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"JOHN W. POLIDORI." Of the popular belief in the reality of human beings becoming Vampyres after death, on which the tale is founded, the following account has been published.

"The superstition upon which this tale is founded is very general in the East. Among the Arabians it appears to be common: it did not, however, extend itself to the Greeks until after the establishment of Christianity; and it has only assumed its present form since the division of the Latin and Greek churches; at which time, the idea becoming prevalent, that a Latin body could not corrupt if buried in their territory, it gradually increased, and formed the subject of many wonderful stories, still extant, of the dead rising from their graves, and feeding upon the blood of the young and beautiful. In the West it spread, with some slight variation, all over Hungary, Poland, Austria, and Lorraine, where the belief existed, that Vampyres nightly imbibed a certain portion of the blood of their victims, who became emaciated, lost their strength, and speedily died of consumptions; while these human bloodsuckers fattened, and their veins became distended to such a state of repletion, as to cause the blood to flow from all the passages of their bodies, and even from the very pores of their skins.

"In the London Journal of March, 1732, is a curious, and of course credible account of a particular case of Vampyrism, which is stated to have occurred at Madreyga, in Hungary. It appears, that upon an examination of the commander in chief and magistrates of the place, they positively and unanimously affirmed, that about five years before, a certain Heyduke, named Arnold Paul, had been heard to say, that, at Cassovia, on the fron

tiers of the Turkish Servia, he had been tormented by a Vampyre, but had found a way to rid himself of the evil, by eating some of the earth out of the Vampyre's grave, and rubbing himself with his blood. This precaution, however, did not prevent him from becoming a Vampyre, (the universal belief being, that a person sucked by a Vampyre, becomes a Vampyre himself;) for, about twenty or thirty days after his death and burial, many persons complained of having been tormented by him; and a deposition was made, that four persons had been deprived of life by his attacks. To prevent further mischief, the inhabitants, having consulted their Hadagni, (chief bailiff,) took up the body, and found it (as is supposed to be usual in cases of Vampyrism) fresh, and entirely free from corruption, and emitting at the mouth, nose, and ears, pure and florid blood. Proof having been thus obtained, they resorted to the accustomed remedy. A stake was driven entirely through the heart and body of Arnold Paul, at which he is reported to have cried out as dreadfully as if he had been alive. This done, they cut off his head, burned his body, and threw the ashes into his grave. The same measures were adopted with the corses of those persons who had previously died from Vampyrism, lest they should, in their turn, become agents upon others who survived them.

"We have related this monstrous rodomontade, because it seems better adapted to illustrate the subject of the present observations, than any other instance we could adduce. In many parts of Greece, it is considered as a sort of punishment after death, for some heinous crime committed whilst in existence, that the deceased is doomed to Vampyrise; but be compelled to confine his infernal visitations solely to those beings he loved most while upon earth-those to whom he was bound by ties of kindred and affection. This supposition is, we imagine, alluded to in the following fearfully sublime and prophetic curse, from the "Giaour."

"But first on earth, as Vampyre, sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race:
There, from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;

Yet loathe the banquet, which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse.
Thy victims, ere they yet expire,
Shall know the demon for their sire;
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
But one that for thy crime must fall,
The youngest, best beloved of all,
Shall bless thee with a father's name-
That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!
Yet thou must end thy task, and mark
Her cheek's last tinge-her eye's last spark;
And the last glassy glance must view
Which freezes o'er its lifeless blue;
Then with unhallow'd hand shall tear
The tresses of her yellow hair,

Of which, in life a lock when shorn,
Affection's fondest pledge was worn-
But now is borne away by thee
Memorial of thine agony!
Yet with thine own best blood shall drip
Thy gnashing tooth, and haggard lip;
Then stalking to thy sullen grave,
Go-and with Gouls and Afrits rave,
Till these in horror shrink away
From spectre more accurs'd than they."

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Mr. Southey has also introduced, in his wild but beautiful poem of Thalaba, the Vampyre corse of the Arabian maid Oneiza, who is represented as having returned from the grave, for the purpose of tormenting him she best loved whilst in existence. But this cannot be supposed to have resulted from the sinfulness of her life, she being pourtrayed, throughout the whole of the tale, as a complete type of purity and innocence. The veracious Tournefort gives a long account, in his Travels, of several astonishing cases of Vampyrism, to which he pretends to have been an eye-witness; and Calmet, in his great work upon this subject, besides a variety of anecdotes and traditionary narratives illustrative of its effects, has put forth some learned dissertations, tending to prove it to be a classical, as well as barbarian, error."

Having thus given the fictitious history of the Vampyre, we now proceed to lay before our readers that which is real, as it has been communicated by one of our correspondents.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL
MAGAZINE.

SIR,
IF you judge the following curious de-
scription of the Vampyre Bat, worthy
of a place in your valuable Miscel-
lany, it is at your service.

I am, your's, respectfully,

P. G.

Natural History.-The body of the Vampyre Bat is in general about a foot long, and the spreading of its wings nearly four feet; but it is sometimes found much larger, and some specimens have been seen of six feet in extent. Its general colour is a deep reddish brown. The head is shaped like that of a fox; the nose is sharp and black; and the tongue pointed, and terminated by sharp prickles. The ears are naked, blackish, and pointed; and the wings similar in colour to those of the common bat.

These animals are found in several parts of the East Indies, and in all the Indian islands; in New Holland, the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, and South America. They fly from sun-set to sun-rise, and reside during the day in hollow trees. They are not carnivorous, but live principally on fruit; and are so fond of the juice of the palm-tree, that they will intoxicate themselves with it, till they fall senseless to the ground. They skim the water with perfect ease in their sportive moods, and frequently dip into it, to wash themselves. Mr. Forster, and several other writers, inform us, that they swarm like bees, hanging near one another in vast clusters. At least five hundred were seen by this gentleman, hanging, some by their fore, and others by their hinder legs, in a large tree, in one of the Friendly Islands.(Forster's Observations on Cook's Second Voyage, 189.)

Finch says, that " they hang by the claws to the boughs of trees, near Surat, in such vast clusters, as would surprise a man to see; and that the noise and squealing they make is so intolerable, that it would be a good deed to bring two or three pieces of ordnance, and scour the trees, that the country might be rid of such a plague as they are to it." (Finch's Travels into the East.)—In a small island, (one of the Philippines,) Dampier tells us, that he saw an incredible number of bats, so large that none of his company could reach from tip to tip of their wings, with their arms extended to the utmost. The wings were of a mouse colour; and on the joints were sharp crooked claws. In the evening, as soon as the sun was set, he says these animals used to take their flight in swarms, like bees, to a neighbouring island; and they were

seen to continue, in immense numbers, | fact, I shall extract it, in the language till darkness rendered them no longer of his own narrative. visible. The whole of the time, from day-break in the morning till sun-rise, they occupied in returning to their former place; and this course they constantly pursued, all the time the ship remained stationed off that island. (Dampier.)

At Rose Hill, near Port Jackson, in New Holland, it is supposed, that more than twenty thousand of these animals were seen within the space of a mile. (Hunter.)-Some that were taken alive in New Holland, would, almost immediately after, eat boiled rice and other food from the hand; and, in a few days, they became as domesticated as if they had been entirely bred in the house. Governor Phillip had one, which would hang by one leg a whole day, without changing its position; and, in that pendent situation, with its breast neatly covered with one of its wings, it would eat whatever was offered to it, lapping from the hand like a cat.

Linnæus has given to this Bat the specific denomination of Vampyrus, from his conjecturing it to be the species that draws blood from people during their sleep; but there is reason to imagine, that this thirst of blood is not confined to a single species, but is common to most of the Bat tribe. We are informed, that the Bats of Java seldom fail to attack those persons who lie with their extremities uncovered, whenever they can get access to them. Persons thus attacked, have sometimes been near passing from a sound sleep into eternity. The Bat is so dexterous a bleeder, as to insinuate its aculeated tongue into a vein without being perceived, and then suck the blood till it is satiated, all the while fanning with its wings, and agitating the air, in that hot climate, in so pleasing a manner as to throw the sufferer into a still sounder sleep. These animals do not, however, confine themselves to human blood; for Condamine, in his voyage to South America, says, that in his time they had, in certain parts, destroyed all the great cattle introduced there by the Missionaries.

Captain Stedman, whilst at Surinam, was attacked during his sleep by a Vampyre Bat; and as his account of this incident is somewhat singular, and tends to elucidate the No. 3.-VOL. I.

"I cannot here (says he) forbear relating a singular circumstance respecting myself, viz. that on waking about four o'clock one morning, in my hammock, I was extremely alarmed at finding myself weltering in congealed blood, and without feeling any pain whatever. Having started up, and rung for the surgeon, with a firebrand in my hand, and all over besmeared with gore; to which, if added my pale face, short hair, and tattered apparel, he might well ask the question,

'Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd?" The mystery, however, was, that I had been bitten by the Vampyre, or Spectre of Guiana; which is called the Flying Dog of New Spain; and, by the Spaniards, Perro-volador. This is no other than a Bat, of a monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle while they are fast asleep, even sometimes till they die; and as the manner in which they proceed is truly wonderful, I shall endeavour to give a distinct account of it. Knowing, by instinct, that the person or animal they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, when a person is attacked, while the creature continues fanning with its enormous wings, which keeps one cool, it bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed, that the head of a pin could scarcely be received into the wound; which, consequently, is not painful. through this orifice it continues to suck the blood, until it is obliged to disgorge. It then begins again; and thus continues sucking and disgorging till it is scarcely able to fly; and the sufferer has often been known to sleep from time into eternity. Cattle they generally bite in the ear; but always in places where the blood flows spontaneously. Having applied tobacco ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my hammock, I observed upon the ground several heaps of congealed blood, all round the place where I had lain: on examining which, the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night."

Yet

The smell of these creatures is stronger and more rank than that of a fox; yet the Indians eat them, and declare their flesh to be excellent food.

R

They become excessively fat at certain times of the year, and it is then that they are said to be the most delicious. The French who reside in the Isle of Bourbon, boil them in their bouillon, to give it a relish! In New Caledonia, the natives use the hair of these animals in the making of ropes, and in the tassels of their clubs; interweaving it with the threads of Cyperus squarrosus.

From this natural history of the Vampyre, there is nothing astonishing in the supposition, that among a barbarous people, in an unenlightened age, an artificial one should be raised. And, from facts which are well known, respecting the prevalent belief, that spirits walked abroad," that "witches had power to charm," and that elves and fairies held a kind of regular intercourse with mankind, no great stretch of imagination was required to embody the power of the Vampyre, and to give it a human

form.

66

Without entering far into the regions of fancy, we may easily discover individuals of the human species, who seem to be animated with those pernicious energies, and actuated by that malignant spirit, by which the real Vampyre is apparently distinguished. By their artful insinuations, unguarded innocence has, in too many instances, become their prey; and, once seduced from the paths of virtue, the unhappy victim has also be come a Vampyre, and augmented the miseries of mankind. The aggregate loss of virtue constitutes the demoralization of the world.

MARTYRS TO SCIENCE.

THE 220 February, 1819, Surgeon Dease, Professor of Anatomy, in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, died of a mortification in his blood, occasioned by a slight puncture in one of his fingers, which he gave himself when in the act of dissecting on the 15th. Erysipetalous inflammation was thereby produced, which terminated in gangrene.

A young gentleman, a student, is dangerously ill from the same cause: amputation has been proposed, but it is considered either as unnecessary, or ineffectual.

But such cases are not novel. Mr.

Abernethy, assistant-surgeon, who had escaped many dangers, on service in the Duke of Wellington's army, lost his life by a cause apparently more insignificant. While dissecting a subject at Chelsea, that had died of a liver complaint, he accidentally made a slight puncture that was scarcely perceptible in the skin of one of his fingers. To this he paid little or no attention, not having the least apprehension of any serious consequences. His friends, however, perceiving that his strength had begun to fail, and fearing what might happen, wrote to his father, who hastened to his assistance. The patient, however, being anxious to remove his father's alarm, took a glass of wine, and attempted to walk across fell down; and being taken up, was inthe room. In making this exertion, he stantly put to bed: but in twelve hours he was no more.

don.

celebrated for his skill in Anatomy, A gentleman of Colchester, who was suffered the point of his knife to make a trifling incision in his hand, while lecturing to a large audience in Lonthe wound, but confident in the remedy Conscious of his danger from he could apply, he continued for some time to expatiate on the nature of the accident; and then pointed out the means of cure, which consisted in in which a few drops of spirits of salts washing the wounded part with water,

were to be infused. Unhappily, the affected part had imbibed the morbid matter, and the lecturer lost his life.

The Rev. Mr. Peckwell, chaplain of Bethesda, was fond of studying Anatomy; this gentleman, by a wound he received while dissecting a young lady, who died of a consumption, was taken ill, and in seven days lost his life.

Mr. Macklin, late surgeon-general, was for a year in a dangerous state, by an inflamed arm, which arose from cutting his finger while dissecting. He recovered by the most violent remedies, having his arm scarified for several months.

There can be little doubt, that all who wish to make themselves acquainted with Anatomy, should minutely examine the human body in all its parts. But from the frequent recurrence of accidents, such as those stated above, and the injuries which the constitutions of many young men sustain, by being compelled to breathe the putrid exhalations of a dissecting room,

it is to be regretted, that some expedient has not been found, to render the practice of dissection less frequently necessary.

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and sent as presents to the Royal Family.

To his other endowments, he added an accurate knowledge of drawing and "The heads of Colleges," says our engraving, and, in both these arts, procorrespondent, from whom we received duced specimens of the highest excelthis article, may remedy this evil, by lence. For upwards of 50 years he supplying a well-arranged system of quitted his bed only three times, and the vessels of every class filled with on these occasions his house was either coloured wax, and accompanied with | inundated with water, or threatened large coloured drawings, as the proper with danger from fire. study for the noviciate, who being well grounded in his knowledge of all parts of the body, will, by a finishing course on a real subject, acquire more useful information in a single dissection, than he could obtain in several, without that previous instruction."

EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF SELF-
TAUGHT GENIUS.

On the 3d of April, 1819, died at Alyth,
in Perthshire, James Sandy, generally
distinguished by this appellation,-
"the celebrated mechanic of Alyth."

The originality of genius and eccentricity of character which distinguished this remarkable person, were perhaps never surpassed. Deprived, at an early period of life, of the use of his legs, he contrived, by dint of ingenuity, not only to pass his time agreeably, but to render himself a useful member of society. He soon displayed a taste for mechanical pursuits, and contrived, as a workshop for his operations, a sort of circular bed, the sides of which being raised about 18 inches above the clothes, were employed as a platform for turning lathes, tables, vices, and cases of tools, of all kinds. His genius for practical mechanics was universal. He was skilled in all kinds of turning, and constructed several very curious lathes, as well as clocks, and musical instruments of every description, no less admired for the sweetness of their tone, than the elegance of their execution.-He excelled, too, in the construction of optical instruments; and made some reflecting telescopes, the specula of which were not inferior to those finished by the most eminent London artists. He suggested some important improvements in the machinery for spinning

flax;
and we believe he was the first
who made the wooden-jointed snuff-
boxes, generally called Lawrencekirk
boxes, some of which, fabricated by
this self-taught artist, were purchased,

His curiosity, which was unbounded, prompted him to hatch different kinds of birds' eggs by the natural warmth of his body, and he afterwards reared the motley broods with all the tenderness of a parent; so that on visiting him it was no unusual thing to see various singing birds, to which he may be said to have given birth, perched on his head, and warbling the artificial notes he had taught them.

Naturally possessed of a good constitution, and an active, cheerful turn of mind, his house was the general coffee-room of the village, where the affairs both of church and state were discussed with the utmost freedom. In consequence of long confinement, his countenance had rather a sickly cast, but it was remarkably expressive, and would have afforded a fine subject for the pencil of Wilkie, particularly when he was surrounded by his country friends. This singular man had acquired, by his ingenuity and industry, an honourable independence, and he died possessed of considerable property. He was married only about three weeks before his death.

REVIEW, &c.-PRESCIENCE of God.

[Continued from Col. 112.]

As no attribute of the Almighty, can be dependent for its perfection upon any extrinsic cause, action, or event; so neither can its perfection depend upon the manner in which it is exercised. For if its perfection, in any degree, were derived, either from the mode of its being exercised, or the nature of its object, in the same proportion as it is either dependent or derived, it must be destitute of inherent perfection. But the perfection of infinite discernment, is precisely the same, in all the modes of its exercise; and whether its object be fixed or contingent, it has nothing of intrinsic excellence to acquire; and no modification of action or event, is within the reach

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