entire fulfilment, in all their minute and terrible
details, of the fiery and horror-inspiring denunciations
of the prophecies of the Holy Book.
Why need I paint, Charmion, the now disenchained
frenzy of mankind? That tenuity in the comet
which had previously inspired us with hope, was
now the source of the bitterness of despair. In
its impalpable gaseous character we clearly perceived
the consummation of Fate. Meantime a day again
passed—bearing away with it the last shadow
of Hope. We gasped in the rapid modification
of the air. The red blood bounded tumultuously
through its strict channels. A furious delirium
possessed all men; and with arms rigidly outstretched
towards the threatening heavens, they trembled and
shrieked aloud. But the nucleus of the destroyer
was now upon us;—even here in Aidenn I shudder
while I speak. Let me be brief—brief
as the ruin that overwhelmed. For a moment
there was a wild lurid light alone, visiting and penetrating
all things. Then—let us bow down,
Charmion, before the excessive majesty of the great
God!—then, there came a shouting and pervading
sound, as if from the mouth itself of HIM; while
the whole incumbent mass of ether in which we existed,
burst at once into a species of intense flame, for
whose surpassing brilliancy and all-fervid heat even
the angels in the high Heaven of pure knowledge have
no name. Thus ended all.
* * * *
*
Yea! though I walk through
the valley of the Shadow.
‘Psalm of David’.
Ye who read are still among the living; but I who
write shall have long since gone my way into the region
of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen,
and secret things be known, and many centuries shall
pass away, ere these memorials be seen of men.
And, when seen, there will be some to disbelieve and
some to doubt, and yet a few who will find much to
ponder upon in the characters here graven with a stylus
of iron.
The year had been a year of terror, and of feeling
more intense than terror for which there is no name
upon the earth. For many prodigies and signs
had taken place, and far and wide, over sea and land,
the black wings of the Pestilence were spread abroad.
To those, nevertheless, cunning in the stars, it was
not unknown that the heavens wore an aspect of ill;
and to me, the Greek Oinos, among others, it was evident
that now had arrived the alternation of that seven
hundred and ninety-fourth year when, at the entrance
of Aries, the planet Jupiter is enjoined with the
red ring of the terrible Saturnus. The peculiar
spirit of the skies, if I mistake not greatly, made
itself manifest, not only in the physical orb of the
earth, but in the souls, imaginations, and meditations
of mankind.
