

to ab andon the idea

said
such a locale woul d suit me The thorough
n ess of its insulation and seclusion and the dif culty
Of ing ress and egress would in such case b e the
charm of charms ; but as yet I am not Timon I
wish the composure but not the depression of soli
tude There must remain with me a certain con
,

VOL II ro
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

86

trol over the extent and duration of my repose

There will be frequent hours in whi ch I sh all need
too the sympathy of the poetic in what I have done
Let me seek then a spot not far from a populous
city whose vicinity also will best enable me to

execute my plans
In search Of a suitable place so situated Ellison
travelled for several years and I was permit ted to
accompany him A thousand spots with which
I was enraptured he rej ected without hesitation
for reasons which satised me in the end that he
was right We came at length to an elevated
table -land of wonderful fertility and beauty a ff ord
ing a panorami c prospect very little le ss in extent
Z
than that of r Etna and in Ellison s opinion as well
as my own surpassing the far-famed view from that
mount ain in all the true elements of the picturesque

I am aware said the travell er as he drew a

sigh of deep delight after gazing on this scene en
tranced for nearly an hour
I know th at here
in my circumstan c es nine-tenths of the most fasti di
This panorama
ou s of men would rest content
is indeed glorious and I shoul d rej oice in it but
for the excess of its glory The taste of al l the
architects I have ever known leads them for the

sake of prospec t to put up b uildings on hil l-tops

T h e error is Obvious
Grandeur in any Of its moods
but esp ecially in that of extent startles excites
and then fatigues depresses For the occasional
scene nothin g can be better for the constant view
nothing worse And in the constant view the
most Obj ectionable phase of gran deur is that of
extent ; the worst phase of extent that of distance
It is at war with the sentiment and with the sense
of seclusion the sentiment and sense which we

seek to humor in
reti ri ng to the country In
.

E DGAR ALLAN POE

288

pany with the substantial one for the p urpos e of

susta inin g it The channel now became a gorge
althoug h the term is somewhat inapplicable and
I employ it merely because the language h as no
word whi ch better represents the most striking
not the most distinctiv e feature Of the scene
Th e ch ar acter of gorge was maintained only in the
height and parallelism of the shores ; it was los t
altogether in their other traits Th e walls Of th e
ravine ( through which the clear water still tran
quilly owe d) arose to an elevation Of a hundred
and oc casionally of a h un dred and f ty feet and
inclined so mu c h towar d eac h other as in a grea t
me asure to shut out the light of day ; while the
long plum elike moss whi ch depended den mly from
the inte rtwining shrubberies overhead gave the
whole chasm an air of funereal gloom The wind
ings became more frequent an d intricate and
seemed often as if returning in upon themselves
so that the voyager had long lost all i dea of direc tion
He was moreover enwrapt in an exquisite sense
of the stran ge
Th e thought of nature still re
mained but her charac ter seemed to have un der
gone modic ation ; there was a weird symmetry a
thri lling uniformity a wizard propriety in these

her works Not a dead branch not a withered

le af not a stray pebble not a patch of the brown
earth was anywhere visible The crystal wate r
well ed up against the clean granite or the un b lem
ish ed moss with a sharpness of outline that de
lighted while it bewil dere d the eye
Having threade d the mazes Of this c h an nel for
some hours the gloom deepening eve ry moment
a sharp and unex pected turn of the vessel brought
it su ddenl y as if droppe d from heaven into a c ir
c u lar basin of very c onsi derable extent wh en c om
,

THE DOMAIN

OF

ARNHEIM

39

It was ab o ut
girt in at all
fronting the
vessel as it entered b y hills equal in general height
to the wall s of the chasm although of a thoroughl y
d iff erent character
Their si des slo ped from the
w ater s edg e at an angle of some forty-ve degrees
and they were c lothed from base to summi t not

a perceptible point escaping in a drapery of the

most gorgeous ower-blossoms ; scarcely a green
leaf be ing visible among the sea of odorous and
uctuatin g c olor This basin was of great dep th
but so transparent was the water that the b ottom
whi ch seemed to consist of a thi c k mass of small
round alabaster pebbles was d ist inctly visible b y
glimpses that is to say whenever th e eye c ould
permit itself no; to see far down in the inverted
heaven the duplicate blooming of the hills On
these la tter there were no trees nor even shrubs of
any size The impressions wrought on the o b server
were those of richness warmth color quietude
uniformity softness deli c acy daintin ess v olupt u
o u sness
and a miraculous extremeness of culture
that sug gested dreams of a new race of fairies
laborious tasteful magnicent and fastidious ;
but as the eye traced upward the myriad -t in ted
slope from its sharp j un c tion with the water to
its vagu e termination amid the folds of overhang ing
cloud it became in deed di fcul t not to fancy a
panoramic cataract of rubies sapphires Op al s and
golden onyxes roll ing silently out of the sky
The visitor shooting suddenl y into this bay fro m
ou t the gloom
of the
ravine is delighted but
astounded by the full orb of the declining sun
which he had supposed to be alread y far below th e
horizon but which now confronts him an d forms
w ith the width of th e gorge
two hundred yar ds in diameter , and
points but one that imme diately

p aved

EDGAR AL LAN

0
9

POE

the sole termination of an otherwise limitless vista

seen th rough another chasm -like rift in the hills
But here the voyager quits the vessel which has
b orne him so far and desc ends into a light canoe
of ivory
stained with arabesque devices in vivid
scarlet both within and without The poop and
beak of this boat arise high above the water with
sharp points so that the general form is that of an
i rregular crescent It lies on the surface of the
bay with the proud grac e of a swan On it s ermined
oor reposes a single feathery paddle of satin-woo d ;
ou t no oarsman or attendant is to be seen
The
guest is bidden to be of good cheer that the fates
will take c are of him The larger vessel di sappears
and he is left alone in the canoe which lies appa
ren tl y motionl ess in the mi ddle of the lake
Wh ile
he considers what course to pursue however he
becomes aware of a gentle movement in the fairy
bark It slowly swings itself aro und until its prow
points toward the sun It advan ces with a gentle
but gradually accelerated velocity while the slight
ripples it creates seem to break about the ivory
si des in d ivinest melody seem to o ff er the only
possible explanation of the soothing yet melancholy
musi c for whose unseen origin the bewildered voy
ager looks aroun d him in vain
The canoe stea dily pro c eeds and the rocky gate
of the vista is approached
so that its d epth c an
be more distinctly seen To the right arise a c hain
of lofty hills rudely and luxuriantly woo ded
It
is observed however that the trait of exquisite
cleamwss where the bank dips into the water
still
prevails There is not on e token of the usual river
To th e left the charac ter of the s cene is
d brzs
softer and more obviously articial Here the
bank slope s upward from the stream in a very
.

'

E DGAR AL LAN

2
9

winding channel ;

POE

an d

here the shore op posite

the wall is found to resemble that opposite the wall
in the straight vista Lofty hills rising occ asion
all y into mountains and covered with vegetation
in wil d luxuriance stil l shut in the scene
Floating gently onward but wi th a velocity
slig htl y augmented the voyager after many short
turn s nds his progress apparently barred by a
gigantic gate or rather door of burnished gold
el aborately carved and fretted an d reecting the
direct rays of the now fast-sinkin g sun wi th an

e ulg ence that

seems to wreath the whole sur
rounding forest in ames This gate is inserted
in the l ofty wall ; which here appears to cr oss the
In a few moments however
river at right angles
it is seen that the main body of the water still sweeps
in a gentle and extensive cur ve to the left the wall
following it as before while a stream of considerable
vol ume diverging from the princ ipal one makes
its way with a slight ripple under the door and
is th us hidden fro
sight The c anoe falls into
the lesser channel and approaches the gate Its
ponderous wings are slowly and musically expand ed
Th e b oat glides between them and c ommences a
rapid descent into a vast amphi theatre entirely
b egirt with purple mountains whose bases are
laved by a gleaming river throughout the full ex
ten t of their circ uit Meantime the whole Paradise
of Arnheim bursts upon the view
There is a gush
of entran cing melody ; there is an oppressive sense

of strange sweet odor ; there is a dr eam -like in ter

ng lin g to the eye of tall slender Eastern trees
bosky shrubberies oc ks of golden and crimson
birds lil y-fringed lake s meadows of violets tulips
poppies hyacinths and tuberose s long intertang led
lines of silver streamlets and upsprin ging con
the

THE DO MAIN O F ARNHE I M

2 93

amid all a mass of semi-Gothic

Sarac enic architecture sustain ing itself as if by
miracl e in mid air ; glitteri ng in the red sunl ight
with a h undred oriels minarets an d pinnacles ; and
seeming the ph an tom handiwork conj ointly of
the Syl phs of the Fai ri es of the Genii and of th e
Gnomes
fu sedl y from

EDGAR ALLAN

94

POE

LAND OR S C OTT AGE

A P E N DA N T T O

T H E D O MA I N O F ARN H E I M

"

U RING a pedestrian tour last summer

through one or two of the river counties
of New York I found myse lf as the day
d ecl ined somewhat embarrassed about the road
I was pur suing The l and undulated very remark
ably ; and my path for the last hour h ad wound
about an d about so confusedly in its e ff ort to keep
in the valleys that I no longer kne w in what direc
tion lay the sweet vil lage of B
where I had
determined to stop for th e night The sun had
scarcely shone strictly speakin g d uring th e day
which nevertheless had been unpleasantly warm
A smoky mist resembling that of the Indian sum
mer enveloped all th ings and of course ad ded
to my uncertainty Not that I cared mu ch about
the ma tter If I did not hit upon the village b e
fore sunset or even before d ark it was m ore than
po ssible that a little Dutch farmhouse or some
thing of that kin d would soon make its appearance
although in fact th e neighborhood ( perhaps on
account of being more pictur esque than fertile)
was ver y sparsely inhabited
At all events with
my kna psack for a pillow and my hound as a
sentry a bivouac in the Open air was j ust the thing
whi ch would have amu sed me I saun tered on
th erefore quite at e ase Ponto t aking char e of
my gun until at length j ust as I had begun to
consider whether the numerous little glad es that
led hither and thither were intend ed to be paths
,

E DGAR ALLAN

2 96

POE

the amount but the cha ra cter of the art which ca used
me to take a seat on one of th e blo ssomy stones
like avenue for
an d gaze up and d own this fairyhalf an hour or more in bewildered ad miration
O ne thing became more and more evident th e
longer I gazed : an artist and one with a most scru
e
u
l
o
u
s
eye
for
form
had
superintend
e
d
a
ll
hes
t
p
arrangements The greatest c are had been taken
to preserve a due medium between the neat and
graceful on the one hand and the pittoresque in
the true se nse of the Italian term on the other
There were few straight and no long uninte rrupted
lines The same eff e c t of curvatur e or of color
appea red twice usually but not oftener at any
one po int of view
Everywhere was variety in

uniformity It was a piece of composition

in
which the most fastidiously cri tical taste coul d
scarcely have suggested an emendation
I had turned to the right as I entered this road
and now arising I continued in the same direction
The path was so serpentine that at no moment
coul d I trac e its course for more th an two or three
p ac es in ad vance Its character did not undergo
any material change
Presently the murmur Of water fell g entl y upon
my ear and in a few moments afterwards as I
turned with the road somewhat more abruptly
than hitherto I became aware that a building of
some kind lay at the foot of a gentle declivity j ust
before me I could see nothing d istinctly on ac
count of the mist whi ch occupie d all the little valley
below A gentle breeze however now arose as
the sun was about descend ing ; and while I remain ed
standin g on the brow of the slope the fog gradual ly
became dissipated into wreaths an d so oated over
the sc ene
.

LANDO R S COTTAG E

97

c
e
fully
into
view
thus gradually as
As it am
I descri b e it -piece by piece here a tree there a
glimpse of water and here again the summit of a
chimn ey I could scarcely help fancying that the
whole was one of the ingenious il lusions sometimes

exh ibi ted under the n ame of vani shing pictures

B y the time however that the fog had thoroughly
disa ppea red the sun had made its way d own b e
hin d the gentle hills an d thenc e as if with a slight
had c ome again fully into
chassez to the south
sight ; glaring with a p ur plish lustre through a chasm
that entered the valley from the west Su ddenly

a
therefore an d as if by the han d of m gic this
whole vall ey and every thing in it became brilliantly
Visible
'
The rst cou p d cml as the sun slid into the po si
tion de scribed impressed me very much as I ha ve
been impresse d when a boy by the con clu di ng
sc ene of some wellarranged theatrical specta cle
Not even the monstrosity of color
or melodrama
was wantin g ; for the sunlight came out through
the chasm tinted all orange and purple ; while the
vivi d g ree n of the grass in the valley was reected
more or less upon all obj e c ts from the curtain of
vapo r that still hung overhead as if l oth to tak e
its total departure from a scene so enchanting ly
beautif ul
Th e little vale into which I thus peered down from
un der the fog-canopy coul d not have bee n more
than four hundred yards long ; while in breadth
it varied from f ty to one hundred and fty or
perhaps two hundred It was most narrow at its
northern extremit y opening out as it tended south
wardl y but with n o very pre cise regularity
The
wi dest portion was within eighty yards of the south
ern extreme
Th e slo p es whi ch encompassed the
,

'

E DGAR AL LAN

3
9

POE

vale co uld not fairly be called hills unless at thei r

northern face Here a pre c ipitous ledge of granite
arose to a height of some ninety feet ; and as I have
mentioned the valley at this point w as not more
than f ty feet wide ; but as the visitor proceeded
southwardl y from this cliff he found on h is right
hand and on his left de clivities at onc e less high
less prec ipitous and less roc ky All in a word
sloped and softene d to the south ; and yet the whole
vale was engirdled by eminences more or less high
except at two points One of these I have al read y
spoken of It lay consi derably to the north of
west and was where the se tting sun made its way
a s I have before d escribed
in to the amphitheatre
through a clea nly cut natural c left in the gran ite
embankment : this ssure might have been ten
yard s wide at its widest point so far as the eye
coul d trace it It seemed to lead up up lik e a
nat ural causeway into the recesses of unexplored
mountains and forests The other ope n ing was
directly at the southern end of the vale Here
generall y the slopes were nothing more than gentle
inclinations extending from east to west about
one hundred and f ty yard s
In
the
mid
e
of
dl
.
this extent was a depression level with the ordi
nary oor of the valley As regards veg etation
as well as in respect to every thing else the scene
softened a nd s loped to the south
To the north
on the craggy precipi c e a few paces from the
verge upsprang the magnicent trunks of numer
ou s hickories
blac k walnuts and chestnuts inter
spersed with occ asional oak ; and the strong lateral
branches thrown out by the waln uts especially
spread far over the edge of the cliff Proceeding
southwardl y
the explorer saw at rst the same
class of trees but less and less lofty and Salvatorish
,

E DGAR AL LAN

00
3

POE

they were

fully eight inches wide ; but their g lory

was al together eclipsed by the gorgeo us spl end or
of the profuse blossoms
Conceive closely con
greg ated a million of the largest and most resplend
ent tulips ! Only thus can the reader get any idea
of the picture I woul d convey
And then the
stately grace of the clean delicately-gran ulated
columnar stems the largest four feet in di ameter
at twenty from the ground The innumerable
blossoms mingling with those of other trees scarcely
less beautiful although innitely less maj esti c
l led the valley with more than Arabian perf um es
The general oor of the amphitheatre was grass
of the same character as that I had found in the
ro ad : if an yt hing more deliciously soft thi ck
velvety and mi racul ously green It was h ard to
conceive how all this beauty had been attained
I have spoken of the two openings into the vale
From the one to the north-west issued a ri vul et
which came gently murmuring and slightly foam
ing down the ravine until it dashed against the
group of rocks out of which sprang the insul ated
hickory Here after encircling the tree it passed
on a little to the north of east leaving the tulip
tree some twenty feet to the south and mak ing no
decided al teration in its course unt il it came near
the midway between the eastern and western b o und
aries of the valley At this point after a se ri e s
of sweeps it turned off at right an gles and pursued
a generally southern direction meandering as it
went until it became lost in a small lake of ir
regular gure ( al though roughly oval )
that lay
gleaming near the lower extremity of th e vale
This lakelet was perhaps a hundred yards in
.

clearer t an

its

waters

Its

bot tom which

,

coul d

be dist inctly seen consisted altogether of pebbles

brilliantly white Its bank s of the emerald grass
a lready desc ribed rounded rather than sloped O ff
into the clear heaven belo w ; and so clear was this
heaven so perfectly at times did it re ect all
obj ects above it that where the true bank ended
and where the m imic one commenced it was a
po int of n o little difficulty to determine The
trout and some other varieties of sh with which
t his pond seemed to be almost inconveniently
crowded had all the appearance of veritable ying
sh It was almost impossible to believe that they
were not absolutely suspended in the air A light
birch canoe that lay placidly on the water was
reected in its minutest bres with a delity unsur
passed by the most exquisitely polished mirror
A small island fairly laughing with owers in full
bloom and aff ordin g little more space than j ust
enough for a pi c turesque little building seemingly
a fowl-house arose from the lake not far from its
northern shore to whi ch it was connected b y
means of an inconceivably light -looking and yet
very primitive bridge It was formed of a sin gle
broad and thi ck plank of the tulip wood Thi s
was forty feet long and spanned the interval b e
tween shore and shore with a slight but very per
c ep t ib le
arch preventing all osci llation From
the southern extreme of the lake issu ed a continua
tion of the ri vul et which after meandering for
perhaps thirty yards nally passed thr ough the

depression
( alrea dy descri bed) in the middl e
of the southern declivity
and tumblin g down a
sheer precipice of a hundred feet m ade its deviou s
and unn oti ced way to the Hudson
The lake was dee p at some po ints thirty feet
but the rivulet seldom exceed ed three wh ile its
,

VOL II ao
.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

0 2

greatest width was abo ut eight Its bottom and

bank s were as tho se of the pond if a defect could
have been attributed to them in point Of pictur
e sq u en ess it was that of excessive neatness
The expanse of the green turf was relieved here
a nd there
by an occasional showy shrub such as
the hydran gea or the common snow-ball or the
aromatic syringa ; or more frequently by a clump
o f geraniums blossoming gorgeously in great varieties
These latter grew in pots whi ch were carefully
buried in the soil so as to give the plants the ap
Besi des all this
p earance of being indigenous
the lawn s velvet was exquisitely spotted with
shee p a considerable ock of which roamed about
the vale in company with three tamed deer and a
vast number of brilliantly-plumed ducks A very
large masti ff seemed to be in vigilant attendance
u pon these animals each and all
Along the eastern and western cliff s where
towards the upper portion of the amphitheatre
the boundari es were more or less precipitous
grew ivy in great profusion so that onl y here and
there coul d even a glimpse Of the naked rock be
obtained The northern precipice in l ike manner
was almost entirely clothed by grape -vines of rare
luxurianc e ; some springing from the soil at the
base of the cli ff and others from le dges on its face
The slight elevation whi ch formed the lower
boundary of this little domain was crowned b y a
neat stone wall of sufficient height to prevent the
escape of the deer Nothing of th e fence kind was
observable elsewhere ; for nowhere else was an
for
a rtic ial en closure needed any stray sheep
example which should attempt to make its way
ou t of the vale by means of the ravine woul d nd
its progress arrested after a few yards advance
.

E DGAR AL LAN

04

P OE

The ma in building was about twenty-fou r feet

long and sixteen bro ad certainl y not more Its
total height from the ground to the apex of th e
roof could not have exc eeded eighteen feet To
the west end of this structure was attached on e
about a third smaller in all its proportions the
lin e O f its front standing bac k about two yard s
from that Of the larger house ; and the line Of its
roof of course being consi derably depressed b elow
that of the roof adj oining At right angles to these
buildings an d from the rear of the main one not
exac tly in the mi ddle e xtended a third compart
ment very small being in general one third less
than the western wing Th e roofs of the two larger

were very stee p sweeping down from the ri dge

beam with a long con c ave curve and extending at
least four feet beyond the walls in front so as to
form the roofs of two piazzas These latter roofs
of course nee d ed no support ; but as they had the
slight and perfe c tly plain pil lars
air of nee d ing it
were inserte d at th e c orners alone Th e roof of the
northern win g was merely an extension of a portion
Between the chief building and
of the main r oof
western win g arose a very tall and rather slender
square chimney of hard Dut c h bri c ks alternately
a slight corni c e of proj e c ting bri c ks
la
k
and
re
d
c
b
at the top Over the gables the roofs al so pro
in
very
mu
h
the main building about
ec
e
c
i t d
Th e
four feet to the east and two to the wes t
principal door w as not exa ctly in the main divi
sion being a little to the east while the two
wind ows were to the west
These latter did n ot
extend to the oor but were mu ch longer and nar
rower than usual -they had single shutters like
doors the panes were O f lozenge form but quite
l arge Th e d oor itself had it s upper half of glass
.

LANDO R S COTTAG E

3 5
0

so in lozenge panes a movable shutter secured

it at night The door to the west wing was in its
gable and quite simple a single window looke d
There was no external door to
ou t to the south
the north wing and it also had only one window
to the east
The blank wall of the eastern gable was relieved
by stairs (with a balustrade) runn ing di agon ally
across it the ascent being from the south Under
cover of th e widely proj ecting eave these steps
gave access to a door leading into the garret or
rather loft for it was lighted only by a single
win dow to the north and seemed to have bee n
intended as a storeroom
The piazz as of the main building and weste rn
wing had no oors as is usual ; but at the doors
large at irregular slabs of
and at each window
granite lay imbedded in the deli c ious turf aff ording
comfortable footing in all weather Excellent path s
of the same material not nicely adapted but with
the velvety sod l ling frequent intervals between
the stones led hither and thither from the house
to a crystal spring about ve paces off to the road
or to one or two out-houses that lay to the north
beyond the brook and were thoroughly concealed
by a few locusts and catalpas
Not more than six steps from the main doo r of
the cottage stood the dead trun k of a fantastic
pear-tree so clothed from head to foot in the gor
g eou s begoni a blossoms that on e required on little
scrutiny to determine what mann er of sweet thi ng
From various arms of this tree hung
it could be
cages of different kind s In one a large wicker
cylinder with a ring at top revelled a mocking bird ;
in another an o ri ole ; in a third the impu dent bo b o
al

E DGAR AL LAN

06

P OE

link whil e three or four more delicate prisons were

loudl y vocal with canaries
The pillars of the piazza were enwreathed in j as
mine and sweet honeysuckle ; while from the angle
formed by the main structure and its west wing
in front sprang a grape -vine of un exampled luxuri
ance Scorning all restraint it had clam bered rst

to the lower roof then to the higher ; and al ong

the ri dge of this latter it continued to wri the on
throwing out tendrils to the right and left until
at length it fairly attained the east gable and fell
trailing over the stairs
Th e whole house with its w ings was constructed
of the O ld-fashioned Dutch shingles broad and with
unroun ded corners It is a pe culiarity of this
m aterial to give house s built of it the appearance of
being wider at bottom than at top after the man
ner of Egyptian archite c ture ; and in the present
inst an ce this exceedingly pic turesque e ff ect was
aided by numerous pots of gorgeous owers that
almost encompasse d the base of the building s
The shingles were painted a d ull gray ; and the
happiness with which this neutral tin t melted into
the vivid g reen of the t ul ip tree leaves that partially
overshadowed the cottage can rea dily be conceived
by an artist
From the position near the stone wall as described
the buildings were seen at great advantage for
the south-eastern an gle was thrown forward so that
the eye took in at once the whole of the two fronts
with the picturesque eastern gable and at the same
time Obtain ed just a sufcient glimpse of the nort hern
wing with parts of a pretty roof to the spring-house
and nearly h al f of a light bri dge that spann ed th e
brook in the near vicinity of the main buildings
I did not remain very long on the brow of the hill
.

E DG AR ALLAN

0
3
3

POE

it is but this pec ul iar expression of the eye

wreathing itself occasionally into the lips is the
most powerful if not absolutely the sole spell which

Roma nce provided

rivets my interest in woman
my readers fu ll y comprehend what I would here

imply by the word romance and woman liness

seem to me convertible terms : and after all what
man truly loves in woman is simply her woma n
The eyes of An nie ( I heard some on e from
hood

the interior call her Annie darling l ) were spirit

ual gray ; her hair a light chestnut : this is all I

had time to observe of her
At her most courteous of invitations I entered
passing r st into a tolerably wide vestibule Having
come mainly to observe I took notice that to my
right as I steppe d in was a win dow such as those
in front of the house ; to the left a door leading
into the princ ipal room ; while opposite me an
open d oo r enabled me to see a small apartment
just the size of the vestibule arranged as a study
an d having a large b ow window looking out to the
north
Passing into the parlor I found myself wi th Mr
La ndor for this I afterwards found was his name
He was civil even cordial in his manner ; but j ust
then I was more i n tent on observing the arrange
ments of the dwellin g which had so much interested
me than the personal appearan ce of the tenant
Th e north wing I now saw was a bed -chamber :
its d oor Opened into the parlor West of this door
was a single window looking towards the brook
At the west end of the parlor were a r e-plac e and
a door leadin g into the west wing probably a
kitchen
Nothing could be more rigorously simple th an
the furniture of the parlor On the oor was an
h ow

LANDO R S COTTAG E

30 9

texture a

et of excell en t
white ground
s potted with small circular green gures At the
windows were curtains of snowy white j aconet
muslin : they were tolerably full and hung decis ively
perhaps rather formally in sharp parallel plai ts to
the oor just to the oor The walls were papered
with a French paper of great delicacy a silver
ground wi th a faint gr een cord runn ing zig-zag
throughout
Its exp an se was relieved merely by
three of Jul ien s exquisite lithographs a trois crayons
fastened to the wal l without frames One of these
drawings was a scene of Oriental lux ury or rathe r

voluptuousness ; another was a carnival piece

spiri ted beyond compare ; the third was a Greek

l
fema e head a face so divinely beautiful an d yet
of
an expression so provokingly indeterminate
never before arrested my attention
The more subs tanti al furniture consi sted of a
round table a few Chairs ( including a larg e rocking

C hair ) an d a sofa or rather

settee : its material
was plain maple painted a creamy white slig htly
interstriped with green the seat of can e
The

chairs an d table were to match ; but the forms

of all had evidently been designed by the sam e b rain

whi c h planned the grounds : it is impossible to

conc eive an ything more graceful
On th e table were a few b ooks ; a large square
crystal bottle of some novel perfume ; a plain ground
glass astral (not solar) lamp with an Italian shade ;
and a large vase of resplendently-blooming owers
Flowers indeed of gorgeous colors and delicate odor
formed the sole mere decoration of the apar tment
Th e re-place was nearly lled with a vase of b rilliant
geran ium On a triangular shelf in each angle of
the roo m stood also a similar vase varied only as
to its lovely contents
One or two smaller boquets
ing rain

carp

AL LAN P O E

IO

adorned the man tel ; and late

clustered
about the open windows
It is not the purpose of this work to do more than
give in detail a pictur e of Mr
as I found it
.

E DGA R ALLAN

12

P OE

the dim valley for the sympathy I had nearl y

said for the pity o f my fellow men I wo uld fain

have them believe that I have been in some measure ,
the slave of circumst an ces beyond human control
I woul d wi sh them to seek out for me in the details
I am about to g ive some little oasis of fatality amid
a wilderne ss of error I would h ave them allow
what they cann ot refrain from allowing that
although temptation may have e rewh ile existed a s
great man was never thus at least tempted before
certainly never thus fell And is it therefore that
he has never thus su ff ered ? Have I not indeed
be en living in a dream ? And am I not now dying
a victim to the horror and the mystery of the wildes t
of all sublunary visions ?
I am the desc endant of a race wh ose imag inative
fgle tem
erament has at a l t i
g g s
and easily ex cita
l
fp
rendered them remarkable; an d in my earliest
infan cy I gave eviden ce of having fully inherited
the family character As I advanced in years it
w as more strongly developed ; becoming for m an y
reaso ns a cause of serious disquietude to my friends
and of positive inj ury to myself I grew self-wille d
addicted to the wildest caprices and a prey to the
most ungovernable passions Weak -minded and
beset with constitutional inrmit ies akin to my own
my parents co ul d do but little to check the evil pro
e
i
e
n
s
i
e
which
isti
g
u
i
shed
me
Some
feebl
t
s
d
n
p
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 childre n have ab an doned
their leading -strings I was left to the guidance of
my own will an d bec ame in all but name the
master of my own actions
My earliest recoll ections of a school -life are con
,

'

'

'

'

WILLIAM WILSON

1
3 3

with a large rambling Elizabe than house

in a misty-lookin g village of England where were
a vast number of gigantic an d gnarled trees and
where all the houses were excessively ancient In
truth it was a dream -like and spiri t -soothin g pl ace
that venerable old to wn At this moment in fancy
I feel the refreshing chi lliness of its deeply-sh ad owed
avenues inh ale the fragrance of its thousand shru b
heries and thrill anew with un denab le delight at
the deep hollow note of the church -bell breaking
each hour with sullen and sudden roar upo n 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 ca n
now in an ymanner expe rience to dwell upon minute
recollections of the school and its c oncerns Steepe d

I
t
oo
a
l
in misery as I am misery al as ! only
re
shall be pardoned for seeking relief however sl ight
and temporary in the weakness of a few rambling
d e tails
These moreover utterly trivial and even
ridiculous in themselves assume to my fan cy ad
v ent t ogg imp or
conne
n
ce
a
s
c ted with a period
ta
ii
and a locality whe ne
nd where I recognise the rst
ambigu ous monitions of the destiny which af ter
wards so ful ly overshadowed me Let me then
remember
have said was old and irregular
ive and a high and solid
brick wal l 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
perm itted to take brief walks in a body through
some of the neighboring elds and twi ce during
Sunday when we were paraded in the same form al
nec ted

E DGAR AL LAN

P OE

manner to the morning and evening service in the

O f this c hurch the princi
one c hurch of the vill age
pal of our s chool was pastor With how deep a
spirit of wonder and perplexity was I wont to regard
him from our remote pew in the gallery as with
step solemn and slow he asc ended the p ul pit ! This
reverend man with counten ance so d emurely benign
with robes so glossy and so cleri c ally owing with
wig so minutely powdered so rigid and so v ast
co ul d this be he who of late with sour visage and
in snuff y habiliments a dm inistered ferrul e in han d
the Draconi an Laws Of the a c ademy ? Oh gigantic
paradox too utterly monstrous for solution !
At an an gle Of the ponderous wall frown ed a more
gate
It
was
riveted
and
studded
with
n
o
u
s
e
d
p
g
iron b oltsjarfd Eurmounted with j agged iron spikes
What impressions of deep awe did it in spire ! It
was never Opened save for the thr ee peri odical egres
sions an d ingressions already mentioned ; then in
every creak of its mighty hinges we found a p len i
tude of mystery a world of matter for solemn
remark or for more solemn meditation
The extensive enclosure was irregul ar in form
havin g many capac ious rec esses Of these three
or four of the largest constituted the play-groun d
It was level and covered with ne hard gravel
I well remember it had no trees nor ben ches nor
any thing 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 thr ough
this sac red division we passed onl y upon rare occa
sions indee d su ch as a rst advent to sc hool or
n al d eparture then c e or perhaps when a parent
or friend having c alled for us we j oyfully took our
way home for the Christmas or Midsummer holydays
But the house how quaint an old building w as
.

E DGA R ALLAN

16

P OE

the knife as to have entirely lost what little of

origin al form might have bee n their portion in days
long departed A huge bucket with wa ter stood
at one extremity of the room and a clo c k of stup en
dous dimensions at the other
Encompassed by the massy walls of this vener
able aca demy I passed yet not in te di um or di sgust
the years of the third lustrum of my lif e The
teeming brain of childhood requires no external
world of inci d ent to o ccupy or amuse it ; and the
apparently di smal 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 rst mental
d evelopment had in it mu ch of the uncommon
even much of the ou tre Upon mankind at l arge
the events of very early existen c e rarely leave in
mature age any den ite impression All is gray
shadow a weak and irregu lar rememb ran w an
in distin c t regathering O f feeble pleasur es an d ph antas
With me this is not so In Child
mag oric pains
hoo d I must have felt with the energy of a man what
I now n d stamped upon memory in lines as vivi d
as deep and as durable as the exergues of the Gartha
ginian me dals

Yet in fac t in the fact of the world s view how

little was there to rememb er ! The morning s
awakening the nightly summons to bed ; the con
n
ni g s the recitations ; the pe riodical half holidays
and perambulations ; the play-ground with its
broils its pastimes its intrigues these by a mental
sorcery long forgotten were made to involve a wilder
ness of sensation a world of rich incident an universe
of varied emotion of ex c itement the most passion

Oh le bon temps que 6 6

ate an d spirit -stirring
siecle de fer!
of

W ILL IAM WILSO N

317

In truth the ardor the enthusiasm and the im

soon
rendered
me
a
eriou sne ss of my di sposition
p
marke d chara cter am ong my s choolmates an d by
slow but natural gradations gave me an asc endency
,

11

although no relation
bore the same Christian and su rname as myself a
c ir c umstan c e
in fact little remarkable ; for not
withstanding a noble descent mine was one of those
everyday appellations whi ch seem by pres c riptive
right to have been time ou t of mind the common
proper t y of the mob In this narrative I have there
fore designated myself as William Wilson a cti
tious title not very dissimilar to the real My name
sake alone O f those who in s chool -phraseology

c onstitute d
ou r set
presumed to compete with
me in the stu dies of the class in t h e sports and
broils of the play-ground to refuse impli cit belief
in my assertions a nd submission to my will indeed
to interfere with my arbitrary dictation in any
respe ct whatsoever If there is on earth a supreme
an d unqualied despotism it is the despotism of a
master-mind in boyhood over the less energetic
Spirits of its c ompanions
Wilson s rebellion was to me a source Of the great
est embarrassment ; the more so as in spite of the
bravado with whi ch in public I ma de a point of
treating him and his pretensions I se cretly felt
that I feare d him and could not help thinking the
equality whi ch he maintained so easily with mysel f
a proof of his true superiority ; since not to be over
c ome cost me a perpetual struggle
Yet this superi
ority even this equality was in truth ackn owl
e dged by no one but myself ; ou r asso c iates
by
some un a cc ountable blindness seeme d not even to
O,

V O L I I
.

2 I

EDGAR ALLAN POE

8
3
1

su spect it Indee d his c ompetition his resistance

and espe c ially his impertinent an d d ogged inter
ference with my purposes were not more pointed
t han private
He appeared to be destitute alike of
the ambition which urged and of the passionat e
energy of mind whi c h enabled me to exc el In
his rivalry he might have been suppose d actuated
solely by a whimsi c al desire to thwart astoni sh or
mortify myself ; although there were t imes when I
co ul d not help obse rving with a feeling made up
of won d er abasement and pique that he mingle d
with his injuries his ins ul ts or his c ontra dictions a
certain most inappropriate and assuredl y most
l
unwel c ome aectionateness of manner I c ould
n
y
- o
conceive this sing ular behavior to arise f m a :ofi
su m
mate self-Cohceit assuming the vul gar airs of
patronag e:and p rot e cti on
Perhaps it wa s this latter trait in Wil son s conduct
conjoine d with our i dentity O f name and the mere
a cci dent of our havin g entere d the s chool upon the
same day whi ch set aoat the notion that we were
brothers among the senior c lasses in the academy
These do not usually inquire with mu c h strictness
into the aff airs Of their j un iors I have befor e sai d
or shoul d have sai d
that Wilson was not in the
most remote degree conne cte d with my family
But aRREI C91 ii s
been b rothst s w
been twins ; or after leaving Dr B ran sb y s I c asu
M
all y Te arn ed t hat my namesake was bo rn on the
nineteenth of J an uary 1 8 1 3 and thi s is a some
what remarkable coinc i dence ; for the day is precisely
that of my own nativity
It may seem strange that in spite of the c ontinual
anxiety o ccasione d me by the rivalry of Wilson and
his intolerable spirit of c ontradi c tion I c oul d not
b ri ng myself to hate him altog ether We h ad to
.

wn

m.

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

20

ch

pre c lu ded him from raising his voice

a b ove a very low whisper
Of this defec t
I did not fail to take what poor advantage lay in
my power
Wilson s retaliations in kind were m an y ; and
there was one form of his practi c al wit that di sturbed
me beyond measu re How his
rst dis
me
c overe d at all that so petty a thin
is a question I never could solve ; but having dis
covered he habitually practised the ann oyance
I h ad always felt aversion to my uncourtly patro
n ymic and its very common if not plebeian pra
en o
men The words were venom in my ears ; and when
upon the day of my arrival a se c ond William Wilson
came also to the academy I felt angry with him for
bearing the name and doubly disguste d with the
name be cause a stranger bore it who wo ul d be the
cause of its twofold repetition who wo ul d be c on
st antl y in my presen c e and whose concerns in the
ordinary routine of the school business must in
evitab l y on ac c ount of the detestable coinciden c e
be Often co nf oun de d with my own
The feel ing of vexation thus engendered grew
w
to
sho
c ircumstan c e ten di n
stronger with eve
ry
m mW
resemblan c e moralmq
hysrc
en my rrva
etw
b
e

iyself f TEE not then di scovered the remark

a b le fac t t h at 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 c ontour
of person and outline of feature
I was galled too
by the rumor tou ching a relationship whi ch had
ro
w
n current in the upper forms
In
a
word
g
nothing could more seriously disturb me (although
I s crupul ously concealed such disturban ce ) than
any allusion to a similarity of mind person or con
dition existing between us
B ut in truth I h ad
.

me v

. 9 3 9 4*
ays

Nl

, W

'

'

WILLIAM W I LSO N

32

no reason to believe that (with the exception of the

matter Of relationship and in the c ase of Wilson
himself ) this similarity had ever been made a
subj e c t of comment or even Observed at all by our
schoolfellows That he Observed it in all its bear
ings and as xe dl y as I was apparent ; but that
he coul d di scover in su ch circum stan c es so fruitful
a eld of ann oyance c an only be attributed as I
said before to h is more than ordinary penetration
His cue whi ch was to perfect an imitation of my
self lay both in words and in actions ; and most
a dmirably di d he play his part My dress it was
an easy matter to Copy ; my gait and general manner
were without di fficulty appropriated ; in spite of his
constitutional defect even my voice di d not escape
him My louder tones were of course unattempte d
but then the key it was identi cal ; and his {ingumlar
s er it g rew the very echo o my
h
v
n
m
f
g ip
How greatly this most exquisite portraiture
harassed me (for it could not j ustly be termed
a caricature ) I will not now vent ur e to describe I had
but one consolation in the fac t that the imitation
apparently was noticed by myself alone and that
I had to endure only the knowing and strangely
sarcastic smiles Of my n am esake himself Satised
with having produced in my bosom the intended
e ff e c t he seemed to chu c kle in se cret over the sting
he had inicted and was characteristically disre
g ardf ul of the public applause whi c h the success o f
his witty endeavors might have so easily eli cit ed
That the school indeed did not feel his design
perceive its accomplishment and parti cipate in his
sneer was for many anxious months a ri ddl e I
Perhaps the gradation of his
c oul d not resolve
copy rendered it not so readi ly perceptible ; or
more possibly I owed my security to the masterly
,

E DGAR A LLAN

2 2

POE

air Of the c opyist who di sdaining the letter (whi ch

in a pain ting is all the obtuse can see ) gave but
the full spirit of hi s original for my indi vi dual con
templation and chagrin
I have already more than on c e spoken of the
disgusting air of patronage whi ch he assum e d toward
me and O f his frequent ofciou s interference with
my will This interference Often took the un gracious

ch ar
t
er
f
advi
c e ; advi c e not Openl y g iven
but

o
hinted or insinu ate d I re c eived it with a rep ifg nance
wHih gairied strength as I grew in years
Yet
at this distant day let me do him the simple justice
to acknowle dge that I can recall no o c casion when
the suggestions of my rival were on the si de of those
e rrors or follies so usual to his immature age and
seeming inexperienc e ; that his moral sense at least
if not his general talents and worl dl y wisd om
was far keener than my own ; and that I might to
day have been a better and thus a happier man had
I less frequently rej e cted the co unsels embo died in
those meaning whispers which I then but too
cordi ally hate d and too bitterly despise d
As it was I at length grew restive in the extreme
un der his distasteful supervision and daily resented
more and more Openl y what I consi dered his in
tolerable arrogan c e I have said that in the rst
years of ou r conn exion a s s choolma tes my feelings
in regard to him might have been easily ripened into
frien dship ; but in the latter months Of my resi dence
at the a c a demy although the intrusion of his
ordinary manner had beyond doubt in some measure
abated my sentiments in nearly similar proportion
partook very mu c h of positive hatre d Upon one
occ asion he saw this I think and afterwar ds
avoided or ma de a Sh ow of avoi ding me
It was about the same perio d if I remember
,

E DGAR AL LAN

3 4
2

P OE

th ose ill -natured pieces of practical wit at hi s exp ense

in whi ch I had hitherto been so uniformly unsuccess
It was my intention now to put my scheme in
ful
operation and I resolve d to make him feel the whole
extent of the malice with whi ch I was imbued
Having reached his closet I noiselessly entere d
leaving the lamp with a shade over it on the outside
I a dvanc ed a step and listened to the sound of his
tranquil breathing Assured of his being asleep I re
turne d took the light and with it again approached
the b ed Close curtains wer e around it which in
the prose c ution of my plan I slowly and quietly
withdrew when the bright rays fell vivi dl y upon the
Sleeper and my eyes at the same moment upon his
c ountenan c e
I looked ; -and a numbness an ici
ness of feeling instantly pe rvaded my frame My
breast heave d my knees tottered my whole spirit
became possessed with an Obj ectless yet intolerable
horror Gasping for breath I lowered the lamp in
still nearer proximity to the fac e Weg ew the
,

indee d that they were his but I shook as if with a

t of the ague in fancying they were not What
was there about them to confound me in this mann er ?
I gaze d -while my brain reeled wi th a mul titude
Of in coherent thoughts Not thus he appeared

dl
u
assure y not th s in the viva city of his waking
hours The same name !the same contour of person !
the same day of a rrival a t the a c ademy ! And then
hi s dogged and meaningless imitation of my gait
my voi ce my habits and my manner ! Was it
in truth within the bounds of human possibility
that what I now saw was the resul t merely Of the
habitual pra cti c e of t hi s sarcasti c imitation ? Awe
stricken and with a c reepin g shu dder I extinguish e d
the lamp passe d Silently from the chamber an d
,

W ILLIA M W I L SO N

3 3
2

left at once the halls of that old academy never to

enter them again
After a lapse of some month s spent at home in
mere idl eness I foun d myself a student at Eton
Th e brief interval had been sufcient to enfeeble
my remembrance of the events at Dr Bransb y s
or at least to e ff ect a material change in the nature of
the feelings with which I remembered them The
truth the tragedy O f the drama was no more
I coul d now n d room to doubt the evidenc e of my
senses ; and seldom called up the subj ect at all
but with wonder at the extent of human credulity
and a smile at the vivid force of the imagination
whi ch I hereditarily possessed Neither was this
spe cies of skepti cism likely to be diminished by
the character Of the life I led at Eton The vortex
of thoughtless folly into whi ch I th ere so imme di ately
and so recklessly plunged wash ed away all but the
froth of my past hours ingul fed at on c e every solid
or serious impression and left to memory onl y the
veriest levities of a former existence
I do not wish however to trace the course of my
miserable p roig acy here a proig acy which set
at deance the laws while it eluded the vigilan ce of
the institution Three years of folly passe d without
prot had but given me rooted habits of vi ce and
added in a somewhat unusual degree to my bo di ly
stature when after a week Of soulless dissipation
I inviteda s mall p art y of the mo st dis so lutestudents
myc h amb ers We met at a
late hour of the night ; for our debaucheries were to
be faithfully protracted until morn ing The wine
owed freely and there were not wanting other and
perhaps more dangerous se du ctions ; so that the
gray dawn had alrea dy faintly appeare d in the east
while our delirious extravagance was at its height
,

..

EDGAR ALLAN PO E

6
3
2

Madl y ushed with cards and intoxication I

,

was
th an

the act of insisting upon a toast of more

wonted profanity when my attention was suddenly
di verted by the violent although partial un closing
of the door of the apartment and by the eager voice
Of a se rvant from without He said that some
pe rson apparently in great haste demanded to
speak with me in the hall
Wil dl y ex cited with wine the unexpected in ter
ruption rather delighted than sur p rised me I
staggered forward at on ce and a few steps brought
me to the vestib ul e Of the buil ding
In thi s low
and small room there hun g no lamp ; an d now no
light at all was admitted save that of the exceedingly
feeble dawn which made its way through the semi
circular window As I put my foot over the threshold
I became aware of the gur e of a youth about my own
height and habited in a white kerseymere morning
frock cut in the novel fashion of the one I myself
wore at the moment This the faint light enabled
me to perc eive ; but the features of his face I co ul d
not distinguish Upon my entering he strode
hurrie dl y up to me and seizing me by the arm with
a gesture Of pet ul ant impatienc e whispered the

words William Wilson

in my ear
I grew pe rfectly sober in an instant
There was that in the manner of the stranger and
in the tremul ous shake of his uplifte d nger as he
held it between my eyes and the light whi ch lled
me with unqualied amazement ; but it was not
this whi ch had so violently moved me It was the
pregnanc y Of solemn a dm onition in the singul ar
low hissing utteran c e ; and above all it was the
in

E DGAR ALLAN

s
3
2

P OE

catalogue of vices then usual in the m ost dissolute

university of Europe
It could hardl y be credited however that I had
even here so utterly fallen from the gentlemanl y
estate as to seek acquaintance with the vilest
arts of the gam b ler by profession an d having b e
come an adept in his despicable scienc e to practise
it habitually as a means Of increasing my al ready
eno rmous income at the expense Of the weak
minded among my fellow-collegians Su ch never
An d the very enormity of
th eless wa s the fact
this O ff ense against all manly and honorable senti
ment proved beyond doubt the main if not the
sole reason of the impunity with whi ch it w as
committe d Who in deed among my most aban
doned asso ciates would not rather have di sputed
the clearest evidence of his senses than have sus
of
such
courses
the
gay
the
frank
the
gener
c
t
e
d
e
p
ou s William Wilson the noblest and most liberal
commoner at Oxford him whose follies ( said his
parasites) were but the follies of youth and unbridled
fanc y whose errors but inimitable whim whose
d arkest 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
z c a

a
u
n
i
r
r
v
e
n
nobleman
l
e
n
m
w
f
i
G
r

g
p
p ftj
as Herodes Atti c us his riches too as easily acquired
I soon found him Of weak intellect an d of co urse
marked hi m as a tting subje c t for my skill I
frequently engaged him in play and contrived with
the gambler s usual art to let him win consi derable
sums the more e ff ectually to entangle him in my
snares At length my schemes bein g ripe I met
him (with the full intention that this meeting shoul d
be nal and decisive) at the chambers Of a fellow
commoner ( Mr Preston ) equally intimate with
.

W ILLIAM WI LS O N

32 9

but who to do him j ustice entertained not

even a remote suspi cion 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
sh ould appear a cc idental and originate in the
proposal of my contemplated dupe himself To be
brief upon a vile topi c none Of the low nesse was
omitted so customary upon similar occasions that
it is a j ust matter for wonder how any are still
fo und so besotted as to fall its vi c tim
We had protra cted our sitting far into the night
and I h ad at lengt h eff e c te d the manoeuvre of getting
Glendi nning 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
their own c ards and were standing around us as
spectators The pa rvenu wh o had been indu c ed
by my artices in the early part of the evening to
d ri nk deeply now shuffle d dealt or played with a
wild nervousness of manner for which his intoxica
tion I thought might partially but could not alto
gether a cc o unt In a very Sh ort period he had
become my debtor to a large amount when having
taken a long draught Of port he did pre cisely what
I h ad been c oolly anti cipating h e proposed to double
ou r
already extravagant stakes With a well
fei g ne d Show Of relu ctance and not until after my
repeate d refusal h ad sedu ced him into some angry
word s whi ch gave a color of pique to my complianc e
did I nally comply
The result of course did but
prove how entirely the prey was in my toils : in less
than an hour he had qua drupled his debt For
so me time his countenanc e had been losing the
orid tinge lent it by the wine ; but now to my
astonishment I perc eived that it had grown to a
b oth

EDGAR ALLAN P O E

o
3
3

pall or tru ly fearful I say to my astonishmen t

Glendinning had been repre sented to my eager
inquiries as immeasurably wealthy ; and the sums
which he had as yet lost although in themsel ves
vast could not I supposed very seriously ann oy
much less so violently aff ect him That he wa s
overcome by the wine j ust swallowed was the idea
which most readi ly presented itself ; an d rather with
a View to the preservation of my own c haracter in
the eyes of my assoc iates than from an yless interested
motive I was about to insist peremptorily upon a
discontinu an c e of the play when some expressions
at my elbow from among the company and an ejacu
lation evin cing utter despair on the part of Glendin
ning gave me to understand that I had e ffect ed
his total ruin under circumst an c es which renderin g
him an Obj e c t for the pity Of all shoul d have pro
tected him from the ill O f ces even of a end
What n ow might have been my c onduct it is
dii cu lt t o say The pitiable c on dition of my dupe
had thrown an air Of embarrassed gloom over all ;
and for some moments a profoun d silence was
maintained during whi ch I c o ul d not help fee ling
my ch eeks tingle with the many burning glances of
sc orn or reproach cast upon me by the less abandoned
of the party
I will even own that an intolerable
weight of anxiety w as for a brief instant lifted from
my bosom by the sudden and extraordinary inter
ruption whi c h ensued The wide heavy fol di ng
doors of the apartment were all at on c e thrown
Open to their full extent with a vigorous and rushing
impetuosity that extinguished as if by magic every
can dle in the roo m Their light in d ying enabled
us j ust to perc eive that a stranger had entered about
my own height and closely mufed i n a c loak Th e
darkn e ss howev er was now total : and we could
.

E DGA R ALLAN

2
33

P OE

will invariably n d that he cuts his antagonist an

honor ; while the gambler cutting at the bread th
will as certainly cut nothing for his v ictim whi ch
may count in the records of the game
Any burst of indignation upon this discovery wou ld
have a ff ected me less than the silent c ontempt or the
sarcastic composure with whi ch it was received

said our host stooping to remove

: Mr Wil son
from b eneath h iS feet an exceedingl y lux urious
c loak of rare furs
Mr
(Th e weather w a s cold ; and upon quitting my
own room I had thrown a cloak over my dressing
wrapper putting it O ff upon rea ching the scene of

play )
I presume it is supererogatory to seek here
(eyeing the fol ds of the garment with a bitter smile)
for any farther evidence of your skill In dee d
we have had enough You will see the necessity
I hope Of quitting Oxford at all events Of quitting

instantly my c hambers
Abased humble d to the dust as I then was it
is probable that I shoul d have resented this galling
language by immediate personal violenc e h ad not
my whole attention been at the moment arreste d b y
a fact of the mostwgga
h
c
r
c
The
cloa
a
a
t
k
j
l
t
n
e
g
r,
g
which I had worn was of a rare des cription of fur ;
how rare how extravagantly c ostly I shall not
venture to say Its fashion too was of my Own
fantastic invention ; for I was fasti dious to an absurd
degr ee of coxcombry in matters Of this frivolous
nature When therefore Mr Preston reached me
that whi ch he h ad picked up upon the oor and near
the fol ding -doors of the apartment it was with an
astoni shment nearly bordering upon terror that
I perceive d my own alrea dy hanging on my arm
(where I h ad no doubt un wittingly place d it ) and
that the one presented me was but its exact coun
,

W I LL IAM W ILSO N

333

in every in even the minutest possible

parti cular Th e singular being who h ad so disas
trou sly expose d me h ad been muffl ed I remembered
in a cloak ; and none had been worn at all by any
o f the members Of our party with the ex c eption O f
myself Retaining some presence of mind I took
the one O ffered me by Preston ; placed it unnoti ce d
over my ow n; left the apartment with a resolute
s c owl O f deanc e ; an d next morning ere dawn of
d ay commenced a hurried j ourney from Oxford
to the continent in a perfect agony of horror and of
shame
evil destiny pursued me as if
in deed that the exerc ise
In
o f its mysterious dominion h ad as yet only begun
S c arcely h ad I set foot in Paris ere I h ad fresh
evi dence of the detestable interest taken by this
Wi lson in my concerns Years ew while I ex
-at Rome
rien c ed no relief
e
Villain
with
how
p
untimely yet with how spe ctral an ofciou sness
steppe d he in between me an d my ambition ! At
Vienna too at Berlin and at Mos c ow ! Where
in truth had I not bitter c ause to curse him within
my heart ? From his inscrutable tyranny did I
at lengt h ee pani c-striken as from a pestilence ;
an d to the very en ds of the earthj j lg djn vain
An d again and again in se cret c ommunion with

my own spirit woul d I demand the questions Who

s
i he
whenc e c ame he and what are his Obj ects
But no answer was there found And now I s c rutin
iz ed with a minute scrutiny the forms an d the
metho ds and the leading traits Of his impertinent
supervision But even here there was very little
upon whi c h to base a conj ec ture It was noti ceable
In deed
that in no one of the multiplied instances
in whi ch he had o f late cros sed my path had he so
terp art

v0 1

1 1 2 2

E DGAR AL LAN

33 4

POE

cr ossed it except to frustrate those sc hemes or to

distur b those a c tions which if fully carried out
might have resulted in bitter mis chief Poor
j ustication this in truth for an authority
periousl y assumed ! Poor indemnity for natural
rights Of self-agency so pertina ciously so insul ting ly
denie d !
I had also been forc ed to notice that my tormentor
for a very long pe ri od of time (while s c rupul ously
and with mira cul ous dexterity maintaining his whim
of an i dentity of apparel with m
yself ) had so
cont ri ved it in the execution of hi s varied inter
ferenc e with my will that I saw not at an y moih ent
the features of his fac e Be Wilson what he might
this at least was but the veriest of aff ectation
Or of folly
l d he for an instant have suppo sed
Cou
/
that in
of m
a
,

in Egypt that in t hi s my arch-enemy

a nd evil genius I could fail to re c ognise the William
Wilson of my s chool-boy days the namesake

the companion the rival the hated and dr eaded

rival at Dr Bran sb y s ? Impossible B ut let me
hasten to the last eventful s cene of the drama
Thus far I had succum bed supinely to this
imperious domination The sentiment Of deep awe
with whi c h I habitually regarded the elevated
character the maj estic wisdom the apparent omni
presence and omnipotenc e Of Wilson a dded to a
feeling QLW
mth whi ch certain other traits
in his nature an d assumptions inspired me had
O perated hitherto to impress me wi th an idea
of my own utter wea kness an d helplessness and to
an
suggest
implicit al though bitterly reluctan t
av ari ce

E DGAR

6
33

P OE

ALLAN

begirt about the waist with a crimson belt sustaining

a rap ier A m ask of bl ac k silk entirely c overed his
fac e

S c oun dr el ! I said in a voi c e husky with rage

whi le every syll able I uttered seemed as new fuel

to my fury ; s coundrel ! impostor ! a ccurse d villain !

you shall not you sha ll n ot dog me unto death !

Follow me or I stab you where you stan d I and

I broke my way from the ball-room into a sm al l ante
c hamber adj oining dr agging him un resistingly with
me as I went
Upon entering I th rust him furiously from me
He staggere d against the wall while I closed the
d oor with an oath and c omman de d him to draw
He hesitate d but for an instant ; then with a slight
sigh drew in silen c e and put himself upon his
d efen c e
I was franti c with
Th e c ontest was brief in deed
every spe c ies of wild ex citement an d felt wi thin my
single arm the energy and power of a multitu de
In a few se conds I forc e d him by sheer strength
against the wains c oting and thus getting him at
mercy plunged my sword with brute fero city
repeate dly through and through his bosom
At that instant some person tried the latch of the
I hastene d to prevent an intrusion and then
door
imme diately returned to my d ying antagonist
But what human language can adequately portray
tha t astonishment that ho rror whi ch possesse d me at
The brief
th e spe cta cle then presented to View ?
moment in whi ch I averted my eyes had been suf
cien t to pro du c e apparently a material change
the arrangements at the upper or farther end of th e
.

my c onfusion

ti b le b efore

pW

ce

now
'

stood

an d,

as I stepped up to

r
ex

it

in

WILLIAM WILSON
tremit y

of

33 7

terror mine own image but with feature s

all pale and d abbled in bloo d 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 h is dissolution His
mask and cloak lay where he h ad thrown them
upon the oor Not a threa d in all his raiment
not a line in all the marke d and singular lineaments
of his fac e whi c h was n ot even in the most absolute
identity
It wasWilson ; but he spoke no longer in a whisper
and I c ould have fan cied that I myse lf was speaking
while he sai d :
,

You have
a nd

conqu ered,

a nd

I yield

Yet hence
ex is t

nd ,
a