Category: Short Stories
It was a dull, cold Christmas evening; the snow fell fast and small, and the cutting northeast wind blew its white shower into heaps and ridges in every corner of St. John’s quadrangle, and piled its clear flakes against every projecting part of the old building. No one was mo...
It was a dull, cold Christmas evening; the snow fell fast and small, and the cutting northeast wind blew its white shower into heaps and ridges in every corner of St. John’s qua...
11. CHAPTER XI.Another Chat about Witches and Witchcraft—Late Period of the Existence of Belief in Witches—QUEEN SEMIRAMIS—Elfin Armorers—The Sword of the Scandinavian King—Mystical Meaning of...
8. CHAPTER VIII.Southey’s Thalaba—THE SUGGESTIONS OF THE EVIL ONE—COTONOLAPES, THE MAGICIAN—THE GARDEN OF ALOADDIN—The Old Man of the Mountain—The Assassins—Their Rise and Fall—Gay’s Conjurer—S...
10. CHAPTER X.“We must adjourn that subject for to-night; for I have chanced on a point, in illustration of one of the tales intended for this evening’s reading, that will require another day...
9. CHAPTER IX.Illustrations of Early Manners—Sorcery—THE KNIGHT AND THE NECROMANCER—Waxen Figures—Degeneracy of Witches—THE CLERK AND THE IMAGE—Gerbert and Natural Magic—Elfin Chivalry—THE DE...
12. CHAPTER XII.“I have been very much surprised at the almost entire absence of compulsory marriages from your tales; marriage, indeed, is the staple incident of the story, but the course of l...
4. CHAPTER IV.“What a mine must these tales of the old monks have been to writers of every age,” said Herbert, as the friends returned to their old book for the fourth evening.
2. CHAPTER II.“Surely,” said Henry Herbert, when the friends were again assembled, “surely the poems of the northern Scalds, the legends of the Arabians of Spain, the songs of the Armoricans,...
5. CHAPTER V.The Probable Author of the Gesta—Modern Conversions—Parnell and Schiller—THE ANGEL AND THE HERMIT—The Poet’s Improvements—FULGENTIUS AND THE WICKED STEWARD—Irving’s Vision in th...
6. CHAPTER VI.“The use Shakespeare has made of your monks’ tales would seem to augur a certain popularity of the work in the days in which he wrote,” said Herbert, when the friends met on the...
7. CHAPTER VII.“First, then, comes ‘I have expended’: what?—my life—in judgment, in advice, in authority. ‘I have given’—equipments to my servants and warriors, charity to the needy. ‘I have k...
3. CHAPTER III.“Admitting the East as the immediate source of fiction,” said Henry Herbert, when they were met once more, “you must still regard the Spanish Arabians as the great disseminators...