Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

The Mysteries of Udolpho

London

Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson

1794

"A superstitious dread stole over her; she stood listening, for some moments, in trembling expectation, and then endeavoured to recollect her thoughts, and to reason herself into composure; but human reason cannot establish her laws on subjects, lost in the obscurity of imagination, any more than the eye can ascertain the form of objects, that only glimmer through the dimness of night."

While she raised her streaming eyes to heaven, she observed the same planet, which she had seen in Languedoc, on the night, preceding her father's death, rise above the eastern towers of the castle, while she remembered the conversation, which had passed, concerning the probable state of departed souls; remembered, also, the solemn music she had heard, and to which the tenderness of her spirits had, in spite of her reason, given a superstitious meaning. At these recollections she wept again, and continued musing, when suddenly the notes of sweet music passed on the air. A superstitious dread stole over her; she stood listening, for some moments, in trembling expectation, and then endeavoured to recollect her thoughts, and to reason herself into composure; but human reason cannot establish her laws on subjects, lost in the obscurity of imagination, any more than the eye can ascertain the form of objects, that only glimmer through the dimness of night.
(II, p. 310 in Penguin)

Body::Eye Government::Laws Light::Night

Reading

9 entries in ESTC (1794, 1795, 1799, 1800).

The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; Interspersed with some Pieces of Poetry. By Ann Radcliffe, Author of the Romance of the Forest, etc. 4 vols. (London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794). <Link to ECCO><Link to ECCO-TCP, Vol. I>

Reading The Mysteries of Udolpho, ed. Jacqueline Howard (New York: Penguin Books, 2001).

03/06/2014