Delphi Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe (Illustrated) (172 page)
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Authors: Ann Radcliffe
Now my task is smoothly done,
I can fly, or I can run
Quickly to the green earth’s end,
Where the bow’d welkin low doth bend,
And, from thence, can soar as soon
To the corners of the moon.
The marriages of the Lady Blanche and Emily St. Aubert were celebrated, on the same day, and with the ancient baronial magnificence, at Chateau-le-Blanc. The feasts were held in the great hall of the castle, which, on this occasion, was hung with superb new tapestry, representing the exploits of Charlemagne and his twelve peers; here, were seen the Saracens, with their horrible visors, advancing to battle; and there, were displayed the wild solemnities of incantation, and the necromantic feats, exhibited by the magician JARL before the Emperor. The sumptuous banners of the family of Villeroi, which had long slept in dust, were once more unfurled, to wave over the gothic points of painted casements; and music echoed, in many a lingering close, through every winding gallery and colonnade of that vast edifice.
As Annette looked down from the corridor upon the hall, whose arches and windows were illuminated with brilliant festoons of lamps, and gazed on the splendid dresses of the dancers, the costly liveries of the attendants, the canopies of purple velvet and gold, and listened to the gay strains that floated along the vaulted roof, she almost fancied herself in an enchanted palace, and declared, that she had not met with any place, which charmed her so much, since she read the fairy tales; nay, that the fairies themselves, at their nightly revels in this old hall, could display nothing finer; while old Dorothee, as she surveyed the scene, sighed, and said, the castle looked as it was wont to do in the time of her youth.
After gracing the festivities of Chateau-le-Blanc, for some days, Valancourt and Emily took leave of their kind friends, and returned to La Vallee, where the faithful Theresa received them with unfeigned joy, and the pleasant shades welcomed them with a thousand tender and affecting remembrances; and, while they wandered together over the scenes, so long inhabited by the late
Mons.
and Madame St. Aubert, and Emily pointed out, with pensive affection, their favourite haunts, her present happiness was heightened, by considering, that it would have been worthy of their approbation, could they have witnessed it.
Valancourt led her to the plane-tree on the terrace, where he had first ventured to declare his love, and where now the remembrance of the anxiety he had then suffered, and the retrospect of all the dangers and misfortunes they had each encountered, since last they sat together beneath its broad branches, exalted the sense of their present felicity, which, on this spot, sacred to the memory of St. Aubert, they solemnly vowed to deserve, as far as possible, by endeavouring to imitate his benevolence, — by remembering, that superior attainments of every sort bring with them duties of superior exertion, — and by affording to their fellow-beings, together with that portion of ordinary comforts, which prosperity always owes to misfortune, the example of lives passed in happy thankfulness to GOD, and, therefore, in careful tenderness to his creatures.
Soon after their return to La Vallee, the brother of Valancourt came to congratulate him on his marriage, and to pay his respects to Emily, with whom he was so much pleased, as well as with the prospect of rational happiness, which these nuptials offered to Valancourt, that he immediately resigned to him a part of the rich domain, the whole of which, as he had no family, would of course descend to his brother, on his decease.
The estates, at Tholouse, were disposed of, and Emily purchased of
Mons.
Quesnel the ancient domain of her late father, where, having given Annette a marriage portion, she settled her as the housekeeper, and Ludovico as the steward; but, since both Valancourt and herself preferred the pleasant and long-loved shades of La Vallee to the magnificence of Epourville, they continued to reside there, passing, however, a few months in the year at the birthplace of St. Aubert, in tender respect to his memory.
The legacy, which had been bequeathed to Emily by Signora Laurentini, she begged Valancourt would allow her to resign to
Mons.
Bonnac; and Valancourt, when she made the request, felt all the value of the compliment it conveyed. The castle of Udolpho, also, descended to the wife of
Mons.
Bonnac, who was the nearest surviving relation of the house of that name, and thus affluence restored his long-oppressed spirits to peace, and his family to comfort.
O! how joyful it is to tell of happiness, such as that of Valancourt and Emily; to relate, that, after suffering under the oppression of the vicious and the disdain of the weak, they were, at length, restored to each other — to the beloved landscapes of their native country, — to the securest felicity of this life, that of aspiring to moral and labouring for intellectual improvement — to the pleasures of enlightened society, and to the exercise of the benevolence, which had always animated their hearts; while the bowers of La Vallee became, once more, the retreat of goodness, wisdom and domestic blessedness!
O! useful may it be to have shewn, that, though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over misfortune!
And, if the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it — the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.
AN
OR THE CONFESSIONAL OF THE BLACK PENITENTS.
A Romance.
The Italian
was published in 1797 and is considered the novel where Radcliffe’s talents for describing nature and focusing on the sublime reached its peak of sophistication. The importance of the idea of the sublime and the ability of nature to awaken it are crucial to the author’s philosophy. The success of Radcliffe’s previous works enabled her to receive a payment of eight hundred pounds for her original manuscript, a very sizable sum for a novel at that time.
In the novel, Radcliffe’s poetic imagery effectively creates the landscape which heightens the narrative elements of the work and she employs pathetic fallacy to enhance the connection between the characters and the natural world. The novel is set in 18
th
century Catholic Italy and begins with a mysterious encounter between an Englishman and a friar in a church where the former wishes to know why an assassin is being protected in a religious building. The friar does not respond, but later sends the Englishman a letter containing a different Gothic tale from the mid 18
th
century, set mostly in Naples.
A young man, Vincentio di Vivaldi, falls in love with the heroine of the novel Ellena di Rosalba, but is thwarted in his desire by his cold mother, who orders the monk and Radcliffe’s most complex villain, Father Schedoni, to kidnap Ellena to prevent the marriage. She is imprisoned in a convent, where she encounters the cruel Lady Abbess and the kind Sister Oilvia, before being thrust into a series of rescues and captures, with the ever looming threat of murder increasing. Religion and particularly the Catholic Church is a central feature in the novel and Radcliffe highlights the threat and terror that the Inquisition caused to the population at large; depicting the fear and the persecutions that permeated society in accomplished detail. Father Schedoni is a more nuanced antagonist than is traditionally found in Gothic literature; he is a hybrid character of emotional conflict, bearing great passions and anger, though plagued with guilt and capable of genuine humanity.
The first edition
The original title page
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