University of Virginia Library

4. EDGAR HUNTLY.
CHAPTER IV.

You call upon me for a confession
of my offences. What a strange
fortune is mine! That an human being,
in the present circumstances, should
make this demand, and that I should be
driven, by an irresistable necessity to
comply with it! That here should terminate
my calamitous series! That my
destiny should call upon me to lie down
and die, in a region so remote from the
scene of my crimes; at a distance, so
great, from all that witnessed and endured
their consequences!

You believe me to be an assassin.
You require me to explain the motives
that induced me to murder the innocent.
While this is your belief, and this the
scope of your expectations, you may be
sure of my compliance. I could resist
every demand but this.

For what purpose have I come hither?
Is it to relate my story? Shall I calmly
sit here, and rehearse the incidents of
my life? Will my strength be adequate
to this rehearsal? Let me recollect the
motives that governed me, when I formed
this design. Perhaps, a strenuousness
may be imparted by them, which, otherwise,
I cannot hope to obtain. For the
sake of those, I consent to conjure up the
ghost of the past, and to begin a tale that,
with a fortitude like mine, I am not sure
that I shall live to finish.

You are unacquainted with the man
before you. The inferences which you

have drawn, with regard to my designs,
and my conduct, are a tissue of destructive
errors. You, like others, are blind
to the most momentous consequences
of your own actions. You talk of imparting
consolation. You boast the benificence
of your intentions. You set yourself
to do me a benefit. What are the
effects of your misguided zeal, and random
efforts? They have brought my
life to a miserable close. They have
shrouded the last scene of it in blood.
They have put the seal to my perdition.

My misery has been greater than
has fallen to the lot of mortals. Yet
it is but beginning. My present path,
full as it is of asperities, is better
than that into which I must enter, when
this is abandoned. Perhaps, if my pilgrimage
had been longer, I might, at some
future day, have lighted upon hope. In
consequence of your interference, I am

forever debarred from it. My existence
is henceforward to be invariable. The
woes that are reserved for me, are incapable
alike of alleviation or intermission.

But I came not hither to recriminate.
I came not hither to accuse others but
myself. I know the retribution that is
appointed for guilt like mine. It is just.
I may shudder at the foresight of my
punishment and shrink in the endurance
of it; but I shall be indebted for part of
my torment to the vigour of my understanding,
which teaches me that my punishment
is just. Why should I procrastinate
my doom and strive to render my
burthen more light. It is but just that
it should crush me. Its procrastination
is impossible. The stroke is already felt.
Even now I drink of the cup of retribution.
A change of being cannot agravate
my woe. Till consciousness itself

be extinct, the worm that gnaws me will
never perish.

Fain would I be relieved from this
task. Gladly would I bury in oblivion
the transactions of my life: but no. My
fate is uniform. The dæmon that controuled
me at first is still in the fruition
of power. I am entangled in his fold,
and every effort that I make to escape
only involves me in deeper ruin. I need
not conceal, for all the consequences of
disclosure are already experienced. I
cannot endure a groundless imputation,
though to free me from it, I must create
and justify imputations still more atrocious.
My story may at least be brief.
If the agonies of remembrance must be
awakened afresh, let me do all that in me
lies to shorten them.

I was born in the county of Armagh.
My parents were of the better sort of

peasants, and were able to provide me
with the rudiments of knowledge. I
should doubtless have trodden in their
footsteps, and have spent my life in the
cultivation of their scanty fields, if an
event had not happened, which, for a long
time, I regarded as the most fortunate of
my life; but which I now regard as the
scheme of some infernal agent and as the
primary source of all my calamities.

My father's farm was a portion of the
demesne of one who resided wholly in
the metropolis, and consigned the management
of his estates to his stewards
and retainers. This person married a
lady, who brought him great accession
of fortune. Her wealth was her only
recommendation in the eyes of her husband,
whose understanding was depraved
by the prejudices of luxury and rank,
but was the least of her attractions in
the estimate of reasonable beings.

They passed some years together.
If their union were not a source of misery
to the lady, she was indebted for her
tranquility to the force of her mind. She
was, indeed, governed, in every action
of her life by the precepts of duty, while
her husband listened to no calls but those
of pernicious dissipation. He was immersed
in all the vices that grow out of
opulence and a mistaken education.

Happily for his wife his career was
short. He was enraged at the infidelity
of his mistress, to purchase whose attachment,
he had lavished two thirds of his
fortune. He called the paramour, by
whom he had been supplanted, to the
field. The contest was obstinate, and
terminated in the death of the challenger.

This event freed the lady from many
distressful and humiliating obligations.
She determined to profit by her newly
acquired independence, to live thence-forward

conformable to her notions of
right, to preserve and improve, by
schemes of economy, the remains of
her fortune, and to employ it in the diffusion
of good. Her plans made it necessary
to visit her estates in the distant
provinces.

During her abode in the manor of
which my father was a vassal, she visited
his cottage. I was at that time a child.
She was pleased with my vivacity and
promptitude, and determined to take me
under her own protection. My parents
joyfully acceded to her proposal, and
I returned with her to the capital.

She had an only son of my own age.
Her design, in relation to me, was, that
I should be educated with her child, and
that an affection, in this way, might be
excited in me towards my young master,
which might render me, when we should
attain to manhood, one of his most faithful

and intelligent dependents. I enjoyed,
equally with him, all the essential benefits
of education. There were certain
accomplishments, from which I was excluded,
from the belief that they were
unsuitable to my rank and station. I was
permitted to acquire others, which, had
she been actuated by true discernment, she
would, perhaps, have discovered to be
far more incompatible with a servile station.
In proportion as my views were
refined and enlarged by history and science,
I was likely to contract a thirst of
independence, and an impatience of subjection
and poverty.

When the period of childhood and
youth was past, it was thought proper
to send her son, to improve his knowledge
and manners, by a residence on the continent.
This young man was endowed
with splendid abilities. His errors were
the growth of his condition. All the expedients

that maternal solicitude and
wisdom could suggest, were employed
to render him an useful citizen. Perhaps
this wisdom was attested by the large
share of excellence which he really possessed;
and, that his character was not
unblemished, proved only, that no exertions
could preserve him from the vices
that are inherent in wealth and rank,
and which flow from the spectacle of universal
depravity.

As to me, it would be folly to deny,
that I had benefited by my opportunities
of improvement. I fulfilled the expectation
of my mistress, in one respect. I
was deeply imbued with affection for her
son, and reverence for herself. Perhaps
the force of education was evinced in
those particulars, without reflecting any
credit on the directors of it. Those might
merit the name of defects, which were
regarded by them as accomplishments.

My unfavorable qualities, like those of
my master, were imputed to my condition,
though, perhaps, the difference
was advantageous to me, since the vices
of servitude are less hateful than those
of tyranny.

It was resolved that I should accompany
my master in his travels, in quality
of favourite domestic. My principles,
whatever might be their rectitude, were
harmonious and flexible. I had devoted
my life to the service of my patron. I
had formed conceptions of what was really
conducive to his interest, and was not to
be misled by specious appearances. If
my affection had not stimulated my diligence,
I should have found sufficient
motives in the behaviour of his mother.
She condescended to express her reliance
on my integrity and judgment. She was
not ashamed to manifest, at parting, the
tenderness of a mother, and to acknowledge

that, all her tears were not shed
on her son's account. I had my part in
the regrets that called them forth.

During our absence, I was my master's
constant attendent. I corresponded
with his mother, and made the conduct
of her son the principal theme of my letters.
I deemed it my privilege, as well
as duty, to sit in judgment on his actions,
to form my opinions without regard
to selfish considerations, and to
avow them whenever the avowal tended
to benefit. Every letter which I
wrote, particularly those in which his
behaviour was freely criticised, I allowed
him to peruse. I would, on no account,
connive at, or participate in the slightest
irregularity. I knew the duty of my
station, and assumed no other controul
than that which resulted from the avoiding
of deceit, and the open expression of
my sentiments. The youth was of a noble

spirit, but his firmness was wavering.
He yielded to temptations which a censor
less rigorous than I would have regarded
as venial, or, perhaps laudable.
My duty required me to set before him
the consequences of his actions, and to
give impartial and timely information to
his mother.

He could not brook a monitor. The
more he needed reproof, the less supportable
it became. My company became
every day less agreeable, till at length,
there appeared a necessity of parting.
A seperation took place, but not as enemies.
I never lost his respect. In his
representations to his mother, he was
just to my character and services. My
dismission was not allowed to injure my
fortune, and his mother considered this
event merely as a new proof of the inflexible
consistency of my principles.

On this change in my situation, she
proposed to me to become a member of
her own family. No proposal could be
more acceptable. I was fully acquainted
with the character of this lady, and had
nothing to fear from injustice and caprice.
I did not regard her with filial familiarity,
but my attachment and reverence would
have done honour to that relation. I
performed for her the functions of a
steward. Her estates in the city were
put under my direction. She placed
boundless confidence in my discretion
and integrity, and consigned to me the
payment, and in some degree, the selection
and government of her servants.
My station was a servile one, yet
most of the evils of servitude were unknown
to me. My personal ease and
independence were less infringed than
that of those who are accounted the freeest
members of society. I derived a

sort of authority and dignity from the
receipt and disbursement of money.
The tenants and debtors of the lady
were, in some respects, mine. It was,
for the most part, on my justice and lenity
that they depended for their treatment.
My lady's household establishment
was large and opulent. Her servants were
my inferiors and menials. My leisure
was considerable, and my emoluments
large enough to supply me with every
valuable instrument of improvement or
pleasure.

These were reasons why I should
be contented with my lot. These circumstances
alone would have rendered
it more eligible than any other, but it
had additional, and far more powerful
recommendations, arising from the character
of Mrs. Lorimer, and from the relation
in which she allowed me to stand
to her.

How shall I enter upon this theme?
How shall I expatiate upon excellencies,
which it was my fate to view in their
genuine colours, to adore with an immeasurable
and inextinguishable ardour,
and which, nevertheless, it was my
hateful task to blast and destroy? Yet
I will not be spared. I shall find in the
rehearsal, new incitements to sorrow.
I deserve to be supreme in misery, and
will not be denied the full measure of a
bitter retribution.

No one was better qualified to judge
of her excellencies. A casual spectator
might admire her beauty, and the dignity
of her demeanour. From the contemplation
of those, he might gather
motives for loving or revering her.
Age was far from having withered her
complexion, or destroyed the evenness
of her skin; but no time could rob her
of the sweetness and intelligence which

animated her features. Her habitual
beneficence was bespoken in every look.
Always in search of occasions for doing
good, always meditating scenes of happiness,
of which she was the author, or
of distress, for which she was preparing
relief, the most torpid insensibility was,
for a time, subdued, and the most depraved
smitten by charms, of which, in
another person, they would not perhaps
have been sensible.

A casual visitant might enjoy her
conversation, might applaud the rectitude
of her sentiments, the richness of
her elocution, and her skill in all the
offices of politeness. But it was only
for him, who dwelt constantly under
the same roof, to mark the inviolable
consistency of her actions and opinions,
the ceaseless flow of her candour, her
cheerfulness, and her benevolence. It

was only for one who witnessed her behaviour
at all hours, in sickness and in
health, her management of that great
instrument of evil and good, money, her
treatment of her son, her menials, and
her kindred, rightly to estimate her merits.

The intercourse between us was
frequent, but of a peculiar kind. My
office in her family required me often
to see her, to submit schemes to her
consideration, and receive her directions.
At these times she treated me in a manner,
in some degree, adapted to the difference
of rank, and the inferiority of
my station, and yet widely dissimilar
from that, which a different person
would have adopted, in the same circumstances.
The treatment was not that of
an equal and a friend, but still more remote
was it from that of a mistress. It
was merely characterised by affability

and condescention, but as such it had
no limits.

She made no scruple to ask my
council in every pecuniary affair, to
listen to my arguments, and decide conformably
to what, after sufficient canvassings
and discussions, should appear
to be right. When the direct occasions of
our interview were dismissed, I did not of
course withdraw. To detain or dismiss
me was indeed at her option, but, if no
engagement interfered, she would enter
into general conversation. There was
none who could with more safety to herself
have made the world her confessor;
but the state of society in which she
lived, imposed certain limitations on her
candour. In her intercourse with me
there were fewer restraints than on any
other occasion. My situation had made
me more intimately acquainted with domestic
transactions, with her views respecting

her son, and with the terms on
which she thought proper to stand with
those whom old acquaintance or kindred
gave some title to her good offices. In
addition to all those motives to a candid
treatment of me, there were others
which owed their efficacy to her maternal
regard for me, and to the artless
and unsuspecting generosity of her character.

Her hours were distributed with the
utmost regularity, and appropriated to
the best purposes. She selected her
society without regard to any qualities
but probity and talents. Her associates
were numerous, and her evening conversations
embellished with all that
could charm the senses or instruct the
understanding. This was a chosen field
for the display of her magnificence, but
her grandeur was unostentatious, and
her gravity unmingled with hautiness.

From these my station excluded me, but
I was compensated by the freedom of
her communications in the intervals.
She found pleasure in detailing to me
the incidents that passed on those occasions,
in rehearsing conversations and
depicting characters. There was an
uncommon portion of dramatic merit in
her recitals, besides valuable and curious
information. One uniform effect
was produced in me by this behaviour.
Each day, I thought it impossible for
my attachment to receive any new accessions,
yet the morrow was sure to produce
some new emotion of respect or of
gratitude, and to set the unrivalled accomplishments
of this lady in a new and
more favourable point of view. I contemplated
no change in my condition.
The necessity of change, whatever were
the alternative, would have been a subject
of piercing regret. I deemed my
life a cheap sacrifice in her cause. No
time would suffice to discharge the debt
of gratitude that was due to her. Yet
it was continually accumulating. If an
anxious thought ever invaded my bosom
it arose from this source.

It was no difficult task faithfully to
execute the functions assigned to me.
No merit could accrue to me from this
source. I was exposed to no temptation.
I had passed the feverish period of
youth. No contagious example had
contaminated my principles. I had resisted
the allurements of sensuality and
dissipation incident to my age. My
dwelling was in pomp and splendour.
I had amassed sufficient to secure me,
in case of unforeseen accidents, in the
enjoyment of competence. My mental
resources were not despicable, and the
external means of intellectual gratification
were boundless, I enjoyed an unsullied

reputation. My character was
well known in that sphere which my
lady occupied, not only by means of her
favourable report, but in numberless
ways in which it was my fortune to perform
personal services to others.