In the course of my sojourn1 at the Abbey, I changed my quarters from the magnificent old state apartment haunted by Sir John Byron the Little, to another in a remote corner of the ancient edifice2, immediately adjoining the ruined chapel3. It possessed4 still more interest in my eyes, from having been the sleeping apartment of Lord Byron during his residence at the Abbey. The furniture remained the same. Here was the bed in which he slept, and which he had brought with him from college; its gilded5 posts surmounted6 by coronets, giving evidence of his aristocratical feelings. Here was likewise his college sofa; and about the walls were the portraits of his favorite butler, old Joe Murray, of his fancy acquaintance, Jackson the pugilist, together with pictures of Harrow School and the College at Cambridge, at which he was educated. The bedchamber goes by the name of the Book Cell, from its vicinity to the Rookery which, since time immemorial, has maintained possession of a solemn grove8 adjacent to the chapel. This venerable community afforded me much food for speculation9 during my residence in this apartment. In the morning I used to hear them gradually waking and seeming to call each other up. After a time, the whole fraternity would be in a flutter; some balancing and swinging on the tree tops, others perched on the pinnacle10 of the Abbey church, or wheeling and hovering11 about in the air, and the ruined walls would reverberate12 with their incessant13 cawings. In this way they would linger about the rookery and its vicinity for the early part of the morning, when, having apparently14 mustered15 all their forces, called over the roll, and determined16 upon their line of march, they one and all would sail off in a long straggling flight to maraud the distant fields. They would forage17 the country for miles, and remain absent all day, excepting now and then a scout18 would come home, as if to see that all was well. Toward night the whole host might be seen, like a dark cloud in the distance, winging their way homeward. They came, as it were, with whoop19 and halloo, wheeling high in the air above the Abbey, making various evolutions before they alighted, and then keeping up an incessant cawing in the tree tops, until they gradually fell asleep.
It is remarked at the Abbey, that the rooks, though they sally forth20 on forays throughout the week, yet keep about the venerable edifice on Sundays, as if they had inherited a reverence21 for the day, from their ancient confreres, the monks23. Indeed, a believer in the metempsychosis might easily imagine these Gothic-looking birds to be the embodied24 souls of the ancient friars still hovering about their sanctified abode25.
I dislike to disturb any point of popular and poetic26 faith, and was loath27, therefore, to question the authenticity28 of this mysterious reverence for the Sabbath on the part of the Newstead rooks; but certainly in the course of my sojourn in the Rook Cell, I detected them in a flagrant outbreak and foray on a bright Sunday morning.
Beside the occasional clamor of the rookery, this remote apartment was often greeted with sounds of a different kind, from the neighboring ruins. The great lancet window in front of the chapel, adjoins the very wall of the chamber7; and the mysterious sounds from it at night have been well described by Lord Byron:
——"Now loud, now frantic29,
The gale30 sweeps through its fretwork, and oft sings
The owl31 his anthem32, when the silent quire
Lie with their hallelujahs quenched33 like fire.
"But on the noontide of the moon, and when
The wind is winged from one point of heaven,
There moans a strange unearthly sound, which then
Is musical-a dying accent driven
Through the huge arch, which soars and sinks again.
Some deem it but the distant echo given
Back to the night wind by the waterfall,
And harmonized by the old choral wall.
"Others, that some original shape or form,
Shaped by decay perchance, hath given the power
To this gray ruin, with a voice to charm.
Sad, but serene34, it sweeps o'er tree or tower;
The cause I know not, nor can solve; but such
The fact:—I've heard it,—once perhaps too much."
Never was a traveller in quest of the romantic in greater luck. I had in sooth, got lodged35 in another haunted apartment of the Abbey; for in this chamber Lord Byron declared he had more than once been harassed36 at midnight by a mysterious visitor. A black shapeless form would sit cowering37 upon his bed, and after gazing at him for a time with glaring eyes, would roll off and disappear. The same uncouth38 apparition39 is said to have disturbed the slumbers40 of a newly married couple that once passed their honeymoon41 in this apartment.
I would observe, that the access to the Rook Cell is by a spiral stone staircase leading up into it, as into a turret42, from, the long shadowy corridor over the cloisters43, one of the midnight walks of the Goblin Friar. Indeed, to the fancies engendered45 in his brain in this remote and lonely apartment, incorporated with the floating superstitions46 of the Abbey, we are no doubt indebted for the spectral47 scene in "Don Juan."
"Then as the night was clear, though cold, he threw
His chamber door wide open—and went forth
Into a gallery, of sombre hue48,
Long furnish'd with old pictures of great worth,
Of knights49 and dames50, heroic and chaste51 too,
As doubtless should be people of high birth.
"No sound except the echo of his sigh
Or step ran sadly through that antique house,
When suddenly he heard, or thought so, nigh,
A supernatural agent—or a mouse,
Whose little nibbling52 rustle53 will embarrass
Most people, as it plays along the arras.
"It was no mouse, but lo! a monk22, arrayed
In cowl, and beads54, and dusky garb55, appeared,
Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed56 in shade;
With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard;
His garments only a slight murmur57 made;
He moved as shadowy as the sisters weird58,
But slowly; and as he passed Juan by
Glared, without pausing, on him a bright eye.
"Juan was petrified59; he had heard a hint
Of such a spirit in these halls of old,
But thought, like most men, there was nothing in't
Beyond the rumor60 which such spots unfold,
Coin'd from surviving superstition's mint,
Which passes ghosts in currency like gold,
But rarely seen, like gold compared with paper.
And did he see this? or was it a vapor61?
"Once, twice, thrice pass'd, repass'd—the thing of air,
Or earth beneath, or heaven, or t'other place;
And Juan gazed upon it with a stare,
Yet could not speak or move; but, on its base
As stauds a statue, stood: he felt his hair
Twine62 like a knot of snakes around his face;
He tax'd his tongue for words, which were not granted
To ask the reverend person what he wanted.
"The third time, after a still longer pause,
The shadow pass'd away—but where? the hall
Was long, and thus far there was no great cause
To think its vanishing unnatural63:
Doors there were many, through which, by the laws
Of physics, bodies, whether short or tall,
Might come or go; but Juan could not state
Through which the spectre seem'd to evaporate.
"He stood, how long he knew not, but it seem'd
An age—expectant, powerless, with his eyes
Strain'd on the spot where first the figure gleam'd:
Then by degrees recall'd his energies,
And would have pass'd the whole off as a dream.
But could not wake; he was, he did surmise64,
Waking already, and return'd at length
Back to his chamber, shorn of half his strength."
As I have already observed, it is difficult to determine whether Lord Byron was really subject to the superstitious65 fancies which have been imputed66 to him, or whether he merely amused himself by giving currency to them among his domestics and dependents. He certainly never scrupled67 to express a belief in supernatural visitations, both verbally and in his correspondence. If such were his foible, the Rook Cell was an admirable place to engender44 these delusions68. As I have lain awake at night, I have heard all kinds of mysterious and sighing sounds from the neighboring ruin. Distant footsteps, too, and the closing of doors in remote parts of the Abbey, would send hollow reverberations and echoes along the corridor and up the spiral staircase. Once, in fact, I was roused by a strange sound at the very door of my chamber. I threw it open, and a form "black and shapeless with glaring eyes" stood before me. It proved, however, neither ghost nor goblin, but my friend Boatswain, the great Newfoundland dog, who had conceived a companionable liking69 for me, and occasionally sought me in my apartment. To the hauntings of even such a visitant as honest Boatswain may we attribute some of the marvellous stories about the Goblin Friar.
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1 sojourn | |
v./n.旅居,寄居;逗留 | |
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2 edifice | |
n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿,教室) | |
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3 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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4 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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5 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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6 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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7 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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8 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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9 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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10 pinnacle | |
n.尖塔,尖顶,山峰;(喻)顶峰 | |
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11 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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12 reverberate | |
v.使回响,使反响 | |
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13 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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14 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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15 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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16 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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17 forage | |
n.(牛马的)饲料,粮草;v.搜寻,翻寻 | |
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18 scout | |
n.童子军,侦察员;v.侦察,搜索 | |
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19 whoop | |
n.大叫,呐喊,喘息声;v.叫喊,喘息 | |
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20 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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21 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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22 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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23 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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24 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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25 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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26 poetic | |
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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27 loath | |
adj.不愿意的;勉强的 | |
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28 authenticity | |
n.真实性 | |
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29 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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30 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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31 owl | |
n.猫头鹰,枭 | |
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32 anthem | |
n.圣歌,赞美诗,颂歌 | |
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33 quenched | |
解(渴)( quench的过去式和过去分词 ); 终止(某事物); (用水)扑灭(火焰等); 将(热物体)放入水中急速冷却 | |
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34 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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35 lodged | |
v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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36 harassed | |
adj. 疲倦的,厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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37 cowering | |
v.畏缩,抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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38 uncouth | |
adj.无教养的,粗鲁的 | |
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39 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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40 slumbers | |
睡眠,安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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41 honeymoon | |
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
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42 turret | |
n.塔楼,角塔 | |
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43 cloisters | |
n.(学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的)走廊( cloister的名词复数 );回廊;修道院的生活;隐居v.隐退,使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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44 engender | |
v.产生,引起 | |
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45 engendered | |
v.产生(某形势或状况),造成,引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46 superstitions | |
迷信,迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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47 spectral | |
adj.幽灵的,鬼魂的 | |
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48 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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49 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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50 dames | |
n.(在英国)夫人(一种封号),夫人(爵士妻子的称号)( dame的名词复数 );女人 | |
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51 chaste | |
adj.贞洁的;有道德的;善良的;简朴的 | |
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52 nibbling | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的现在分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
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53 rustle | |
v.沙沙作响;偷盗(牛、马等);n.沙沙声声 | |
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54 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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55 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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56 lapsed | |
adj.流失的,堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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57 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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58 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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59 petrified | |
adj.惊呆的;目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆,使惊呆;变僵硬;使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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60 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
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61 vapor | |
n.蒸汽,雾气 | |
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62 twine | |
v.搓,织,编饰;(使)缠绕 | |
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63 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
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64 surmise | |
v./n.猜想,推测 | |
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65 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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66 imputed | |
v.把(错误等)归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67 scrupled | |
v.感到于心不安,有顾忌( scruple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 delusions | |
n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 );谬见;错觉;妄想 | |
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69 liking | |
n.爱好;嗜好;喜欢 | |
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