|
{{1839-01:
THETHE
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.
}}—— BY EDGAR A. POE. —— {{1840-02 // 1842-03: FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. {{1845-04 // 1850-05: OF
 DURING the whole of a dull, dark,
and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung
oppressively
low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a
singularly
dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of
the
evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know
not
how it was — but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of
insufferable
gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was
unrelieved
by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which
the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the
desolate
or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me — upon the mere house,
and
the simple landscape features of the domain — upon the bleak walls —
upon
the vacant eye-like windows — upon a few rank sedges — and upon a few
white
trunks of decayed trees — with an utter depression of soul which I can
compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream
of
the reveller upon opium — the bitter lapse into {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: common // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
every-day }}
life — the
hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness,
a sinking, a sickening of the heart — an unredeemed dreariness of
thought
which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the
sublime.
What was it — I paused to think — what was it that so unnerved me in
the
contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble;
nor
could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I
pondered.
I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that
while,
beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural
objects
which have the power of thus affecting us, still {{1839-01
// 1840-02: the reason, and }}
the analysis {{1839-01 // 1840-02: , }}
of this power {{1839-01 // 1840-02: , lie
// 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: lies }}
among
considerations beyond our
depth. It was
possible,
I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of
the
scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or
perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and,
acting
upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black
and
lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down
— but with a shudder even more thrilling than before — upon the
re-modelled
and 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
proposed
to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had
been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed
since
our last meeting. A letter, however, had
lately reached me in a distant part of the country — a letter from him
— which, in its wildly importunate nature, had admitted of no other
than
a personal reply. The MS. gave evidence of nervous agitation. The
writer
spoke of acute bodily illness — of a {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: pitiable }} mental {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: idiosyncrasy //
1845-04 // 1850-05: disorder }} which
oppressed him — and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and
indeed {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: ,
}} his only personal friend, with a view of
attempting, by the
cheerfulness
of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in
which
all this, and much more, was said — it was the apparent heart
that
went with his request — which allowed me no room for hesitation {{1839-01 // 1840-02: — // 1842-03 //
1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} and I
accordingly obeyed {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: , // 1845-04 // 1850-05: forthwith }}
what I
still considered a very singular summons {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: ,
forthwith }} . Although, as boys, we had been even
intimate
associates,
yet I really knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always
excessive
and habitual. I was aware, however, that his very ancient family had
been
noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sensibility of temperament,
displaying
itself, through long ages, in many works of exalted art, and
manifested,
of late, in repeated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusive charity, as
well
as in a passionate devotion to the intricacies, perhaps even more than
to the orthodox and easily {{1839-01:
recognizable // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
recognisable }}
beauties, of musical science. I
had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher
race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any
enduring
branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line
of
descent, and had always, with very trifling
and very temporary variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, I
considered,
while running over in thought the perfect keeping of the character of
the
premises with the accredited character of the people, and while
speculating
upon the possible influence which the one, in the long lapse of
centuries,
might have exercised upon the other — it was this deficiency, perhaps,
of collateral issue, and the consequent undeviating transmission, from
sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which had, at length, so
identified
the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the quaint and
equivocal appellation of the "House of Usher" — an appellation which
seemed
to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family
and the family mansion. I have said that the sole effect of
my somewhat
childish
experiment {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
, // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — that }} of looking
down within
the tarn {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
, // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — }} had been to deepen
the
first
singular impression. There can be no doubt that the consciousness of
the
rapid increase of my superstition — for why should I not so term it? —
served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have long
known,
is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a basis. And
it might have been for this reason only, that, when I again uplifted my
eyes to the house itself, from its image in the pool, there grew in my
mind a strange fancy — a fancy so ridiculous, indeed, that I but
mention
it to show the vivid force of the sensations which oppressed me. I had
so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: around }}
about
the
whole mansion and domain there hung an
atmosphere
peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity — an atmosphere
which
had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from
the
decayed trees, and the gray {{1839-01:
walls // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: wall }}
, and the
silent tarn {{ 1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
, in the form of
an
inelastic // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — a pestilent and mystic }}
vapor {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: or
gas // 1845-04 // 1850-05: , }} — dull,
sluggish, faintly
discernible, and
leaden-hued. {{1845-04 // 1850-05: [[new
paragraph,
with new indent]] }} Shaking off from my spirit what
must have been a dream, I
scanned
more narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its principal feature
seemed
to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had
been
great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine
tangled
web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary
dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared
to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of
parts,
and the {{1839-01 // 1840-02: utterly
porous, and
evidently decayed // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: crumbling }}
condition of the
individual
stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious
totality
of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected
vault,
with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this
indication
of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of
instability.
Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a
barely
perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in
front, made its way down the wall in a {{1839-01
// 1840-02 //
1842-03: zig-zag // 1845-04 // 1850-05: zigzag }}
direction,
until it
became
lost in the sullen waters of the tarn. Noticing these things, I rode over a
short
causeway
to the house. A servant in waiting took my
horse, and I entered the Gothic archway of the hall. A valet, of
stealthy
step, thence conducted me, in silence, through many dark and intricate
passages in my progress to the {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: studio // 1845-04 // 1850-05: studio
}} of his master. Much that I
encountered
on the way contributed, I know not how, to heighten the vague
sentiments
of which I have already spoken. While the objects around me — while the
carvings of the ceilings, the sombre tapestries of the walls, the ebon
blackness of the floors, and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies which
rattled as I strode, were but matters to which, or to such as which, I
had been accustomed from my infancy — while I hesitated not to
acknowledge
how familiar was all this — I still wondered to find how unfamiliar
were
the fancies which ordinary images were stirring up. On one of the
staircases,
I met the physician of the family. His countenance, I thought, wore a
mingled
expression of low cunning and perplexity. He accosted me with
trepidation
and passed on. The valet now threw open a door and ushered me into the
presence of his master. The room in which I found myself was
very large
and {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
excessively }} lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and
pointed, and at
so
vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether
inaccessible
from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through
the {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
trelliced // 1845-04 // 1850-05: trellissed }}
panes, and
served to render sufficiently distinct the
more
prominent objects around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach
the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and
fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung
upon the
walls.
The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered.
Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to
give
any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of
sorrow.
An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded
all. Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a
sofa {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
upon // 1845-04 // 1850-05: on }}
which
he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious
warmth
which had much in it, I at first thought {{1840-02
// 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: , }} of an
overdone
cordiality —
of
the constrained effort of the {{1839-01:
ennuyé // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ennuyé
}}
man of the world. A
glance, however, at his countenance {{1845-04
// 1850-05: , }} convinced me of his perfect
sincerity.
We sat down; and for some moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him
with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before
so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It
was
with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the
wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood. Yet the
character
of his face had been at all times remarkable. A cadaverousness of
complexion;
an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat
thin
and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a
delicate
Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar
formations;
a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want
of
moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these
features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple,
made up altogether a countenance not
easily
to be forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing
character
of these features, and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay
so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke. The now ghastly
pallor
of the skin, and the now miraculous lustre of the eye, above all things
startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to
grow
all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather
than
fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: arabesque //
1845-04 // 1850-05: Arabesque }}
expression with any idea of {{1839-01 //
1845-04 // 1850-05:
simple // 1840-02 // 1842-03: simply [[sic]] }}
humanity. In the manner of my friend I was at
once struck
with
an incoherence — an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from
a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual
trepidancy {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
, // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — }} an excessive
nervous agitation. For
something of this nature I had
indeed
been prepared, no less by his letter, than by reminiscences of certain
boyish traits, and by conclusions deduced from his peculiar physical
conformation
and temperament. His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His
voice
varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the animal spirits
seemed
utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic concision — that
abrupt,
weighty, unhurried, and hollow-sounding enunciation — that leaden,
self-balanced
and perfectly modulated guttural utterance, which may be observed in {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
the
moments of the intensest excitement of }} the lost
drunkard, or the
irreclaimable
eater of opium {{1845-04 // 1850-05: ,
during the
periods of his most intense excitement }} . It was thus that he spoke of the
object of my
visit, of his earnest desire to see
me, and of
the solace he expected me to afford him. He entered, at some length,
into
what he conceived to be the nature of his malady. It was, he said, a
constitutional
and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy {{1842-03: ; }} — a
mere nervous affection, he {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
immediately }} added {{1839-01
// 1840-02: // 1845-04
, // 1842-03: in a breath, }} which would
undoubtedly
soon
pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some
of
these, as he detailed them, interested and bewildered me {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
— // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }}
although,
perhaps,
the terms, and the general manner of the narration had their weight. He
suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid
food
was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture;
the
odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a
faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from
stringed
instruments, which did not inspire him with horror. To an anomalous species of terror I
found him a
bounden
slave. "I shall perish," said he, "I must perish in this
deplorable
folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the
events
of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at
the
thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon
this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of
danger,
except in its absolute effect — in terror. In this unnerved — in this
pitiable
condition — I feel that {{1845-04 //
1850-05:
the period will sooner or later arrive when }} I must {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: inevitably }}
abandon life and reason
together
in {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: my
struggles // 1845-04 // 1850-05: some struggle }}
with {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
some fatal
demon of fear // 1845-04 // 1850-05: the grim phantasm, FEAR }}
."I learned, moreover, at intervals,
and through
broken
and equivocal hints, another singular feature of his mental condition.
He was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the
dwelling which he tenanted, and {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: from which // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
whence }} , for many years, he had
never
ventured forth — in regard to an influence whose supposititious force
was
conveyed in terms too shadowy here to be {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: restated // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
re-stated }} — an influence which
some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family
mansion,
had, by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit — an
effect which the physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of
the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought
about
upon the morale of his existence. He admitted, however, although with
hesitation,
that
much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to
a more natural and far more palpable origin — to the severe and
long-continued
illness — indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution — of a
tenderly
beloved sister {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: ; // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — }} his
sole companion for long years — his last and only
relative
on earth. "Her decease," he said, with a bitterness which I can never
forget,
"would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the
ancient
race of the Ushers." {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: As // 1845-04 // 1850-05: While }}
he spoke {{1839-01 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
, }} the lady Madeline (for so was she
called)
passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without
having
noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her with an utter
astonishment
not unmingled with dread {{1839-01 // 1840-02
// 1842-03: . Her figure, her air, her features — all, in
their
very minutest development were those —
were
identically }} {{1840-02 //
1842-03: , }} {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03:
(I can use no other sufficient term }} {{1840-02
// 1842-03: , }} {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: )
were identically
those
of the Roderick Usher who sat beside me }} {{1845-04 // 1850-05: — and yet I found it
impossible to
account for such feelings }} . A {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: feeling // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
sensation }}
of stupor oppressed
me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: As // 1845-04 // 1850-05: When }}
a door, at length,
closed
upon her {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
exit }} , my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the
countenance
of the brother {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1845-04 // 1850-05: — //
1842-03: ; }}
but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could
only
perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the
emaciated
fingers through which trickled many passionate tears. The disease of the lady Madeline had
long baffled
the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away
of
the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially
cataleptical
character, were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had steadily borne
up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself
finally
to bed; but, on the closing in of the evening of my arrival at the
house,
she succumbed {{1839-01 // 1840-02: , //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
( }} as
her brother told me at night with inexpressible
agitation {{1839-01 // 1840-02: , //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
) }}
to the prostrating power of the destroyer {{1839-01
// 1840-02:
— // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} and I
learned that
the
glimpse
I had obtained of her person would thus probably be the last I should
obtain
— that the lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more. For several days ensuing, her name
was
unmentioned
by either Usher or myself {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: ; // 1845-04 // 1850-05: : }}
and {{1839-01:
, }} during this period {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: , }} I was busied in
earnest
endeavors to alleviate the melancholy of my friend. We painted and read
together {{1839-01 // 1840-02: — //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
; }} or I
listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of his
speaking guitar. And thus, as a
closer
and still closer intimacy admitted me more unreservedly into the
recesses
of his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all
attempt
at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive
quality,
poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe, in
one
unceasing radiation of gloom. I shall ever bear about me {{1839-01:
, as Moslemin their shrouds at Mecca, }} a memory
of the many
solemn
hours I thus spent alone with the master of the House of Usher. Yet I
should
fail in any attempt to convey an idea of the exact character of the
studies,
or of the occupations, in which he involved me, or led me the way. An
excited
and highly distempered ideality threw a {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: sulphurous // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
sulphoreous [[sic]] }} lustre over
all. His
long improvised dirges will ring {{1839-01:
for ever // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: forever }}
in my
ears. Among other
things,
I {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: bear //
1845-04 // 1850-05: hold }} painfully in mind a
certain singular perversion and
amplification
of the wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber. From the paintings over
which his elaborate fancy brooded, and which grew, touch by touch, into
vaguenesses at which I shuddered the more thrillingly, because I
shuddered
knowing not why {{1840-02: , //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; — }}
from these paintings (vivid as {{1839-01:
there [[sic]] // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
their }}
images now are
before
me) I would in vain endeavor to educe more than a small portion which
should
lie within the compass of merely written words. By the utter
simplicity {{1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
, //
1842-03:
— }}
by the nakedness {{1839-01: , }}
of his designs, he arrested and {{1839-01:
over-awed // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: overawed
}}
attention. If
ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher. For me at
least {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 //
1850-05: — //
1842-03: , }} in the
circumstances then surrounding me {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03:
, }} there arose out of
the
pure abstractions which the
hypochondriac
contrived to throw upon his {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: canvas // 1845-04 // 1850-05: canvass }}
, an intensity of intolerable awe, no
shadow of which felt I ever yet in the contemplation of the certainly
glowing
yet too concrete reveries of Fuseli. One of the phantasmagoric conceptions
of my
friend,
partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed
forth, although feebly, in words. A small picture presented the
interior
of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls,
smooth,
white, and without interruption or device. Certain accessory points of
the design served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at
an
exceeding depth below the surface of the earth. No outlet was observed
in any portion of its vast extent, and no torch, or other artificial
source
of light was discernible {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
— // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }}
yet a flood of intense rays rolled
throughout,
and bathed the whole in a ghastly and inappropriate splendor. I have just spoken of that morbid
condition of
the
auditory nerve which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer,
with
the exception of certain effects of stringed instruments. It was,
perhaps,
the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar,
which
gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his
performances.
But the fervid facility of his {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: impromptus // 1845-04 // 1850-05: impromptus
}} could not be so
accounted
for. They must have been, and were, in the notes, as well as in the
words
of his wild fantasias {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: , }} (for he not unfrequently accompanied
himself
with
rhymed verbal improvisations {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: , }} ) {{1845-04
// 1850-05: , }} the result of that intense mental
collectedness and concentration to which I have
previously
alluded as observable only in particular moments of the highest
artificial
excitement. The words of one of these rhapsodies I have easily {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: borne
away
in memory // 1845-04 // 1850-05: remembered }} .
I was, perhaps, the more forcibly impressed with it, as he
gave
it, because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning, I fancied
that
I perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness on the part
of
Usher, of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne. The
verses,
which were entitled "The Haunted Palace," ran very nearly, if not
accurately,
thus:
I well remember that suggestions arising from this
ballad {{1845-04 // 1850-05: , }}
led us into a train of thought wherein there became manifest an opinion
of Usher's which I mention not so much on account of its novelty, (for
other men {{1845-04 // 1850-05: [[footnote
01]] * }} have thought thus,)
as on
account of the
pertinacity with
which
he maintained it. This opinion, in its general form, was that of the
sentience
of all vegetable things. But, in his disordered fancy, the idea had
assumed
a more daring character, and trespassed, under certain conditions, upon
the kingdom of inorganization. I lack words to express the full extent,
or the earnest abandon of his persuasion. The belief, however,
was
connected (as I have previously hinted) with the gray stones of the
home
of his forefathers. The {{1839-01:
condition // 1840-02 // 1842-04 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
conditions }}
of the sentience had been here, he
imagined,
fulfilled in the method of collocation of these stones — in the order
of
their arrangement, as well as in that of the many {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: fungi // 1845-04 // 1850-05: fungi
}}
which
overspread
them, and of the decayed trees which stood around — above all, in the
long
undisturbed endurance of this arrangement, and in its reduplication in
the still waters of the tarn. Its evidence — the evidence of the
sentience
— was to be seen, he said, (and I here started as he spoke,) in {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: the
gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about
the
waters and the walls // 1845-04 // 1850-05: the
gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about
the
waters and the walls }} . The result was discoverable,
he added, in
that
silent, yet importunate and terrible
influence
which for centuries had moulded the destinies of his family, and which
made him what I now saw him — what he was. Such opinions need
no
comment, and I will make none. Our books — the books which, for
years, had
formed
no small portion of the mental existence of the invalid — were, as
might
be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm. We
pored
together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset; the
Belphegor
of Machiavelli; {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: the Selenography of Brewster; }} the Heaven
and Hell of
Swedenborg;
the Subterranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm {{1839-01
// 1840-02:
de // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: by }}
Holberg; the
Chiromancy of
Robert Flud, of Jean {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: d'Indaginé // 1845-04 // 1850-05: D'Indaginé }}
, and of De la Chambre; the
Journey
into the Blue Distance of Tieck; and the City of the Sun of Campanella.
One favorite volume was a small octavo edition of the {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: Directorium
Inquisitorium [[Inquisitorium]] // 1845-04 // 1850-05: Directorium
Inquisitorium [[Inquisitorum]] }} ,
by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in
Pomponius
Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Œgipans, over which Usher
would sit dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in
the {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
earnest and repeated }} perusal of an exceedingly rare
and curious
book
in quarto Gothic — the manual of a forgotten church — the {{1839-01 // 1840-02: Vigilae //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: Vigiliae }} Mortuorum
secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae. I could not help thinking of the wild
ritual of
this
work, and of its probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one
evening,
having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he
stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a
fortnight, {{1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 //
1850-05:
( }}
previously to its final interment, {{1840-02
// 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ) }} in one of the
numerous
vaults
within
the main walls of the building. The {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: wordly [[sic]] // 1845-04 //
1850-05:
worldly }} reason, however, assigned
for
this singular proceeding, was one which I did not feel at liberty to
dispute.
The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
considerations // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: consideration }}
of
the
unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain
obtrusive
and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote
and
exposed situation of the {{1839-01:
burial ground // 1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
burial-ground }}
of the family. I will not deny
that
when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met
upon the staircase, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no
desire
to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: not }}
by {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
any // 1845-04 // 1850-05: no }}
means
an unnatural {{1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04
// 1850-05:
, }}
precaution. At the request of Usher, I personally
aided him
in
the arrangements for the temporary entombment. The body having been
encoffined,
we two alone bore it to its rest. The vault in which we placed it (and
which had been so long unopened that our torches, half smothered in its
oppressive atmosphere, gave us little opportunity for investigation)
was
small, damp, and {{1839-01: utterly //
1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: entirely }}
without
means of
admission for light; lying,
at great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in
which
was my own sleeping apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote
feudal times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, and, in later
days,
as a place of deposit for powder, or {{1845-04
// 1850-05: some }} other highly combustible
substance,
as a portion of its floor, and the
whole
interior of a long archway through which we reached it, were carefully
sheathed with copper. The door, of massive iron, had been, also,
similarly
protected. Its immense weight caused an unusually sharp grating sound,
as it moved upon its hinges. Having deposited our mournful burden
upon
tressels
within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet
unscrewed
lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: The exact //
1845-04 // 1850-05: A striking }}
similitude
between the brother and sister {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: even here again startled and confounded
me. // 1845-04 // 1850-05: now first arrested my attention; and
}}
Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured out some few words
from which I learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and
that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed
between
them. Our glances, however, rested not long upon the dead {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03: ; }} for we
could
not regard her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in
the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly
cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and
the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is
so
terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the lid, and, having
secured
the door of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely less
gloomy
apartments of the upper portion of the house. And now, some days of bitter grief
having
elapsed,
an observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of
my
friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were
neglected or forgotten. He
roamed from
chamber
to chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless step. The pallor of
his
countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03: ; }} but the
luminousness
of his eye had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his
tone
was heard no more; and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror,
habitually
characterized his utterance. {{1839-01 //
1840-02: — }} There were
times, indeed, when I thought
his {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 //
1850-05:
unceasingly agitated }} mind {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
was }} laboring with an oppressive secret,
to
divulge which he struggled for the necessary courage. At times, again,
I was obliged to resolve all into the mere inexplicable vagaries of
madness, {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
as // 1845-04 // 1850-05: for }} I beheld him
gazing upon
vacancy for long hours, in {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: an // 1845-04 // 1850-05: some }}
attitude of
the
profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was
no wonder that his condition terrified — that it infected me. I felt
creeping
upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own
fantastic
yet impressive superstitions. It was, {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
most }}
especially, upon
retiring to bed
late
in the night of the seventh or eighth day after the {{1839-01: entombment // 1840-02 // 1842-03
// 1845-04 // 1850-05:
placing }} of the lady
Madeline {{1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 //
1850-05:
within the
donjon }} , that I experienced the full power of such
feelings.
Sleep came not near my couch — while the hours waned and waned away. I
struggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me. I {{1839-01 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: endeavored //
1840-02 // 1842-03: endeavoured }} to believe that
much, if not all of what I
felt, was due to the {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: phantasmagoric // 1845-04 // 1850-05: bewildering }}
influence of the gloomy furniture of the room — of the dark and
tattered
draperies, which, tortured into motion by
the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the
walls,
and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed. But my efforts
were
fruitless. An irrepressible tremor gradually pervaded my frame; and, at
length, there sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly causeless
alarm.
Shaking this off with a gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the
pillows, and, peering earnestly within the intense darkness of the
chamber,
harkened — I know not why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted
me
— to certain low and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses
of
the storm, at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an
intense
sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on my
clothes
with haste {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
, // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ( }} for I felt that I
should
sleep no more during the night {{1845-04
// 1850-05: ) }}
, and
endeavored to arouse myself from the pitiable condition into which I
had
fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the apartment. I had taken but few turns in this
manner, when a
light step on an adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently
{{1839-01: recognized //
1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: recognised }}
it as
that of
Usher. In an instant {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: afterwards // 1845-04 // 1850-05: afterward }}
he rapped,
with
a gentle touch, at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His
countenance
was, as usual, cadaverously wan — but {{1845-04
// 1850-05:
, moreover, }} there was a species of mad
hilarity
in his eyes — an evidently restrained {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: hysteria // 1845-04 // 1850-05: hysteria
}} in his whole demeanor.
His
air appalled me {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1845-04 // 1850-05: — //
1842-03: ; }}
but {{1839-01: any thing // 1840-02
// 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: anything }} was
preferable to
the
solitude which I
had
so long endured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief. "And you have not seen it?" he said
abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in
silence
— "you have not then seen it? — but, stay! you shall." Thus speaking,
and
having carefully shaded his lamp, he hurried to one of the {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: gigantic }}
casements,
and threw it freely open to the storm. The impetuous fury of the entering
gust nearly
lifted
us from our feet. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful
night,
and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had
apparently
collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and
violent
alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of
the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the
house)
did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they
flew
careering from all points against each other, without passing away into
the distance. I say that even their exceeding density did not prevent
our
perceiving this {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1845-04 // 1850-05: — //
1842-03: ; }}
yet we had no glimpse of the moon or stars {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03: ; }} nor was
there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the under surfaces of
the
huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all terrestrial objects
immediately
around us, were glowing in the {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
unnatural }}
light of a faintly luminous
and {{1842-03: yet }}
distinctly visible gaseous
exhalation which hung about and enshrouded
the
mansion. "You must not — you shall not behold
this!" said
I, shudderingly, to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from
the
window to a seat. "These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely
electrical
phenomena not uncommon — or it may be that they have their ghastly
origin
in the rank miasma of the tarn. Let us
close
this casement {{1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }}
— the air is chilling and dangerous to your frame. Here
is
one of your favorite romances. I will read, and you shall listen {{1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} — and
so we will pass away this terrible night together. {{1845-04 // 1850-05: " }}The antique volume which I had taken
up was the
"Mad
Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: — // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }}
but I
had called it a favorite of
Usher's
more in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its
uncouth {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 //
1850-05:
and
unimaginative }}
prolixity which
could have had interest for
the
lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend. It was, however, the only
book
immediately at hand; and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement
which
now agitated the hypochondriac {{1845-04 //
1850-05:
, }} might find relief (for the history of
mental
disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of the
folly
which I should read. Could I have judged, indeed {{1839-01
// 1845-04 // 1850-05:
, }} by the wild {{1839-01:
, }}
overstrained
air of vivacity with which he {{1839-01 //
1845-04 // 1850-05:
harkened // 1840-02 // 1842-03: hearkened }} ,
or
apparently {{1839-01 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
harkened //
1840-02 // 1842-03: hearkened }} , to
the
words of the tale, I might {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03: have well // 1845-04 // 1850-05: well
have }} congratulated myself upon the
success
of my design. I had arrived at that well-known
portion of the
story
where Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for
peaceable
admission into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to make good an
entrance
by force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of the narrative run
thus {{1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 //
1850-05: : }} {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03:
— }}"And Ethelred, who was by nature of a
doughty
heart,
and who was now mighty withal, on account of the powerfulness of the
wine
which he had drunken, waited no longer to hold parley with the hermit,
who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and
maliceful
turn, but, feeling the rain upon his shoulders, and fearing the rising
of the tempest, uplifted his mace outright, and, with blows, made
quickly
room in the plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: , //
1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} and now
pulling
therewith sturdily, he so cracked, and ripped, and tore all asunder,
that
the noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood alarummed and
reverberated
throughout the forest." At the termination of this sentence I
started,
and {{1839-01: , }}
for a moment, paused; for it appeared to me (although I at once
concluded
that my excited fancy had deceived me) — it appeared to me that, from
some
very remote portion of the mansion {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: or of its vicinity }} , there
came,
indistinctly,
to my ears, what might have been, in its exact similarity of character,
the echo (but a stifled and dull one certainly) of the very cracking
and
ripping sound which Sir Launcelot had so particularly described. It
was,
beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my attention;
for,
amid the rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordinary
commingled
noises of the still increasing storm, the sound, in itself, had
nothing,
surely, which should have interested or disturbed me. I continued the
story {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
. // 1845-04 // 1850-05: : }}"But the good champion Ethelred, now
entering
within
the door, was sore enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the
maliceful
hermit; but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious
demeanor,
and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace of gold,
with
a floor of silver; and upon the wall
there
hung a shield of shining brass with this legend enwritten —
And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the dragon, which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had fain to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it, the like whereof was never before heard." Here again I paused abruptly, and now
with a
feeling
of wild amazement — for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this
instance, I did actually hear (although from what direction it
proceeded
I found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant, but harsh,
protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound — the exact
counterpart
of what my fancy had already conjured up {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: as the sound of // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
for }}
the dragon's
unnatural
shriek as described by the romancer. Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon
the
occurrence
of this second and most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand
conflicting
sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I
still
retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any
observation,
the sensitive nervousness of my companion. I was by no means certain
that
he had noticed the sounds in question; although, assuredly, a strange
alteration
had, during the last few minutes, taken
place in his demeanor. From a position fronting my own, he had
gradually
brought round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door of the
chamber {{1839-01 // 1840-02: , //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
; }} and thus
I could but partially perceive his features, although
I saw that {{1839-01: that [[sic]]
}} his lips trembled as if he were murmuring
inaudibly. His
head
had dropped upon his breast {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: — //
1842-03: ; }}
yet I knew that he was not asleep, from
the
wide and rigid opening of the eye {{1839-01:
, }} as I caught a glance of it in
profile.
The motion of his body, too, was at variance with this idea {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03: ; }} for he
rocked
from side to side with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway. Having
rapidly
taken notice of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir Launcelot,
which
thus proceeded: {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: — }}"And now, the champion, having
escaped from the
terrible
fury of the dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the
breaking up of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass
from
out of the way before him, and approached valorously over the silver
pavement
of the castle to where the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth
tarried
not for his full coming, but fell down at his feet upon the silver
floor,
with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound." No sooner had these syllables passed
my lips,
than
— as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily
upon
a floor of silver — I became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and
clangorous, yet apparently muffled reverberation. Completely unnerved,
I {{1839-01 // 1840-02: started
convulsively //
1842-03: leapt // 1845-04 // 1850-05: leaped }}
to my feet {{1839-01: , // 1840-02 //
1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} but the measured
rocking
movement of
Usher was undisturbed. I rushed to the
chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and
throughout
his whole countenance {{1839-01: their //
1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: there }}
reigned a {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
more than }}
stony rigidity. But, as
I {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: laid //
1845-04 // 1850-05: placed }} my hand upon his
shoulder, there
came a strong shudder over his {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1842-03:
frame // 1845-04 // 1850-05: whole person }} ; a
sickly
smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke
in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my
presence.
Bending closely over {{1839-01 // 1840-02 //
1842-03: his person // 1845-04 // 1850-05: him }}
, I
at length drank in the hideous
import
of his words. "Not hear it? — yes, I hear it, and have
heard
it. Long — long — long — many minutes, many hours, many days, have I
heard
it — yet I dared not — oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! — I
dared
not — {{1839-01: I // 1840-02
// 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: I }} dared
not speak! We
have put her living in the tomb!
Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I
heard
her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them — many,
many
days ago — yet I dared not — I dared not speak! And now —
to-night
— Ethelred — ha! ha! — the breaking of the hermit's door, and the
death-cry
of the dragon, and the clangor of the shield {{1845-04
// 1850-05:
! }} — say, rather, the rending
of {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: the //
1845-04 // 1850-05: her }} coffin, and the grating
of the iron
hinges {{1845-04 // 1850-05: of her
prison }}
, and her struggles
within
the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not
be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I
not
heard her {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
footsteps // 1845-04 // 1850-05: footstep }} on
the stair?
Do I not distinguish that heavy and
horrible
beating of her heart? Madman!" — here he {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1842-03: sprung violently // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
sprang
furiously }} to his feet,
and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up
his soul — "{{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03:
Madman! // 1845-04 // 1850-05: Madman! }}
I
tell you that she now stands
without the door!" As if in the superhuman energy of his
utterance
there
had been found the potency of a spell {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
— // 1842-03: , }} the {{1839-01
// 1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
huge }}
antique pannels to
which
the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, their
ponderous
and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust — but then without
those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of
the
lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white robes, and the
evidence
of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For
a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the
threshold
— then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of
her brother, and in her {{1839-01 // 1840-02
// 1842-03: horrible // 1845-04 // 1850-05: violent }}
and now final death-agonies, bore him
to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had {{1839-01 // 1840-02 // 1842-03: dreaded //
1845-04 // 1850-05: anticipated }} . From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled
aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself
crossing
the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and
I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
— // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: ; }} for the
vast
house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of
the
full, setting, and blood-red moon, which now shone vividly through that
once barely-discernible fissure, of which I have before spoken {{1839-01 // 1840-02:
, }} as
extending
from the roof of the building {{1839-01 //
1840-02 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
, }} in a {{1839-01:
zig-zag //
1840-02 // 1842-03 // 1845-04 // 1850-05: zigzag }}
direction {{1839-01 // 1845-04 // 1850-05:
, }}
to the base.
While
I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened — there came a fierce breath of
the
whirlwind — the entire orb of the
satellite
burst at once upon my sight — my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls
rushing asunder — there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the
voice
of a thousand waters — and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed
sullenly
and silently over the fragments of the "House of Usher."{{1839-01: Note. — The ballad of "The Haunted Palace,"
introduced in
this tale, was published separately, some months ago, in the Baltimore
"Museum."}} |
||||||||||