The Monastery | Page 4

more cautious of attaching real
names to fictitious characters. I think it is in the Spectator we read of a
rustic wag, who, in a copy of "The Whole Duty of Man," wrote
opposite to every vice the name of some individual in the
neighbourhood, and thus converted that excellent work into a libel on a
whole parish.
The scenery being thus ready at the author's hand, the reminiscences of
the country were equally favourable. In a land where the horses
remained almost constantly saddled, and the sword seldom quitted the
warrior's side--where war was the natural and constant state of the
inhabitants, and peace only existed in the shape of brief and feverish
truces--there could be no want of the means to complicate and extricate
the incidents of his narrative at pleasure. There was a disadvantage,
notwithstanding, in treading this Border district, for it had been already
ransacked by the author himself, as well as others; and unless presented
under a new light, was likely to afford ground to the objection of
Crambe bis cocta.
To attain the indispensable quality of novelty, something, it was

thought, might be gained by contrasting the character of the vassals of
the church with those of the dependants of the lay barons, by whom
they were surrounded. But much advantage could not be derived from
this. There were, indeed, differences betwixt the two classes, but, like
tribes in the mineral and vegetable world, which, resembling each other
to common eyes, can be sufficiently well discriminated by naturalists,
they were yet too similar, upon the whole, to be placed in marked
contrast with each other.
Machinery remained--the introduction of the supernatural and
marvellous; the resort of distressed authors since the days of Horace,
but whose privileges as a sanctuary have been disputed in the present
age, and well-nigh exploded. The popular belief no longer allows the
possibility of existence to the race of mysterious beings which hovered
betwixt this world and that which is invisible. The fairies have
abandoned their moonlight turf; the witch no longer holds her black
orgies in the hemlock dell; and
Even the last lingering phantom of the brain, The churchyard ghost, is
now at rest again.
From the discredit attached to the vulgar and more common modes in
which the Scottish superstition displays itself, the author was induced
to have recourse to the beautiful, though almost forgotten, theory of
astral spirits, or creatures of the elements, surpassing human beings in
knowledge and power, but inferior to them, as being subject, after a
certain space of years, to a death which is to them annihilation, as they
have no share in the promise made to the sons of Adam. These spirits
are supposed to be of four distinct kinds, as the elements from which
they have their origin, and are known, to those who have studied the
cabalistical philosophy, by the names of Sylphs, Gnomes, Salamanders,
and Naiads, as they belong to the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, or Water.
The general reader will find an entertaining account of these
elementary spirits in the French book entitled, "Entretiens de Compte
du Gabalis." The ingenious Compte de la Motte Fouqu? composed, in
German, one of the most successful productions of his fertile brain,
where a beautiful and even afflicting effect is produced by the
introduction of a water-nymph, who loses the privilege of immortality
by consenting to become accessible to human feelings, and uniting her
lot with that of a mortal, who treats her with ingratitude.

In imitation of an example so successful, the White Lady of Avenel
was introduced into the following sheets. She is represented as
connected with the family of Avenel by one of those mystic ties, which,
in ancient times, were supposed to exist, in certain circumstances,
between the creatures of the elements and the children of men. Such
instances of mysterious union are recognized in Ireland, in the real
Milosian families, who are possessed of a Banshie; and they are known
among the traditions of the Highlands, which, in many cases, attached
an immortal being or spirit to the service of particular families or tribes.
These demons, if they are to be called so, announced good or evil
fortune to the families connected with them; and though some only
condescended to meddle with matters of importance, others, like the
May Mollach, or Maid of the Hairy Arms, condescended to mingle in
ordinary sports, and even to direct the Chief how to play at draughts.
There was, therefore, no great violence in supposing such a being as
this to have existed, while the elementary spirits were believed in; but it
was more difficult to describe or imagine its attributes and principles of
action. Shakespeare, the first of authorities in such a case, has painted
Ariel, that beautiful creature of