Part 33 (2/2)

_Mr. Falconer._ You are a thoroughly good fellow, Harry, and I really wish Dorothy joy of her choice; but that is not what I meant. She must bring you a fortune, not take one from you; and you must not refuse it.

Harry repeated that he did not want fortune; and Mr. Falconer repeated that, so far as depended on him, he should not have Dorothy without one.

It was not an arduous matter to bring to an amicable settlement.

The affair of Harry and Dorothy being thus satisfactorily arranged, the other six were adjusted with little difficulty; and Mr. Falconer returned with a light heart to the Grange, where he presented himself at dinner on the twenty-seventh day of his probation.

He found much the same party as before; for though some of them absented themselves for a while, they could not resist Mr. Gryll's earnest entreaties to return. He was cordially welcomed by all, and with a gracious smile from _Morgana._

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

CHRISTMAS TALES--CLa.s.sICAL TALES OF WONDER--THE HOST'S GHOST--A TALE OF A SHADOW--A TALE OF A BOGLE--THE LEGEND OF ST. LAURA

Jane... We'll draw round The fire, and grandmamma perhaps will tell us One of her stories.

Harry... Ay, dear grand maamma!

A pretty story! something dismal now!

A b.l.o.o.d.y murder.

Jane... Or about a ghost.

--Southey: The Grandmother's Fate.

In the evening Miss Gryll said to the doctor, 'We have pa.s.sed Christmas without a ghost story. This is not as it should be. One evening at least of Christmas ought to be devoted to _merveilleuses histoires racontees autour du foyer_; which Chateaubriand enumerates among the peculiar enjoyments of those _qui n'ont pas quitte leur pays natal._ You must have plenty of ghosts in Greek and Latin, doctor.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: You must have plenty of ghosts in Greek and Latin 312-270]

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ No doubt. All literature abounds with ghosts.

But there are not many cla.s.sical ghosts that would make a Christmas tale according to the received notion of a ghost story. The ghosts of Patroclus in Homer, of Darius in aeschylus, of Polydorus in Euripides, are fine poetical ghosts: but none of them would make a ghost story. I can only call to mind one such story in Greek: but even that, as it has been turned into ballads by Goethe, in the _Bride of Corinth_, and by Lewis, in the _Gay Gold Ring_,{1}

1 Lewis says, in a note on the _Gay Gold Ring_:--'I once read in some Grecian author, whose name I have forgotten, the story which suggested to me the outline of the foregoing ballad. It was as follows: A young man arriving at the house of a friend, to whose daughter he was betrothed, was informed that some weeks had pa.s.sed since death had deprived him of his intended bride. Never having seen her, he soon reconciled himself to her loss, especially as, during his stay at his friend's house, a young lady was kind enough to visit him every night in his chamber, whence she retired at daybreak, always carrying with her some valuable present from her lover. This intercourse continued till accident showed the young man the picture of his deceased bride, and he recognised, with horror, the features of his nocturnal visitor. The young lady's tomb being opened, he found in it the various presents which his liberality had bestowed on his unknown _innamorata._'--M. G. Lewis: _Tales of Wonder_, v. i. p. 99.

would not be new to any one here. There are some cla.s.sical tales of wonder, not ghost stories, but suitable Christmas tales. There are two in Petronius, which I once amused myself by translating as closely as possible to the originals, and, if you please, I will relate them as I remember them. For I hold with Chaucer:

Whoso shall telle a tale after a man, He most reherse, as nigh as ever he can, Everich word, if it be in his charge, All speke he never so rudely and so large: Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe, Or feinen things, or finden wordes newe.{1}

1 Canterbury Tales, w. 733-738.

This proposal being received with an unanimous 'By all means, doctor,'

the doctor went on:

'These stories are told at the feast of Trimalchio: the first by Niceros, a freedman, one of the guests:

'While I was yet serving, we lived in a narrow street, where now is the house of Gavilla. There, as it pleased the G.o.ds, I fell in love with the wife of Terentius, the tavern-keeper--Melissa Tarentiana--many of you knew her, a most beautiful kiss-thrower.'

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