Horrid Mysteries - A Story from the German of the Marquis of Grosse , livre ebook

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Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that usually combines fiction with horror, romance, and death. The genre's origin is attributed to the novel, “The Castle of Otranto”, which was written by English author Horace Walpole and first published in 1764. “The Horrid Mysteries” is the English translation by Peter Will of the German Gothic novel “Der Genius by Carl Grosse”. It was notably one of the seven "horrid novels" referred to by Jane Austen in her novel “Northanger Abbey” and revolves around the Marquis of Grosse, who finds himself in the middle of a secret revolution arising from a society which employs mayhem and murder in their pursuit of an early form of communism. This volume is highly recommended for fans of Gothic literature and is not to be missed by collectors. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

Sujets

Secret Societies

La abadía de Northanger

Supernatural Thrillers

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Secret society

Northanger Abbey

Scary Stories

Gothic

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	22 mars 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781528769327
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HORRID MYSTERIES

A STORY FROM THE GERMAN OF THE MARQUIS OF GROSSE
By
CARL GROSSE
Translated By
PETER WILL
First published in 1927
This edition published by Read Books Ltd.
Copyright 2019 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.
Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all? I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine , and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.
Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?
Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them.
J ANE A USTEN Northanger Abbey , 1803
CONTENTS
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
THE
HORRID MYSTERIES.
CHAPTER I.
Extra c from Elmira s Papers .
I AWOKE, at length, from that long swoon, and found myself s retched out in a coffin. Some more of the receptacles of the wrecks of mortality s ood near me, and the odour of corruption was the fir s thing that affe c ed my senses. The spacious and lofty vault was sparingly lighted by the faint glimmer of a single lamp, that was suspended to the ceiling. Its dying flame plainly told me where I was. What mortal can conceive a ju s idea of the sensations produced by the fir s breaking from sleep under such circumstances; and who could be able to recal only a single sentiment of those that crowded on my mind, if he ever was so unfortunate to have experienced what I did? I did not know what I should do in that dreadful situation; whether I should call for assistance, or patiently await the event. The lamp was a certain proof that I was in a place not entirely deserted by human beings; and I felt no other painful sensation, but a great weakness, and relaxation of my bodily and mental faculties. Yet I was not suffered to remain long in a s ate of consultation with myself; the found of different voices vibrating in my ears from a passage whose entrance the dying glimmer of the lamp enabled me to descry. I even could di s inguish the expressions and the subje c of their discourse. Some declaimed again s Carlos s inhuman barbarity, and some censured me for my imprudence; but one person defended me, finding it very natural that a weak, love-sick, and inexperienced girl should have been taken in by an artful and experienced villain. The talkers, having carefully s opt a while at the entrance, came, at length, nearer, and appeared in the vault, exhibiting a large procession of compassionate faces of either sex. Some carried torches, some phials and glasses, and some garments and linen. The light, that now illuminated my horrid residence, enabling me to look around, I beheld myself enfolded in a cloud, and different vessels s anding by my fide.
Loud rejoicings re-echoed through the vault when my visitors saw me fitting in the coffin; and they ran towards me to complete my resuscitation, carrying me out of the damp cavern to a lofty apartment, where I was put into a well aired bed. Decency bade my deliverers to retire, and only two females s aid with me, to assist me in changing my dress, while I gradually was re-animated with a pleasing warmth, and recovered the full power of recolle c ion.
When they saw that I had entirely recovered my faculties, they congratulated me on my preservation, praising God for having made them in s rumental in my re s oration to life.
Thank God, Countess, one of them began, that you have been rescued from the cruel hands of that barbarian, and are now in the company of more humane beings!
From what cruel hands? I replied, with a s onishment.
From those of your pretended lover, the Marquis Carlos of G******.
Be silent, vile reptile, I exclaimed, and dare not to asperse the name of a man whom I adore!
Don t put yourself into a passion, my Lady, she replied coolly: You will be of our opinion before many days are elapsed. We are members of a society whose sole business it is to make the sufferer forget his sorrows, and to re s ore the unhappy to happiness. Indeed, Countess, we flattered ourselves to deserve, at lea s , your gratitude.
What could I have replied to the declaration of that woman in my situation? I was silent; and having taken a firm resolution to conceal all my ideas, I dissembled to rely implicitly on the candour of my pretended deliverers. It was but too evident in whose power I was; and what I had heard of that society on my weddings day forced itself with additional s rength on my recolle c ion. Though I could not unfold the real purport of that incident, yet. it was sufficient to ascertain to me the truth of my suspicions. If, therefore, it was possible to extricate myself from their snares, no other expedient was left than to pay them in their own coin, and to attempt to outwit them by a dissimulation superior to theirs I began, therefore, to pretend being more susceptible of the ideas which they endeavoured to in s il into my mind, and returned gradually from my gloomy reveries. I was, indeed, partial to solitude; however, it appeared to them to be favourable to their secret designs upon me; and the more the result of my contemplations seemed to make me uneasy, the less mi s ru s again s their secret endeavours to encrease those di s ressing doubts did I display. I submitted, with an unaffe c ed relu c ance, more and more, to their attempts at diverting my mind, and to their exertions to re s ore me to happiness, as they pretended, and to return me to my family with an easier heart. A cheerful gaiety, which I kept in proper bounds, and s rove to render as natural as possible, by an imposing varnish of truth, confirmed them in their belief of having gained upon my credulity; and I began to hope that I should find a favourable moment to give them the flip. I was not anxious to know the external circum s ances of the confederates, thinking myself sufficiently happy if I could but escape their baneful breath.
Mean time a number of fine ladies and gentlemen gathered around me. I was invited to accompany them on a nocturnal excursion to a neighbouring ca s le, where I learnt, the next morning, that it was to be my future residence. The situation was, indeed, beautiful; the garden extensive and elegant; walking was, therefore, my chief occupation and amusement. Although I was never without company, or at lea s without such attendants as observed me from a di s ance, and the happy period of my elopement was probably not very near, yet I cheered myself up by numberless plans of accelerating it secretly.
My keepers s udied to amuse me by numberless little diversions. Rural fea s s, the charm of sele c ed parties; beautiful, winning females, and young, amiable men, were to accomplish, with the smiling assi s ance of the graces, during a con s ant round of pleasures, what had been devised and begun under circum s ances of the mo s serious and awful complexion. Every one breathed a general and delicate desire of pleasing me, and of anticipating my wishes before they had time to ripen to maturity; and I cannot but confess, that they several times accomplished their designs as perfe c ly as they could wish. I returned involuntarily their kindness, as if enchanted. They succeeded to make me more unreserved; and if not the few hours, in which I was not in their company, had weakened the impressions of the re s , I should scarcely have been able to avoid an intoxication which would have ruined me for ever.
Among s the young men by whom I was surrounded, one di s inguished himself particularly. He was of a mo s beautiful form, animated with a very dangerous fire, of polished manners, and an insinuating disposition, which rendered him pliable to all my wishes. He seemed to claim my favour in a more particular manner than the re s , depended entirely upon my looks, and was happy or unhappy as my humour changed. Never have the wiles of the mo s cunning sedu c ion been applied in a more artful manner; all circum s ances were in his favour: whatever the re s of the company said, supported and advanced his superiority; and being, in the sequel, convinced of the purity of his passion, by his indefatigable exertions to please me, I could not have avoided being caught in the snare at la s , if not, a trifling accident had re c ified my opinion of him, and re s ored me to myself and to my plans.
He had a little French dog; and I grew so foolishly fond of the animal, that I frequently hinted to him, it would give me the greate s pleasure if he would make me a present of it; yet he seemed not to be inclined to part with his little favourite. At length he promised me, one afternoon, to let me have it in the evening. I was walking sometime before the assembly hour in the boscage, and passing the entrance of a bower, saw him in it, seated on a bench, and occupied with his favourite, and concealed myself behind a thick hazel-bush. He tied a ribband round the neck of his little darling, and having finished the task, he could not refrain from kissing him, and uttering the words, Poor Thonon! we mu s part: however, thou wilt always be dearer to me than what thou art to purc