SOURCE: "The Vampire in Literature," in The Vampire-His Kith and Kin, 1928. Reprint by University Books, 1960, pp. 271-340.

A leading authority on Restoration drama and the supernatural, Summers wrote numerous studies of witchcraft, lycanthropy, and vampirism, and the literature thereof. In the following excerpt, he outlines the plot of The Vampyre.

An Excerpt from the Vampyre

It happened that in the midst of the dissipations attendant upon a London winter, there appeared at the various parties of the leaders of the ton a nobleman, more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank. He gazed upon the mirth around him, as if he could not participate therein. Apparently, the light laughter of the fair only attracted his attention, that he might by a look quell it, and throw fear into those breasts where thoughtlessness reigned. Those who felt this sensation of awe, could not explain whence it arose: some attributed...