0:02 [Applause] [Music]
0:14 The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar
0:19 Allan Poe his heart was like a suspended
0:23 loot at the slightest touch it
0:26 resonated a translation from a French
0:30 poem during the whole of a dull dark and
0:33 soundless day in the Autumn of the year
0:35 when the clouds hung oppressively low in
0:38 the heavens I had been passing alone on
0:41 Horseback through a singularly dreary
0:43 tract of country and at length found
0:46 myself as the shades of the evening Drew
0:50 on within view of The Melancholy House
0:53 of Usher I know not how it was but with
0:55 the first glimpse of the building a
0:59 sense of insufferable Gloom pervaded my
1:01 spirit I say insufferable for the
1:04 feeling was unrelieved by any of that
1:07 half pleasurable because poetic
1:10 sentiment with which the Mind usually
1:12 receives even the sternest natural
1:16 images of the desolate or terrible I
1:19 looked upon the scene before me upon the
1:22 mere house and the simple landscape
1:24 features of the domain upon the Bleak
1:28 walls upon the vacant ey likee Windows
1:30 upon a few rank sedes
1:33 and upon a few white trunks of decayed
1:37 trees with an utter depression of Soul
1:39 which I can compare to no earthly
1:42 sensation more properly than to the
1:46 After Dream of the reveler upon opium
1:49 the bitter lapse into everyday life the
1:53 Hideous dropping off of the veil there
1:56 was an iciness a sinking a sickening of
2:00 the heart an unredeemed dreariness of
2:02 thought which no goting of the
2:06 imagination could torture into a of the
2:10 sublime what was it I paused to think
2:13 what was it that so unnerved me in the
2:16 contemplation of the House of Usher it
2:18 was a mystery all
2:21 insoluble nor could I grapple with the
2:24 shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as
2:27 I pondered I was forced to fall back
2:30 upon the unsatisfactory conclusion
2:32 that while Beyond doubt there are
2:35 combinations of very simple natural
2:38 objects which have the power of thus
2:42 affecting us still the analysis of this
2:46 power lies among considerations beyond
2:50 our depth it was possible I reflected
2:52 that a mere different arrangement of the
2:56 particulars of the scene of the details
2:58 of the picture would be sufficient to
3:02 modify or perhaps to annihilate its
3:06 capacity for sorrowful impression and
3:10 acting upon this idea I rained my horse
3:12 to the precipitous brink of a black and
3:16 lurid Tarn that lay in unruffled luster
3:20 by the dwelling and gazed down but with
3:23 a shudder even more thrilling than
3:26 before upon the remodeled and inverted
3:30 images of the gray sge and the ghastly
3:35 tree stems and the vacant ey likee
3:38 Windows nevertheless in this Mansion of
3:42 Gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn
3:47 of some weeks its proprietor rodri Usher
3:49 had been one of my Boon companions in
3:52 Boyhood but many years had elapsed since
3:56 our last meeting a letter however had
3:58 lately reached me in a distant part of
4:02 the country a from him which in its
4:05 wildly importunate nature had admitted
4:08 of no other than a personal reply the
4:10 message gave evidence of nervous
4:13 agitation the writer spoke of acute
4:16 bodily illness of a mental disorder
4:19 which oppressed him and of an Earnest
4:23 desire to see me as his best and indeed
4:26 his only personal friend with a view of
4:28 attempting by the cheerfulness of my
4:33 Society some alleviation of his malady
4:35 it was the manner in which all this and
4:39 much more was said it was the apparent
4:42 heart that went with his request which
4:45 allowed me no room for hesitation and I
4:48 accordingly obeyed forth with what I
4:51 still considered a very singular
4:53 summons although as boys we had been
4:55 even intimate Associates yet I really
4:59 knew little of my friend his reserve had
5:03 been old always excessive and habitual I
5:05 was aware however that his very ancient
5:09 family had been noted time out of mind
5:11 for a peculiar sensibility of
5:14 temperament displaying itself through
5:18 long ages in many works of exalted art
5:22 and manifested of late in repeated Deeds
5:26 of munificent yet unobtrusive charity as
5:28 well as in a passionate Devotion to the intricacies
5:30 intricacies
5:32 perhaps even more than to the Orthodox
5:36 and easily recognizable beauties of
5:39 musical science I had learned too the
5:42 very remarkable fact that the stem of
5:45 the Usher race all time honored as it
5:49 was had put forth at no period any
5:54 enduring branch in other words that the
5:57 entire family lay in the direct line of
6:00 descent and had always way with very
6:05 trifling and very temporary variation so
6:08 Lan it was this deficiency I considered
6:10 while running over in thought the
6:12 perfect keeping of the character of the
6:15 premises with the accredited character
6:18 of the people and while speculating upon
6:20 the possible influence which the one in
6:23 the long lapse of centuries might have
6:26 exercised upon the other it was this
6:29 deficiency perhaps of collateral issue
6:31 and the consequent undeviating
6:34 transmission from sire to Sun of the
6:37 patrimony with the name which had at
6:41 length so identified the two as to merge
6:44 the original title of the estate in the
6:47 quaint and equivocal appellation of the
6:50 House of Usher an appellation which
6:53 seemed to include in the minds of the
6:57 peasantry who used it both the family
7:00 and the family mansion I have said that
7:02 the sole effect of my somewhat childish
7:04 experiment that of looking down within
7:07 the Tarn had been to deepen the first
7:10 singular impression there can be no
7:12 doubt that the consciousness of the
7:14 rapid increase of my
7:17 Superstition for why should I not so
7:20 term it served mainly to accelerate the increase
7:22 increase
7:25 itself such I have long known is the
7:29 paradoxical law of all sentiments having Terror
7:30 Terror
7:33 as a basis and it might have been for
7:36 this reason only that when I again
7:39 uplifted my eyes to the house itself
7:42 from its image in the pool there grew in
7:46 my mind a strange fancy a fancy so
7:50 ridiculous indeed that I but mention it
7:52 to show the Vivid force of the
7:55 sensations which oppressed me I had so
7:59 worked upon my imagination as really to
8:01 believe that about the whole mansion and
8:05 domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar
8:08 to themselves and their immediate
8:10 vicinity an atmosphere which had no
8:13 Affinity with the air of heaven but
8:17 which had W up from the decayed trees
8:21 and the gray wall and the silent Tarn a
8:26 pestilent and Mystic Vapor dull sluggish
8:30 faintly discernable and leaden hue
8:33 shaking off my spirit from what must
8:35 have been a dream I scanned more
8:39 narrowly the real aspect of the building
8:41 its principal feature seemed to be that
8:43 of an excessive
8:46 Antiquity the discoloration of Ages had
8:49 been great minute fungi overspread the
8:53 whole exterior hanging in a fine tangled
8:57 web work from the eaves yet all this was
9:00 apart from any extraordinary Ary
9:02 dilapidation no portion of the masonry
9:05 had fallen and there appeared to be a
9:09 wild inconsistency between its still
9:12 perfect adaptation of parts and the
9:15 crumbling condition of the individual
9:17 stones in this there was much that
9:20 reminded me of the specious totality of
9:23 old woodwork which had rotted for long
9:27 years in some neglected Vault with no
9:28 disturbance from the breath of the
9:32 external there Beyond this indication of
9:36 extensive Decay however the fabric gave
9:38 little token of
9:40 instability perhaps the eye of a
9:42 scrutinizing Observer might have
9:45 discovered a barely perceptible fissure
9:47 which extending from the roof of the
9:51 building in front made its way down the
9:54 wall in a zigzag Direction until it
9:57 became lost in the Sullen Waters of the
10:01 Tarn noticing these things things I rode
10:04 over a short Causeway to the house a
10:07 servant in Waiting took my horse and I
10:10 entered the gothic Archway of the hall a
10:14 valet of stealthy step then conducted me
10:16 in silence through many dark and
10:19 intricate passages in my progress to the
10:23 studio of his master much that I
10:25 encountered on the way contributed I
10:27 know not how to heighten the vague
10:29 Sentiments of which I have already spok
10:32 spoken while the objects around me while
10:35 the carvings of the ceilings the somber
10:38 tapestries of the walls the ebony
10:41 Blackness of the floors and the
10:43 fantasmagorical trophies which rattled
10:47 as I stroe were but matters to which or
10:50 to such as which I had been accustomed
10:53 from my infancy while I hesitated not to
10:57 acknowledge how familiar was all this I
11:00 still wondered to find how un familiar
11:03 with a fancies which ordinary images
11:06 were stirring up on one of the
11:08 staircases I met the physician of the
11:11 family his countenance I thought wore a
11:14 mingled expression of low cunning and
11:16 perplexity he accosted me with
11:20 trepidation and passed on the valet now
11:22 threw open a door and ushered me into
11:25 the presence of his master the room in
11:27 which I found myself was very large and
11:31 lofty the windows were long narrow and
11:34 pointed and at so vast a distance from
11:38 the black Oaken floor as to be all
11:41 together inaccessible from within feeble
11:44 gleams of encrimsoned light made their
11:46 way through the trellist pains and
11:49 served to render sufficiently distinct
11:53 the more prominent objects around the
11:55 eye however struggled in vain to reach
11:58 the remoter angles of the chamber or the
12:01 recesses of the Ved and Fred
12:04 ceiling dark draperies hung upon the
12:08 walls the general Furniture was profuse
12:12 comfortless antique and tattered many
12:14 books and musical instruments lay
12:16 scattered about but failed to give any
12:20 Vitality to the scene I felt that I
12:23 breathed an atmosphere of the sorrow an
12:28 air of stern deep and irredeemable Gloom
12:33 hung over over and pervaded all upon my
12:35 entrance Usher rose from a sofa on which
12:38 he had been lying at full length and
12:41 greeted me with a vivacious warmth which
12:44 had much in it I at first thought of an
12:48 overdone cordiality of the constrained
12:51 effort of the onwe man of the world a
12:53 glance however at his countenance
12:56 convinced me of his perfect sincerity we
12:59 sat down and for some moment while he
13:02 spoke not I gazed upon him with a
13:06 feeling half of pity half of awe surely
13:10 man had never before so terribly altered
13:14 in so brief a period as rodri Usher it
13:16 was with difficulty that I could bring
13:19 myself to admit the identity of the man
13:22 being before me with the companion of my early
13:23 early
13:26 Boyhood yet the character of his face
13:29 had been at all times remarkable
13:33 a cadaverousness of complexion an eye
13:37 large liquid and luminous Beyond
13:41 comparison lips somewhat thin and very
13:45 palid but of a surpassingly beautiful
13:49 curve a nose of a delicate Hebrew model
13:52 but with a breath of nostril unusual in similar
13:53 similar
13:58 formations a finely molded chin speaking
14:02 in want of prominence of a want of moral
14:05 energy hair of a more than weblike
14:06 softness and
14:09 tenuity these features with an
14:11 inordinate expression above the regions
14:14 of the temple made up altogether a
14:18 countenance not easily to be forgotten
14:21 and now in the mere exaggeration of the
14:24 prevailing character of these features
14:26 and of the expression they were want to
14:29 convey lay so much of change that I
14:31 doubted to whom I
14:35 spoke the now ghastly palor of the skin
14:39 and the now miraculous luster of the eye
14:43 Above All Things startled and even awed
14:46 me the silken hair too had been suffered
14:48 to grow all
14:52 unheeded and as in its wild gossamer
14:56 texture it floated rather than fell
14:59 about the face I could not even even
15:02 with effort connect its Arabesque
15:06 expression with any idea of simple
15:08 Humanity in the manner of my friend I
15:11 was at once struck with an incoherence an
15:12 an
15:15 inconsistency and I soon found this to
15:18 arise from a series of feeble and futile
15:21 struggles to overcome an habitual
15:25 trepidancy an excessive nervous
15:27 agitation for something of this nature I
15:30 had indeed been prepared Ed no less by
15:32 his letter than by reminiscences of
15:35 certain boyish traits and by conclusions
15:38 deduced from his peculiar physical
15:40 confirmation and
15:43 temperament his action was alternately
15:46 vivacious and Sullen his voice varied
15:50 rapidly from a tremulous indecision when
15:52 the animal spirits seemed utterly in
15:56 abeyance to that species of energetic
16:00 concision that abrupt weighty unhurried
16:02 and Hollow sounding
16:05 enunciation that leaden self-balanced
16:08 and perfectly modulated guttural
16:10 utterance which may be observed in the
16:14 Lost drunkard or the irreclaimable Eater
16:17 of opium during the periods of most intense
16:18 intense
16:21 excitement it was thus that he spoke of
16:24 the object of my visit of his Earnest
16:27 desire to see me and of the Solace he
16:29 expected me to afford him
16:31 he entered at some length into what he
16:34 conceived to be the nature of his
16:38 malady it was he said a constitutional
16:42 and a family evil and one for which he
16:45 despaired to find a remedy a mere
16:49 nervous affection he immediately added
16:53 which would undoubtedly soon pass off it
16:57 displayed itself in a host of unnatural
16:59 Sensations some of the
17:02 as he detailed them interested and
17:05 bewildered me although perhaps the terms
17:07 and the general manner of their
17:11 narration had their weight he suffered
17:13 much from a morbid acuteness of the
17:17 senses the most insipid food was alone
17:20 endurable he could wear only garments of
17:23 certain textures the odors of all
17:26 flowers were oppressive his eyes were
17:29 tortured by even a faint light
17:32 and there were but peculiar sounds and
17:35 these from stringed instruments which
17:39 did not Inspire him with horror to an
17:42 anomalous species of Terror I found him
17:43 a bound
17:49 slave I Shall Perish said he I must
17:53 perish in this deplorable Folly thus
17:58 thus and not otherwise shall I be lost I
18:03 dread the events of the future not in
18:05 themselves but in their
18:10 results I shudder at the thought of any
18:14 even the most trivial incident which may
18:17 operate upon this intolerable agitation
18:21 of soul I have indeed no aberin of
18:26 danger except in its absolute effect in
18:30 Terror in this unnerved in this pitiable
18:32 condition I feel that the period will
18:35 sooner or later arrive when I must
18:39 abandon life and reason together in some
18:42 struggle with the Grim fantasm
18:44 fantasm
18:48 fear I learned moreover at intervals and
18:51 through broken and equivocal hints
18:54 another singular feature of his mental
18:57 condition he was enchained by certain
18:59 superstitious impressions in regard to
19:02 the dwelling which he tenanted and
19:04 whence for many years he had never
19:08 ventured forth in regard to an influence
19:10 whose superstitious force was conveyed
19:14 in terms too shadowy here to be
19:17 reinstated an influence which some
19:19 peculiarities in the mere form and
19:23 substance of his family Mansion had by
19:26 Dent of long suffering he said obtained
19:30 over his spirit and an effect which the
19:33 physique of the gray walls and turrets
19:35 and of the dim Tarn into which they all
19:39 looked down had at length brought about
19:42 upon the morale of his
19:45 existence he admitted however although
19:47 with hesitation that much of the
19:51 peculiar Gloom which thus Afflicted him
19:54 could be traced to a more natural and
19:57 far more palpable origin to the severe
20:01 and long continued illness indeed to the
20:04 evidently approaching dissolution of a
20:08 tenderly beloved sister his sole
20:12 companion for long years his last and
20:16 only relative on Earth her
20:19 decease he said with a bitterness which
20:24 I can never forget would leave him him
20:27 the Hopeless and the frail the last of
20:29 the ancient race of the
20:33 ushers while he spoke the lady meline
20:36 for so she was called passed slowly
20:38 through a remote portion of the
20:41 apartment and without having noticed my presence
20:43 presence
20:46 disappeared I regarded her with an utter
20:49 astonishment not unmingled with Dread
20:53 and yet I found it impossible to account
20:56 for such feelings a sensation of stuper
20:59 oppressed me as my eyes followed her
21:03 retreating steps when a door at length
21:06 closed upon her my glance sought
21:08 instinctively and eagerly the
21:11 countenance of the brother but he had
21:13 buried his face in his hands and I could
21:16 only perceive that a far more than ordinary
21:17 ordinary
21:20 Wess had overspread the emaciated
21:24 fingers through which trickled many passionate
21:26 passionate
21:29 tears the disease of the lady meline had
21:33 long baffled the skill of her Physicians
21:36 a settled apathy a gradual wasting away
21:39 of the person and frequent although
21:42 transient affections of a partially
21:46 cataleptical character with unusual
21:48 diagnosis hither to she had steadily
21:50 borne up against the pressure of her
21:53 malady and had not betaken herself
21:56 finally to bed but on the closing in the
21:59 evening of my arrival at the house
22:02 she succumbed as her brother told me at
22:05 night with inexpressible agitation to
22:08 the prostrating power of the
22:11 destroyer and I learned that the Glimpse
22:14 I had obtained of her person would thus
22:17 probably be the last I should obtain
22:21 that the lady at least while living
22:25 would be seen by me no more for several
22:29 days ensuing her name was unmentioned by
22:32 either Usher or myself and during this
22:35 period I was busied in Earnest Endeavors
22:39 to alleviate The Melancholy of my friend
22:42 we painted and read together or I
22:46 listened as if in a dream to the wild
22:50 improvisations of his speaking guitar
22:54 and thus as a closer and still closer
22:56 intimacy admitted me more unreservedly
23:00 into the recesses of his Spirit the more
23:02 bitterly did I perceive the futility of
23:06 all attempt at cheering a mind from
23:09 which Darkness as if an inherent
23:13 positive quality poured forth upon all
23:15 objects of the moral and physical
23:19 Universe in one unceasing
23:23 radiation of Gloom I shall ever bear
23:26 about me a memory of the many Solem
23:29 hours I thus spent alone with the Master
23:32 of the House of Usher yet I should fail
23:35 in any attempt to convey an idea of the
23:40 exact character of the studies or of the
23:43 occupations in which he involved me or
23:46 LED me the way an excited and highly
23:49 distempered ideality through a sulfurous luster
23:51 luster
23:54 overall his long improvised durges will
23:58 ring forever in my ears among other
24:01 things I hold painfully in my mind a
24:04 certain singular perversion and
24:07 amplification of the wild air of the
24:10 last Walts of Von Weber from the
24:12 paintings over which his elaborate fancy
24:16 brooded and which grew Touch by touch
24:18 into vagueness at which I shuddered the
24:21 more thrillingly because I shuddered
24:25 knowing not why from these paintings
24:28 Vivid as their images now are before me
24:31 I would in vain Endeavor to uce more
24:34 than a small portion which should lie
24:36 within the compass of merely written
24:40 words by the utter Simplicity by the
24:44 nakedness of his designs he arrested an
24:48 overa attention if ever mortal painted
24:52 an idea that mortal was rodri Usher for
24:55 me at least in the circumstances then
24:58 surrounding me there arose out of the
25:00 pure abstractions which the
25:03 hypochondriac contrived to throw upon
25:07 his canvas an intensity of Intolerable
25:11 awe no shadow of which felt I ever yet
25:13 in the contemplation of the certainly
25:17 glowing yet two concrete reveries of
25:25 fantasmagorico rigidly in the spirit of
25:27 abstraction may be shadowed forth
25:31 although Fe feily in words a small
25:33 picture presented the interior of an
25:37 immensely long and rectangular Vault or
25:42 tunnel with low walls smooth white and
25:44 without interruption or
25:47 device certain accessory points of the
25:49 design served well to convey the idea
25:53 that this excavation lay at an exceeding
25:57 depth below the surface of the Earth no
26:00 Outlet was observed in any portion of
26:03 its vast extent and no torch or other
26:05 artificial source of light was
26:09 discernible yet a flood of intense Rays
26:13 rolled throughout and bathed the whole
26:15 in a ghastly and inappropriate
26:17 inappropriate
26:19 Splendor I have just spoken of that
26:22 morbid condition of the auditory nerve
26:24 which rendered all music intolerable to
26:26 the sufferer with the exception of
26:29 certain effects of strange to
26:32 instruments it was perhaps the narrow
26:34 limits to which he thus confined himself
26:37 upon the guitar which gave birth in
26:40 great measure to the Fantastic character
26:42 of the
26:44 performances but the fervid facility of his
26:45 his
26:49 impromptu could not be so accounted for
26:51 they must have been and were in the
26:54 notes as well as in the words of his
26:57 wild fantasias for he not unfrequently
27:00 accompanied himself with rhymed verbal
27:02 improvisations the result of that
27:05 intense mental collectedness and
27:08 concentration to which I have previously
27:11 alluded as observable only in partial
27:15 movements of the highest artificial
27:18 excitement the words of one of these rap
27:21 cidies I have easily remembered I was
27:23 perhaps the more forcibly impressed with
27:27 it as he gave it because in the under or
27:30 Mystic current its meaning I fancied
27:33 that I perceived and for the first time
27:36 a full Consciousness on the part of
27:39 Usher of the tottering of his lofty
27:43 reason upon her throne the verses which
27:47 were entitled The Haunted Palace ran
27:50 very nearly if not
27:54 accurately thus in the greenest of our
27:58 valleys by good angels tenanted once a
28:03 fair and stately Palace radiant Palace
28:07 reared its head in the Monarch thoughts
28:11 Dominion it stood there never sarap
28:16 spread opinion over fabric half so fair
28:20 banners yellow glorious golden on its
28:22 roof did float and
28:27 flow this all this was in the olden time
28:31 long AG ago and every gentle air that
28:35 died in that sweet day along the
28:39 rampart's plumed and palad a winged odor
28:44 went away Wanderers in that Happy Valley
28:49 through two luminous Windows saw Spirits
28:54 moving musically to aut's well tuned law
28:58 round about a throne were sitting poor
29:02 fog jeene in state his glory well
29:06 befitting the ruler of the realm was
29:11 seen and all with pearl and Ruby glowing
29:15 was the Fair Palace door through which
29:19 came flowing flowing
29:24 flowing and sparkling ever more a troop
29:29 of Echoes whose sweet Duty was to sing
29:34 in voices of surpassing beauty the wit
29:39 and wisdom of their King but evil things
29:42 in Robes of Sorrow assailed the
29:47 Monarch's High estate ah let us mourn
29:52 for never tomorrow shall Dawn upon Him
29:56 desolate and round about his home the
30:00 glory that blushed and bloomed is but a
30:05 dim remembered story of the old time
30:09 inomed and travelers now within that
30:14 Valley through the red Litt Windows see
30:16 vast forms that move
30:20 fantastically to a discordant
30:24 Melody while like a rapid ghastly river
30:28 through the pale door a hideous th wrong
30:34 rush out forever and laugh but smile no
30:37 more I will remember that suggestions
30:40 arising from this ballad led us into a
30:43 train of thought wherein there became
30:46 manifest an opinion of ushers which I
30:48 mention not so much on account of its
30:52 novelty for other men have thought thus
30:55 as on account of the pertinency with
30:58 which he maintained it this opinion in
31:01 its general form was the sentience of
31:04 all vegetable things but in his
31:07 disordered fancy the idea had assumed a
31:11 more daring character and trespassed
31:14 under certain conditions upon the
31:15 kingdom of in
31:18 organization I lack words to express the
31:22 full extent where the earnest abandon of his
31:22 his
31:25 persuasion the belief however was
31:29 connected as I have previously hinted
31:32 with the gray stones of the home of his
31:35 forefathers the conditions of the
31:38 sentients had been there he imagined
31:41 fulfilled in the method of cocation of
31:44 these stones in the order of their
31:47 Arrangement as well as in that of the
31:51 many fungi which overspread them and of
31:53 the decayed trees which stood
31:58 around above all in the long undisturbed
32:01 endurance of this Arrangement and in the
32:03 reduplication in the Still Waters of the
32:07 Tarn it's evidence the evidence of the
32:11 sentience was to be seen he said and I
32:15 here started as he spoke in the gradual
32:17 yet certain condensation of an
32:21 atmosphere of their own about the waters
32:22 and the
32:25 walls the result was discoverable he
32:29 added in that silent yet importent and
32:33 terrible influence which for centuries
32:37 had molded the Destinies of his family
32:41 and which made him what I now saw him
32:45 what he was such opinions need no
32:49 comment and I will make none our books
32:52 the books which for years had formed no
32:54 small portion of the mental existence of
32:57 the invalid were as might be supposed in
33:00 strict keeping with the character of
33:03 fantasm we poured together over such
33:08 works as The Verve esart Truse of gret
33:12 the bagor of mavelli the Heaven and Hell of
33:13 of
33:16 swedenborg the Subterranean Voyage of
33:18 Nicholas clim by
33:22 Holberg the chiromancy of Robert flood
33:26 of JEA indin and of deambra the Journey
33:29 Into the Blue distance of tiek and the
33:31 City of the sun of
33:34 Campanella one favorite volume was a
33:38 small octavo edition of The dorium
33:42 Inquisitor by the Dominican imik
33:44 dejon and there were passages in
33:47 pomponius Mela about the old African
33:51 seders and Egyptians over which Usher
33:53 would sit dreaming for
33:56 hours his chief Delight however was
33:58 found in the perusal of an exceedingly
34:02 rare and curious book in Corto Gothic
34:05 the manual of a forgotten Church the
34:11 vigil morum suum Korum Ecclesia
34:13 magun I could not help thinking of the
34:16 wild ritual of this work and of its
34:19 probable influence upon the
34:23 hypochondriac when one evening having
34:25 informed me abruptly that the lady
34:28 meline was no more he stated his
34:32 intention of preserving her corpse for a
34:35 fortnight previously to its final
34:38 internment in one of the numerous vaults
34:42 within the main walls of the building
34:44 the worldly reason however assigned for
34:47 this singular proceeding was one which I
34:51 did not feel at Liberty to dispute the
34:53 brother had been led to his resolution
34:57 so he told me by consideration of the
35:00 unusual character of the malady of the
35:03 deceased of certain obtrusive and eager
35:06 inquiries on the part of her medical men
35:09 and of the remote and exposed situation
35:12 of the burial ground of the family I
35:14 will not deny that when I called to mind
35:16 the Sinister countenance of the person
35:19 whom I met upon the staircase on the day
35:22 of my arrival at the house I had no
35:25 desire to oppose what I regarded as at
35:29 best but a harmless and by no means an
35:32 unnatural precaution at the request of
35:35 Usher I personally aided him in the
35:37 arrangements for the temporary
35:41 inment the body having been en coffined
35:45 we to alone bore it to its rest the
35:47 vault in which we placed it and which
35:50 had been so long unopened that our
35:53 torches half smothered in its oppressive
35:55 atmosphere gave us little opportunity
36:00 for investigation was small damp and
36:02 entirely without means of admission for
36:06 light lying at Great depth immediately
36:09 beneath the portion of the building in
36:12 which was my own sleeping apartment it
36:15 had been used apparently in remote
36:18 feudal times for the worst purposes of a
36:22 Don joh keep and in later days as a
36:25 place of deposit for powder or some
36:28 other highly combustible substance
36:30 as a portion of its floor and the whole
36:33 interior of a long Archway through which
36:36 we reached it were carefully sheathed
36:39 with copper the door of massive iron had
36:43 been also similarly protected its
36:46 immense weight caused an unusually sharp
36:49 grading sound as it moved upon its
36:52 hinges having deposited our mournful
36:54 burden upon trestles within this region
36:58 of horror we partially turned to inside
37:01 the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin and
37:04 looked upon the face of the tenant a
37:07 striking similitude between the brother
37:09 and sister now first arrested my
37:13 attention and Usher divining perhaps my
37:17 thoughts murmured out some few words
37:19 from which I learned that the deceased
37:21 and himself had been
37:25 Twins and that sympathies of a scarcely
37:27 intelligible nature had all always
37:31 existed between them our glances however
37:34 rested not long upon the dead for we
37:36 could not regard her
37:39 uned the disease which had thus inomed
37:42 the lady in the maturity of Youth had
37:45 left as usual in all maladies of a
37:48 strictly catalytical character the
37:51 mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom
37:54 and the face and that suspiciously
37:57 lingering smile upon the lips which is
38:01 so terrible in death we placed and
38:04 screwed down the lid and having secured
38:09 the door of iron made our way with toy
38:12 into the scarcely less gloomy Apartments
38:15 of the upper portion of the house and
38:18 now some days of bitter grief having
38:21 elapsed an observable change came over
38:24 the features of the mental disorder of
38:27 my friend his ordinary manner had vanished
38:28 vanished
38:30 his ordinary occupations were neglected
38:34 or forgotten he roamed from chamber to
38:36 chamber with hurried unequal and
38:39 objectless step the palor of his
38:43 countenance had assumed if possible a
38:47 more ghastly Hue but the luminousness of
38:51 his eye had utterly gone out the once
38:53 occasional huskiness of his tone was
38:57 heard no more and a tremulous Quaver as
39:00 as if of extreme Terror habitually
39:03 characterized his utterance there were
39:05 times indeed when I thought his
39:08 unceasingly agitated mind was laboring
39:11 with some oppressive secret to divulge
39:13 which he struggled for the necessary
39:16 courage at times again I was obliged to
39:19 resolve all into the mere inexplicable
39:21 vagaries of
39:24 Madness for I beheld him gazing upon
39:28 vacancy for long hours in an attitude of
39:31 the profoundest attention as if
39:35 listening to some imaginary sound it was
39:38 no wonder that his condition terrified
39:43 that it infected me I felt creeping upon
39:48 me by slow yet certain degrees the wild
39:51 influence of his own fantastic yet impressive
39:53 impressive
39:55 superstitions it was especially upon
39:58 retiring to bed late in the night of the
40:00 seventh or Eighth Day after placing the
40:03 lady meline within the Don John that I
40:07 experienced the full power of such
40:11 feelings sleep came not near my couch
40:14 while the hours waned and waned away I
40:17 struggled to reason off the nervousness
40:20 which had dominion over me I endeavored
40:23 to believe that much if not all of what
40:26 I felt was due to the bewildering
40:28 influence of of the gloomy Furniture of
40:31 the room of the dark and tattered
40:34 draperies which tortured into motion by
40:37 the breath of a rising Tempest swayed
40:42 fitfully to and fro upon the walls and
40:44 rustled uneasily about the decorations
40:48 of the bed but my efforts were fruitless
40:51 an impressible Tremor gradually pervaded
40:55 my frame and at length there sat upon my
40:59 very heart and Incubus of utterly
41:03 causeless alarm shaking this off with a
41:05 gasp and a struggle I uplifted myself
41:08 upon the pillows and peering earnestly
41:12 within the intense dark of the chamber
41:16 hearkened I know not why except that an
41:20 intensive Spirit prompted me to certain
41:23 low and indefinite sounds which came
41:26 through the pauses of the Storm at long
41:31 inter intervals I knew not whence
41:33 overpowered by an intense sentiment of
41:36 horror unaccountable yet
41:39 unendurable I threw on my clothes with
41:42 haste for I felt that I should sleep no
41:45 more during the night and endeavored to
41:47 arouse myself from the pitiable
41:50 condition into which I had fallen by
41:53 pacing rapidly to and fro through the
41:56 apartment I had taken but few turns in
41:57 this manner
42:00 when a light step on an adjoining
42:03 staircase arrested my attention I
42:07 presently recognized it as that of Usher
42:10 in an instant afterward he wrapped with
42:14 a gentle touch at my door and entered
42:17 bearing a lamp his countenance was as
42:22 usual cadaverous Wan but moreover there
42:26 was a species of mad hilarity in his
42:30 eyes an evidently restrained hysteria in
42:34 his whole demeanor his air appalled me
42:36 but anything was preferable to the
42:40 Solitude which I had so long endured and
42:44 I even welcomed his presence as a relief
42:46 and you have not seen it he said
42:48 abruptly after having stared about him
42:51 for some moments in silence you have not
42:55 then seen it but stay you shall thus
42:58 speaking and having carefully shaded his
43:01 lamp he hurried to one of the casements
43:04 and threw it freely open to the
43:07 storm the impetuous Fury of the entering
43:11 gust nearly lifted us from our feet it
43:13 was indeed a
43:17 tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night
43:20 and one wildly singular in its Terror
43:23 and its beauty a whirlwind had
43:26 apparently collected its force in our
43:28 vicinity for there were frequent and
43:31 violent alterations in the direction of
43:34 the wind and the exceeding density of
43:38 the clouds which hung so low as to press
43:40 upon the turrets of the house did not
43:43 prevent our perceiving the lifelike
43:46 velocity with which they flew careering
43:49 from all points against each other
43:52 without passing away into the distance I
43:54 say that even their exceeding density
43:58 did not prevent our perceiving this
44:01 yet we had no glimpse of the moon or
44:04 Stars nor was there any flashing forth
44:07 of the lightning but the under surfaces
44:11 of the huge masses of agitated Vapor as
44:14 well as all terrestrial objects
44:17 immediately around us were glowing in
44:20 the unnatural light of a faintly
44:23 luminous and distinctly visible gaseous
44:27 exhalation which hung about and in
44:28 routed the
44:32 Mansion you must not you shall not
44:36 behold this said I shuttering to Usher
44:38 as I led him with a gentle violence from
44:42 the window to a seat these appearances
44:45 which bewilder you are merely electrical
44:49 phenomena not uncommon or it may be that
44:51 they have their ghastly origin in the
44:55 rank miasma of the Tarn let us close
44:57 this casement the air is chilling and
45:00 dangerous to your frame here is one of
45:01 your favorite
45:04 romances I will read and you shall
45:07 listen and so we will pass away this
45:10 terrible night together the antique
45:13 volume which I had taken up was the Mad
45:16 trist of Sir lelot caning but I had
45:18 called it a favorite of ushers more in
45:23 sad justest than in Earnest for in truth
45:25 there's little in its UNC and
45:28 unimaginative prolixity which could have
45:31 had interest for the lofty and spiritual
45:35 ideality of my friend it was however the
45:38 only book immediately at hand and I
45:41 indulged a vague hope that the
45:44 excitement which now agitated the
45:47 hypochondriac might find relief for the
45:49 history of mental disorder is full of
45:52 similar anomalies even in the
45:55 extremeness of the Folly which I should
45:58 read could I have judged indeed by the
46:01 wild overstrained air of vivacity with
46:04 which he hearkened or apparently
46:07 hearkened to the words of the tale I
46:10 might well have congratulated myself
46:13 upon the success of my design I had
46:15 arrived at that well-known portion of
46:17 the story where Ethel the hero of the
46:20 trist having sought in vain for
46:22 Peaceable admission into the dwelling of
46:25 the hermit proceeds to make good an
46:28 entrance by force
46:31 here it will be remembered the words of
46:36 the narrative run thus quote and Ethel
46:40 who was by nature of a Dy heart and who
46:43 was now Mighty with all on account of
46:45 the powerfulness of the wine which he
46:48 had drunken waited no longer to hold
46:53 parlay with the hermit who in sooth was
46:57 of an obstinate and maliceful turn but
47:00 feeling the rain upon his shoulders and
47:03 fearing the rising of the Tempest
47:07 uplifted his mace outright and with
47:10 blows made quickly room in the plankings
47:14 of the door for his gauntleted hand and
47:17 now pulling therewith sturdily he so
47:22 cracked and ripped and tore all AER that
47:25 the noise of the dry and Hollow sounding
47:27 wood aara
47:30 and reverberated throughout the
47:32 forest at the termination of this
47:35 sentence I started and for a moment
47:39 paused for it appeared to me although I
47:42 at once concluded that my excited fancy
47:45 had deceived me it appeared to me that
47:47 from some very remote portion of the
47:50 Mansion there came indistinctly to my
47:54 ears what might have been in its exact
47:57 similarity of character the echo
48:00 but a stifled and dull one certainly of
48:03 the very cracking and ripping sound
48:07 which sir Lancelot had so particularly
48:09 described it was beyond doubt The
48:12 Coincidence alone which had arrested my
48:15 attention for amid the rattling of the
48:18 sashes of the casements and the ordinary
48:21 comingled noises of the still increasing
48:27 storm the sound in itself had nothing
48:30 surely which should have interested or
48:35 disturbed me I continued the story quote
48:38 but the good Champion Ethel red now
48:40 entering within the door was sore
48:44 enraged and amazed to perceive no signal
48:48 of the maliceful hermit but instead
48:51 thereof a dragon of a scaly and
48:55 prodigious demeanor and of a fiery
48:58 tongue which sat in in guard before a
49:03 Palace of Gold with a floor of silver
49:07 and upon the wall there hung a shield of
49:11 shining brass with this Legend in
49:16 written who entereth herein a conqueror
49:21 hath been who slayeth the dragon The
49:25 Shield he shall win and Ethel red
49:28 uplifted his m face and struck upon the
49:31 head of the Dragon which fell before him
49:34 and gave up his pesty breath with a
49:37 shriek so horrid and harsh and with all
49:41 so piercing that Ethel red had Fain to
49:43 close his ears with his hands against
49:47 the Dreadful noise of it the like
49:50 whereof was never before
49:54 heard here again I paused abruptly and
49:57 now with a feeling of wild amazement for
49:59 there could be no doubt whatever that in
50:03 this instance I did actually hear
50:05 although from what direction it preceded
50:09 I found it impossible to say a low and
50:13 apparently distant but harsh protracted
50:17 and most unusual screaming or gring
50:21 sound the exact counterpart of what my
50:23 fancy had already conjured up for the
50:27 dragon's unnatural shriek as descri Red
50:28 by the
50:30 romancer oppressed as I certainly was
50:32 upon the occurrence of this second and
50:35 most extraordinary coincidence by a
50:37 thousand conflicting
50:40 Sensations in which wonder and extreme
50:41 Terror were
50:44 predominant I still retained sufficient
50:47 presence of mind to avoid exciting by
50:49 any observation the sensitive
50:51 nervousness of my
50:54 companion I was by no means certain that
50:57 he had noticed the Sounds in question
51:01 although assuredly a strange alteration
51:05 had during the last few minutes taken
51:09 place in his demeanor from a position
51:12 fronting my own he had gradually brought
51:15 round his chair so as to sit with his
51:18 face to the door of the chamber and thus
51:21 I could but partially perceive his
51:24 features although I saw that his lips
51:27 trembled as if he were murmuring ing
51:30 inaudibly his head had dropped upon his
51:33 breast yet I knew that he was not asleep
51:36 from the wide and rigid opening of the
51:38 eye as I caught a glance of it in
51:41 profile the motion of his body too was
51:45 at variance with this idea for he rocked
51:47 from side to side with a gentle yet
51:49 constant and uniform
51:53 sway having rapidly taken notice of all
51:55 this I resumed The Narrative of Sir
52:00 Lancelot which thus preceded quote and
52:03 now the champion having escaped from the
52:06 terrible Fury of the Dragon bethinking
52:09 himself of the Brazen shield and of the
52:11 breaking up of the enchantment which was
52:15 upon it removed the carcass from out of
52:18 the way before him and approached
52:21 valorously over the silver pavement of
52:24 the castle to where the shield was upon
52:29 the wall which in sooth tarried not for
52:32 his full coming but fell down at his
52:36 feet upon the silver floor with a mighty
52:39 great and terrible ringing
52:42 sound no sooner had these syllables
52:45 passed my lips then as if a shield of
52:48 brass had indeed at the moment Fallen
52:51 heavily upon a floor of silver I became
52:55 aware of a distinct Hollow metallic and
52:59 clangorous yet apparently muffled
53:02 reverberation completely unnerved I
53:04 leapt to my feet but the measured
53:07 rocking movement of Usher was
53:10 undisturbed I rushed to the chair in
53:13 which he sat his eyes were bent fixedly
53:16 before him and throughout his whole
53:20 countenance there rained a Stony
53:23 rigidity but as I placed my hand upon
53:26 his shoulder there came a strong shudder
53:31 over his whole person a sickly smile
53:34 quivered about his lips and I saw that
53:37 he spoke in a low hurried and gibbering
53:41 murmur as if unconscious of my presence
53:45 bending closely over him I at length
53:49 Drank in the Hideous import of his words
53:54 not hear it yes I hear it and have heard
53:59 it long long long long many minutes many
54:03 hours many days have I heard it yet I
54:08 dared not oh pity me miserable wretch
54:15 that I am I dared not I dared not speak
54:18 we have put her living in the Tomb said
54:22 I not that my senses were cute I now
54:24 tell you that I heard her first feeble
54:28 movements in the hollow often I heard
54:34 them many many days ago yet I dared not
54:42 I dared not speak and now tonight Ethel
54:46 R the breaking of the hermit's door and
54:48 the death Cry Of The Dragon and the
54:52 clanger of The Shield say rather the
54:54 rening of her coffin and the grading of
54:57 the iron hinges of her prison and her
54:59 struggles within the coppered archway of
55:04 the Vault oh wither shall I fly will she
55:06 not be here and on is she not hurrying
55:10 to uaid me for my haste have I not heard
55:13 her footsteps on the stair do I not
55:16 distinguish that heavy and horrible
55:20 beating of her heart madman here he
55:23 sprang furiously to his feet and
55:26 shrieked out his syllables as if in the
55:31 effort he were giving up his soul madman
55:34 I tell you that she now stands without
55:37 the door as if in the Supernatural
55:39 energy of his utterance there had been
55:43 found the potency of a spell the huge
55:45 antique panels to which the speaker
55:47 pointed threw slowly back upon the
55:51 instant their ponderous and Ebony Jaws
55:55 it was the work of the rushing gust but
56:00 then without those doors there did stand
56:04 the lofty and enshrouded figure of the
56:08 lady meline of Usher there was blood
56:11 upon her white robes and the evidence of
56:13 some bitter struggle upon every portion
56:17 of her emaciated frame for a moment she
56:20 remained trembling and reeling to and
56:22 fro upon the
56:27 threshold then with a low moaning cry
56:30 fell heavily inward upon the person of
56:34 her brother and in her violent and now
56:39 final death agonies bore him to the
56:43 floor a corpse and a victim to the
56:46 Terrors he had
56:49 anticipated from that chamber and from
56:54 that Mansion I fled a gast the storm was
56:57 still abroad in all its wrath as I found
57:01 myself crossing the old Causeway
57:04 suddenly there shot along the path a
57:08 wild light and I turned to see whence a
57:11 gleam so unusual could have issued for
57:14 the vast house and its Shadows were
57:19 alone behind me the radiance was that of
57:25 the full setting and blood red moon
57:27 which now shown vividly through that
57:31 once barely discernable fissure of which
57:34 I have before spoken as extending from
57:37 the roof of the building in a zigzag
57:41 direction to the base while I gazed this
57:43 fissure rapidly
57:46 widened there came a fierce breath of
57:49 the Whirlwind the entire orb of the
57:54 satellite burst at once upon my sight my
57:58 brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing
58:00 rushing
58:03 asunder there was a long tumultuous
58:06 shouting sound like the voice of a
58:09 thousand Waters and the deep and dank
58:15 Tarn at my feet closed sullenly and
58:19 silently over the fragments of the House