The Purcell Papers, vol 2 | Page 3

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THE PURCELL PAPERS.
BY THE LATE JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU, AUTHOR OF
'UNCLE SILAS.'
With a Memoir by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES
IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II. ---- PASSAGE IN THE SECRET
HISTORY OF AN IRISH COUNTESS THE BRIDAL OF
CARRIGVARAH STRANGE EVENT IN THE LIFE OF SCHALKEN
THE PAINTER SCRAPS OF HIBERNIAN BALLADS

THE PURCELL PAPERS.
PASSAGE IN THE SECRET HISTORY OF AN IRISH COUNTESS.
Being a Fifth Extract from the Legacy of the late Francis Purcell, P.P.
of Drumcoolagh.
The following paper is written in a female hand, and was no doubt
communicated to my much-regretted friend by the lady whose early
history it serves to illustrate, the Countess D----. She is no more--she
long since died, a childless and a widowed wife, and, as her letter sadly
predicts, none survive to whom the publication of this narrative can
prove 'injurious, or even painful.' Strange! two powerful and wealthy
families, that in which she was born, and that into which she had
married, have ceased to be--they are utterly extinct.
To those who know anything of the history of Irish families, as they
were less than a century ago, the facts which immediately follow will at

once suggest THE NAMES of the principal actors; and to others their
publication would be useless-- to us, possibly, if not probably, injurious.
I have, therefore, altered such of the names as might, if stated, get us
into difficulty; others, belonging to minor characters in the strange
story, I have left untouched.
My dear friend,--You have asked me to furnish you with a detail of the
strange events which marked my early history, and I have, without
hesitation, applied myself to the task, knowing that, while I live, a kind
consideration for my feelings will prevent your giving publicity to the
statement; and conscious that, when I am no more, there will not
survive one to whom the narrative can prove injurious, or even painful.
My mother died when I was quite an infant, and of her I have no
recollection, even the faintest. By her death, my education and habits
were left solely to the guidance of my surviving parent; and, as far as a
stern attention to my religious instruction, and an active anxiety
evinced by his procuring for me the best masters to perfect me in those
accomplishments which my station and wealth might seem to require,
could avail, he amply discharged the task.
My father was what is called an oddity, and his treatment of me, though
uniformly kind, flowed less from affection and tenderness than from a
sense of obligation and duty. Indeed, I seldom even spoke to him
except at meal-times, and then his manner was silent and abrupt; his
leisure hours, which were many, were passed either in his study or in
solitary walks; in short, he seemed to take no further interest in my
happiness or improvement than a conscientious regard to the discharge
of his own duty would seem to claim.
Shortly before my birth a circumstance had occurred which had
contributed much to form and to confirm my father's secluded habits--it
was the fact that a suspicion of MURDER had fallen upon his younger
brother, though not sufficiently definite to lead to an indictment, yet
strong enough to ruin him in public opinion.
This disgraceful and dreadful doubt cast upon the family name, my
father felt deeply and bitterly, and not the less so that he himself was
thoroughly convinced of his brother's innocence. The sincerity and
strength of this impression he shortly afterwards proved in a manner
which produced the dark events which follow. Before, however, I enter
upon the statement of them, I ought to relate the circumstances which

had awakened the suspicion; inasmuch as they are in themselves
somewhat curious, and, in their effects, most intimately connected with
my after-history.
My uncle, Sir Arthur T----n, was a gay and extravagant man,