Ernestus Berchtold; or The Modern Oedipus: A Tale

296 Pages·1819·6.869 MB·English

by  Polidori, John William

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Digitized with financial assistance from the
Government of Maharashtra
on 02 January, 2016
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ERNESTUS BERCHTOLD;
OR,
THE MODERN WDIPUS.
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Printed by Strahan And Spottiswnodoi
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• ERNESTUS BERCHTOLD • •
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OR,
THE MODERN (EDIPUS.
Br JJOOHHNN WILLIAM POLIDORI, M. D.
• 912 7 8
" The gods are just ett
tot how can finite measure infinite?
Reason ! alas, it does not know itself !
Yet man, vain man, would with this short-lin'd plummet
Fathom the vast abyss of heavenly justice.
Whatever is, is in its causes just,
Since all things are by fate, but purblind man
Sees but a part u' the basis, the nearest links
I I is eyes not carrying to that equal beim
That poises all above." DR EDEN'S CEDIPES.
Leila —each thought was only thine I —
My good, my guilt, my weal, my woe,
My hope on high—my all below.
Txt h- se nsa dxe, eomh siat ye, v/isl—eesw Vhaast nthoot ug uwiilltt. ——
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INTRODUCTION:
4
THE tale here presented to the public
is the one I began at Coligny, when
Frankenstein was planned, and when
a noble author having determined to
descend from his lofty range, gave up a
few hours to a tale of terror, and wrote
the Fr...gnu:wit published at the end of
Mazeppa.* Though I cannot boast of

* The tale which lately appeared, and to which
his lordship's name was wrongfully attached, was
foUnded upon the ground-work upon which this
fragment was to have been continued. Two
Vi INTRODUCTION.
the horrible imagination of the one, or
the elegant classical style of the latter),
sill I hope the reader will not throw mine
friends were to travel from England into Greece;
while there, one of them should die, but before his
death, should obtain from his friend an oath of se-
crecy with regard to his decease. Some short time
after, the remaining traveller returning to his na-
tive country, should be startled at perceiving his
former companion moving about in society, and
should be horrified at finding that he made
love to his former friend's sister. Upon this
foundation I built the Vampyre, at the request
of a lady, who denied the possibility of such
a ground-work forming the outline of a tale which
should bear the slightest appearance of probability.
In the course of three mornings, I produced that

tale, an d left it with her. From thence it ap-

pears t o have fallen into the hands of some person.,
who sent it to the Editor in such a way, as to leave
it so doubtful from his words, whether it was his
lordship's or not, that I found some difficulty in vin•
(heating it to myself. These circumstances were
stated in a letter sent to the Morning Chronicle
three days after the publication of the tale, but in
consequence of the publishers representing to me
that they were compromised as well as myself, aid
that immediately they were certain it was mine,