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I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the
moon was just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light
for my employment, and I remained idle, in a pause of
consideration of whether I should leave my labour for the
night, or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting attention
to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred to me, which led
me to consider the effects of what I was now doing. Three years
before I was engaged in the same manner, and had created
a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart,
and filled it for ever with the bitterest remorse. I was now
about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike
ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant
than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and
wretchedness. He had sworn to quit the neighbourhood of man,
and hide himself in deserts; but she had not; and she, who in
all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal,
might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation.
They might even hate each other; the creature who already lived
loathed his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater
abhorrence for it when it came before his eyes in the female form?
She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior
beauty of man; she might quit him, and he be again alone,
exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by one
of his own species.
Even if they were to leave Europe, and inhabit the deserts of
the new world, yet one of the first results of those sympathies
for which the daemon thirsted would be children, and a race of
devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the
very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and
full of terror. Had I right, for my own benefit, to inflict
this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been
moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been
struck senseless by his fiendish threats: but now, for the
first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I
shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their
pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace
at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.
I trembled, and my heart failed within me; when, on looking up,
I saw, by the light of the moon, the daemon at the casement.
A ghastly grin wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me, where I sat
fulfilling the task which he had allotted to me. Yes, he had
followed me in my travels; he had loitered in forests, hid
himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide and desert heaths;
and he now came to mark my progress, and claim the fulfilment
of my promise.
As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent
of malice and treachery. I thought with a sensation of madness
on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling
with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.
The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future
existence he depended for happiness, and, with a howl of
devilish despair and revenge, withdrew.
I left the room, and, locking the door, made a solemn vow in my
own heart never to resume my labours; and then, with trembling
steps, I sought my own apartment. I was alone; none were near
me to dissipate the gloom, and relieve me from the sickening
oppression of the most terrible reveries.
Several hours passed, and I remained near my window gazing on
the sea; it was almost motionless, for the winds were hushed,
and all nature reposed under the eye of the quiet moon. A few
fishing vessels alone specked the water, and now and then the
gentle breeze wafted the sound of voices, as the fishermen
called to one another. I felt the silence, although I was
hardly conscious of its extreme profundity, until my ear was
suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore, and
a person landed close to my house.
In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if
some one endeavoured to open it softly. I trembled from head
to foot; I felt a presentiment of who it was, and wished to
rouse one of the peasants who dwelt in a cottage not far from
mine; but I was overcome by the sensation of helplessness, so
often felt in frightful dreams, when you in vain endeavour to
fly from an impending danger, and was rooted to the spot.
Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage; the
door opened, and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared. Shutting the
door, he approached me, and said, in a smothered voice--"You have
destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend?
Do you dare to break your promise?
I have endured toil and misery: I left Switzerland with you; I
crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands,
and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt many months in
the heaths of England, and among the deserts of Scotland. I have
endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare
destroy my hopes?"
"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another
like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness."
"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved
yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have
power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so
wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are
my creator, but I am your master;--obey!"
"The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your
power is arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of
wickedness; but they confirm me in a determination of not
creating you a companion in vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set
loose upon the earth a daemon, whose delight is in death and
wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your words will only
exasperate my rage."
The monster saw my determination in my face, and gnashed his
teeth in the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he,
"find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and
I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited
by detestation and scorn. Man! you may hate; but beware! your
hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will
fall which must ravish from you your happiness for ever.
Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my
wretchedness? You can blast my other passions; but revenge
remains--revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may
die; but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the
sun that gazes on your misery. Beware; for I am fearless, and
therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake,
that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the
injuries you inflict."
"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds
of malice. I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no
coward to bend beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable."
"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your
wedding-night."
I started forward, and exclaimed, "Villain! before you sign my
death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe."
I would have seized him; but he eluded me, and quitted the
house with precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his
boat, which shot across the waters with an arrowy swiftness,
and was soon lost amidst the waves.
All was again silent; but his words rung in my ears. I burned
with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate
him into the ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and
perturbed, while my imagination conjured up a thousand images
to torment and sting me. Why had I not followed him, and
closed with him in mortal strife? But I had suffered him to
depart, and he had directed his course towards the main land.
I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed to
his insatiate revenge. And then I thought again of his
words--"_I_ will be with you on your wedding-night." That then
was the period fixed for the fulfilment of my destiny. In that
hour I should die, and at once satisfy and extinguish his malice.
The prospect did not move me to fear; yet when I thought of my
beloved Elizabeth,--of her tears and endless sorrow, when she
should find her lover so barbarously snatched from her,--tears,
the first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes,
and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.
The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean; my
feelings became calmer, if it may be called calmness, when the
violence of rage sinks into the depths of despair. I left the
house, the horrid scene of the last night's contention, and
walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost regarded as an
insuperable barrier between me and my fellow-creatures; nay, a
wish that such should prove the fact stole across me. I desired
that I might pass my life on that barren rock, wearily, it is
true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery. If I
returned, it was to be sacrificed, or to see those whom I most
loved die under the grasp of a damon whom I had myself created.
I walked about the isle like a restless spectre, separated from
all it loved, and miserable in the separation. When it became
noon, and the sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass, and was
overpowered by a deep sleep. I had been awake the whole of the
preceding night, my nerves were agitated, and my eyes inflamed
by watching and misery. The sleep into which I now sunk
refreshed me; and when I awoke, I again felt as if I belonged
to a race of human beings like myself, and I began to reflect
upon what had passed with greater composure; yet still the
words of the fiend rung in my ears like a death-knell, they
appeared like a dream, yet distinct and oppressive as a reality.
The sun had far descended, and I still sat on the shore,
satisfying my appetite, which had become ravenous, with an
oaten cake, when I saw a fishing-boat land close to me, and one
of the men brought me a packet; it contained letters from
Geneva, and one from Clerval, entreating me to join him.
He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly where he
was; that letters from the friends he had formed in London
desired his return to complete the negotiation they had entered
into for his Indian enterprise. He could not any longer delay
his departure; but as his journey to London might be followed,
even sooner than he now conjectured, by his longer voyage, he
entreated me to bestow as much of my society on him as I could
spare. He besought me, therefore, to leave my solitary isle,
and to meet him at Perth, that we might proceed southwards
together. This letter in a degree recalled me to life, and I
determined to quit my island at the expiration of two days.
Yet, before I departed, there was a task to perform, on which
I shuddered to reflect: I must pack up my chemical instruments;
and for that purpose I must enter the room which had been the
scene of my odious work, and I must handle those utensils, the
sight of which was sickening to me. The next morning, at
daybreak, I summoned sufficient courage, and unlocked the door
of my laboratory. The remains of the half-finished creature,
whom I had destroyed, lay scattered on the floor, and I almost
felt as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being.
I paused to collect myself, and then entered the chamber.
With trembling hand I conveyed the instruments out of the room;
but I reflected that I ought not to leave the relics of my work
to excite the horror and suspicion of the peasants; and I
accordingly put them into a basket, with a great quantity of
stones, and, laying them up, determined to throw them into the
sea that very night; and in the meantime I sat upon the beach,
employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus.
Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had
taken place in my feelings since the night of the appearance of
the damon. I had before regarded my promise with a gloomy
despair, as a thing that, with whatever consequences, must be
fulfilled; but I now felt as if a film had been taken from
before my eyes, and that I, for the first time, saw clearly.
The idea of renewing my labours did not for one instant occur
to me; the threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts, but I did
not reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it. I had
resolved in my own mind, that to create another like the fiend
I had first made would be an act of the basest and most
atrocious selfishness; and I banished from my mind every
thought that could lead to a different conclusion.
Between two and three in the morning the moon rose; and I then,
putting my basket aboard a little skiff, sailed out about four
miles from the shore. The scene was perfectly solitary: a few
boats were returning towards land, but I sailed away from them.
I felt as if I was about the commission of a dreadful crime,
and avoided with shuddering anxiety any encounter with my
fellow-creatures. At one time the moon, which had before been
clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I took
advantage of the moment of darkness, and cast my basket into
the sea: I listened to the gurgling sound as it sunk, and then
sailed away from the spot. The sky became clouded; but the air
was pure, although chilled by the north-east breeze that was
then rising. But it refreshed me, and filled me with such
agreeable sensations, that I resolved to prolong my stay on the
water; and, fixing the rudder in a direct position, stretched
myself at the bottom of the boat. Clouds hid the moon,
everything was obscure, and I heard only the sound of the boat,
as its keel cut through the waves; the murmur lulled me, and in
a short time I slept soundly.
I do not know how long I remained in this situation, but when
I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted considerably.
The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened the
safety of my little skiff. I found that the wind was
north-east, and must have driven me far from the coast from
which I had embarked. I endeavoured to change my course, but
quickly found that, if I again made the attempt, the boat would
be instantly filled with water. Thus situated, my only
resource was to drive before the wind. I confess that I felt
a few sensations of terror. I had no compass with me, and was
so slenderly acquainted with the geography of this part of the
world, that the sun was of little benefit to me. I might be
driven into the wide Atlantic, and feel all the tortures of
starvation, or be swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that
roared and buffeted around me. I had already been out many
hours, and felt the torment of a burning thirst, a prelude to
my other sufferings. I looked on the heavens, which were
covered by clouds that flew before the wind, only to be
replaced by others: I looked upon the sea, it was to be my
grave. "Fiend," I exclaimed, "your task is already fulfilled!"
I thought of Elizabeth, of my father, and of Clerval; all left
behind, on whom the monster might satisfy his sanguinary and
merciless passions. This idea plunged me into a reverie, so
despairing and frightful, that even now, when the scene is on
the point of closing before me for ever, I shudder to reflect
on it.
Some hours passed thus; but by degrees, as the sun declined
towards the horizon, the wind died away into a gentle breeze,
and the sea became free from breakers. But these gave place to
a heavy swell: I felt sick, and hardly able to hold the rudder,
when suddenly I saw a line of high land towards the south.
Almost spent, as I was, by fatigue, and the dreadful suspense
I endured for several hours, this sudden certainty of life
rushed like a flood of warm joy to my heart, and tears gushed
from my eyes.
How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging
love we have of life even in the excess of misery! I constructed
another sail with a part of my dress, and eagerly steered my
course towards the land. It had a wild and rocky appearance;
but, as I approached nearer, I easily perceived the traces
of cultivation. I saw vessels near the shore, and found
myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of
civilised man. I carefully traced the windings of the land,
and hailed a steeple which I at length saw issuing from behind
a small promontory. As I was in a state of extreme debility,
I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where
I could most easily procure nourishment. Fortunately I had
money with me. As I turned the promontory, I perceived a small
neat town and a good harbour, which I entered, my heart
bounding with joy at my unexpected escape.
As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the sails,
several people crowded towards the spot. They seemed much
surprised at my appearance; but, instead of offering me any
assistance, whispered together with gestures that at any other
time might have produced in me a slight sensation of alarm.
As it was, I merely remarked that they spoke English; and I
therefore addressed them in that language: "My good friends,"
said I, "will you be so kind as to tell me the name of this
town, and inform me where I am?"
"You will know that soon enough," replied a man with a hoarse voice.
"May be you are come to a place that will not prove much to your taste;
but you will not be consulted as to your quarters, I promise you."
I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from
a stranger; and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the
frowning and angry countenances of his companions. "Why do you
answer me so roughly?" I replied; "surely it is not the custom
of Englishmen to receive strangers so inhospitably."
"I do not know," said the man, "what the custom of the English
may be; but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains."
While this strange dialogue continued, I perceived the crowd
rapidly increase. Their faces expressed a mixture of curiosity
and anger, which annoyed, and in some degree alarmed me.
I inquired the way to the inn; but no one replied. I then moved
forward and a murmuring sound arose from the crowd as they
followed and surrounded me; when an ill-looking man approaching,
tapped me on the shoulder, and said, "Come, sir, you must follow
me to Mr. Kirwin's, to give an account of yourself."
"Who is Mr. Kirwin? Why am I to give an account of myself?
Is not this a free country?"
"Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. Mr. Kirwin is a
magistrate; and you are to give an account of the death of a
gentleman who was found murdered here last night."
This answer startled me; but I presently recovered myself.
I was innocent; that could easily be proved: accordingly I
followed my conductor in silence, and was led to one of the
best houses in the town. I was ready to sink from fatigue and
hunger; but, being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it
politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility
might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt.
Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments
to overwhelm me, and extinguish in horror and despair all fear
of ignominy or death.
I must pause here; for it requires all my fortitude to recall
the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate,
in proper detail, to my recollection.
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