The Mysteries of Udolpho

Daylight dispelled from Emily’s mind the glooms of superstition, but not those of apprehension. The Count Morano was the first image that occurred to her waking thoughts, and th...

He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, ....................he hears no music; Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort, As if...

Might we but hear The folded flocks penn’d in their wattled cotes, Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night watches...

Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop, and drowse; While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse. MACBETH

Thus on the chill Lapponian’s dreary land, For many a long month lost in snow profound, When Sol from Cancer sends the seasons bland, And in their northern cave the storms hath...

Madame Cheron’s house stood at a little distance from the city of Thoulouse, and was surrounded by extensive gardens, in which Emily, who had risen early, amused herself with wa...

As when a shepherd of the Hebrid-Isles, Placed far amid the melancholy main, (Whether it be lone fancy him beguiles, Or that aerial beings sometimes deign To stand embodied to o...

We now return, for a moment, to Venice, where Count Morano was suffering under an accumulation of misfortunes. Soon after his arrival in that city, he had been arrested by order...

Dark power! with shudd’ring, meek submitted thought Be mine to read the visions old Which thy awak’ning bards have told, And, lest they meet my blasted view, Hold each strange t...

It is now necessary to mention some circumstances, which could not be related amidst the events of Emily’s hasty departure from Venice, or together with those, which so rapidly...

On the pleasant banks of the Garonne, in the province of Gascony, stood, in the year 1584, the château of Monsieur St. Aubert. From its windows were seen the pastoral landscapes...

I care not, Fortune! what you me deny; You cannot rob me of free nature’s grace; You cannot shut the windows of the sky, Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You can...

As when a wave, that from a cloud impends, And, swell’d with tempests, on the ship descends, White are the decks with foam; the winds aloud, Howl o’er the masts, and sing throug...

The monk, who had before appeared, returned in the evening to offer consolation to Emily, and brought a kind message from the lady abbess, inviting her to the convent. Emily, th...

On the following morning, Emily went early to the apartment of Madame Montoni, who had slept well, and was much recovered. Her spirits had also returned with her health, and her...

Leaving the gay scenes of Paris, we return to those of the gloomy Apennine, where Emily’s thoughts were still faithful to Valancourt. Looking to him as to her only hope, she rec...

On the following day, Montoni sent a second excuse to Emily, who was surprised at the circumstance. “This is very strange!” said she to herself. “His conscience tells him the pu...

On the next morning, Emily ordered a fire to be lighted in the stove of the chamber, where St. Aubert used to sleep; and, as soon as she had breakfasted, went thither to burn th...

In truth he was a strange and wayward wight, Fond of each gentle, and each dreadful scene, In darkness, and in storm he found delight; Nor less than when on ocean-wave serene Th...

The midnight clock has toll’d; and hark, the bell Of death beats slow! heard ye the note profound? It pauses now; and now with rising knell Flings to the hollow gale its sullen...

On the following evening, the view of the convent towers, rising among the shadowy woods, reminded Emily of the nun, whose condition had so much affected her; and, anxious to kn...

Ye gods of quiet, and of sleep profound! Whose soft dominion o’er this castle sways, And all the widely-silent places round, Forgive me, if my trembling pen displays What never...

Blanche’s slumbers continued, till long after the hour, which she had so impatiently anticipated, for her woman, fatigued with travelling, did not call her, till breakfast was n...

Lull’d in the countless chambers of the brain, Our thoughts are link’d by many a hidden chain: Awake but one, and lo! what myriads rise! Each stamps its image as the other flies...

Oh! the joy Of young ideas painted on the mind In the warm glowing colours fancy spreads On objects not yet known, when all is new, And all is lovely! SACRED DRAMAS

Emily was somewhat surprised, on the following day, to find that Annette had heard of Madame Montoni’s confinement in the chamber over the portal, as well as of her purposed vis...

The Count, who had slept little during the night, rose early, and, anxious to speak with Ludovico, went to the north apartment; but, the outer door having been fastened, on the...

Emily, meanwhile, was still suffering anxiety as to the fate of Valancourt; but Theresa, having, at length, found a person, whom she could entrust on her errand to the steward,...

Early on the following morning, the travellers set out for Turin. The luxuriant plain, that extends from the feet of the Alps to that magnificent city, was not then, as now, sha...

Let those deplore their doom, Whose hope still grovels in this dark sojourn. But lofty souls can look beyond the tomb, Can smile at fate, and wonder how they mourn. Shall Spring...

We now return to the mention of Montoni, whose rage and disappointment were soon lost in nearer interests, than any, which the unhappy Emily had awakened. His depredations havin...

But in these cases, We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: thus even-handed justice Commends the...

On the following morning, as Emily sat in the parlour adjoining the library, reflecting on the scene of the preceding night, Annette rushed wildly into the room, and, without sp...

Annette came almost breathless to Emily’s apartment in the morning. “O ma’amselle!” said she, in broken sentences, “what news I have to tell! I have found out who the prisoner i...

Was nought around but images of rest, Sleep-soothing groves and quiet lawns between, And flowery beds that slumbrous influence kept, From poppies breath’d, and banks of pleasant...

The carriages were at the gates at an early hour; the bustle of the domestics, passing to and fro in the galleries, awakened Emily from harassing slumbers: her unquiet mind had,...

O how canst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which nature to her vot’ry yields! The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fiel...

Emily seized the first opportunity of conversing alone with Mons. Quesnel, concerning La Vallée. His answers to her enquiries were concise, and delivered with the air of a man,...

On the next night, about the same hour as before, Dorothée came to Emily’s chamber, with the keys of that suite of rooms, which had been particularly appropriated to the late Ma...

The Baron St. Foix, whom anxiety for his friend had kept awake, rose early to enquire the event of the night, when, as he passed the Count’s closet, hearing steps within, he kno...

St. Aubert, sufficiently restored by a night’s repose to pursue his journey, set out in the morning, with his family and Valancourt, for Rousillon, which he hoped to reach befor...

Madame St. Aubert was interred in the neighbouring village church; her husband and daughter attended her to the grave, followed by a long train of the peasantry, who were sincer...

Is all the council that we two have shared, the hours that we have spent, When we have chid the hasty-footed time For parting us—Oh! and is all forgot?

The Lady Blanche was so much interested for Emily, that, upon hearing she was going to reside in the neighbouring convent, she requested the Count would invite her to lengthen h...

Emily remained in her chamber, on the following morning, without receiving any notice from Montoni, or seeing a human being, except the armed men, who sometimes passed on the te...

Emily’s injunctions to Annette to be silent on the subject of her terror were ineffectual, and the occurrence of the preceding night spread such alarm among the servants, who no...

After the late discoveries, Emily was distinguished at the château by the Count and his family, as a relative of the house of Villeroi, and received, if possible, more friendly...

Emily’s mind was refreshed by sleep. On waking in the morning, she looked with surprise on Annette, who sat sleeping in a chair beside the bed, and then endeavoured to recollect...

Ah happy hills! ah pleasing shade! Ah fields belov’d in vain! Where once my careless childhood stray’d, A stranger yet to pain! I feel the gales, that from ye blow, A momentary...

In the morning, Emily found Madame Montoni nearly in the same condition, as on the preceding night; she had slept little, and that little had not refreshed her; she smiled on he...

I leave that flowery path for eye Of childhood, where I sported many a day, Warbling and sauntering carelessly along; Where every face was innocent and gay, Each vale romantic,...

Can Music’s voice, can Beauty’s eye, Can Painting’s glowing hand supply A charm so suited to my mind, As blows this hollow gust of wind? As drops this little weeping rill, Soft...

We now return to Valancourt, who, it may be remembered, remained at Thoulouse, some time after the departure of Emily, restless and miserable. Each morrow that approached, he de...

On the following day, the arrival of her friend revived the drooping Emily, and La Vallée became once more the scene of social kindness and of elegant hospitality. Illness and t...

Count de Villefort, at length, received a letter from the advocate at Avignon, encouraging Emily to assert her claim to the estates of the late Madame Montoni; and, about the sa...

Valancourt, meanwhile, suffered the tortures of remorse and despair. The sight of Emily had renewed all the ardour, with which he first loved her, and which had suffered a tempo...

Now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth’s end, Where the bow’d welkin low doth bend, And, from thence, can soar as soon To the corners o...